It was a beautiful morning as Ella  Park  sat on a bench outside of her house. She  had been  living in Oklahoma for the longest time and her parents decided to move to Florida. They bought a beautiful beach house. It was two stories tall and had a pool. It had  Everything except one thing was wrong. She  had no friends Even before they moved. She is not very good at making friends. She is normally just a girl  who sits there and waits for someone to come talk to her.

She would talk to her mother about having no friends. But then she remembered that one summer she met a boy But she did not  Remember his name. Ella her mother called come her i need to talk to you about Something.Coming i run downstairs it felt like a fairy tail the stars were twisted and looked like they could go for miles i thought it would be cute to put flowers and vines all over i i think it would be so cute.

I got down Stairs my mother was sitting on the couch with my dad they told me to sit down and they both had faded smiles i asked what was wrong they said we are no longer living together when i Heard the news i jumped out of my seat and said that's not fair for anyone my mother told me to bo to my room and that is what i did. I was not sad or happy I was just there. I felt what my parents wanted me to feel.

My dad left that night and told me I could visit him whenever I wanted. I loved my dad but I would definitely stay with my mom any day. see i love my dad but he just was always at work so i never got to know him that well i miss him so much but i know it's for the best.i went outside for the first time in a while i saw my mom talking to the nabers ella she called come meet are nabers and of course i don't want to see them but i walked over there anyway it was the least i could do for my mom.

honey she said this is mr and mrs qualls they both said hi and shook my hand mr qualls was yelling at someone i could not here what he was saying but A couple minutes later,it looked   like a young boy was walking towards us ella this is eli mr qualls said i shook his hand he looked at me like i was crazy mrs qualls Jabbed her elbow into Eli side, saying say something polite, please he flinched like he was in pain i did not see what happened Hehe walked up to me and  said hi nice    to meet you im eli.

I shook his hand back.i walked home happier than ever i thought i made a friend but i never know anything. My first day of school is tomorrow. I'm kind of excited to see my cousin Lexy. We were good friends. My mom told me to go to bed early that night. I was in bed by nine thirty but I stayed up till twelve thirty. My room was so messy I told myself that's tomorrow's problem.

My mom woke me up at six thirty and told me to get ready for school but what she did not know was i slept in my school clothes so all i had to do  was brush my hair and teeth after i got ready i sat on my bed and wrote In my jernel it was not so much of diary I just write what I’m thinking and it’s never dramatic today I just wrote about mom and dads divorce I wrote my dads address down.all the way across the hall  I could hear my mom yelling saying Ella come downstairs I have breakfast ready.

coming mom I stuffed my notebook under my pillow and crabbed my backpack and ran downstairs and that is when I saw him again.the blondhead dark skinned blue eyed boy that I saw the day we got here. He sure was pretty I think I was staring at him to much because he gave me a weird look i just ignored it and sat down my mom sat down and started to explain that Eli had to stay with for 3 months because his mom and dad are going on vacation

Eli stood up and said step dad and walked outside.I followed him to see what he was doing I was not trying to look like a stalker I did not see him but he saw me and said dude you are freaking me out I turned around and said oh sorry I did not see you there he laughed I think that was the first time I ever heard him laugh.i asked him why he looked so mad he rolled his eyes and said because my dad sucks all he wants to do is take my mom away from me and he is trying to put me in foster care

I realized why he was so sad. Now it made me feel so bad for him. I was about to ask him if he wanted to hang out after school but my mom interrupted and said get in the car we have to go or we are going to be late we all got in the car. My mom had used my dads money to buy her new red mustang. I told her it was a bad idea but know one listens to me anyway Eli said nice car Mrs park. wile giving me the death stare my mom said thanks Eli I sat in my seat and rolled my eyes.

The car was quiet until my mom started yelling at Siri to get directions to Blue Bird high school. We got there a little late. Me and Eli have the same  Classes all year long. The first class is history. as soon as we walked in, Miss Waller was giving us the side eye and she looked at Eli and said do you have a good reason why you were late Eli rolled his eyes and said do I really need a good reason  I jabbed Eli in the shoulder don’t say that you’re gonna get in trouble.

He looked at me and said why should I care that I get in trouble all the time with my father. It doesn't matter anymore. Miss Waller said Eli, don't make me call your dad. Eli stood it from his desk and said my dad‘s dead. Some kids were laughing and some kids were just staring at Eli like he said something crazy. One of Eli‘s cousin  Bob said stop lying, your dad‘s not dead. I walked over to him and said yes he is. I have to live with my stupid stepdad.

