Not Thinkin' Bout You

Chapter 9

PREVIOUSLY: Her mind drifted to what Zach would think if he could see her right now, crying in the bath over his band mate... he wouldn't be happy.

Ellody pushed her locker door closed, clutching her books to her chest. Herds of teenagers were slowly walking past, brushing shoulders with her as they made their way to the last class of the day. A particularly rowdy group of boys stormed through the hallway, slapping hands with anyone they could reach and throwing a frisbee between them.

"Oh, sorry Briar. Jackson, you hit Briar! Wow Jackson, how mean of you!" Mia, the only girl in the group, frowned. Jackson, who had just elbowed a small girl in the back of the head to snatch the frisbee from the top of a locker, flashed a grin at Briar before yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Oops!" he bellowed, running a hand through his slick black hair. They were making their way towards Ellody, and she really didn't have the energy to get past them, so she turned around to walk the long way to class. "Ellody! What do we have?" Jackson shouted at her back, and the girl bit her lip before quickly facing them, realising she had class with him.

"Geography. And the rest of you have art," she called, loudly enough for them to hear her so she didn't have to repeat herself. She'd basically learned their timetables so that they wouldn't have an excuse to be late and disrupt the lesson.

"Sweet, see you there," Jackson crowed, sending Ellody a wink and making her feel relatively uncomfortable.

"Oh, thanks Ellody. I was about to go to English," Mia added, commenting with a few of her choice swear words about her English teacher that made Ellody want to sink into the floor. She propelled herself in the other direction, finding an empty hallway. Surely I'm not that late? She sped up her pace just as the bell sounded with a loud DING, DING, DING. Oh crap. I am that late. Ellody ran around the corner, finding two girls making out. One was half in the locker, sliding her hands up the other's shirt. Ellody wanted to tell them to get a room, but judging a book by its cover, they'd probably beat her up for suggesting it. She couldn't get a good look at the one in the locker, but she did seem familiar. Suddenly, the one in the locker pulled away and locked eyes with Ellody. Neither of the Brown sisters could believe their eyes.

"Holy sh-" Ellody began, but Sienna was peeling herself away from the girl, who Ellody recognised to be in her year. Ellody's fight or flight instinct kicked in, and seconds later she was around another corner and slamming the classroom door behind her. Her teacher, Mrs Padmore, was frowning at the whiteboard and ignoring the fact her best student was late. Ellody locked eyes with nearly every student in the room before taking her seat in the middle of the room. Her heart was racing, but not nearly as fast as her mind. What was she doing in my school? She graduated last year! And what about her boyfriend Jaiden? Did they break up? Ellody realised she'd never actually met Jaiden, just seen pictures of him and heard her talk about him. What if Jaiden was a cover story for the girl? What if she's been seeing a girl this whole time? Is my sister so deep in the closet that I didn't even notice?

"Miss Brown, please explain to me why your sister is making faces at me through the door window," Mrs Padmore muttered, still concentrating on the board. Ellody's heart shot into her throat as she glanced at the door, unable to speak.

"I-I have no idea," she muttered, feeling every eye in the room on her once again.

"Here's an idea. Go find out," the woman instructed, finally turning to look at the teenager. Ellody tried to show Mrs Padmore that she really didn't want to, but she made a face back that said she didn't have a choice. Ellody slowly stood up, wanting to crawl into a hole and stay there. Sienna's face disappeared from the window as she pulled the door open, frantically waving at her sister to join her. The second Ellody managed to get outside, Sienna slammed the door and pulled her into the nearest bathroom. Ellody stared at her older sister, unable to look her in the eye. I wasn't meant to see that, I really wasn't meant to see that at all. Poor Si.

"How much did you see?" she demanded. For the first time, Ellody could see real fear etched in every feature of Sienna's face.

"N-not much. Just you in the l-locker and the... the girl," Ellody stammered. Sienna turned away for a few seconds, and when she faced her sister again, her face was covered in tears. "Wait, why are you here? Who is she? What about Jaiden?" Ellody added, gaining the little confidence she had. Sienna's hand shook as she took Ellody's, rubbing the backs of her hands.

"I'll tell you everything later, I might introduce you to Jade at some point, but for now I need you to stay quiet. Don't tell anyone. Not mum, not any of our cousins or family, not any of your famous boyband kids or any of their girlfriends. Not anyone. Especially not dad," Sienna begged, and Ellody could almost feel the pain she saw in her sister's eyes.

"Of course not. You get to tell whoever you want. And why would I even talk to dad in the first place?" Ellody muttered, wiping a couple tears from Sienna's cheek.

"I don't know, I really don't. Just promise me you won't tell Zach. I feel like this is something you'd tell Zach," she whispered, her chin shaking on the verge of a fresh wave of tears.

"This is something I'd tell Zach if it was about me. But this is your thing, OK? I promise he won't get a word of it." Ellody grasped Sienna's hands tighter, her mind still unable to get around the fact that her sister wasn't straight, but her gut knew that Sienna needed her more than she could even comprehend in this moment.

"Thank you, Ellie. I'm sorry you were dragged into this with me so quickly, but thank you. It was getting really hard to not say anything at home; maybe now I'll tell mum," Sienna sighed, and the girls hugged tightly. Ellody couldn't remember ever hugging her sister like this.