Thursday morning I woke up bright and early. My back was throbbing from spending the entire night on the couch. After a long argument last night, it’d been decided that Anthony and Julius would share Anthony’s king sized bed while I was banned to the couch. My face twisted into a scowl at the memory. The past two nights I’d been sleeping on the floor in Walmart. The least Julius could do was let me sleep on a comfortable bed.

            A vibrating noise suddenly came from the glass side table beside me. Startled, I sat straight up, snatching the phone from the table. After a couple minutes of staring at it, I realized it was Julius’s.  Deciding to be snoopy, I opened it, and found it was a text from my brother. On impulse, I hit the call button and pressed it to my ear.

            “Julius?”

            “No, Ellie.”

            “Ellie!”

            “Hi Mason,” I greeted, a silly smile spreading across my face. “How are you?”

            “I should be asking you that. No one attacked you last night, right?”

            I laughed. “Nah. They put me on the couch.”

            “What jerks.”

            “I know right? Have you checked out the marshes today?”

            “Yeah, still flooded over,” he grumbled moodily. “I’m about to take our canoe and canoe over to get you.”

            My smile grew wider. “Julius too?”

            “He knows how to swim.”

            “Haha, hey! That’s not nice.”

            My brother chuckled throatily. “Kidding, Ellie. I was thinking though, about something pretty obvious.

            “What’s that?”

            “If your car is at Walmart and I pick you up, how will your car get back here?”

            I blinked. “Ah. You’re right.”

            “How about I call you to let you know when the marshes are clear so you can drive home? I’m hoping it’ll be soon. Tomorrow, hopefully. It’s supposed to be sunny. Finally. All rain today though, unfortunately.”

            “Oh, sure,” I responded, throwing the blanket I was wearing to the ground. “Is Mom home? Can I talk to her?”

            “She’s outside cleaning… I’m supposed to be helping her right now.”

            “Oh,” I said glumly. “Okay. You should get back to that. Hopefully see you later.”

            “Stay safe, El.”

            After telling him goodbye, I tossed Julius’s phone back onto the side table. Standing up, I stretched widely, letting out a tired yawn. My stomach grumbled and I placed my hand onto it, frowning.

            “I could hear that all the way from here.”

            My heart leapt into my throat and I twisted on my heel to come face-to-face with Julius. He grinned at me, his messy bed-head hair falling into his face. I stared at him for a few minutes before something clicked in my head.

            He could cook something for me to eat.

            “Morning,” I greeted cheerily.

            “Morning,” he replied, cocking an eyebrow. “You seem happy this morning.”

            “I want you to cook me breakfast.”

            He snorted. “I should’ve guessed. I’ll make you breakfast… Only if you give me a kiss—”

            “I’ll pass,” I deadpanned, turning my back to him. “I’ll just wait until Anthony wakes up. He’ll make it for me. Willingly. For free.”

            Julius rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. I’ll make you something to eat. You’re lucky Ant thought ahead and got stuff for breakfast.”

            “Yay!” I cried, throwing my arms around him. “You’re the best, Julius.”

            “You’re only saying that because I’m making you food.”

            “Maybe…”

            “Quizás.”

            I made a face. “Ew. Don’t speak Spanish in front of me.”

            He smirked. “Por que no?”

            “I don’t understand it! You know I stopped taking Spanish after doing the two years I needed for college.”

            “I know, but I also know it bugs you.”

            Scowling, I crossed my arms. “You’ll never make it as a teacher. You’re too annoying.”

            He waved me off. “I’ll be a great teacher. Just watch. Maybe one day I’ll be teaching Spanish to our kids.”

            “I caught that.”

            Laughing, he escaped into the kitchen before I could find something to throw at him. “Go wake up Anthony!” he called back to me.

            Muttering under my breath, I stomped off to Anthony’s room. His loud snoring met my ears as I gently pushed open the door. This surprised me. Over the past two nights I hadn’t heard him snoring. Grinning, I tip-toed toward his bed. Might as well get some fun out of waking him up…

            Just as I was about to grab his shoulders, he shot up, shouting loudly. “Boo!”

            “Ah!” I cried, shoving myself away from him, tripping over my feet, and falling into his open closet. Somehow I managed to pull off half a dozen shirts from their hangers as I fell.

            Obnoxious guffaws left his mouth as he rolled around on his bed. “I can’t believe you fell into my closet!”

