Yea, so, I'm bored. Yet, I'm suposed to be studying, so I can't write more of Living Ghosts (in the Lads sections). but anyway, i have this fic that I wrote last year, and if you've read the first half of LG it might seem KINDA familiar, bc in the end, they both had the same "feel" to them.

However, the second half of LG will be WAY different. but like I said, I can't write at the moment. So, to pass the time, i figured, why the heck not repost TTPH and see if more people read it now than did last year lol. we'll see shall we?

TICKERTAPE PARADE HIGH
(yes, I got the title from the Newsboys song)

Cast:
(main)
Elijah Wood
Ivy Bryons

(supporting)
Conni
Kevin
Armani Mitchells
Anne
Skye
Dominic Monaghan
(i never have been good with making up last names, so i just...didn't ^_^ )

(*thanks to Conni and Armani who answered my cast call way back forever ago on EWFN, I can't even remember their sns :doh: , but thanks to them just the same!)

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: never have and probably never will own Elijah Wood, or Dominic *sighs* also, Armani and Conni are super cool girls out there somewhere in the great wide world who still own themselves (at least, i would assume so). Most of the characters are based on people I know, but too bad for them bc I still own the rest of the characters. :shine:

Ze banner: (also made forever ago)


Soundtrack:
(coming soon)

alrighty then! just keep in mind that I wrote this over a year ago kay? lol

:rosedown: Chapter one :rosedown:

Ivy Bryans lounged in the most peculiar places at times. At present, she lay spread across the abandoned railroad tracks near her home. Staring up at the sky she let her mind wander, daydreaming about times when things would be better. Times when she wouldn't feel the desperate need to hide from her life. Times she feared would never come.

Ivy could barely remember most of her childhood, it all seemed a blur to her. She had moved to Flinton when she was only three, along with her parents and younger brother, that much she knew. She knew the rest of her family lived far away, she knew that the television would always prove to be more important than her, in her home at least. She was sick and tired of pretending that everything was alright, she had to pretend for her friends, she had to pretend at school. From what she'd experienced, her peers simply weren't mature enough to help, and the adults she knew, well she didn't want their help. She felt trapped within her life, waiting forever. Waiting for things to get better, for someone, anyone to care. Waiting for the impossible, she felt.

Ivy could feel the warmth of the sun, her eyes closed, as it sank slowly past the horizon. She dreaded sundown, because the minute the sun set, was the minute that she was expected back home to eat food she couldn't stand and do the freaking dishes again. She cherished the feel of the sun against her skin, even as it betrayed her, left her, like everything she'd ever allowed herself to care about. She refused to move from her location on the tracks until she absolutely had to, so minutes continued to pass, slowly but steadily leading to her return to reality.

"Waiting for someone?" she heard a male voice call from a few feet away. Ivy grumbled at the thought of her solitude being interrupted.

"Yes," she answered coyly, "I'm waiting for someone to kidnap me, want to have a go at it?"

She could hear him laugh as he continued toward her. "No, sorry I’m not in the kidnapping business at present"

"I certainly hope you aren't going to bother to try and murder me or such; no one would notice I was gone until the dishes in the sink began to pile up" She turned her head toward the voice, squinting into the bright sunlight. The rays of sunlight made it impossible for her to see anything but a blurred silhouette of him.

"Hey, that can't be true" He said, continuing along the tracks.

"Yes it can, because it is" she sat up a bit, leaning her lower back against the tracks, her feet against the other rail. She continued to squint in his direction, "Is there a reason why you're wandering the tracks alone?"

He stopped near her, "Escaping something, like you." He continued to stand, gazing down at this girl. Though he'd been unable to even see her face, he felt drawn to this broken girl, as she lay across the tracks, waiting for something to take her away.

"You can sit down as long as you promise you're not planning on killing me or anything." she laughed bitterly.

He slowly sat down on the track, leaning on the opposite rail, facing her. Ivy lifted her gaze to meet with the most stunning crystal blue eyes she'd ever seen; gasped at the sight of them. For a brief moment she forgot who or where she was and saw nothing but those amazing eyes. But then the moment passed, and she swiftly cowered back into her shell, building her walls back up around her heart. He smiled warmly at her; she frowned back bitterly, wondering what he wanted and how so it was before she got hit by a train or something to take him away. No, the train would take him away, leaving her all alone. She couldn't let herself care, couldn't let anyone in, couldn't let anyone in...

He held out his hand, still smiling warmly in hopes of wiping the pain look off of her face, "I'm Elijah," he said, "and I’m running away from being alone."

Instead of taking his hand, Ivy folded her arms tightly across her chest, looking past him at nothing.

"This is the part where the other lost stranger introduces themselves." Elijah hinted, trying to lighten her mood.

"I hate it when people expect life to be like the movies," she snapped, "Movies are just a complete load of crap." Elijah let his hand fall, stunned. Then he too folded his arms and looked away, frowning in frustration. Ivy let herself glance at him for a moment and instantly regretted having snapped at him. Her and her stupid paranoia. So what if everyone she knew was destine to hurt her someday, he's done nothing to deserve her harshness, yet.

"Ivy." she sighed, "My name is Ivy, and I’m running away from being alone, too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ooo - captivating opening!

LoL. :laugh:

Great first chapter! I loved it!

xoxo - Meredith

Hey, I remember this!
I never read it the first time around, but I'm glad you've brought it back.
Very interesting first chapter.
I can't wait to see what happens next.

~Stacy~

Yay!!! I've heard you and Celly talk about it so much and I've wanted to read this FOREVER and now I'm so excited that you're posting it here!!!

::does the happy dance::

awesome first chappy Jewelzy

Hey Jewelz, you're bringing this story here too? :woot: Awesome.
(this is a great fic btw people, READ IT! :shine: )

...I guess now I'll finally get to read the end of it, lol *hides from Jewelz* I'm such a bad friend :doh:

I always thought it was funny that Ivy failed to recognize Elijah at first. :lol:

You never read the end of her story??? what kinda friend are you?? just playin just playin

can't wait for more

Lol. :P The reason I never read the end of it was because the last time I tried to get on EWFN, it was "under repairs" or something and it sent me to this dumb chat room thing full of other people ticked that they couldn't get on the site either. So I gave up...Jewez thought I had read the end a while after that but I hadn't and I couldn't get back on EWFN...so yeah. :doh:

post more for the nice readers, fris! :yay:

*grins* OMGosh! people are actually reading it this time?? *gasps dramatically* this is shocking!! lol ^_^

alright then, for my loverly readers....

:rosedown: Chapter two :rosedown:

"...I’m running away from being alone, too" Ivy sighed.

Elijah smiled and looked straight at her, "Then we have something in common."

Ivy laughed, "Yes, thinking that we can escape something by plunging head first into it; and lying on railroad tracks."

"Two things then" Ivy couldn't tear her gazed away from his clear blue eyes, which sparkles when he smiled at her. Her own dark gray-blue eyes faltered and then she glanced away, having to remind herself that she was supposed to stay alone, it was safer that way.

