Young Writers Society

“I can’t believe I already have a five-page essay do on Tuesday,” I groaned, slamming my locker door shut.

“I know, El. It’s dumb. My teacher hasn’t given us any homework yet, and it doesn’t look like she’s planning on it anytime soon,” Jen laughed, barely managing to hold her pile of books in front of her, “The only good thing about my Spanish class is getting to do it with Rett.”

“Oh my god, Jen. You can’t be serious. Are you ever going to ask him out?” I rolled my eyes. I knew that Rett didn’t really have any feelings for her. He thought of her as my friend, he never even thought of her as anything more than just that.

“I’m waiting for him to make the move, duh,” My boy crazy friend replied, acting like I was stupid.

“Oh, yes, of course,” I said and waved to her, heading the other way to my English class. It was Friday and I was thrilled. The weekend was coming and it felt absolutely amazing! Just being able to relax with my family over the weekend sounded like a dream.

“Hey there! Ella!” Gann shouted, appearing next to me.

“Good morning, Gann,” I smiled. Gann and I had become friends over the past couple of days. Him and Rett got along as well, making it easier for him to fit in at school. Once you were friends with Rett, school was a breeze.

Gann groaned, “I suppose you are also looking forward to this essay?”

“Ugh, our class is the only one that has this due. We only have a couple days to write it, Gann,” I replied, walking into our classroom together. He smiled and took the seat next to me. Since I had already claimed my seat by the window, he worked his way around me to sit. The rest of the students filed in behind us and took their seats.

“So originally, students,” Mr. Calna said as he walked in, “I was going to have you watch your movie over this weekend, but there is a slight change of plans. It seems that most teachers have not assigned this type of essay yet. I have reduced it to three pages. Write about what you plan for the next year. How you think your life will turn out in the next year.”

I smiled. This was going to be easy. My life was pretty much the same every year. For the rest of class, we talked about this essay. Planning of it, writing style, any type of similes or metaphors, we simply talked about it all. He sent us out of class that day with a perfect idea of how our essays were to be turned in.

Gann turned to me as we were exiting the classroom, “Where do you see yourself in a year?”

I shrugged, “Here, I guess. I’ve always lived here, and probably always will. I can’t think of time when I want to be separated from this place, or my family at that. What about you?”

He visibly flinched when I said that I did not want to leave. Probably because he missed his own home.

“I’m not sure, to be completely honest. I want to go home. I really want to go home. I miss it a lot, so I guess I will go back sometime,” Gann said, a sad glint in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Gann. I would want to go back too. Do you like the family you are staying with?”

“They are fine,” He obviously dismissed me, “I will see you later.”

“Bye!” I called over my shoulder as he turned away. Why had he avoided the subject of the family he was staying with? I had asked him a similar question two days ago and he had barely answered me then too. I hoped that they weren’t treating him badly.

I shook off Gann and I’s conversation and continued heading towards my class.

“Ella, I grabbed you some lunch,” Rett said as I walked into the cafeteria, shoving a piece of pizza into my hand.

“Thanks, Rett,” I laughed, wondering why he was ready for me to come into the caf.

As we walked towards the table, Rett whispered, “Do you think Gann’s been acting a little strange today?”

“You noticed that too?” I replied, happy that I wasn’t making stuff up again like the dumb “shadow man” incident.

“Yeah, definitely. He kept avoiding me in Science,” Rett shrugged as we got to our table.

“Hey Jen, Gann,” I nodded to each of my friends.

“Hey, El,” Jen answered and stuffed a whole cupcake in her mouth.

I laughed and smiled at Gann, hoping that he would act normally again. He smiled tightly back.

“How was class?” I tried to pull from him.

“It went well. And you?”

“Really great,” I replied.

“Oh, Ella!” Rett said from his end of the table.

“What?” I yelled after swallowing a bite of my cheese pizza.

“I’m staying over tonight at Will’s. Can you walk home alone?” He asked me, sitting next to me at the table after strolling over.

Everett saw my face change from happy too nervous in an instant. No one else would be able to tell my fast mood change except for my twin who knew me better than anyone.