            Annoyed, I struggled to throw all his shirts off me. As I did so, I couldn’t help but to inhale  the scent of them as well. They definitely smelled like Anthony. “Stop laughing and help me!” I ordered after a moment.

             “I scared you so bad! I’m so awesome at it!”

            “Shut up, Anthony!”

            “What’s going on in here?” a new voice demanded.

            “Ellie’s playing closet monster.”

            “I’m not!”

            Julius appeared in front of the closet door after a moment, giving me a disapproving look. “I asked you to wake him up. Not go through his closet, Ellie.”

            “Does it look like I’m going through his closet?”

            “Well… Since you’re so obsess— ugh,” he groaned as I threw a conveniently placed cleat at him.

            “Just help me out.”

            Scowling, he stuck out his tanned hand. I placed my considerably paler one into it and he swiftly pulled me off the ground and out of the closet. “You’re welcome,” he snapped.

            “Thanks. Tool.”

            This sent Anthony into a whole new fit of laughter.

            “I’ll poison your eggs,” Julius threatened.

            I waved him off. “I’ll come help you cook. Since Anthony is obviously up now…” Shooting him a dirty look, I followed Julius out of his room. “I’m suddenly tired again.”

            “I think Anthony has a lack of sleep,” Julius informed me.

            I paused, still being able to hear Anthony laughing. “You’re right,” I said after a moment. That was probably my fault. If I wasn’t such a baby, he wouldn’t have had to stay up all night holding my hand. A blush crossed my face at the memory, but I shook my head. Anyone would be scared in that situation…

            “Ellie, can I ask you a question?”

            “Uh, yeah,” I said, snapping myself out of my thoughts. “Go for it.”

            “While you two were trapped in Walmart… You didn’t, you know, kiss or anything, did you?”

            My face gave me away before I could even speak one word. Julius’s eyes hardened for a moment before he sighed. “I should’ve guessed.”

            “Julius—”

            “You’re not a little girl anymore. Of course you’d make the moves.”

            “I didn’t really…”

            “You didn’t? He did?”

            Unsure of what the correct response to that was, I chose to stay vague. “I don’t know…”

            Julius harrumphed, crossing his arms. “You know, I really don’t like—”

            “I really don’t like you butting into my business! Let it go! Please!” I added, trying not to sound too much like a bitch. “I’m sorry, Julius, but they’re my feelings so I’d appreciate it if you’d stop trying to change them. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous or something!”

            Instead of responding, Julius just shot me a dirty look before trudging off to the kitchen. “I already told you I was just worried.”

            I bit my lip, staring after him. What was he so worried about? It couldn’t be anything too awful. Instead of beating around the bush, he would have said it flat out. So why was he being so moody? It was almost as if he was…

            “Totally jealous.”

            “Anthony!” I said in surprise, twirling around to face him.

            A grin appeared on his face, his green eyes twinkling mischievously. “Don’t you think so too?”

            Doing a one-shouldered shrug, I glanced back at the kitchen where Julius was. “I don’t think so. I mean, he kind of seems jealous, but he’s like my brother. He always has been.”

            “Do you think he feels the same way about you?” Anthony questioned, folding his arms over his chest. “Just because one person feels one way doesn’t mean another person will feel the same thing.”

            I shook my head. “I doubt he likes me like that. A while back I had a crush on him and he knew about it and didn’t do anything. He just teased me all the time, so I finally got over it.”

            Anthony hummed, not appearing satisfied with my answer. “That’s interesting.”

            “What do you think?”

            “What do I think? I think… Well, I’d rather not say,” he decided with a smug smile.

            “Anthony!”

            “I think I’m hungry and ready for some breakfast,” he informed me, snatching my hand from my side and dragging me into the kitchen. “I see our slave is at work.”

            Julius threw a scowl at him. “I’m repaying you for letting us stay here.”

            “Actually, you are repaying me. Ellie isn’t doing anything.”

            “The only thing Ellie can cook is chicken. In the oven. When she doesn’t have to do anything,” Julius responded for me.

            I glowered at him. “I can cook more than that. I just don’t like too. I tend to burn things.”

            “Because you forget they’re cooking…”

            “Shut up, Julius!”

            “Well, I’m sure I can find some other way for her to repay me,” Anthony interjected, shooting a wink at me.

            “Touch her and I kill you,” Julius threatened casually, flipping an egg in frying like a professional. “Prometo.”

            Anthony chuckled, pressing a pointer finger to my shoulder. “I’m touching her…”

            “Stop it,” I said, slapping his hand away. “Can’t you guys get along for like, five seconds?”

