Not Thinkin' Bout You

Chapter 13

PREVIOUSLY: Ellody loved them together, even though it was such a sudden change, and the Brown sisters hadn't even had time to talk about it.

Her breathing suddenly shortened, stuck in her throat and rendering her unable to move. Kay bumped her arm as people moved around them, jumping and dancing; her touch reminded Ellody of how sick she felt about this, and suddenly she was on the ground and tears were spilling down her face. Everything hurt, she wanted to go home, she needed air, everything was closing in around her...

"Ell, what are you doing?" Kay asked loudly, continuing to dance and jump despite Ellody's condition.

"It's Ellody," she muttered, trying to stand back up and wipe away her tears, but her knees buckled underneath her.

"What? Oh, nevermind," Kay shouted, making her way over to Sienna and Jade. Strangers stood around Ellody, not seeming to notice her on the ground. The grass was dying and crunchy, as yellow as the sun that bear down on it at midday. She tried to focus on how yellow the grass was to distract herself from the intensely loud cheering and screaming and excitement that surrounded her.

The sun finally set, and, in fear of being trampled in the dark, Ellody found it in herself to stand up, bumping into Kay on the way. The girl gave her a look that Ellody couldn't make out in the darkness, but she was glad she didn't see it. Right now, Kay was the last person she wanted to look at. She squeezed past a small group of girls to get to her sister, grabbing her arm. But it wasn't her sister - it wasn't even Jade.

"Excuse me?" the girl yelled, pulling her arm back. A large guy broke out of the group, looking menacingly at Ellody, before guiding the girl that looked like Sienna away.

"Sorry, I thought..." she began, but stumbled backwards into someone else, who shoved her forward. She landed on someone who could've been a professional wrestler before escaping back to where she thought her sister was - but she wasn't there. "Jade? Sienna? Kay?" she called, not even caring if it was Kay who found her right now. She just wanted someone familiar to take her to safety, she was scared out of her mind, she wanted to go home.

"Hey, are you alright?" someone said from behind her, and she turned to see who could be the tallest person ever. The guy from the photo!

"Wait, Damien?" Ellody asked, staring at his face and trying to figure out what he'd look like without his totally unnecessary sunglasses.

"Uh, yeah? How'd you know?" he asked as a loud scream issued from the crowd.

"Jade's here," she yelled, looking around hopelessly.

"Is she? Hold on," he said, scanning the crowd. His eyes landed on someone, and he nodded down at Ellody. "She's over there. Are you Sienna?" he added suspiciously. So Jade can tell her family, but Sienna can't?

"No, I'm Sienna's sister Ellody," she called, feeling like she was in safe hands just standing next to the tallest guy in the area. Technically, if Sienna and Jade got married, we'd be related.

"OK, cool. I'll get us over to them, and maybe I can finally meet Sienna. Jade spends so much time with her, I feel like she likes her more than her family," Damien explained with a laugh, grabbing Ellody's hand as they wove through the crowds. Everyone seemed to create a path for them, and they reached Sienna and Jade easily.

"Damien?" Jade yelled in surprise, her face growing red. The boy dropped Ellody's arm and frowned at his sister as Sienna's arms closed around Ellody's frame.

"Oh my God, where did you go? How'd you find him?" she blurted, pointing at Damien as though he'd done something wrong.

"Um, I lost you in the crowd and just happened to run into him," Ellody muttered, shrugging as though it was nothing. The brothers started playing Sucker, and Kay appeared out of nowhere with a huge grin on her face. She ignored the fact that Damien had joined them, instead pointing to the stage and jumping up and down crazily.

"It's Sucker!" she screamed, adding to the noise that filled the area, nearly drowning out the music.

"How did you get in?" Damien yelled at Jade, looking confused.

"I'll tell you later - just don't tell my mum," Jade shouted, locking eyes with him. Ellody wondered what sort of secrets the family had kept from Jade's parents. "Is Claire here?" Jade added. Ellody remembered that Claire was the sister with the baby, and she tried to imagine this boy beside her as a dad. Not possible.

"No, she's home with the baby. I'm supposed to be here with some friends but they all bailed on me, except for one bloke, who I lost when we walked in and he went to the bathroom," Damien explained, and their conversation was stopped as a fresh round of screams were emitted from the audience as the brothers turned the mic on them for the chorus.

Jade went back to dancing with Sienna, and Ellody was left with her thoughts - what did Damien mean when he said he never saw Jade, and that she was always with Sienna? Sienna wasn't with "Jaiden" that often, she was always shopping with friends or going to see a movie with friends... liar. Freaking liar. She never went with friends, she went with Jade.