“Yeah, sure,” I answered quickly, trying to distract from my nervousness.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, looking at me oddly.

“Nothing, really,” I said, turning back to my pizza. I noticed that Gann was listening in on our conversation, “I just… When I was walking home on Monday, I kept freaking myself out. I kept seeing these weird black shapes cross my vision. I probably made it up.”

Gann’s fingers tightened around his water bottle, his knuckles going completely white. His face tightened and his eyes became very dark.

“If you’re not comfortable with walking home alone, I can cancel. It’s no problem, really, El.”

“No,” Gann barked suddenly, “I will walk you home. My house is only two roads farther than yours. I will go tell my foster father guy not to pick me up.”

He grabbed his phone and flew out of the caf, a tight smile on his face. I was immediately confused.

“He didn’t have to do that,” Rett muttered.

I punched him in the arm, “He’s trying to be nice, that’s all,” I was also trying to convince myself of that.

“I can still cancel!”

“No, Rett. I insist that you go. We will be fine and he is heading that way anyways.”

“Okay,” He shrugged and got up to go sit with his friends again.

Gann never came back to the caf that day. He walked me home, barely speaking to me at all. His eyes darted side to side until we arrived at my house.

“Well, this is it,” I sighed, pointing to my house on the corner.

“Okay. I hope you have a nice weekend, Ellanyra,” He nodded and when I turned around, he was already gone.

I walked up to my house and pulled my key out from my backpack. As I shoved the key into the lock, I realized something very odd. Gann had referred to me using my full name, Ellanyra. He had only heard someone call that once. How in the world did Gann remember my full name’s pronunciation? My parents hardly even remembered my full name, and I shared my Dad’s mom’s name! I shook off the odd happenings of the day and pushed the door all the way open.

“Mom, Dad, Ally, Pea?” I called.

“It’s me and Pea!” Ally called from the living room.

I strolled into the room and sighed, “How was school, kittens?”

“Really fun! Ally’s piano recital is in three Saturdays!” Pia said pointing at my blushing sister.

“What? Ally, you got the spot?” I asked excitedly.

“I did,” She smiled brightly, “Mrs. Green offered it to me today! If I can get my piano song down pat, she says that I can do two!”

“Ally! I’m so happy for you!” I squealed and hugged my little sister, “We knew you could do it, Al.”

“To be honest, Ella, I didn’t know that I could. It seems like I’ve always been waiting for this. I can’t believe it’s happening!” She grinned. I grabbed one of her hand’s and took one of Pia’s small hands. We stood there jumping up and down, and squealing in the living room.

“Did you tell Mom or Dad?” I asked, tired from jumping around the living room.

“No, not yet, Ella. When I got home, Mom had to go pick up Dad from work. She asked me to watch Pea until you got home.”

“What’s wrong with Dad?”

“His car has a flat so she had to get him. His car’s in the shop,” She shrugged.

“Oh, I see.”

“Where’s Rett?” Pia asked, skipping after me into the kitchen.

“Yeah, where is he? I wanted to tell him about my concert!” Ally echoed.

“He’s over at Will’s house. Sorry, Al. I didn’t think you’d get this news so soon! You must be the first one that Mrs. Green chose!”

“I am,” Ally glowed, “And I will be the youngest.”

I smiled at her and opened the cupboard, looking for a snack. The phone rang and Ally ran to grab it. I heard her gush her whole concert story to mom and dad over the phone. I smiled at the thought of my little sister finally getting this. She really had worked hard.

She ran into the room and smiled, looking even more proud if that was possible, “Mom and Dad want to take us out to dinner.”

“Great! Rett’s going to be really jealous,” I laughed. He probably would be.

“I know! Would it be rude if I called him while he’s at his friend’s house?” She asked eagerly.

“No, I don’t think so, Ally. They will understand. This is especially important,” I answered truthfully. Rett would definitely want to know something like this. He had been helping Ally with her confidence since she was very young. He would be a very proud big brother.

“Okay! I’m going to go call him!” She smiled and ran up the stairs taking two steps at a time excitedly.

“So, what’s up Pea?” I smiled, turning towards my smallest sister, with my hands on my hips.