Elijah hummed softly to himself, gazing at Ivy curiously, "Can I ask you a question?" he asked, resting his arms on his knees, his chin on top of his arms.

Ivy clenched her teeth as those sapphire eyes gazed at her. "You can ask me... five questions. By then the sun will have set, and then I have to go home." she said coyly.

"Five whole questions?!" he said in mock astonishment. Ivy rolled her eyes. Elijah sat up straight, pretending to be trying to think of important questions. "Okay, question one;" he continued to joke, "How old are you?"

"That's the best you can come up with?" Ivy smirked.

Elijah pretended to be offended, "Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here!"

"I'll be eighteen in two weeks." She shook her head, studying the track in front of her, "and you?"

Elijah chewed on his thumb nail, "Twenty-two."

"-Old man," Ivy teased, smiling, but then she bit her lip, "Four more questions."

He reach across to her and flipped the ends of her just-past-shoulder-length-hair, "What color is it really?" he said, referring to Ivy's pitch black hair.

Ivy chewed on her bottom lip, "Reddish brown, with blond highlights."

"Why did you dye it then? Sound's like it was incredible the way it was." Elijah leaned back again.

"Because it was too 'nice', and I wanted to fade into the background, not make any ties, so I don't have to have any regrets."

"Very honest aren't we?" Elijah's eyes studied her, searching as if he could find what it was that had caused her to end up being the kind of girl who spent her spare time laying across railroad tracks.

"When it suits me," she tucked her hair behind her right ear nervously. Ivy didn't like how this boy, er, man, er, whatever he was, studied her with such a concerned look on his face. "One question left."

"What, no I'm sure I have more left than that!" Elijah pouted trying to make the girl let loose a bit.

"My turn," she said flatly.

"Did I say you could ask me questions?" he answered with mock indignity.

She ignored him, "Is the glass half empty or half full?"

"What glass?" He attempted to get her into a better mood, if only to get Ivy to let her walls down a bit.

"The hypothetical glass, that the hypothetical person filled up halfway with water." She said flatly.

"Hmm," he considered the question for a moment. Ivy watched the setting sun warily, pressed for time. Finally he answered, "Depends on what kind of day you've had; sometimes it's half full, sometimes half empty."

"Wrong." Ivy continued to watch the setting sun, but smiled, glancing sideways at him as she spoke. "It's all the way full"

"How so?" Elijah looked at her, puzzled, but curious to hear her explanation.

Ivy flicked a bug off her knee and then turned to Elijah, "It's all the way full, only half of it is water and the other half is air." she smiled triumphantly as Elijah just sat there, stunned, trying to figure this mysterious girl out.

Then he shook his head, amused, "Okay, for my last question-"

"Ha! No way do you still have a question!"

"What? When did that happen?" he furrowed his brow at her.

"You've asked me seven questions, give or take a couple." Ivy stood and dusted herself off, "It's almost dark, I have to go home."

Elijah stood up as well, shaking his head at her, "One more question?" he asked. Ivy nodded, smiling to herself.

"Can I see you again?" when she looked at him warily he stuttered a bit, "I- I mean, we should, you know, escape being- being alone, together, again, soon." She continued to watch him like he was some sort of venomous creature. "As friends, of course." he added quickly, "I want a chance to ask you more than five questions Ivy."

"It's a good thing you're only interested in my as a friend, you old man," Ivy teased. Then she paused and took a breath, "Yes. When?"

Elijah smiled, "Well I shouldn't be hard to find, I'm film-" he stopped abruptly, remembering her outburst over movies earlier. "Actually, can I have you're phone number?"

"No. If we're supposed to meet again, we will." she said flatly. Elijah just stood there in doubt, unsure of how to respond to that. "I'm kidding!" Ivy snickered. She quickly pulled a pen out of her side pocket and walked straight over to Elijah, taking his hand.

"You had better not start stalking me and try to kill me Elijah," she said with a sly grin as she carefully wrote her cell phone number on the back of his left hand.

"I won't." Elijah smiled at her words, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Goodnight Elijah," she said turning and strolling away, "*Tenna' ento lye omenta*" she called over her shoulder, lifting her right hand to wave back over her shoulder.

"Goodnight Ivy" he said, standing still for a moment before he turned and walked alone the tracks, away from the fading daylight, back towards downtown.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*yea, i was kind of in a "let's speak elvish!" phase when i wrote this, but they go away eventually...i think... :unsure: lol :shine:

We've got a smartass on our hands, don't we?
Ivy is quite blunt and straight forward about everything.
I guess she has to be.
Better than to lie, I guess.

Anywho, awesome chapter!

~Stacy~

Ohmigoditsyou!

I remember you!

:: Takes a deep breath ::

Alright, lets see... Oh, yes.

This was one of the stories I missed from like fifty boards ago!

(You where writing other stuff, if I recall... I dont suppose we'll be seeing those again too?)


Love and crap,
Me

Ellie, you don't have any problems with another girl dating Elijah, do you? Cuz I would hate to have my house set on fire....

lol...you're probably thinking "huh? okay, she's insane?" but I'm writing a story called After the Summer in the Lads section and there's a psycho in it named Ellie....she's obsessed with Elijah and tries to kill my character

jinx: SHAME on you for advertising ur fic in MY thread :no: terrible ;)2

stacy: yep, she be a smarta$$ ^_^ or rather... me "amplified" ;-)

i still can't believe ya'll remember me :shine:

ttfn! FRIENDS is on!!! :bye:

I wasn't intentionally advertising...I just found it unnerving that "Ellie" showed up for real....sorry....I'll erase it if you want me to :(

lol :lmao: i was just kidding silly jinx!!!!

i'd post more, but i don't have time! sorry guys, maybe later, we'll see!

loves!

Gee...I dont know if we can wait for you to post Jewelzy...you're so slow all the time :neene:

just for that, i shouldn't post :neene: ...but i will anyway lol

:rosedown: Chapter three :rosedown:

Ivy lay sprawled on her bed in her room, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars. She liked the way the darkness wrapped around her, shrinking everything down to a manageable level. Dark everywhere, save the bright glowing stars that disappeared if you looked directly at them. Her radio played, too loud probably for ten o'clock at night, but that was the way she liked it. And that was the way it always stayed until her parents yelled at her to turn it down. She hummed along absently to a nameless song, letting her mind wander through the memories of her day. The memories and thoughts melded together as if they were all one single defining memory.

