Ella | Cannon Beach, Oregon

"Oh my God, you took me to Cannon Beach!?" I exclaimed while grabbing my suitcase.

"Yeah. I knew it was the top thing on your bucket list." She said, smiling.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I said, wrapping my arms around her while she laughed.

"You're welcome but it's not just me that you have to thank. Come on." She said, walking away from me.

"Who else is here?" I asked, following her.

She didn't respond, instead she led me out of the airport and to a waiting area.

"We're here." Kelly sang, gaining attention.

"Ella!" A familiar voice said before I was snatched into a hug.

Judging by the perfume, I knew it was Gracie. Which made me end the hug, causing her to look at me confusingly.

"You never came to my graduation after promising me that you would. Now you see me in person and what? Do you think I'm not mad?" I said, stepping back from her.

She tilted her head and smiled.

"Why're you smiling. There's nothing to smile about." I said.

"Let me show you something." She said, pulling out her phone.

I watched as she tapped on the screen a few times before handing it to me. I raised an eyebrow and hit play on the video. When the video started the camera was on Gracie who was smiling and of course fixing her hair. Then she turned the camera to Grayson, who made a stupid face. Then the camera turned to Kenzie who held up a sign that said Congrats Ella! with a smile. The camera flipped around seeing a bleacher version of my graduation. The camera zoomed in on me as I walked across the stage to shake my former principals' hand and pick up my then empty black book. The video then ended.

"We were there. We saw you from when you entered, to when you grabbed your diploma and to when you exited the coliseum." Gracie said.

"Grayson and I wanted to see you right after, but someone wanted to make it seem like we weren't there." Kenzie said, glancing at Gracie.

"I'm sorry. I thought you weren't there." I said, softly.

"It's okay, congratulations though." Gracie said, giving me another hug that I returned this time.

"Thanks." I said, pulling back.

"Congrats, little sister." Grayson said, side hugging me while ruffling my messy bun.

"Thanks." I grinned.

I hugged Kenzie and Ace before turning to the three people that was behind them. My smile dropped once I saw who it was.

Sitting in front of me were two unfamiliar gorgeous females and the person who loved me then broke me.

"What's he doing here?" I asked, looking at Kelly.

"I-I don't know. I didn't know he'd be here." Kelly stuttered, looking at me.

"I invited him. I thought you two ended on good terms and were friends." Grayson said.

"Friends?" I asked, looking at my brother. "We're the furthest thing from that." I said, looking at Blake.

I could feel the stinging sensation in my eyes. The one that I hated so much now.

Even though Blake hurt me, and I have no idea why, I still loved the idiot. So, all my feelings that I stored away just came flooding back. There's love, hate, hurt, pain, and other unidentified emotions.

"So, who exactly are you two?" Gracie asked, looking at the undeniably gorgeous girls.

"This is Noelle, my bestfriend and I'm Nina, Blake's girlfriend." Nina said, smiling before placing a kiss on his cheek.

Girlfriend?

It's been a year and he's already moved on? He left me without an answer and has the nerve to move onto someone else without giving me any dang closure?

I blinked back my tears and forced a smile.

"It's nice to meet you." I said, softly.

"You too." Nina said, smirking.

"C'mon, El." Kelly whispered, guiding me away from them. "I'm really sorry. I didn-" She began, but I cut her off.

"It's fine." I said, looking out of the large window.

I heard her sigh before her footsteps leading away.

"What was that?" Gracie said, appearing beside of me.

"What was what?"

"Don't play with me Ella. I'm your sister, I know when something is wrong." She said, now standing in front of me.

"Do you? Do you really? Because if you knew like you say you do then you'd know that Blake left me in the dark. We haven't talked since the third week of my senior year. See, I'm a little confused here. You like to tell people that I'm your sister but last time I checked, I haven't seen you since you went to NYU. What? Were you too busy partying to remember your sister?" I snapped, walking off.

I went outside and sat on a nearby bench, while sighing.

I didn't mean to snap on Gracie like that, I'm just upset. Blake has the audacity to show up and bring his girlfriend. Doesn't he know that I'm still hurting? I'm still confused.

"Hi, can I sit here?" A soft voice said, causing me to look up and into the eyes of Noelle.

"Sure, it's a public bench." I said, shrugging.

She gave me a brief smile and sat down. It was quiet between us for a minute before she spoke up.

"I know I probably shouldn't get involved, which is why I'm not. I just want to say that if you want me to leave, just say so and I can go. It'll be no problem. I only came because Nina came." She said, looking over at me.

"No no, it's fine. I don't have a problem with you. I don't have a problem with Nina either. My problem is Blake." I said, watching her nod.

"I heard this is one of your dream places to visit."

"Yeah." I began, smiling. "Cannon Beach and Seaside are top on the list. The good thing is Seaside is only fourteen minutes away, which I find awesome because- oh, I'm ranting. Sorry." I finished, causing her to laugh.

"It's fine, trust me. I'm a ranter too. I think I talk too much for my own good."

"Me too." I said, laughing with her.

"But um, yeah. I told you I wasn't going to get into it, and I mean it. I'm not going to ask you what happened, I'm not going to ask around. It's just..." She began but paused. "You're here in one of your dream places. Don't let whatever happened between you and Blake, ruin your time here. If I were you, I would just have the time of my life here then when it's time to go home, deal with your feelings then. Just don't let him or anything else ruin your dream vacation." She said, smiling.

She's right.

I'm in Cannon Beach which is only fourteen minutes away from Seaside, which means I can go to both cities in one day and have a lot of time to do a bunch of other stuff. I can't let Blake nor Nina ruin my time in my dream places.

I won't.

"You're right and I won't. It's my first time here, so I'm going to make it count. I'm going to have fun and not worry about the past or the fact that my ex brought his new girlfriend. I'm just going to enjoy my time here." I said, nodding.

"Good, it's not worth it."

We sat there in silence.

Noelle seems nice which confuses me. She is Nina's bestfriend, who seems like another Hailee— a female dog. So why is Noelle being nice to me? Shouldn't she be like Nina?

"Noelle, can I ask you something?" I asked, looking over at her.

"Yeah, sure."

"I mean nothing by it, I promise but why are you being nice to me? You're Nina's bestfriend, who, no offense, isn't the nicest person. Shouldn't you be rude to me as well? It's clear that Nina doesn't like me, shouldn't you not like me as well?"

I watched her closely, seeing the thoughts running through her brain. She furrowed her eyebrows before turning to me completely.

"No it's fine. I'm the only one who really understands Nina. Yes, she's a bitch. There is no doubt about that. It's honestly crazy how we get along so well. I guess it's because we've grown up together, from pre-school days. Nina's parents do way too much for her, they spoil her more than they should, and it's always been like that. In fifth grade, she got in trouble for cutting a little girls pig tails off and it didn't matter, she still got three hundred dollars when she got home. When she turned sixteen, she crashed a brand-new Ferrari just because she didn't like the color. It didn't matter because by the time she got home, she had a brand new one sitting in the driveway. I on the other hand, work for everything I have. Yes, my family has way too much money, but my parents are strict and level headed. My grades are below a B? My entire bank account gets drained. When I graduate college, they are cutting me from their funds. Wait, I'm getting completely sidetracked from the question." She said laughing. "My parents raised me with class. Showing me the way the world actually works. Be nice to everyone, cherish what you have because it can be gone tomorrow. It's just the way I was raised. I'm not going to not like you just because Nina doesn't, it's not the way I was raised." She said.

Noelle isn't that bad, to be honest.

-  -  -  -  -

Chapter 3

+ What do you think about Noelle?

+ Leave comments and votes!