“I saw a shadow today,” Pia said, suddenly looking frightened.

I tried not to laugh at her cuteness, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Shadows are good guys. They watch out for the person they are connected to.”

“This shadow was following me. He looked mean,” She sniffed.

“No, baby. He’s not mean at all. Actually, your shadow is a girl just like you. Maybe her name’s even Pia!”

“You don’t understand! This isn’t my shadow! It’s a mean man,” She cried, trying to convince me.

“Okay, Pea. Just ignore him then. He won’t hurt you,” I smiled, picking her up and onto my hip soothingly. She put her face into my hair and sniffed sadly. I smiled against her curls and held back a chuckle. Every kid went through this stage. For Rett it was the monsters under his bed. For me it was anything that I heard in the dark. As a little kid, I always thought that Ninja’s would come through my window to kidnap my favorite stuffed animals. This was just another kid thing.

I stood in the kitchen, holding my baby sister until I realized that she was sound asleep against my shoulder. A soft grin lit my lips and I snuck into the playroom. I slipped her from my shoulder onto the small couch and lifted a snuggly blanket over her small body. I creeped out and shut the door behind me quietly.

“Ella!” Ally yelled from the top of the stairs. I cringed and half ran half stumbled to the bottom of the banister.

“Sh!” I whispered, “Pea’s napping.”

“Well, that was awfully fast,” Ally laughed quietly, “Rett’s coming home. He told his friend and he says that it’s okay. He really wants to be here tonight for our celebration.”

“I get it, Al. He would really want to be here,” She smiled proudly. I had never seen my sister so blatantly proud. She knew that she was talented, but never bragged. She was way more modest, as well as more talented, than any of the other piano students.

My parents picked Rett up on their way home, then drove to pick up me and the two girls. Dad silently grabbed Pia while she napped and put her in the car. We were all more than amazed that she slept straight through the car ride. We celebrated Allerton’s triumphant win with our favorite restaurant’s lava cake. It was a night of fun, and I would never want anything to change from that night. As we left the restaurant, Pia grabbed my hand, “There he is!”

“What are you talking about, Pea?” I sighed and looked towards her pointed finger, seeing nothing.

“The shadow man,” She whispered, and I caught a glance of what she was talking so insistently about. Just as I looked at the shadow, it disappeared. Pia whimpered and ran to mum. Mom scooped her up and kissed her head, instantly calming her. I wasn’t so easily calmed. What was going on? Why were these “shadow men”, as Pia called them, seemingly following us around?

I saw no more of these shadow men, nor did I get any reports from my Pea. The weekend flew by. Ally was over Mrs. Green’s house both Saturday and Sunday, preparing for her upcoming concert. Pea stayed in her room most of the weekend, staying hidden from the shadow men. Rett returned to Will’s house the following day, making up for bailing the night before. I wrote my essay, finishing it on Sunday. That Monday of school started pretty smoothly. I didn’t drop anything on my way to my locker, carrying my five-thousand books. Jen continued to have her juvenile crush on my brother, talking about him every second that she could.

After fifteen minutes straight of Jen mooning over my brother, I turned calling, “Bye Jen. Enough talking about my brother!”

She huffed and walked away. I raced to class, hoping that I wouldn’t be late. I really wanted to talk to Gann. He didn’t seem right last Friday. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay, especially with his foster family that he always avoided. I waited outside the classroom, looking for Gann. He never appeared. I frowned and walked in to class, three minutes before we started. My teacher called attendance, and never called Gann’s name. I raised my hand nervously.

“Miss Belcort?” Mr. Calna asked, looking under his glasses that were laid across his nose.

“Where’s Gann?” I stuttered. I never asked questions at school.

“Gann will be out today. He has acquired an illness. Do not worry about him,” Mr. Calna drawled, as if reading off of a prompter.

When lunch was called, I grabbed my books and ran into the cafeteria.

“Where’s Gann?” Jen asked, Rett echoing her.

“Mr. Calna said that he’s sick. He did seem thrown off on Friday,” I shrugged. I figured that he would be back the following day.