            Julius and Anthony glanced at each other and grinned. Before I could blink, they were hugging each other tightly. “I love you man,” Julius cried, burying his face into Anthony’s neck.

            Anthony pretended to choke on fake tears. “Bro, I couldn’t live without you.”

            “Really?”

            “Really… And that’s our five seconds,” Anthony affirmed, pretending to glance at a watch on his wrist. “See? We can do it.”

            Julius laughed, punching Anthony in the shoulder. “Don’t be a smart ass.”

            “That’s my line,” I said, grinning at their stupidity. “Are you guys sure you’re in college?”

            “What? Do you think just because we’re older we have to act like mature thirty-year olds? I’ll have you know, even older people act younger. You’d be surprised to see how some of your teachers act,” Julius informed me, returning to the stove. “Over easy for you too, Anthony? El, your eggs are finished. Bacon should be done soon.”

            I dragged myself to the counter where Julius had placed my eggs on a plate with toast. After thanking him, I seated myself at Anthony’s tiny, wooden kitchen table. The salt was calling out to me, so I seized it and began shaking it onto my eggs. Anthony stared at me with a dumbfounded expression from across the room. “What?” I asked defensively.

            “Too much salt—”

            “Save your breath,” Julius interjected, shaking his head at me. “She knows she’ll kill herself one day.”

            I lifted my chin. “I like salt.”

            “And dying early, apparently.”

            “Shut up, Julius.”

            “I think I’m going to invest in sea salt from now on. It’s a lot healthier than regular salt,” Anthony thought out loud. “That way when you’re over I won’t be helping you kill yourself.”

            Immediately a smile cracked on my face. How often was he planning on having me over?

            “Eggs are done, Ant,” Julius announced, throwing the over-easy eggs onto a waiting plate. “Take a seat. I’ll be over with the bacon.”

            Nodding, Anthony came over to the table and took a seat across from me. “Thanks, Mom.”

            “You’re welcome, dick.”

            I grinned at Anthony’s insulted face. “The eggs are amazing, Julius,” I complimented slyly.

            Anthony mock glowered at me. “Suck up.”

            “Here,” Julius said, sending a plate of bacon clattering onto the table. “Eat up.”

            “You’re not eating?” I inquired.

            He shook his head. “Nah, I’m on a diet.”

            I stared at his flat stomach, my eyebrows furrowing in concern. Was it possible for guys to go anorexic? “Is that so?”

            “It’s not a hardcore diet, Ellie. It’s fine. I’m just not eating fatty foods like bacon. I’ll make myself some toast if it makes you feel better.”

            “It does.”

            “You’re so cute when you’re worried,” he commented, wrapping one of his toned arms around my neck and squeezing.

            I struggled to get him off me. “Stop!”

            Across the table, Anthony didn’t seem amused at all. In fact, he seemed a little irritated. When I caught his gaze he automatically dropped his eyes to his breakfast, angrily shoving a mouthful of eggs into his mouth.

            “What should we do today?” Julius asked, heading to the counter to make himself toast.

            “Well since it’s raining, nothing outside,” Anthony responded grumpily.

            “We can play videogames—”

            “Best idea!” the boys chorused before I could finish.

            Anthony smirked at Julius. “Black Ops. Rematch.”

            “Fine, but you take Ellie.”

            Anthony’s eyes showed that Julius’s remark had caught him off guard. “Huh? I get the extra person?”

            “More like extra luggage.”

            “Hey,” I protested, frowning at him. “I’m good.”

            “Uh-huh. Remember last time we played? You got so frustrated you threw my controller at the wall and broke it…”

            I flushed in embarrassment. “T-that wasn’t Black Ops though! That was a different, stupid game!”

            “It’s basically the same.”

            “I’m really good at Black Ops,” I insisted.

            Anthony gave me a wary look. “I don’t believe her…”

            “Neither do I,” Julius agreed.

            I scowled at the pair of them. “Fine. I’ll show you guys. You two against me.”

            The boys exchanged amused looks. “Okay,” Julius accepted with a grin. “I’ll give you twenty bucks if you can last a minute without being killed by us.”

            “Deal,” I responded, sticking out my hand for him to shake. “You just lost yourself twenty bucks.”

            “Shit! Shit! Anthony, what the hell?” Julius shouted, shoving Anthony’s shoulder as I once again exploded both of them with a detonator.