Her waking up at the normal time, which was way too early~~
bombed a test in third period because she had neglected to study~~
listened to Anne babble about some new movie that was being filmed in town, zoning out as Anne went into another account of her troubles with her new boyfriend~~
walking through last two classes like a zombie, ignoring the scumbag who had a crush on her~~
gave Conni and Kevin a ride home, again~~
disappeared into room until the shouts on the other side of her wall drove her out of the house and to the railroad tracks with an intention of trying to forget the world for a while~~
Elijah, and those crystal eyes of his...~~

"Mmm.." Ivy rolled onto her stomach and grumbled. Her heart ached, making her wish she had never been so stupid as to agree to see him again, even as friends. She'd much rather ignore everyone and stay in her room, humming to the radio and daydreaming forever. Yes, that's what she really wanted to do, too bad that wasn't a possibility.

she came home, or whatever she was supposed to call the place with the "see through walls and talking doors" that she was trapped in~~
ate dinner, nasty steak, still didn't tell parents that she hates red meant~~
did homework, sort of~~
got yelled at because Dean threw up his fourth bowl of ice cream on the bathroom wall, apparently it was her fault because she wasn't there to stop him from eating it~~
talked to Kevin for a bit on the net, listened to him whine about how we should all hop in a plane right now and bomb the shit out of the Middle East~~

Ivy grumbled. She had about all she could take from him about the freaking war, though she was sometimes amused by how he and Conni always bickered over it. Ivy preferred to pretend that the whole thing wasn't happening, that most of her life wasn't happening. Commercials started playing on the radio, resulting in Ivy pulling her pillow over her ears and smacking at the radio blindly in the dark. Finally she turned on the lamp by her bed and switched the station. "Stupid people on the radio," she mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow which was now over her face. "Shut up!!" she growled at the radio. Then she turned and put on a CD, some random mix of songs Kevin had made for her. She continued to hum along to the music, drifting near sleep.

<<RING!!!!!!!!!!!>>

"Agh!!" Ivy screamed as she scrambled off her bed and jumped across the room to the phone. "Stupid people calling me," she grumbled as she answered, "Hello? Donny's Discount Gas!"

"Very funny Ivy." Anne said from the other end of the line.

"I know I'm so freaking hilarious aren't I?" Ivy plopped back down onto her bed, playing with the ends of her hair. Stupid black dye, looked like crap too. "So how was softball practice?" she asked, knowing that Anne wanted to tell her anyway. Ivy and Anne had known each other since second grade, but never really got along until they got into high school. That was the point at which Ivy started to think life was shit, and Anne just happened to be great at distracting her from the impending doom of lying across railroad tracks, for a while at least. Unfortunately, their personalities clashed drastically, and Ivy no longer felt like getting all drunk and giggly would help her any, so their friendship had become increasingly strained. Still when one or the other wasn't completely zoned out or self absorbed, they could read each other like books.

Anne sighed on the other end of the line, "It was alright, but you know how the Hinkley is; yelling at us over everything. 'You breathed wrong, run a lap!'" Anne impersonated Coach Hinkley, laughing and grumbling a bit at the same time.

"Yea," Ivy got up and switched on her computer, turning on the net. "I've seen how he is at your games; psycho." Ivy stifled a yawn.

"No kidding!" Anne exclaimed, "But that's not what I called to tell you. You know that movie that I told you about, the one that they're filming here?" she asked excitedly.

"Yea, I guess." Ivy clicked on her 'favorite places' and chose weezer.com, aimlessly scanning over the site.

"Well," Anne paused from dramatic effect. Ivy started playing solitaire on the computer. "After practice today, Jenny, Bethany and I went downtown to find where it's being filmed and we found out that they're going to be here for at least two months! So we were talking about going down there next week and trying to get the security to let us in to see the actors!-"

"-And you're inviting me to come?" Ivy asked, attempting to hide her sarcastic tone. She knew full well that Anne did everything she could to keep Ivy and her softball friends apart, that was just how she was.

"Errrrr, yea sure, of course," she paused, "Oh wait, don't you have to go with Conni to uhh that one place next week though?

"It's a protest against the war in LA," Ivy grumbled, "and I'm only going to be gone on Friday-"

"Oh no! That's when we were going to go!," Anne tried to sound genuinely disappointed, Ivy didn't buy it. "That sucks! Well, maybe next time."

Ivy started a new game of solitaire. After a moment, Anne spoke again, "We'll I've got to go, gotta wake up for school tomorrow, but hey! it's Friday tomorrow! woo hoo!"

"Right then bye Anne, see you tomorrow" click click, she used the mouse to move the cards around, drowning out the bitterness she felt toward her friend.

" Bye!" Anne said cheerfully. Click, Ivy hung up the phone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heeheehee...
Anne's going to try to see the actors.
She'd have a fit if she knew Ivy had already met one of them and by herself!!!
This is very exciting.

~Stacy~

:neene: :neene: :neene:

lol...good chapter Jewelzy...Anne seems like an...interesting character :D

always ;)2 lol

ooooohhh how i wish it was Wednesday *sighs* grrr.... <_<

:rosedown: Chapter four :rosedown:

Ivy sat leaning against a column, playing with the ends of her hair absently as she stared off into space. It was fifth period lunch and Ivy had already managed to get in trouble by one of her teachers for reading in class instead of paying attention earlier that day. Ivy had done little more than smile apologetically at the teacher and then hide the book under her desk and continue reading. Who needs to know about genotypes anyway? Ivy planned on just asking Kevin to explain it to her later since she could hardly ever keep her eyes open in class.

Ivy yawned as she pretended to listen to Anne babble on some more about her latest crush. For all that Ivy knew, Anne could have five boyfriends, and love the football captain instead of any of them. Or perhaps this week it was some random movie star's turn to be the idolized object of Anne's affection. Ivy really couldn't care less. Conni was drawing another picture of a dragon, and was, as usual, doing a beautiful job of it. Ivy had dozens of them plastered all over her locker, since Conni defiantly had plenty to spare.

In the midst of Anne saying something about something that had happened during third period, Ivy turned to Conni, "So is Kevin coming with us next Friday?"

"To protest against the war? Who are you kidding?" Conni laughed, tucking a strand of her soft brown hair behind her ear.(it used to be blonde, but y'know, her and Ivy are way to "into" hair dye). "We'll have to wait until I get out of swim practice though, Couch isn't going to be happy."

"Do you want to go Saturday instead?" Ivy chewed on her nail, not biting it off, just chewing on it absently.

"-Can't, I have Impact all day." Conni said as she put the finishing touches on her drawing.

"You and your after school activities!" Ivy teased, Conni just laughed.

"Aren't you even listening to me!?" Anne broke in, pouting.

Ivy flicked her now fading black colored hair with her fingers. "Yea. Of course." she continued to study her hair. Last night she had found herself scrubbing it furiously in the shower, trying to get the revolting black dye out of it. Luckily she had only used temporary dye. At the same time she scrubbed it, she had be trying to convince herself that her sudden frustration with the color had nothing to do with Elijah. ~~Of course it didn't, she'd hated the color anyway, of course, besides he probably wouldn't even call her anyway, no of course not, because that would be just her luck. Why did she care anyway, he was probably a jerk, or very soon would be. Stupid hair dye.~~

Ivy hummed the song "Dumb girls," going back to daydreaming as Anne continued to blabber.

