Page 28 - It Ends with Us

feel like my mothe r would know ho w to he lp hi m since she works at a scho ol.

I do n’t know. I might wai t a couple day s before I say somethi ng an d see if he
goes bac k ho me. He might just need a break from hi s parents. Sam e as I wish I
could hav e sometimes.
That ’s al l. I’ll let you know what hap pens tomor row.
—Li ly

Dear Ellen,
I fas t-for ward through al l your dan cing whe n I wat ch your sho w. I used to
wat ch the beginning whe n you dan ced through the au di ence, but I get a little
bored with it now an d would rathe r just he ar you tal k. I ho pe that do esn’t
mak e you mad.
Ok ay, so I found out who the guy is, an d yes, he ’s still going over the re. It’s
been two day s now an d I still hav en’t told an yone.

His nam e is Atlas Cor rigan an d he ’s a senior, but that ’s al l I know. I as ked
Kat ie who he was whe n she sat next to me on the bus. She rolled he r eyes an d
told me hi s nam e. Bu t the n she sai d, “I do n’t know an ythi ng else ab out hi m,
but he smells.” She scrunche d up he r nose like it grossed he r out. I wan ted to
yell at he r an d tell he r he can ’t he lp it, that he do esn’t hav e an y running wat er.

Bu t instead, I just looked bac k at hi m. I might hav e stared a little too much,
becau se he cau ght me looking at him.
Whe n I got ho me I went to the bac kyard to do some garde ning. My radi she s
were read y to be pulled, so I was out the re pulling the m. The radi she s are the
only thi ng left in my garde n. It’s star ting to get cold so the re’s not much else I
can plan t right now. I probab ly could hav e wai ted a few more day s to pull
the m, but I was al so outside becau se I was being nosy.

I noticed as I was pulling the m that some were missing. It looked like the y
had just been du g up. I know I di dn ’t pull the m an d my parents never mess
with my garde n.
That ’s whe n I tho ught ab out Atlas , an d ho w it was more than likely hi m. I
hadn ’t tho ught ab out ho w—i f he do esn’t hav e ac cess to a sho wer—he probab ly
do esn’t hav e food, eithe r.

I went inside my ho use an d made a couple of san dw iche s. I grab bed two
sodas out of the fridg e an d a bag of chi ps. I put the m in a lunch bag an d I ran
it over to the ab an do ned ho use an d set it on the bac k porch by the do or. I was n’t
sure if he saw me, so I knocked real har d an d the n ran bac k to my ho use an d