“Good morning, Mrs Pearce. Is Ellie around?” I asked, forcing a polite smile.

She raised one eyebrow at that and pulled the door closer to her body, closing the gap in a ‘you’re not welcome in my house’ gesture. “And what are you doing here, Jamie? I was under the impression that you two had broken up,” she replied, her voice cold and emotionless.

I frowned and shook my head. “We didn’t break up,” I corrected, wondering why on earth she would think that.

She frowned and cocked her head to the side like Ellie does when she’s thinking hard about something. When Ellie does it however, it looks cute, like a little curious puppy, when her mother did it I was reminded of a cobra that’s waiting to attack.

“Well you definitely weren’t the one that brought her home from the dance last night,” she countered.

I sighed and shook my head. “No, I wasn’t feeling well so I left early. Paul drove Ellie home for me,” I said, trying not to show my lie in my voice.

She laughed quietly and rolled her eyes. “I think I can recognise Mark when I see him, my daughter dated him for long enough.”

Mark? Mark drove Ellie home last night? Damn, I hated the thought of that guy anywhere near her.

I didn’t begrudge her male friends, I would never tell her she couldn’t talk to another guy - but Mark just rubbed me up the wrong way. I think it was the fact that he was perfect for her and was the complete opposite of me. He was respectable, ambitious, talented, smart, and he wanted to be a doctor - he was every mothers dream date for their daughters. I hated him because I knew that at some point - and it seemed like that point might be now - I would lose her to him.

“Mark drove her home?” I asked, swallowing my unease.

She smiled and nodded, looking a little smug about it. “Mmm hmm. I just assumed that you two had broken up because Ellison and Mark were kissing….. maybe she just hasn’t told you?” she offered nastily.

Kissing? What the hell? Disappointment and sadness settled in the pit of my stomach as my blood seemed to turn to ice in my veins. It was over. Ellie had finally come to her senses and wised up to the fact that I was a waste of space and that she was better off with someone else. I didn’t even feel angry about it because I just wanted her to be happy.

I tightened my jaw as she continued to speak while looking at me like I was something nasty on the bottom of her shoe. “So maybe you should run along and corrupt someone else’s daughter. Clearly your time with the rich little cheerleader, is finished.”

“Is Ellie home? I’d like to hear it from her, if that’s okay,” I replied tersely. If it was really over then I could accept that, but not from this hateful witch, if Ellie told me it was over then so be it, but I wasn’t walking away from here without asking her for one last chance - even just a friendship chance, I just needed to keep her in my life.

Ruth shifted on her feet, stepping out of the door, pulling it closed behind her. Her grey eyes that were the same as Ellie’s just harder and less forgiving, locked onto mine as she turned her nose up at me. “She’s sleeping,” she answered. “Look, Jamie, let’s be honest here, we both knew this was coming. All girls go through a bad boy stage at some point in their lives, and it looks like you were my daughter’s, but it’s done now. I’m not letting you ruin her future, she deserves better than you.”

I gulped. I couldn’t even disagree with her words - they mirrored my opinion too.

“So just leave. You’re neither wanted nor welcome here,” she finished. Before I could answer or even think of what I wanted to say, she span on her heel and headed inside, closing the door in my face.

I squeezed my eyes shut as my heart hurt in my chest at the thought of not being with her. Part of me wanted to walk away with my tail between my legs. She was right, I knew this was coming and that didn’t ease the pain one little bit. The more selfish part of me wanted Ellie so badly that I would literally do anything to keep her with me so I wasn’t facing the world on my own with no reason to keep trying to be the person who I wanted to be.

Instead of walking away, I bent down and picked up a couple of small pebbles from the floor and strutted around to the side of their house, scaling the six foot gate they had at their side of their property and dropping down the other side. I walked into the back yard, looking up at Ellie’s window on the second floor.

I took a deep breath and threw the first little pebble. It hit its target, tapping on her window gently.

When nothing happened, I threw the next one and then the next. I bent and picked up a couple more, throwing them too.

The last one had already left my hand as the window slid open and Ellie squealed before laughing and sticking her head out. “What the heck are you throwing stones at me for?” she asked, laughing and rubbing her forehead. She leant out the window and I noticed that she was fully dressed, her hair brushed and pulled back into a little bun - sleeping my ass, her stupid mother lied!

I smiled apologetically, I saw movement from inside the house, her mother was walking to the back door, an angry expression on her face. I looked back up to Ellie quickly as her mother fumbled with keys, unlocking the backdoor. “Sorry. I just wanted to talk to you,” I said quickly.

Ellie frowned, doing the little cocking the head move and I smiled at how different it was to her mother’s look. “Well why didn’t you just knock, silly?” she asked, laughing.

I did. “Can you come down?” I asked hopefully.