"Hey Ivy," Conni broke in, "How was your day yesterday?" Conni loved to annoying the crap out of Anne by pointing out her faults in round about ways, Ivy found that fact very amusing. Ivy had met Conni in her Advance Algebra class last year, and was immediately intrigued by her ability to be so controversial (i.e. the whole protesting thing) and still be so involved in the school. Those that didn't love Conni, were completely jealous of her because people liked her better than them, despite her attitude.

Anne sighed in exasperation as Ivy answered, "It was crap, parents yelling, too much homework, you know, the usual." Ivy sighed, snickering inwardly at Anne. "I serious can't wait to get out of my parents house, I actually took off for a while yesterday, they didn't even noticed I was gone."

"Where'd you go? Honestly Ivy, you can't just take off something could happen, what if someone had-" Conni scolded her.

"-Dude! I didn't go anywhere, just over by the old railroad tracks. And nobody did anything to me. Well, except I did give this one guy my number..." Ivy trailed off leaving them in suspense.

"What guy?" Anne was suddenly interested, "What the heck kind of guy do you meet on railroad tracks?"

"Kevin Bacon?" Conni supplied, joking.

"Nah, they didn't meet at the railroad station, he just ran around it, dancing and stuff" Ivy laughed.

"What guy?" Anne urged.

"Oh I don’t know, he looked pretty dangerous, long stringy hair, looked like it hadn't been washed in a while, couple of tattoos, big ones, and an eye patch." Ivy struggled to hold back her laughter, it showed in her dark blue eyes.

"Ivy!" Anne scolded.

"What?!" Ivy laughed, trying to act like she had no idea what Anne and Conni were glaring at her for, she shook her head and continued to snicker.

"Ivy..." Conni warned jokingly, "You didn't meet anyone did you?" she laughed.

"No! I did! I swear!" Ivy tried to choke back the laughter. "This random guy walked up to me and started talking and wouldn't go away until I left!"

"Riiiiiiiight" Anne said sarcastically.

"Nah! I'm serious!" Ivy continued grinning, playing on an inside joke from their junior year. Ivy and her friend Skye had been on the phone with this guy they barely knew and anytime either one of them said "Right" he'd say "nah! I’m serious!"... of course within a week he had completely disappeared from their lives... and a few months later so had Skye, though most of the time they all tried to forget that part of it.

<<Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!>>

"Damn bell, I hate school," Ivy grumbled as they got up. "Hey Conni, we can't stop at the park on the way home today, I've got to get straight home, the parentals think they've grounded me again." Conni nodded in agreement, Ivy shook her head in frustration and sighed before heading to her Government class.
~*~*~*~*~*~

The parentals... ^_^
I haven't heard anyone use that in awhile.

Great chapter!
I can't wait to see Anne's reaction when she finds out Ivy met Elijah!

~Stacy~

lol, me either. maybe it's cause i wrote it last year lol *shrugs*

i hate people, but not you people. another chapter anyone? :shine:

:rosedown: Chapter five :rosedown:

Ivy plopped down onto her bed, letting out and exasperated sigh. It was already 5:30pm and she had just finished all the chores that her parents had started bombarding at her the second she walked through the door. Before then even, they'd called her cell phone to tell her to pick us milk and pop tarts. Ivy hated pop tarts, but her family couldn't get enough of them, their cupboards were full of the revolting things. They weren't even the tolerable kind, the ones with the frosting, no, they were the disgusting plain ones. Those and Diet sodas seem to be a staples in that house, both of which Ivy couldn't stand.

Once she had arrived home, her mother handed her a list of things to do and then proceeded to go plant herself in front of the TV to watch another British soap opera, leaving Ivy to just stare after her in disgust. Ivy had hurried through the chores as quickly as she could, cutting all the corners that she could, just to spite her parents. She hated how she almost found pleasure in messing with them, it made her sick to her stomach. Then again, being bossed around by people who had so little ambition that if it were a number it would be a negative one, made her even sicker. Slime, she sneered to herself as she loaded the dishes, none of which had she used. Since her parents both arrived home from work before Ivy arrived from school, she hadn't seen them do much more than sit in years. That too, made her nauseous; how she despised them made her nauseous.

They were her parents, they were supposed to take care of her. Supposed to teacher how to deal with the real world, how to keep it together. Instead of Ivy, it should be her parents helping her little brother with his homework, but no. Of course, they weren't that bad, of course, there are defiantly people much worse than them in the world. They did the best that they cared to, and Ivy hated hating them, she wanted to be able to love her parents. But she'd felt as if she was on her own for so long, that if they had tried to take over their appropriate roles, she would have scoffed in their faces and walked away.

Ivy rolled over and switched on her radio, "Agh!!" she cried in mock horror, "Christina Agulara!" she slapped at the radio to reach the knob and switch the channel. "Mmm Goo Goo Dolls, muuuuuch better" Ivy lay back in her bad, closing her eyes as the song "Iris" rolled out of the radio and circled her, allowing her to block out all the bitter, hopeless thoughts and just daydream.

<<Ring.....>>

Ivy grumbled and searched blindly on the table by her bed for her cell phone. "*Vedui'*"

"What's that supposed to mean?" a voice laughed on the other end of the phone.

"It's Quneya, it means "Greetings". Who is this?" Ivy yawned rubbing her eyes absently.

"Elijah. Is this Ivy?"

"Huh?!" Ivy sat straight up on her bed, hitting her elbow against the wall, "Oww.." she whined.

"What? Doesn't my name cause hurt you or something?" Elijah joked.

Ivy shook her head, trying to clear it, "Elijah? Yea... I mean yes, this is Ivy. What's up applesauce?"

"Applesauce?" Elijah laughed.

"Sorry inside joke." Ivy stretched back out, this time with her head at the foot of her bed.

"Tell me?"

"Nope. Sorry it's an inside joke and you're on the outside." Ivy teased.

"You children and your inside jokes" Elijah grumbled jokingly.

"Old man," Ivy teased again, but then her voice grew colder, "Why are you calling me?"

"You gave me your number remember?" Elijah smiled, "So that I could ask you more questions than five." he laughed.

"Oh..." Ivy trailed off, "Just, I just... I didn't think you would, that's all"

"Well you thought wrong." Elijah said matter-a-factly, "So do you want to start asking me questions or would you like me to continue?" he joked, laughing quietly.

"Is this an interview or something?" Ivy joked, Elijah laughed, Ivy continued, "Okay, you keep asking questions, five more, but then I have to read my novel for English." Ivy hummed quietly along with "One Last Breath" on the radio.

"Hmmmm" Elijah paused, once again pretending to think of really good questions, "Why did you say 'what's up applesauce'?" he laughed.

