Hey Monday

m u s e u m s

-noah- 

"No," Ellen said suddenly. "Oh, hell no." 

I looked up from my seat on the couch. It was ten PM, and we had stopped in Iowa for the night. Logan sitting on the floor, engrossed the sixth Harry Potter book (he had been reading them nonstop for some reason), and Ellen was frowning at her phone with a flabbergasted and somewhat appalled expression. 

"What is it?" I asked slowly. 

She looked up her phone and shook her head. "I got a text... from Kate."

I raised an eyebrow. "Kate Carlson? The one who you just kicked out of the trip?" 

Ellen nodded and sighed. "Here, I'll read it out loud." 

I leaned forward in anticipation. Logan, for the first time in hours, closed his book and put a fist under his chin to listen. 

Ellen cleared her throat and began to read. 

"Hello, Ellen. I don't know if you still have my number after all these years, but this is Kate.  I texted you because I have a message for you- I'm angry. Very angry. It's funny how people change, don't you think? I thought that you and Noah might have finally dropped the high school drama and accepted that I can be different. Better, even. But no, you guys are stuck in the past and you probably always will be." 

Ellen looked up with a pained expression and paused. She wasn't going to continue reading it, but Logan and I persuaded her together.

"I knew this would eventually happen. I kept telling myself that it was too good to be true. I mean, of course I wasn't going to go live in Maine with you guys, it was crazy of me to believe that. But somehow I convinced myself that it would all be okay, and look what happened. But I guess it's my own fault. Everyone gets rid of me at some point, it's just what people do." 

I blinked a few times, not sure of what to say. After a long silence, I asked, "Is that all?" 

Ellen shook her head. "No, but... it gets worse." 

"Well, go on, then," Logan urged. 

"I still like Noah," she read, cringing through the words. "It might even be love. Either way, I know that you guys haven't seen the last of me. Love you lots, Kate J. Carlson."

The RV was nearly silent. I could hear the faint ticking of a wall clock that Ellen had installed, and the aroma of clean linen was overwhelming my nostrils. It wasn't because our clothes were clean- no, on the contrary, Ellen had a can of "fresh cotton" scented Febreeze and she sprayed it daily. 

Logan, in the recliner, leaned back and furrowed his brow thoughtfully. Ellen was sitting next to me on the couch, as quaint and pure as a butterfly. She locked her phone and dropped it into her lap with a thump.

I rubbed my fingertips over the leather of the couch as I pursed my lips and thought about Kate. She was an enigma, that's for sure- I didn't at all know how to feel about her. 

"Do you think maybe Kate had something to do with the man in the blue car?" Logan asked thoughtfully. "I mean, it's really likely that she could be following us."

Ellen snorted. "Yeah, she has a way of getting people to do what she wants. " 

It was true. Back in high school, Kate was the devil in disguise, and everyone knew it. She was a nasty, conniving bitch, always bending your will and making you forget your boundaries. The teachers were wrapped around her finger, the students knew she was toxic. But since she was ever-so-popular, any attention from her was golden.