5

Neither of us owned a car, so we had to get the bus to Ellie's old house. Luckily enough, there was a bus stop situated right behind our apartment building, which meant no walking to and from a place was involved.

"Do you know what we look like?" Elijah said

I was looking intently at my nails. "Like two awkward teenagers on their way to see a recently deceased friend's mom?"

He coughed until I looked up at him. "No. We look like two intellectual teenagers on their way to see a recently deceased friend's mom. There's a difference."

"Obviously."

The bus came a few minutes later, and we sat next to each other near the middle, him on the aisle seat and me at the window. Since Elijah didn't speak of or the first ten minutes or so of the journey, I put my earphones in and started to listen to music. The song playing just so happened to be one of my favourites, and I stared out the window watching the streets go by.

I heard him clear his throat loudly next to me and turned to face a rather outraged Elijah West.

"Did you forget something?" I asked.

"Did you just put your earphones in? Am I that boring, Diane Young?"

"No, I-"

"You what?!"

"You weren't speaking so I decided to fill the air of silence around me with music. Is that bad?" He nodded firmly. "Well, I'm sorry. If you're offended, it was unintentional."

To please him, I took out my earphones and wrapped them around my phone, stuffing the parcel like creation in my jacket pocket where they waited a tangled fate. Elijah had his hand hovering over his heart and still looked outraged.

"I don't know if I'll accept that apology."

"Wasn't it sincere enough?"

"It was. But you hurt my ego. That's not an easily forgivable offense."

"Oh. I'll give you some strawberries and graham crackers?" I offered. His face changed from outrage to pure disgust.

"What?!"

"Strawberries and graham crackers... It tastes good."

Elijah grabbed my wrist with disbelief. "Is that what you live on?!"

I shrugged. "That, cereal, chicken and noodles, I guess?"

He let go of my wrist and shook his head. "Oh Lordy."

We reached the Winter's house about forty minutes later, just when the time struck twelve thirty. Elijah was talking animatedly about watermelon and Duke.

"One time, we went to a family gathering and my aunt Farrah didn't know I had a chameleon, right? So I put Dukey down on the table and asked my sister to take care of him while I went for a piss, and when I came back, he was in the watermelon punch bowl and she - as in Aunt Farrah - guess what she did!"

"Did she scoop up Dukey and almost drink him?" We were standing at the door, waiting for someone to come and answer it.

"Yep! It was like in Matilda when Ms Trunchball almost ate that gecko."

He fell about laughing, shoving me and ruffling my hair when I made no move to join him in his laughter.

"Now I can't bring Dukey to family gatherings."

"That's so sad." I heard the familiar chink of metal which told me someone was checking who was at the door.

"It is. But I do it anyway." He shot me a cheeky grin.

The door opened, to reveal a rather bright eyed Mrs Winters, a smile plastered on her face. "Diane! Elijah West!"

"Actually, her name is Diane Young." He corrected her.

"Oh, my mistake! Diane Young, how are you dear?" She gave me a hug that smelled of roses and cheese.

"I'm fine, Mrs Winters, and yourself?"

"Oh, I'm okay, as okay as I can be considering the apparent circumstances." She gave a watery smile and then turned to Elijah. "And Elijah West, how de do?"

He stuck his hand out formally, but was engulfed in a rose/cheese hug too. From the glint in his eye, I couldn't tell if he were a tad annoyed or secretly loving the attention. I guessed it was the latter.

"Now come inside! I just put out my infamous strawberry cheesecake and your other friend is here!"

Other friend?

We were bustled into the house and made to sit at the dining table, where it was evident someone else had been seated only moments before.

"Is it Tiffany that's joined us today?" Elijah asked, sitting down.

Tiffany? I sat myself down next to him.

"Yeah, she just went to the toilet right before you knocked. She should be coming down now... Anyway, who wants the first slice of the cake?"

Elijah raised my hand. "Diane Young has an affinity for strawberries."

"That she does! But I'm guessing - oh, Tiffany, there you are!"

I turned to the door where a Hispanic girl with dark brown hair was walking in. She frowned slightly when she saw me and smiled at Elijah. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"Hey, Elijah West! How are you?" She said.

"Just peachy, thanks. Have you had the pleasure of meeting Diane Young over here, Ellie Winter's best friend?" He replied, looking simply bored.

"No... Though I do vaguely remember her eulogy at the funeral."

"Didn't you think it was quite poetic?" He glanced at me but I pretended not to notice them speaking.

"It was okay. I wouldn't say it was the eulogy to end all eulogies, but she tried."

I felt my face contorting from neutral to a definite frown. But before I could say anything, a cheesecake adorned with strawberries was placed in front of me along with a shining fork. Tiffany had one placed in front of her too, and she looked at it with glee. Elijah pursed his lips because he didn't have his in front of him. I gave him mine.

"Did Ellie ever tell you about Tiffany, Diane Young?"

Mrs Winters went to put another piece of cake in front of a Elijah but when she saw I had given it to him, she gave it to me. "Thanks Mrs Winters. Maybe. She did tell me of her friend who was Mexican and Irish... Is that you, Tiffany?"

Tiffany gave an extremely curt nod. "She didn't tell me of you, though."

"Oh?" Mrs Winters said sitting down. "She did say that she never wanted to tell anyone about her old life, even though Diane was - sorry Elijah West - Diane Young was probably the biggest part of it."

I started to force myself to eat the cheesecake everyone had been digging into so happily. It was good, perfect even, and I was extremely happy the slice I had been given was so large compared to the one I gave Elijah. Sadly though, I wasn't all that hungry and once he had finished his cake, he took some pieces of mine, to which I did not protest.

"So, Diana, was it?" Tiffany said once I had just given Elijah the rest of my cake.

"Diane."

"How did you meet Ellie?"

I looked at Mrs Winters for some sort of approval. I knew Ellie didn't want anyone in her high school to know about her life before she started, so I wondered if telling Tiffany over here about it would break her law.

"Well... We met at this support group thing when we were like... almost fourteen."

"Support group?"

"Er, for depression."

Elijah glanced at me with a weary eyed expression on his face. I tried to avoid eye contact with him.

"Oh, so did you have clinical depression, then?"

"Not really. Ellie did, though."

"Right." She rolled her eyes and said it with thick sarcasm. "Doesn't sound like the Ellie I knew but whatever."

I felt extremely self conscious and more uncomfortable than ever. Nobody seemed to sense it though - why would they? - and they continued to speak about things that honestly didn't really concern me. All I wanted now was to be alone with my thoughts, and not with their chatter enveloping me. I looked down at my nails, the chipped light blue nail polish looking more jovial than I felt.

"Diana, are you okay?" Tiffany said. "You look so pale."

"Diane, and I'm fine..."

"Whatever."

"Diane Young?" Elijah prodded on my shoulder.

I looked up and nodded at him, then turned to Mrs Winters. "I'm sorry that I'll have to leave so soon, but I'm afraid I'm feeling quite sick at this present moment in time."

"Oh - well - okay, then Diane, I guess I'll see you soon, to clear out Ellie's room?" I nodded and she gave me a soft hug. When I picked up my jacket, I noticed Elijah eyeing me cautiously.

"See you soon, Elijah West. Nice meeting you, Tiffany."

"Same here." Tiffany said nonchalantly. I wasn't convinced.

"Actually, I'll go with you -" Elijah started.

"No need." I cut him off and marched down the hallway. "Goodbye again, everyone."

Mrs Winters walked me to the door, gave me another hug and then let me free.

Once the cool summer air hit me square in the face, I breathed in and out heavily before walking, and then eventually running to the cemetery.