“Bye Ella!” her mother shouted from her office.

  Ella was being picked up for her volleyball game by one of her teammates. Her mother wasn’t attending, obviously. Ella seemed to be her last priority these days. It was always work that would come first. However, it was fine by Ella. The less she had to see her, the better. She didn’t really like her. They butted heads and the few times they talked it would always become an argument. They didn't agree on anything. Ella’s mother spent her free time spewing hatred. No matter the time or place, she always had to make offensive remarks and comments. Ella, on the other hand, was very accepting. She supported all the things people should support and was even part of one of those communities. Her mother obviously didn't know that.

“Hey, Ella! Are you ready? We're playing a tough team today!” Sarah, her ride, said as Ella closed the door behind her. Sarah was happy-go-lucky. She never had off days, she had perfect grades, friends, and great family life. Ella had always been envious of her.

“Hi, Sarah. Hello Mrs. Ward.” Mrs. Ward smiled at her in the rearview mirror. Ella sighed with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She never understood how Sarah could always be so happy.

“I think I'm ready. How about you?” Ella said to her friend in the passenger seat.

“I’m pumped!” Sarah replied. She sure sounded it.

“Thank you again for the ride, Mrs. Ward. I’m sorry I can't do more to pay you back.”

“Of course Ella! It's always wonderful to see you. Don't worry about it at all.” Mrs. Ward replied graciously. 

They drove to the gym in silence, with the random small talk that would always occur when Mrs. Ward drove the girls. It was always Mrs. Ward asking Ella random questions, and Ella’s same responses. 

…

When they arrived at the gym, the girls got their bags and got out of the car. 

“Who are we playing, Sarah?” Ella turned to look at her teammate.

“Glendale. Their record is 5 wins and 1 loss. I think we have a chance.” Sarah replied with a determined smile plastered across her face. Another thing about Sarah, shes extremely competitive. She seemed eager to play this hard team, she was always up for a challenge. They pushed the front doors open and walked down the school hallways, looking for the gym. They found and walked through the open double doors.

“Sarah! Ella! Finally, you're here!” Their teammate, Leigha, yelled from across the gym. The rest of the team looked up and waved, then got back to talking amongst themselves.

“Hey, Leigha!” The two girls yelled back in unison. They walked to the bleachers and dropped their bags. They sat down and put their kneepads and shoes on. Sarah finished first, so she ran over to talk to Leigha and the rest of the girls. Ella pulled out her phone to see a text from her dad. “Good luck kiddo! Play well! Love you!” The text read, followed by a heart emoji. Ella felt a pang in her chest. She missed her dad so much, but couldn't see him. “Thank you, Dad. Love you too.” she replied, dropping her phone in her bag. She stood up to walk over to her team, checking out the competition on her way over. Number nine caught her eye. She was tall and quite intimidating, but she was also extremely pretty. Ella took notice of that as she walked to her team to warm up. However, what she didn't know, was that number nine thought the same about her.

… 

“Tweeeeeet!” the whistle rang through the air, signifying the end of warmups.

“Huddle up girls!” their coach, Coach Lewis, yelled. The girls ran to the bench and huddled around their coach. Coach Lewis gave them the run down, including the starting lineup, their defense and offense setups, and which girls to look out for. The whistle rang a few minutes later, telling the girls to get on the court. One more whistle, a signal from the referee, and the game began.

…

The sounds of cheering and high fives filled the gym. Their team had barely won, but they still won. Ella smiled at the scoreboard and walked back to the bleachers. She had some random notifications, a reminder to do her math assignment, and a text from both her mom and her dad.

“How did it go? Did you win? Did you play well?” her dad’s text read. 

“It went great! Close game, but we won. I played great.” she replied. She then went to check her mom’s text.

“Hey Ella, something came up with work so I’m going to be a little late picking you up. Hope you're game went well. I'll text you when I'm on my way.” Ella sighed, her mood deflating. She didn't want to bother her mom anymore. She figured she was already in a bad mood, like she always was, so she responded, “That's fine Mom.” She sat down, taking her pads off and getting her things together. She replied to the various “goodbye’s” her teammates gave her, smiling at them as they all cleared out. 

“You got a ride, Ella?” Coach Lewis asked her.

“Yeah. My mom’s coming now, she was stuck in traffic.” Ella lied.

“Okay, good game today.” Coach Lewis replied.

“Thank you, have a nice night Coach.” Ella said. She nodded and walked out of the gym. Ella quickly scanned the room, and when she saw no one, she got up and started to walk out of the gym. She walked through the halls, trying to remember her way out. She saw the double doors ahead of her and could see a person sitting on the stairs out front. She tried to make out the jersey number but had to wait till she was closer. Number nine. Oh! Ella thought to herself. Maybe she could talk to the girl. She pushed the double doors open, which made the girl look up at her. They smiled at each other, and Ella sat down a few feet away from her. 