"How did I just know that was coming?" Elijah laughed at Ivy's comment, "It's from last year, towards the end of last summer, I was talking on the phone with my friend Skye, and this guy, Mike, beeped in one call waiting, so I put it on three-way, and Skye was all 'what's up' to Mike, then she pauses and says 'applesauce!' and Mike and I are like 'what?' and Skye's all 'nothing!' then Mike's like 'why did you say applesauce?' and she's like 'I didn't say applesauce, you did!' and he says 'no I didn't it was you!' and I just listened to them argue for a bit, laughing and finally told Skye to stop torturing him." Ivy laughed, "It was so funny!"

Elijah laughed, "Right then," he shook his head as he spoke into the phone, "This Skye girl sounds interesting. I'd like to meet her someday!" Elijah continued to laugh but Ivy had grown abruptly silent.

"You can't" she said. Elijah stopped laughing, puzzled, "Why not?" He asked. Ivy turned down the radio, "I don't want to talk about it okay?" Elijah frowned, "Okay."

"Four more questions." Ivy tried to cheer herself back up. Elijah smiled, but just as her opened his mouth to speak, he heard yelling on the other end of the phone.

"Ivy! Get off the damn phone! You're using up minutes! I don't want another four hundred dollar phone bill!" Ivy squinted her eyes shut and crawled under her desk as her father continued yelling at her to get off the phone.

"What's going on?" Elijah asked urgently.

Ivy tried to hold back the tears, but she couldn't help it as she could hear her parents talking heatedly about how selfish and self-centered Ivy 'was'. She clutched her stomach and rocked back and forth a bit, watching the door, praying they wouldn't come into her room to yell. "Elijah, I have to go" she whimpered through her tears.

"Ivy? Ivy, what's going on? Who's yelling?" Elijah had stood up from his chair and was now pacing back and forth in his trailer.

"It's my dad. Listen I have to get off the phone now-" Ivy trembled a bit as she heard footsteps in the hallway.

"Meet me somewhere!" Elijah offered, "I still have four questions" he supplied, hoping she wouldn't turn down his offer, he didn't like the sounds of that yelling one bit, and the sudden tone in Ivy's voice made his blood run cold. "Bring mace if you want, I swear I won't hurt you, just please, come meet me somewhere!"

"- There's a coffee shop on 8th street." Ivy said suddenly. Elijah was surprised that she had trusted him so easily. Something was defiantly wrong if this girl chose running to strangers rather than staying at home. "It's called Cafe Java." she added, "Original huh?" she joked bitterly.

"Okay, I'll meet you there in ten minutes" Elijah copied down the street and name that she gave him. "Goodbye"

"Bye." they both hung up the phone. Ivy grabbed her backpack purse and unlatch her window. As quietly as she could, Ivy climbed out her window and snuck out to her car, taking off into the evening as fast as she could.
~*~*~*~*~*~

Something's definately wrong in her home...

Meet the parents would be 'nice'...

Btw, hi, I'm Jinx, I'm your new fan! *new fan dance*

More soon?

Jinx

Woo I missed a few chappys...they're good though as always I wouldn't expect any less....

I haven't seen Jewelzy in two whole days....*gasp*...how have I survived :lmao:

oh, and *Jinx*#Paris# you can't be Jinx cuz I am....jk of course...I guess we can both be Jinx for now....like Jinx1 and Jinx2....I get to be Jinx1 :D

*shakes head* lol, ya'll are odd ^_^

WELCOME JINX!! :shine:

:rosedown: Chapter six :rosedown:

Ivy switch off her radio and climbed quickly out of the car. All the way downtown she's screeched around street corners, music blaring, singing along, trying to block out all emotion. But now she had arrived, and was already mentally beating herself up for wanting to trust Elijah. So she sighed, straightened her shirt and smoothed down her hair, and walked swiftly toward the entrance of the cafe.

As she entered, the little bell over the door ringing, she saw that Elijah had already arrived and staked out a table hidden away in a corner. Ivy's favorite table, where her and her friends could watch people without others watching them. "..it must have been love, but it's over now, it must've been good, but I lost it somehow.." Ivy smiled sadly as the familiar song played softly over the intercom. She walked over to the table and sat down across from Elijah, refusing to look up at him.

"So you came," Elijah let out a relieved sigh, Ivy traced the designs on the table top, "I'm glad...Ivy, what was going on?"

"Nothing." Ivy frowned at the table, "I don't want to talk about it." she said flatly, stunning Elijah into silence. The waitress came and quickly filled their water glasses, feeling the tension before walking swiftly away. Ivy looked up at Elijah, frowning still, "Why do you care so much? You don't even know who I am." she eyed him suspiciously.

Elijah just stared at her blankly for a moment, then he sighed, "Because you're the only person I've met in a long time that treats me like some random guy she met on the railroad tracks." he tried to laugh, but ended up wincing bitterly and then looking away.

"That's how we did meet" Ivy pointed out, humming happily to the song "Unwell" playing over the speakers.

"I know...but..." as he paused they both listened to the music, deep in thought, "I'm not crazy I’m just a little unwell... I'm not crazy I'm just a little impaired, I know right now, you don't care..." Elijah picked up the menu, Ivy just picked at the edge of hers absently.

"Ivy?" she glanced up at him, "What's Quenya?" Elijah smiled weakly.

Ivy sat up a little straighter and smiled a bit, "It's like, elfish Latin, you know? Have you ever read the Lord of the Rings trilogy?" Ivy watched him over her water glass as she took a sip.

Elijah laughed, his eyes glittering a bit, "Umm no, I haven't read all of it yet. But I'm well, very familiar with it." He couldn't quite grasp how she could know so much about certain things, and still be oblivious of others.

"Really? You should, I read them back in junior high," Ivy smiled, a little embarrassed, "I found it fascinating, so I checked it out on the net and learned a little Quenya. But I've forgotten most of it." Ivy laughed. She felt better already, just being out of her house. The waitress came back and took their orders; Ivy ordered an iced coffee, and Elijah asked for the same, still distracted, worried about what had happened to Ivy earlier.

After the waitress left, Ivy grew silent again, looking anywhere but at Elijah. Finally he asked her again, "Ivy, trust me, please just tell me what was going on earlier? Can I help?"

Ivy clenched her teeth, and changed the subject, "When did you move to Flinton?" she asked abruptly.

Elijah sighed, frustrated, "I didn't move here, I'm just staying here while... I mean, I'm staying with friends."

"Liar." Ivy noted, having caught his stutter, "Move in with a girlfriend eh? And out here talking to me! Go home to the future Mrs. Elijah...." Ivy trailed off in her grumbling, realizing that she didn't know his last name.

"No!" Elijah said firmly, "I am NOT living with anyone okay?"

"You don't have to defend yourself to me Elijah. I'm just some girl you met on the railroad tracks yesterday." Ivy let her gaze wander around the cafe as she spoke. In a far corner, she noticed three girls sitting close together, whispering and glancing in Ivy and Elijah's direction. Ivy turned back to Elijah, confused.

"Those girl in the corner are checking you out." she teased, leaning back off the table as the waitress came with their drinks. Ivy caught the waitress glancing nervously at Elijah as well. "Thanks!" Ivy broke the waitress out of her dazed. The girl just jumped a bit and then glanced at Ivy, blushed, and then hurried away. Ivy shook her head, very amused. "What is it with these girls?" she laughed.