That’s trying to put me up for adoption. How would you feel? Bob Miss Waller interrupted the class.boys stop talking, please. I’m trying to teach history.Eli interrupted then why were you yelling at us earlier Miss Waller said Eli go to the principal's office now Eli.Miss Waller walked out of the classroom and looked like she was yelling at Eli

I felt so bad I wanted to March right out there to help him but of course I didn’t.I never saw  him the rest of the day I wonder what happened to him.i went to lunch at 12:30 I missed Eli I don’t know why because I was  never around him anyway a girl in a pink dress walked over to me and asked if she could sit with me I gave it some thought and said of course you can and of course the first thing she asked me was so you know Eli qualls he is super cute but he has no brain.

I looked at her and said he is very smart she looked at me and said sorry my name is Ava Lewis nice to meet you she put her hand in front of me and I shook it and said hi my name is Ella park nice to meet you Ava looked at me like I was crazy I said what are you looking at she responded with are you reading the outsiders by s.e Hinton yeah Ava said I love that book she also asked me if I wanted to be friends with her of course I said yes I was so happy to have a real friend.

I got on the bus at 2:30 and got home at 3:34 I got of the bus and saw Eli in the window sort of crying I was so confused did he come home early and why was he crying I dropped my bags at the door and went in to the living room and my mom was holding a paper towel over Eli’s hand I walked in and asked Eli what did they do to you he just looked at me and said it doesn’t matter my mom pressed the paper towel harder in to his skin he jumped and said ow please stop he got up and walked over to the trash can and put his bloody paper towel in it my mom yelled  to Eli and said you have to get stitches get back here.

I asked why she did not take him to the hospital she told me it was to expensive and she knew Eli’s parents would never pay her back I felt so bad for Eli I walked up to him and asked do you need anything he said for you to magically fix my hand he took his hand off his giant cut . It was already bruised, and the cut was so deep, but I asked how did they cut you he said they had a  ruler, and it was very sharp and the edge cut my hand he closed his eyes like he was in serious pain I felt so bad he walked back to his room we only had 4 days until summer well actually 3 now it was 3 in the morning and I herd Eli talking from his bedroom

I don’t know who he was talking to but it sounded serious I think he heard me because he came outside his door and shoved me in his room I looked at him and said I didn't mean to snoop I’m sorry he looked at me like I was crazy he said that is not why I brought you in here I asked then why did you I saw him start to get teary eyed he said Ella listen my mom and step dad Jacob are getting married at the end of the month and I need you to help me stop it. And why would I help you I asked he told me because we would never be able to see each other again.

I looked at him and said really he said uh yeah what do you think I was telling you. That night I sat in Eli’s room till 5 am planning how to stop his parents' wedding. We had sticky notes everywhere markers all over the floor and string all over Eli’s bed. I had a good time. I never knew I would get along with Eli this well.

The next morning I gave  Eli a big hug  because he was not coming to school because of the incident my mom told me I had to ride the bus I hated the bus so much it was to loud  music would be playing kids would be yapping all at 8 am and all I wanted to do was sleep I got on the bus and sat down in seat 24 with Ava she was talking to me about Eli once again she asked is he fun to live with what does he do does he do stuff with you I looked at her and said Ava all I do with Eli is talk to him Ava practically jumped out of her seat what do you guys talk about I looked at her and said none of your business Ava laughed and went back to reading her book when I walked through the doors I could just here kids spreading rumors like did you hear that Eli punched a teacher and then he tried to get her fired.

There was a certain group of kids who would try to find out your dark secrets and tell them to the whole school and they would twist your words. I have only been at this school for a day and I know too much. Well Eli told me most of the information I know he is pretty great like that I went to Miss Waller class she looked at me and said welcome back Ella. I sat down in seat 24. I loved that seat because it was in the back of the classroom and it was nice and dark. Miss Waller gave all of us all big books about the  renaissance and she told us we had to write a paper on the book. I rolled my eyes and got started. My essay was done at the end of class.