“Hey! You played really well today! My name is Ella by the way.” Ella said.

“Thank you, you too. I’m Kaylie. Nice to meet you, Ella.” Kaylie replied, smiling at her. Ella blushed, even at the shortest sentence.

“So why are you here late?” Kaylie asked, turning to look directly at Ella.

“My moms got work. Again.” Ella replied, obviously annoyed. “What about you?”

“My dad forgot what time it ended. Again.” Kaylie responded, laughing while speaking. Ella beamed brightly and they continued to talk.

…

“No he did not!” Kaylie replied to Ella’s story in shock. 

“He totally did.” Ella said. She felt her phone vibrate in her bag, just as she heard a car further down the parking lot. 

“Here.” her mom had texted her. Ella felt her heart ache, she wanted to continue talking to Kaylie but didn't know if it would be weird to ask for her number after just meeting. She looked up at Kaylie and they met each other’s eyes. 

“So my mom’s here.” Ella started off. “And I don't wanna come off weird, but I liked talking to you,” Ella continued, clearing her throat, “So do you think I could have your number?” Ella finished, prepared to be shot down. She avoided Kaylie’s gaze. 

“Of course.” Kaylie replied, smiling. What? Ella thought. She didn't expect that to happen. Ella looked and smiled back at Kaylie. They exchanged numbers, and Ella got her things together. She walked down the stairs and waved to Kaylie.

“Bye!” Kaylie replied while waving back.

…

“Who was that Ella?” her mother asked as she closed the passenger door. 

“Someone on the other team. We just talked as we waited for our parents to come.” Ella replied, hoping her mother would catch the annoyance in her voice. She didn't.

“That's nice. Did you win?”

“Yep.” Ella replied, putting emphasis on the last syllable. She really wanted her mom to know she was upset. She was fed up with being the last priority.

“That's nice.” Her mom said, turning up the music to end their conversation if their exchange of three sentences even counted as a conversation.

…

Ella spent the entire car ride home texting Kaylie. They talked about everything, from family, to school, to their pasts. Ella giggled at something Kaylie had said, and her mother got curious. She turned the awful pop music down.

“What’re you laughing at?” she asked her daughter.

“Nothing, Mom.” Ella replied, still smiling.

“You're grinning ear to ear, it's obviously not nothing. Why won't you tell me?” her mom asked. Ella knew she would get mad over this. Ella stopped smiling.

“It's nothing, Mom. Really.” she replied. Her mom sighed. Uh oh. Ella thought. She knew where this was going.

“I just don't understand why you can't tell me anything, Ella. Why do you have to hide everything from me? Do you not trust me? Do I need to look through your phone? What are you hiding?” her mom spewed out. She tended to blow things out of proportion. The smallest things would tick her off and it end in a yelling argument between the two girls. Ella sighed.

“Mom I'm not hiding anything from you, you don't need to look through my phone. It's nothing important, so can we please just get home? I have homework.” She tried her best to control the situation before it got too loud. Her mom was gripping the steering wheel, knuckles turning white. 

“Fine.” her mother responded, clearly annoyed. Ella looked back to her phone, respond to Kaylie's last text. They drove home and pure silence.

…

Ella giggled, her only light source being her phone screen. She checked the time. 1:48, her clock read. Ella and Kaylie had been texting all night. Some of the things Kaylie had said made Ella think that maybe, just maybe, Kaylie was interested in her. Interested in the way Ella was interested in her. 

…

Ella’s free time now consisted of Kaylie. Texting, calling, facetime, anything they could do to talk to each other. On their call last night, Kaylie mentioned something so casually, but it definitely affected Ella.

“How funny would it be if we just dated?” Kaylie mentioned, so casually it slightly ticked Ella off. Ella thought, How can she joke like that? It's not a joke to me. She knew she shouldn’t get annoyed by something like that, Kaylie doesn’t know anything. Maybe I should tell her. Ella thought. Ella had considered that Kaylie could possibly like her, but she never acted on it. She was afraid it was all in her head, convincing herself she was self-obsessed. Ella let that thought dance in her head. What would happen if I told her how I felt? This question was the only thing on her mind. What would Kaylie say? How would she react? What would happen if she didn’t like her back? What would happen if she did? Over these last few weeks, Ella figured out her feelings towards Kaylie. She enjoyed being her friend but wished it was more. She didn’t want to ruin their relationship with her feelings, especially if Kaylie didn’t like her back. 

… 

At 3:26 am, Ella and Kaylie said their goodbyes and goodnights. Those same thoughts were still on Ella’s mind. After a half-hour of consideration, Ella decided to come clean to Kaylie. Tomorrow night. I’ll tell her. she promised herself. She plugged in her phone and rolled over, letting sleep overtake her. 

…

“Hey!” Kaylie said as the call connected. 