Elijah slid down in his chair and covered his face a bit with his hand, keeping his gazed on Ivy. Normally he would have been welcoming to the girls, but he really didn't feel like dealing with them right then. Especially since Ivy still didn't seem to know, he was worried as to what her reaction would be. "I uhhh guess I'm just way too irresistible," He joked, "I'm staying in town on business for three months." he clarified to Ivy.

"What kind of business?" Ivy sipped at her coffee.

"Work business." he said flatly, staring down at his coffee as he drank it. "How many questions do I have left anyway?" he changed the subject.

Ivy glanced at her watch, "Oh crap!" she started digging through her purse to pay for her coffee.

"Don't I'll pay." Elijah said, pulling out his wallet, "What's wrong? Why are you leaving already?"

"No, it was my idea to come here, I'll pay." Ivy argued. "I have to get home and read more of my novel for English, and then I have this massive history paper due Monday." she fibbed. She did need to read a novel, and do a econ paper, but both could wait. She just couldn't stay out long, incase for some gawd forsaken reason her parents checked on her in her room, where she wasn't a present.

"No," Elijah argued back, "I asked you to come out. I'm paying" he insisted and set out money, standing up with her. He followed as she swiftly walked out of the cafe. "Just one more question?" he called as Ivy headed to her car.

Ivy turned to face him, "Yes?"

"Are you busy tomorrow?" Elijah bit his nail as Ivy placed her hand on her hip, "I mean, I have to get used to this town for the, I mean, my work. And I was hoping since you live here you could show me around." he pouted at her in mock pleading.

Ivy rolled her eyes, "Clingy aren't we?" Elijah started to tell her never mind but Ivy broke in, "You are a very strange person Elijah-"

"-Wood." he supplied.

Ivy sighed, "Okay, tomorrow then, you strange boy." Ivy teased and then climbed into her car. She watched him stand there, in her rearview mirror as she drove away. 'Wood? Elijah Wood...' Ivy knew she recognized that name from somewhere, but she couldn't place it. 'oh well,' she shrugged it off as she drove slowly home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I got to read two chapters!
^_^

Something is DEFINATLY wrong with Ivy and her family.
You know what I think? I think Elijah should whisp her off her feet and take her back to Cali with him! :shine:

~Stacy~

:rosedown: Chapter seven :rosedown:

<<sound of cell phone playing song>>

"Stupid phone," Ivy grumbled as she rolled over to search for her cell phone. It was under her bed, "No one I know would be calling this early," she answered.

"It's 10:30 already," Elijah joked on the other end of the phone. He walked back and forth in his trailer, getting ready to leave.

Ivy looked up at her clock, which took a surprising amount of energy. "No, it's only 10:26," she corrected.

"Well my clock says it's 10:30," Elijah sat down to put on his shoes.

"Your clock is wrong." Ivy struggled to a sitting position, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, "Don't you have work or something?" she grumbled, searching for her slippers.

"Nope," Elijah stood up, glancing around for his keys, "We don't start fi-.. working until tomorrow."

"Of course you don't" Ivy found her slippers behind her computer and slipped them on, "You're soooo clingy" she teased. Ivy paused by her mirror to grumble at her reflection, then she just laughed at herself and started searching for a towel.

"So, where should I pick you up?" Elijah twirled his car keys on the chain and then stuck them in his back pocket, waiting for directions.

"Sooooo demanding, soooo clingy." Ivy continued to tease, "You woke me up! I haven't even taken a shower or gotten dressed or anything!"

"So? I don't mind if you smell," Elijah teased, "I've been up since six, I'm bored!" he whimpered jokingly and then chuckled as Ivy grumbled.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Ivy teased.

"Yes, but I need to get used to this town. Unless you want me to get lost!" he pretended to be offended.

"Jeezzz..." Ivy grumbled. "For a twenty-two year old adult, you sure act like a child," she teased; Elijah grumbled in protest. "Give me an hour," Ivy sighed as she rummaged through her closet for clean clothes. She made a mental note to do laundry later, otherwise she'd have to start wearing garbage bags to school (ha).

"How about a half hour?" Elijah supplied.

"Forty-five minutes!" Ivy insisted, "Pick me up by the railroad tracks in 45 minutes."