Gann did not return to school the entire week. As each day passed, a new sort of unease settled in my stomach. I had no way of getting in touch with Gann and I was honestly very worried about him. Every day I ran into English hoping to see him at his seat next to me. The following weekend, I made Rett crazy about my worry for the Scottish exchange student. Finally, he burst out, “Do you have a crush on him or something?”

“No, of course not,” I blushed deeply, “I’m worried about him as a friend, Rett!”

“Sure, whatever you want to believe,” He laughed. Did I have a crush on Gann? No, of course I didn’t. I was just really uneasy about everything that had happened since I had met him.

I hurried away from Jen the second I saw her at school, I really needed to be early for English. I jogged to my class and sat at my desk, waiting for him to arrive. There were two minutes until class and my hope started to vanish. That’s when my new friend walked into class. I stood at my desk and grinned largely.

“Gann!” I called happily, “You are back!”

“Good day, Ella,” He nodded and sat at a desk in the back.

“Why are you sitting back there?” I turned around and asked confusedly.

“Better lighting,” He replied like it was completely obvious. He then turned towards the windows and completely ignored me.

“So… Are you feeling any better?” I asked wearily.

“Much, thank you,” He nodded again and went back to ignoring me.

I huffed and gave up. Maybe he wasn’t in the mood for talking. I kept glancing back at Gann, wondering what was wrong. When English was over, I waited for him at the door.

“What’s wrong, Gann?” I worried.

“Nothing at all, nothing at all,” He said and walked clean away from me down the hall. I suffered through my next two classes and practically ran full force to lunch. When I arrived, I realized that Gann was already at a table, with the most popular girl and her best friends.

“Rett!” I said and pulled him away from our table.

“Ow, what’s up, Ella?” He rubbed his arm.

“Ugh, you are fine, Rett,” I whacked his arm, “Why is Gann ignoring us?”

He rolled his eyes dramatically, “Why don’t you ask your boyfriend, El?”

I slapped his arm again, “He is not my boyfriend, Rett. Would you get over that? I’m worried that I offended him! He’s completely ignoring me!”

“Like I said, sis. I have no idea. Maybe you did offend him.”

“Ugh,” I groaned, feeling bad. I really must have offended him somehow.

“Don’t confront him today, El. Give him some time. Maybe he just needs to get over whatever happened between all of us,” He shrugged.

“Yeah, I should probably wait,” I agreed eagerly. I hated any kind of confrontation.

“But don’t wait too long,” He eyed me, catching onto my eagerness.

“Yeah, yeah. I know big brother.”

He laughed and sat back down at the table. I strolled over next to Jen.

“Where’s Gann?” Jen asked happily.

I nodded my head towards the popular table, not wanting to talk about it.

“What?” She asked and I shrugged. She nodded, knowing that I needed to stew my thoughts over in my head.

I thought all night about what I should say to him. That following day when he walked in, I opened my mouth to greet him and he walked right by me, not giving me a second glance. I frowned and turned around to look at him. He was in a deep conversation with Ashley, a popular. I turned back to the teacher angrily. Why was he being such a jerk? And for no apparent reason! The rest of the week continued on with no more words from my new ex-friend. I couldn’t stand being in the same room with him now. I glared at him every second that I could. I couldn’t understand why I was taking his rudeness so hard. Maybe Rett was right, maybe I had been crushing on him. All of my feelings were gone for him now, anyway.

The weekend was okay, I guess. On Sunday, I called Jen just to rant about Gann.

“Why do you think he’s ignoring you?” My friend asked, worried about the whole situation.

“I have no idea, really. I don’t think I offended him. I think about it every night, and I can’t seem to remember a time when I was rude to him!” I sighed, “I just wish I could know the truth.”

“Why don’t you ask him?” She said simply, as if it were obvious.

“It’s not that easy, Jen. I can’t just confront him. Not yet anyways. He only sat with us for five days. He would probably think I was absolutely nutty.”

“That’s true, Ella. Maybe you should just leave it and forget about him."

“I know I should. Thanks for talking to me, Jen. I really appreciate it."

“You know I would do anything for you, El. I hope you can move forward from this whole situation.”

“I will, I promise. Bye Jen."

“Bye, El,” She whispered and hung up the phone.