My next class was science. and Mr Mac was great all he made us do is a color by number but it was science addition  it was cool i spent one hour in Mr mac's class it was fun after Mr. Max's class we had lunch and then we only had two more classes after that  school was over. I got up to leave his class and he called me over to his desk and asked me how I was doing I told him I was fine and then he asked me the question how is Eli and of course I told him he was fine clearly lying he just sat there and laughed after I finished and told me I could go I sat in my math class for. About 30 minutes it felt like 5 hours the announcements came on they said that girls volleyball tryouts would be Monday the 16th I thought I would tryout.i got on bus 3 and still sat in seat 24 once again I saw Ava coming to sit with me she asked me if I knew if Eli would come back to school I told her probably not she looked at me and said well I guess I don’t have a chance with him I looked at her and said you never had a chance with him Ava looked at me and said fine it’s a challenge who ever can get Eli to fall in love with them first I told Ava it was a dumb idea but of course I was gonna try because honestly, I think Eli likes me anyway.

I mean, why would he look at me like that if he didn’t but it did not matter as soon as I got off the bus, I started walking through the front door and I saw Eli. I think he was talking to my mom about something. Oh wait no he was on a call, but with who I walked in and Eli had smashed the phone on the table I ran in to see what happened. I said Eli, are you OK? He looked at me and said no my stupid dad is trying to tell me that when he gets home I have to move somewhere else I felt so bad. I thought he was  having a panic attack.he was so mad I told Eli . We need to go some park or something. I have a fun idea for us to do. I rolled his eyes and said I’m not in the mood. I’m so freaking mad. I hooked Eli and it seems like he was a little happier. I told him if your dad doesn’t want you to live with him and your mom you can live with us. I kind of laughed. He said please you guys couldn’t stand me for the rest of your lives. I’m just being good cause I barely love you guys. My mom came out of the corner and she started laughing. She said Eli if you need to come here anytime you don’t even have to let me know. Just come on over.

you I laughed and said it’d be nice to hang around people who actually care about me unlike my dad more like stepdad. OK so what is this park? We’re going to. I grabbed his hand and said Eli qualls. We are going to the best park in the entire town. I looked down at my hand and I thought it was a bad idea to hold his hand, but he smiled and just started walking out  the door. I didn’t wanna admit it, but I felt really good. His hand was so soft. I’m not trying to be dramatic or anything, but like I could hold his hand forever. We went to Jay Creek Park. Eli was telling me there is  a Jay Creek Park in Australia I thought it was so cool. I asked him how he knew that and he said he was from Australia I asked him. Why doesn’t he talk Australian he said his father made him speak better  English I told him he could speak whatever language he wanted to around me. I never heard his Australian voice, but I like hot Australian guys so yeah I think this will work out well. I'm totally beating Ava at this game. Apparently Eli was allowed back at the school. I’m surprised I guess mom probably called in and told them he goes to school or she calls the cops which honestly would make a ton of sense to me.

All I know is after  what happened. Eli is being banned from school forever. The date was May 21, 1981 the time 2:30 John and his little gang of tweets started walking through the hall . They knew some sort of form of martial arts. Nobody knew what they knew. They just spread little secrets around the school. Eli was  mining his business in Miss Weaver‘s class doing his homework in his desk  chair. John came up to him and said hey what are the answers stupid. John shoved Eli out of his chair. Eli hopped up onto his feet quicker than I’ve ever seen him. Do it I could tell he wanted to punch John so bad but he had other plans. He had to wait for Miss Weaver to leave as soon as John came over. He took out  Papers for the test that were the wrong answers and he knew that John was gonna copy off them and give the answers to his buddies and he wanted to make sure they all got the answers wrong. and failed the class.

Miss Weaver comes back to the classroom and said Sean can you please move your seat away from Eli? John just huffed and puffed and went to move to seat. We only spent 30 more minutes of Miss Weaver‘s class. Eli hated every second of it. I know he did. I feel bad for him. He would just be kicked out of school and now they’re putting it back in. That seems like a bad idea to me. We had to be at school a little later because I had presentations today. I wasn’t involved in the presentations, but Eli was the day he came back. They made him do a presentation. How dumb is that from the corner of my eye I see Ava  talking to Eli. Eli was smiling, even blushing. I knew I had to get in there quickly. I walked over to Eli and said hey. he quickly looked at me and smiled. He gave me a hug for some random reason. Ava got so jealous that she ran away. I pushed myself away from Eli why would you give me a hug right in front of Ava? He said because she was creeping me out. I wanted her to leave me alone.

