More of You

Chapter 4

"You are grounded." Edward slammed the letter from Mrs. Petrov down on the kitchen table.

"But it wasn't my fault!" I protested. "I didn't mean to dump my food onto her."

"Really? That's not what it says in this letter." Edward replied, frowning at me. "I promised Ellie that I'd take care of you."

"And you are." I said.

"No I'm not. Not when you are getting easily angered and taking it out on Natalie." Edward replied.

I knew what the letter said. Somehow Natalie got Mrs. Petrov to believe her made up lie of how I lost my cool and threw food at her.

"I thought you trusted me." I whispered, unable to look up at Edward's eyes.

Edward sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. Can I?" He then stormed out of the kitchen.

I ran up to my room and slammed the door behind me. Mrs. Petrov let us all off with a warning. I didn't know what the other people said about what happened because we were all talked to at different times separately.

I plopped down onto my bed and stuffed the pillow over my face. I let out a muffled scream and then started to cry. Since when did my life become so complicated? I threw the pillow off my head and walked over to my dresser. A photo of Ellie was framed on it. It was a photo taken right before her murder. She was sitting on a wooden swing beneath a tree, smiling at the camera. She had shoulder length curly blond hair and gray eyes. Her nose was long and she had dimples.

If she was still here, she would tell me that everything is alright and that I would be able to figure things out. A tear ran down my cheek and I wiped it away.

The next morning, Edward was up and dressed by the time I made it to the kitchen. He pushed a bowl of fruit loops in front of me without saying a word. I took a bite of them and chewed slowly. Maybe if I took enough time eating, I could miss the bus. I then changed my mind. It would be best to ride the bus and face this day then get Edward even madder at me. I finished the rest of the cereal and without a word, grabbed my shoulder bag and ran down the driveway. Today the sky was a light gray with light drizzles. I was so glad that the driveway was paved so that I wouldn't be covered in mud.

The bus pulled up to my house a few minutes later and I hopped on, sitting in the exact same seat as the last two days. I popped my earphones in and stared out the window. Two raindrops were racing down the bus window in jagged lines, trying to get to the bottom before the other one. A kid sitting in front of me threw a paper airplane past me, towards the back of the bus, letting out a whoop of laughter when it hit another kid. A few seconds later, the paper airplane came soaring back past my head. I ducked down in my seat and closed my eyes. I don't know how long my eyes were closed for, but when I opened them again, Blade was sitting next to me. I sat up and looked out the window just as the bus was pulling into the school parking lot. Next to me, Blade flipped the hood of his black sweatshirt up and exited the seat into the aisle. I waited for the bus to clear before I got off. Kylie grabbed my arm just as I hopped off the bus and pulled me after her.