Elijah grumbled and flopped back down on his bed, "Okay...."
~~~
An hour later, Ivy wandered to the railroad tracks. She grinned mischievously when she saw Elijah sitting on the trunk of his car, tossing his keys up in the air and catching them. "Bored?" she supplied, laughing as he looked up at her.

"You, are twenty minutes late!" Elijah scolded.

"Fifteen, and you're just bitter because I won." Ivy snickered as she walked over and leaned against the trunk next to him.

"You didn't win anything." Elijah claimed. Then he slid off the trunk and stood up, dusting himself off. Ivy hoped off the car and reached out to fix the collar of Elijah's shirt. He just smiled at her, his sapphire eyes sparkling with amusement.

"what?" Ivy shrugged, "It was bothering me..." she wandered to the passenger side of the car, "I like your shirt, it matches your eyes." Ivy commented before opening the car door and sliding into the passenger seat. Elijah got into the drivers seat and just grinned at Ivy, "What is so funny?!" she demanded, crossing her arms and frowning.

"Nothing." Elijah said coyly and started the car. Ivy frowns, "So where are we going?" she asked after he pulled off the side of the road.

"You tell me, this is your town!" Elijah adjusted the rearview mirror.

Ivy scoffed, "Ha! Then you are about to be sorely disappointed because there is a whole lot of nothing in this entire God-forsaken town!" Elijah turned left onto a commercial road.

Ivy stared blankly out her window. Had she remembered to do the dishes? Did Dean need to be driven to Boy Scout camp today? Her mind raced as Ivy tried to remember if she had taken care of everything. She felt guilty, cruising around town when she could be getting something constructive done. 'Relax for Crissake!' she ordered herself. But relaxing just wasn't something she did; didn't know how. Between school and homework and chores and taking care of her brother and helping her friends out...well relaxing meant not getting everything done, and regretting it later.

"So," Elijah's voice broke through Ivy's worrying, "What am I looking at?"

Ivy sat up straighter and smiled. She'd just have to learn how to relax. Ivy began gesturing to the passing buildings, pointing out the grocery stores and gas stations, "Target... bookstore... another gas station.." she sighed, "Blah, blah, blah, just all your boring normal completely average town stuff." she complained, laughing.

"Perfect," Elijah grinned. Then he spotted a small restaurant ahead and pointed at it, "What's that?"

"McDonalds?" Ivy made a face. ugh, fast food is sooo nasty!

"No." Elijah laughed, "There." he pointed again, a little ahead of them.

"Oh that," Ivy played with the ends of her hair, "That's Keller's Diner"

"Good, I'm hungry!" Ivy let out a cry as Elijah spun the car around into the restaurant’s parking lot and screeched to a halt in a parking space.

"Bad driver!" she exclaimed.

"So?" Elijah joked before hoping out of the car and running to the other side to open Ivy's door. He then grasped her hand, helped her out of the car and then practically dragged her into the diner. "Sooooo strange." Ivy mumbled to herself, hiding a smile.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hahaha Ivy and Elijah are so funny :D

good chappy Jewelzy

Elijah and Ivy are so perfect for each other.
The way they feed off of one another is histarical!
:yay:

~Stacy~

:shine:

:rosedown: Chapter eight :rosedown:

At Elijah's request, the waiter led the two of them to a table in a corner. Ivy noticed a few odd glances as they passed some of the people eating their lunches. Ivy furrowed her brow, once again confused, and followed closer to Elijah. They sat down and after the waiter had returned with their waters he took their orders and then hurried back behind the counter.

"You certainly have a thing for tables in corners eh?" Ivy joked.

Elijah smiled as he yawned, stretching his hands up in the air before letting them fall down lightly on top of the table. "Yep." He glanced around the diner briefly before turning back to Ivy, "Can I ask you a question?" he grinned at their already formed inside joke.

Ivy shook her head a bit at him as she stacked up sugar packets, "Why, Elijah, you can ask me five questions." she laughed.

"Have you lived in Flinton your whole life?" They both paused to thank the waiter when he brought their food.

Ivy poked at her waffles (which she orders since she still hadn't eaten breakfast yet) before answering, " As long as I can remember, but no, I don't think so," Elijah just looked at her curiously as he started shaking the ketchup bottle over his fries, so Ivy continued, "You see, I can't remember much before second grade," she explained, "I think my family used to move around a lot, but I really don't know. All I do know is that all of my relatives must live far away because I can't remember ever meeting any of them," Ivy concentrated on cutting her waffles with her fork.

Elijah stuck his knife in the clogged ketchup bottle, glancing at Ivy curiously, "You mean you can't remember anything before second grade? Where'd you go to first grade, or kindergarten? Didn't your parents tell you?" Ivy shrugged and took a bite of her waffles, still concentrating on them as if they might attack her if she glanced away.

<<cell phone rings>>

Ivy jumped at the sound of her cellular phone and looked around, confused, before she realized that the noise was coming from her bag. Elijah laughed as he watched Ivy dump out all of the contents of her purse to search for the phone.

"Bonjour ma amie!" Ivy answered.

"Can't you just say hello for once?" Elijah joked, Ivy shushed him.

"Are you awake?" Conni asked from the other end of the phone.

"Conni! It's almost one pm!" Ivy laughed. Elijah started stacking more sugar packets onto the tower Ivy had started. The tower toppled over into Ivy's lap and she let out a little cry, leading Elijah to start laughing.

"Who's that?" Conni asked curiously. "Doesn't sound like Kevin to me." she tisked on the other end of the line.

"You big nerd!" Ivy laughed at Elijah, "It's no one important." she teased Elijah, who stuck his tongue out at her. "Oh very mature." she said sarcastically to him. Elijah just smiled and went back to his fries. He didn't mind acting like a fool if it made Ivy smile, not one bit. He felt a sharp pain in his chest whenever she slipped into her far away, silent, depressed state.

"C'mon Ivy, who is it?" Conni asked, twirling the cord of the pay phone with her fingers.

"That guy I told you about before." Ivy answered, yawning for effect.

"You tell people about me?" Elijah grinned proudly.

"I'm at church," Conni explained, "Impact ended early and I was going to see if you could come pick me out so we could hang out. At your house, since my mom's probably still having her baby shower. But since you're with Mr. Railroad tracks.." Conni trailed off, teasing Ivy. Ivy laughed as Elijah hit the end of the ketchup too hard and accidentally ended up with about half the contents of the bottle on his cheeseburger.

"Having a little burger with your ketchup? Hmm 'lijah?" Ivy snickered and then returned her attention to Conni. "No, I can still come and pick you up. You're at the church?"

"So his name is Lijah?" Conni grinned as she unwound her fingers from the telephone cord.

"It's Elijah," Ivy corrected, and he looked up from his burger, which he was trying to revive by scraping off most of the ketchup with a knife. "I can have him drop me off so I can pick my car so I can pick you up." Elijah frowned, wiping ketchup off his hands onto a napkin.

"I see how it is" Conni joked, "You don't want him to meet me do you!?"

"Yea sure, that's it," Ivy said sarcastically, "Here, you want to meet him, talk to him right now." Elijah looked up as Ivy handed him the cell.

He took the phone and answered, "Hello Ivy's friend and/or family member!" he said cheerfully into the phone. "Conni" Ivy mouthed to him, grinning. "Conni!" he said, "Hello Conni! This is Elijah, how are you?" Ivy snickered, imagining her friends face. It defiantly wasn't a normal thing for Ivy to be hanging out with someone new, especially a guy. Heck, most of the time Ivy complete ignored everyone except for her close friends. It was a defense mechanism, that's for sure.

Conni just stood in front of the pay phone until Elijah started calling her, asking if she was okay, "Oh," Conni choked out, "I'm here, I'm fine. It's nice you meet...errr I mean talk to you Elijah, since we haven't really met yet."

"Uh huh." Elijah watched Ivy as she snickered while eating her food. "So what is it that you need my darling?" he joked to Conni. Ivy giggled.

"Oh, Ivy was just letting me say hi. Could you hand her back the phone now please?" Conni asked.

"Sure thing Conni! It was a pleasure to meet, I mean, talk to you" Elijah handed Ivy back the phone and continued to eat his lunch.

"I like him already!" Conni joked once Ivy had the phone.

"I'm glad," Ivy laughed. But the idea of her friend knowing Elijah bothered her, not because she felt competition, but because once Conni invited someone into the group, they were there to stay. And Elijah, despite his sweetness, still made Ivy nervous, as did any new person. Her old friends and acquaintances had their faults (and plenty to go around) but at least Ivy knew how to deal with them. Ivy took a sip out of her water glass, "Okay so I'll come by and pick you up in just a bit, and then we can hang at my house. Do you think you can stay over?" Ivy refolded her napkin and placed it next to her plate, preparing to leave. Elijah just looked up at her as he continued to eat.

"-Don't see why not." Conni answered, "but after I hang up with you I'll call home and make sure. But are you sure you want to depart from 'Prince Charming's' sight?" Conni snickered and Ivy rolled her eyes.

"He may be clinging, but he'll survive and he sure ain't no, well.. what you said" Ivy laughed, Elijah looked up at her curiously.

"Prince Charming you mean?" Conni supplied, giggling.

Ivy sighed and rolled her eyes, "We'll talk about it later okay?" she laughed.

"Alright, alright, see you in a bit."

"Tchao!" both girls then hung up. Ivy turned to Elijah, who had finished his food. "You ready to go? I have to go pick up Conni." Elijah nodded. Then they bickered over who would pay the bill this time; they ended up splitting the tab.

As Elijah drove Ivy back to the tracks, she started fiddling with his stereo, switching the channels around to her favorite station. 'All the thing she said' blared out of the radio, while Ivy sang along happily. If nothing else could cheer her up, a good song could; and right then, she didn't even need cheering up.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

YAY!
I'm so glad I'vy's happy!
She definatly needed it, I think.
:shine:

You're keeping me on edge with Ivy not knowing who Elijah is, yet!!
eeekkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :unsure:

Great chap!!

~Stacy~

J'adore this story...its so great, the chemistry b/w Ivy and 'Lijah...tres amusant ma amie... :D

sorry all, but i wouldn't get used to "happy Ivy" if i were you. but i'm not telling you anything so ha! :shutup: lalalala....

:rosedown: Chapter nine :rosedown:

Ivy rolled over and fell off her bed, landing with a thud on the floor. Conni laughed hysterically from the closet, where she had ended up curling up in for the night (Ivy's closet didn't have a door, so yea). Ivy had been sleeping on the very edge of her bed due to the fact that she and Conni had spread stuff all over it the evening before. Due to butchering magazines with scissors and Conni wanting to know ever detail about Elijah (leading Ivy to realized that she knew very little about him) the two had only finally drifted to sleep around 5:30 am. As Ivy struggled up off the floor, she realized that it was already 11 in the morning. She stumbled around her room, attempting to straighten up the mess of magazines, movie and CD cases and several plates and cups.

Conni just yawned and lay back down, facing in toward the closet, trying to ignore the fact that it was morning, "I don't want to get up," she mumbled into her pillow, "Tomorrow's Monday, and the sooner I accept that it's Sunday, the sooner I'll have to admit that."

"Monday's going to come whether you get up now or wait until the afternoon," Ivy yawned and sat back down on her bed, shoving magazines out of the way. She grabbed her water bottle off the table on the other side of her bed and started flicking handfuls of water at Conni.

"Stoooooooop" Conni whined, covering her head with a pillow, she glared up at Ivy, "You are so mean." she grumbled, sitting up. "I don't see why we have to get up anyway, it's not like we have anything to do." Ivy responded by falling back on her back and sighing.

"We could always do homework." Ivy joked, resulting in a groan from Conni.

"No way!" Conni laughed, "Hey! I know, let's go visit that movie set downtown," Ivy looked up at her and made a face, "Awe c'mon," Conni grinned mischievously, "Imagine what Anne will say if she finds out that we'd already argued our way onto the set, a week before she even goes."

Ivy snickered and sat up, "Well, that's a good enough reason for me!" she laughed and then ran into the bathroom that connected her and Dean's rooms to get dressed.