            “It’s your fault, asshole!”

            If there was one think I learned from playing video games with Anthony and Julius, it was that they swore. A lot.

            “You let her kill you again, idiot!” Julius snapped.

            “She killed you too, dumbass!”

            Smirking, I guided my character around the yellow house I was using as my base. “Suckers. What does that make the score? Fifty to zero?”

            Anthony rammed his elbow into Julius’s side. “If you stop being a shithead we could actually double team her!”

            “Dude, get your head out of the gutter!”

            “That’s not what I meant!”

            I rolled my eyes, setting up the same trap I had the first ten times I’d killed them. After that, they figured it out and had managed to avoid it the few times after. I figured they would’ve forgot about it by now. “Come on you guys, come get me.”

            “Okay, Julius,” Anthony started seriously, turning to look at the blonde. “Listen to my instructions clearly this time. Don’t go running off.”

            “You’re stupid instructions got us killed last time!”

            “That’s because you didn’t listen!”

            While the boys were distracted arguing, I snuck up behind them and shot both of them in the head. “Pew, pew!” I said softly.

            “Fuck!” Julius swore. “Ellie! Stop that!”

            “Stop what?” I responded innocently.

            “You… you’re so lucky you’re a girl! Otherwise I’d punch you in the face.”

            I grimaced. “Nice to know…”

            “I wouldn’t hit you, Ellie,” Anthony said solemnly, “but I may just poison your food…”

            “Sore losers.”

            “You’re like a God!” Julius exclaimed, crossing his arms. “I don’t want to play you anymore.”

            I rolled my eyes. “Come on, Julius. Don’t give up. Play.”

            “No,” he responded stubbornly.

            “We could play a different game?” I suggested, keeping my face expressionless on the outside while on the inside I was gloating. Being better than boys was awesome.

            “Yes. How about tie Ellie to the lamppost outside and leave her there.”

            Laughing, I patted Julius on the shoulder. “Come on, I’ll even let you win.”

            “That doesn’t make me feel better!”

            “I’m doing my best.”           

            “No you’re not!”

            “Geez guys, enough with the flirting,” Anthony interrupted, holding up his hands. “You’re making me sick.” A hard edge appeared in his voice at the last word.

            I blinked at him. “We’re not—”

            “As you wish, Ant,” Julius cut me off, smirking at Anthony. “Let’s play Halo then. I know for a fact Ellie actually is bad at that.”

            “But only because you never let me practice,” I said with a scowl.

            Anthony pursed his lips. “I’ll let you practice, Ellie.”

            “How? Julius will just kill me.”

            Julius grinned. “It’s true.”

            “I’ll protect you,” Anthony told me, reaching for my hand. “Forever and ever and ever—”

            “Game on,” Julius declared, jumping up from the couch. “You have Halo, Ant?”

            “Yep, it’s in the stack,” he replied, leaning back into the couch. “Julius and I are pretty even in this game, Ellie, so don’t worry about being killed.”

            “Good. Maybe one day I’ll be able to kick both your butts like I did in Black Ops.”

            Anthony’s expression dropped. “Maybe I won’t protect you…”

            “Too late.”

            “But—”

            “Too late,” I reiterated, grinning. “You’re helping the creation of a monster.”

            “Monster Ellie, huh? Why don’t you just put some Nuetella on your face?” He grinned.

            I shot him a mocking look. “Ha ha.”

            “Did I miss something?” Julius asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “No,” I said quickly. Julius didn’t need to know about what happened in Walmart. Not when he was being so unclear about everything… I hated to think Anthony’s words could be true. That Julius could like me. I shook my head vehemently. I wasn’t going to think about that right now.

            It was time to kick some more ass.

_________________________________________

Not a really exciting chapter... I knew what direction I wanted this story to go in, but now I'm changing my mind, so I'm at like a crossroads and writer's block at the same time, haha. Can anyone guess Anthony's problem? I think (hope) this chapter made it kind of obvious...

My fan page is in the external link! Like it ;D

Anyway! Today's song is Ashley by Escape the Fate! And today's story is The New Girl by NaturallyBeautiful65! Aqui es... the description! (La descripcion? xD No se).

Rebecca Benson was a very tough girl. She didn't take anyone's shit. And if you mess with her friends or family expect to get your ass kicked. Rebecca ends up moving to a new state and starting a new school. What happens when the school's bad boy takes and interest in her and can't leave her alone. Find out in The New Girl.