A Taste of Hollywood

Three

The next day was Monday, my first day at the new school.

Mom dropped me off in front of it. She walked me in and got me my schedule. She wanted to stay, but how lame would it be to have your mother holding your hand and walking you through the day?

TOO lame. Even if I wanted it badly.

I hugged her and said if I really needed her, I'd text her. She nodded reluctantly and left.

Well, I had Mrs. Lang for homeroom. I walked into her classroom, A1. She greeted me and introduced me to the class as 'Ella Dipalo'. That's Jack's last name. I tried correcting her, but she said, "You're Jack Dipalo's stepdaughter now! Tell him I'm a big fan."

I cringed and sat down. Ella Dipalo. No. I'm Ella Swenson. Jack can change just about everything about me, but I'm keeping DAD'S last name.

My dad had died about three years ago, from a heart attack. I had been nine, but I remembered just about everything about it. Waking up to sirens, Mom crying, seeing Dad being wheeled into an ambulance... Being confused... I'd blocked everything else out. It was too much.

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I went through my day in a daze. When I went to the parking lot to meet Mom, I told her it had been an easy day.

"That's good," she said. She seemed relieved.

When we got home, Jack said he wanted to show me something. He led me to the room under the stairs and showed me what he'd done.

He'd bought even MORE than I'd put on the list!

"Jack, you shouldn't have done that," Mom said, peeking her head in. I jumped into a purple beanbag chair.

Jack smiled.

What I did next surprised everyone, even me.

I ran over...

And I hugged my stepdad.

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When Jack asked me if I wanted to have a sleepover with a friend this weekend, I suddenly realized that I hadn't talked to anyone but teachers all day. At lunch, I'd sat my someone who'd waved me over, but she just talked to her friends and kind of forgotten about me. The truth was, I didn't HAVE any friends yet.

I told him this, and he said I probably would the next day.

He was a little right...