Young Writers Society

Apparently, Maddie had said something really bad about me, and Duncan had heard. Duncan told me the witch said something along the lines of me being an orphan, and how poor and unfortunate I am, unlike her, who was super rich and had both parents who loved her and each other. Duncan had started shouting at Maddie, but Mark had come between them both and stood up for his twin. Mark’s concern was obvious, but Maddie? I sighed.

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.” I told him.

“I had to.” he said suddenly. “She was saying horrible things about you. Do you want me to repeat–” he took one look at me and shut up. My jaw had tightened and I could feel my face heating up.

Maryam giggled. So did Imogen. Soon, Samantha joined, getting their looks. I looked at the three of them, laughing now, getting even angrier. Ignoring them, I looked back at Duncan and locked eyes with him. “I don’t need you watching over me, thank you very much.” I said. Getting up, I walked out of the classroom.

Samantha’s laughter quieted. I paused to hear what she would say. “It’s okay. She doesn’t even sense it yet.” she said quietly. I could tell she was telling Duncan this. That annoyed me even more.

“I’ll be waiting.” I snapped and walked right out, shrugging on my backpack as I passed the water fountain. The guy thinks he’s going to be my guardian angel now. Haha, very funny. I got a mom now and what does he do? Follow me around like… I dunno, he’s my dog. But then again, he’s been following me around since grade five. What a surprise. I snorted, shaking my head.

I headed out the school gates, and sat under a willow tree, whipping out my phone to check my notifications. I checked Instagram and scrolled through the main page. A username caught my eye. Invincible. A lump formed in my throat. More news, I suppose.

I hope my fellow followers remember that weirdo girl we’ve been talking about. Ha, dead mother. Crazy father. Afraid of horses and that’s why he doesn’t let her ride. Such a messed up life.

Well, guess what I found out, readers? Some more information! /waggles eyebrows/

Apparently, the freak’s life started getting crappy when she turned eleven. Her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer. As soon as she was, though, her father decided that he was going to divorce his wife. What was the point of taking care of a person and wasting thousands of dollars on a person who was going to end up dead?

The freak was a LOSER in that grade. The freak started going to therapy, but it didn’t help at all. She had friends, but she glossed smiles and cheer over that. For a while, her father let her ride horses, but soon, in three years, he freaked out about it.

Talk about over protective.

When he did divorce his wife, he left with Ella to a house farther away from where they used to live. Ella herself was forbidden to go to her mother’s house, but her father had /assured/ her that she could go to her mother’s funeral. After a year, Ella’s mother died from grief. She had stage 1 cancer, man, not too bad, she was fine. She /was/ fine. It was all okay, but then she just DIED.

Anyway, that’s it for today folks! Be updated for next week’s post. ;)

What the heck. What the actual heck.

I looked around frantically for my friends. They were already heading towards me, Duncan going the other way. My heart started beating faster and faster. I had to see Ella. Now. I got up, dropped my backpack and phone, dashed towards the threesome. “Sammy, Imogen, Maryam. Check Invincible’s post on Instagram. It’s horrible.” I croaked out.

Seeing my panicked expression, Maryam cautiously took out her phone and skimmed the post, her face growing paler by the second. She passed her phone over to Samantha and Imogen. She looked at me, horror-struck. “How could someone be so cruel?”

“I don’t know.” I sobbed, noticing that tears were flowing down my eyes. I had met Mrs Rowe. She was the sweetest angel. It didn’t make sense. Why would he leave such an angelic woman? And, to be honest, I never always like Mr Rowe. He creeped me out.

Seeing a crowd still back in the field, probably to obsess over Mark and his injuries, I tapped her on the shoulder. “I’m going to Ella.”

“Who is this?” Samantha said, groaning, giving Maryam back her phone.

“I admit I have no clue who Ella is and her background, but… guys, this is sad.” Imogen commented, frowning.

“That’s why I’m going to talk to Ella.” I wiped away my tears.

“Julia, you’re crazy.” Maryam scolded, grabbing my shoulders. “Look at realism. I’m sorry to break the news to you, but she doesn’t like us anymore. Even though we did. She destroyed our friendship, and you’ll have to let that sink in. It’s been a while now, Julia.” she shook my slightly.

What she said hurt. I swallowed the lump in my throat. But she had a point. I had to be logical. Ella wasn’t going to just magically listen to me just because I asked her to. Logic, Julie. It was time to forget Ella Rowe.

I sighed. “Fine. Where’s Duncan?” I asked. “I want to apologize.”

“He already left.” Samantha smiled. “Let’s go to your place now, get Alfie and do some shopping!” she grinned.

I rolled my eyes. “Okay.” Maryam smiled at me, let go, and followed me to my backpack that I had left near the tree.

+++

In twenty minutes flat, we had reached the pet store, Alfie in my arms. “I hate you guys so much.” I suddenly said, tackling Alfie for the fifth time so he would stay still. “You could have at least got a leash.”

“We got you a puppy! And you’re worrying about a leash!” Imogen laughed, getting the attention of an old woman who sneered at them. Old people and teenagers? Nah, we don’t go along well.

Samantha nudged me. “Look, we made Nanny McPhee upset.” she stifled a laugh, Maryam did too, but Imogen couldn’t. She laughed some more, and the old woman scowled, hobbling away on her cane.

“Ah, here’s a leash.” Maryam rushed over to a blue leash. It was dotted with black polka dots, and Alfie seemed to be liking it considering how he was nudging it. He looked at me with his adorable little eyes, and I grinned.

“We’ll take it.” I said. “Let’s go to the food section.”

Following signs, we ended up in the dog food aisle. I asked an employee for help, and he guided me to the kibble. Telling me that I was free to come to him if I have anymore questions, I should feel free to come to him.

Kind people, employees are. They don’t always get the respect they deserve and that’s very unfortunate.

We got a big, ten pound of kibble, package for Alfie, and he got excited as he sensed all the food. He squirmed in my arms as I struggled to help my friends put the package in the cart. “Quit it, Jules. Just makes sure Alfie doesn’t run away.” Imogen assured me.

But I helped anyways.

+++

Once we had checked out everything, I called Grams so she could pick us up. There was no way we were just going to carry around a ten pound package of kibble and some extra things. We cherished our backs, the four of us.

Grams dropped Samantha off first, then Imogen, and lastly Maryam.

"Thanks for the ride, Mrs Portman!" Maryam chirped.

"Call me Michelle dear, I've told you before as well." Grams smiled.

"Alright, Michelle." she giggled, and jogged into her house. We both knew she would forget to call Grams Michelle and instead just go ahead and call her Mrs Portman. We passed house after house, and soon reached our own. I opened the car's back door and Alfie came bounding out. I let out a low whistle and he came bouncing onto my feet. Laughing, I dropped him off inside the house and brought all his things inside.

"That was so much fun." I finally sighed.

"Was it?" Mum's voice rang through the hall. She came into the living room. "Did you set up all of Alfie's things? His bed, toys, food?" she asked.

"Yes, Mum, I did." I smiled and she sat down on Grams' other side. I sighed, exhausted from today's events and slid down onto my side so that my head was on Gram's lap.

"Tired?" she asked. I hummed in response.

"You're my mother, you know?" Mum said playfully. The way she said that made her sound like a person with a snobbish British accent. I felt her head graze mine as she laid her head on Grams' other lap. "I got a job by the way."

"Congrats, Mum." I said, my heart fluttering. 

"Thank you, darling." 

"My two angels." Grams whispered, stroking our hair.

And, for real this time, I felt as if I was a part of a family. And I knew at that moment, that my life would start getting better.