“Hey, Kaylie. How was your day?” Ella replied. She was practically screaming internally. She had hyped herself up beforehand, but all her motivation was lost by now. Deep breaths. she thought in her head. As Kaylie talked about her day at school, Ella calmed herself down, preparing herself for the confession. 

“So how was your day?” Kaylie asked as she finished her story about geometry class. 

“Yeah, it was good. Yeah.” Ella replied, trying to figure out what to say. Kaylie nodded. “Well, there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about Kaylie. Is now okay?” she finally spoke. She saw Kaylie’s eyes go wide. “No, it’s nothing bad. I promise. Well it could be I guess, it depends how you take it.” she tried to reassure her. 

“Um yeah now is fine to talk,” Kaylie replied. You got this. Ella repeated to herself. 

“Okay so. I didn’t want you to take this the wrong way. I wanna start by saying if this goes bad I don't want it to change what we have, but I also don’t expect you to pretend it never happened and move on. I don't wanna pressure you into anything or make you feel like you’re obligated to respond right now. If you need time you can obviously take your time to process and think, but it’s also no problem if you want to end the conversation right away.” she said. Kaylie looked into the camera, expression never changing. “Okay. Um. Kaylie, I understand if you don’t feel the same way and if you would rather not continue being friends with me after this, but I like you. Like-like you. A lot. I don't know if this is one-sided and I don’t know how you feel, but I felt like there was a chance you felt the same way. I’m sorry if I misinterpreted that, but I thought I should tell you if there was even the slightest chance you did like me too. So yeah. That’s it.” Ella finished, glancing back at the facetime screen. The girl’s eyes met. Kaylie smiled at Ella. What? What does that mean? Ella thought to herself, seeing Kaylie’s expression. Was it pity? Did she find it comical? Did she feel the same?

“You’re stupid, Ella.” Kaylie finally responded. Woah. Wasn’t expecting that one, Ella thought. 

“I’m sorry Kaylie I shouldn’t have said anything,” Ella said, glancing at anything and everything, other than her phone. 

“No that's not what I meant Ella. I like you too. I thought I was more obvious.” Kaylie replied. What!? Ella thought. This was one of the last things she expected. 

“Oh!” Ella replied. She hadn’t considered this a possibility so she had no idea what to say. “Sorry,” Ella laughed awkwardly, “I wasn't really expecting this, so I don’t know what to say.” Kaylie laughed.

“It's okay, Ella. I’ll talk. I knew I liked you a few weeks ago and I'm sorry that I didn't make it more clear. I wasn't really planning on telling you because I thought it was one-sided. I figured I'd save myself the embarrassment of getting rejected by my closest friend.”

“Why would I reject you?” Ella interrupted.

“Why would you not?” Kaylee countered.

“Because I liked you, obviously. I barely even tried to hide it. I just thought you would take it as a joke, so it didn't matter what I said.” Ella responded.

“Good point.” Kaylie laughed at Ella’s response.

“So, where do we go from here?” Ella asked.

“I don't know. I think we should take things slow.”

“I know, I didn't mean that. I meant if we do end up being together at some point, what will we do then? Like with my mom.” Ella responded, looking away from the screen.

“I think it's important she knows. I don't want you to have to hide this.” Kaylie said.

“Is that really the best idea?”

“Definitely not. But I think it's what needs to be done. How about we talk about this tomorrow and once we come up with what you're going to say, you can tell her whenever you feel is best.” Kaylie suggested as Ella considered it.

“Okay. I'll do it.” Ella decided.

…

“Hey, mom. I need to talk to you about something. Can you talk right now?” Ella asked, walking into her mom’s office. The girls had thought of what to say earlier today. It was what they thought would cause the least amount of yelling. 

“Yeah honey what’s up?” her mother asked, not even looking up from her work. 

“Do you remember a few weeks ago the girl I was sitting with when you picked me up after volleyball? Kaylie?” she asked. this caught her mom’s attention, almost as if she knew where this was going. 

“Vaguely. why?” her mom asked. 

“Well,” Ella started. Rip it like a bandaid, she thought. “We are together. Together together. Dating together.” Ella clarified. 

“You're kidding right?” her mom responded. “I’ve raised you better than this. I’ve told you countless times that you can't be that kind of person. It’s not right.” she said. 

“Mom I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t care for your offensive homophobic opinions. Accept it. this is who is am and there’s really nothing you can do about it.” she replied. 

“I didn't raise this. I can't believe this. You know what? You’re going to your father’s. End of the story. Leave. Now.” she stated firmly.

“Alright. Good talk, Mom.” she said, walking out of the door. That was probably the best outcome. She ran to text Kaylie the news,

 … 

Ella and Kaylie had been together for 3 months. They got to see each other frequently, hanging out at Ella’s father’s house. His response to Ella’s news was, “That’s great! I support you no matter what, whatever makes you happy, Ella.” Ella just hoped that one day, her mother could learn to do the same. Maybe she could learn to accept.