I told him pretty valid reason some reporters came up to Eli’s table and asked what his presentation was about. He just froze in  place of course I did it for him. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? Let my friend just sit there and be humiliated. I don’t think so. And this is when it happened John started walking over to Lucas’s table and dumping everything off of it all the models he took forever to build the time that you live so mad what he did I was not expecting he freaking did some random park moves off the table, hitting John in the face like he was in the air for about three seconds

It was so cool. I never thought Eli was capable of hurting somebody but then again John does now karate. Somehow Eli still managed to kick his butt I was cheering on Eli and Eli looked more beat up than John. John got him a few times, but Eli was sitting there whooping his butt. Best thing I’ve ever seen but I was still shockinghow Eli never told me he knew some sort of form of martial art arts. I was not gonna be upset that he didn’t tell me, but I was excited to ask him questions after school that is if he was coming home, the principal started walking into the gym to see how everything‘s going I grabbed Eli‘s arm and ripped him away from John. Eli punched me so hard. I cried. I sat there like a baby and cried. Eli realize what he did. Max started walking in the room and asked what happened. I told him that John and some of his friends had knocked over his display. That was half the truth.

I didn’t see Eli for the rest of the day. I got home a little earlier cause I went to the nurses office as soon as Eli came home I looked him in and he just looked down and ran to his room. I gave him a couple hours to just chill out and then I went to go see what was wrong, but I knew it was wrong. He probably felt a shame that he hurt me. I walked into his room and there he was in a dark corner head tucked in his knees, miserable. I asked him if he was OK. No answer. Nothing, not even a peep. I sat in his room for a little bit. Just wait until you would talk, but he didn’t. It was two in the morning when he finally came around and let me come back in his room, well actually he didn’t let me in because the door was  unlocked.

I wanted to make sure he was OK. I came in and he was still in that same spot. We tried to give him food. He wouldn’t eat it. He looked up at me. Looks like he’s been crying for a while. I asked him if he was OK and I finally got an answer. He told me he was fine but I know he was not fine. I tried to cheer up and I said hey you did a good job beating John up today that just made him sink into his knees a little more I feel really bad. He looked at me and said I’m really sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you. Ella. I looked at him and said that’s what you’re worried about. Are you joking me that did not hurt that bad Eli  looked at me and said stop lying. You were literally crying. Ella said I know and I’m sorry you looked at me instead of you’re sorry. I’m in big trouble with my dad and  your mom. Even my mom. I asked him where he learned all  of the cool moves he told me it was a story for. Another time.of course it turned into an awkward silence. I tried to change the subject and asked, "Did you like school today?

e is Then I remembered what happened and instantly regretted it. He looked at me and then rolled his eyes and said, “What are you trying to get out of this, Ella? I will never understand you.”

I stood there, fists clenched at my sides, heart pounding in my ears. I was trying so hard not to yell at him. He never tells me anything. He’s been living here for four weeks now—four long weeks of walking past me in the hallway, sitting across from me at dinner, sleeping in the room next to mine—and he’s stayed silent. Like none of it matters. Like I don’t exist.

“You don’t have to understand me,” I said, finally. “But maybe try talking to me instead of acting like I’m the one who ruined everything.”

He flinched. I saw it. Just for a second, the cool, distant Eli cracked.

“I didn’t ask to be here,” he said, voice low.

“I know that,” I snapped. “But you are. You’re here. And I don’t get why you act like I’m the enemy when I’ve done nothing but try to help.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the floor. “You don’t get it, Ella. You’re just this… this perfect little storm of normal. And I’m not.”

I blinked. “What does that even mean?”

“It means I don’t belong here. I don’t belong in your family. Or in this house. Or in this small, suffocating town where everyone whispers about why I moved in with you.”

His voice cracked at the end, and I saw it—the real him. Not the rolled eyes, not the cold shoulder. Just a scared kid who lost more than he could say.

My voice softened. “Eli, I never asked for any of this either. But I see you. And I know you think no one does, but I do. You don’t have to go through this like you’re some ghost haunting the guest room.”

He looked up at me, finally. Really looked. His eyes were tired, angry, and maybe—just maybe—a little sorry.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he said. “Be around people again.”

“Then let’s not pretend,” I said. “Let’s just start there.”

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t walk away either.

And maybe that was enough—for now.