~~~

Around 1 in the afternoon, Ivy parked her car on the side of the road downtown and she and Conni wandered toward where the film crew was set up. Ivy poked around the outskirts of the set while Conni worked her magic on the security guards. And by magic, I don't mean charm, more like she used her debate skills to convince them that it would be a brilliant idea to let the two girls on the set. Ivy laughed under her breath and shook her head as Conni proudly led the way onto the closed set.

They wandered for a bit, both staring in wonder, trying to take in and understand everything they saw. A woman carrying a clipboard walked straight up to them, "What are you doing here?"

Ivy just stood there staring at the woman blankly so Conni broke in, "We're extras!" she supplied.

"Then why are you over here?" The women gave them a little shove in a different direction and then started babbling about them walking in at certain times and Ivy glared at Conni with a look that plainly said, 'Now look what you've gotten us into!' Conni grinned weakly. Then, as soon as the woman distracted herself with one of the crew members, Conni grabbed Ivy's arm and dragged her away. The two of them made their way quickly across the set, finally pausing by a table far away from the demanding woman.

As the two of them stood trying to catch their breath, Ivy laughed and leaned against a trailer, glancing down at the table, "Hey look, I think this is the script!" Ivy picked it up and read over the top paper;

"In An Ordinary World"

screenplay

director: Jim Thomas

CAST

Cassandra Basey: Armani Mitchells
Johnny Robinson: Dominic Monaghan
and

Ivy's heart caught in her chest as she read the name of the final star of the movie:

Michael Bradley: Elijah Wood

Ivy stared at the script in disbelief, she just stood there, not breathing, blinking rapidly, trying to make the name disappear. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. Elijah, an actor? Ivy's mind went into a blank panic and Conni started waving her hand franticly in front of Ivy's face.

"What?! What's wrong with you?" Conni demanded. Ivy just pointed at the script, so Conni took it from her and glanced over the first page, "So?" she watched her friend, worried.

"Elijah, he's Elijah Wood, and he's staring in this movie," Anger began to well up in Ivy's chest, burning her heart and causing her to clench her teeth and gasp for breath. "He lied to me." she said flatly, clutching her stomach. She should have known better, she should never have trusted him! She knew from the start that he would only break her, just like everyone else, but no, she had let herself let him in, if only a little bit. Rage filled Ivy, but she was more angry at herself for letting her guard down than at Elijah for lying to her. She'd known something like this would happen, it always did.

Conni stared at the script, confused, "You mean he told you his name was Elijah Wood? The lire! No way is this the same person. Here I'll prove it to you." Conni grabbed Ivy by the arm and dragged her over to a security guard. "Would you mind pointing us in the direction of Mr. Wood's trailer please?" she asked sweetly. The guard looked past her at Ivy (who looked about ready to start screaming and beating the crap out of someone, mainly because that was how she felt) uncertainly, but Conni quickly made up a story involving Ivy's dying wish to meet Elijah Wood. The guard shook his head, but then pointed them in the right direction, against his better judgment. But heck, he was on his break anyway.

Conni continued to walk swiftly through the sets, dragging the livid Ivy along behind her. She stopped a few yards away from the trailer on the end of the road when Ivy looked over and let out a little cry. Elijah stood drinking coffee and chatting with a striking young woman with long dark brown hair and deep chocolate colored eyes. They had been joking about their lines, but when Elijah heard Ivy's outburst, he looked over and dropped his script. The woman looked back and forth between Elijah and the two girls, in confusion. The brunette stood, clenching her shaking friend by the arm. Elijah just stood stunned, unable to move or even think.

"What the heck is going on?" Armani finally broke in tugging on the ends of her long brown hair in frustration. Her question seemed to cause Elijah to snap out of his daze, and he suddenly started stammering, "Ivy... I-I...What are you-? How did?" he stumbled franticly over his words.

"Don't EVEN bother!" Armani jumped a bit as the shorter of the two girls burst out at Elijah, her dark blue eyes blazing with anger, 'Apparently that's Ivy' Armani thought, standing still waiting to see what would happen next.

"Ivy! I..." Then Elijah just stopped abruptly, staring at Ivy, his sapphire eyes pleading with her. But even their dazzling blue could not compete with Ivy's desperate pain. She continued to clutch at her stomach, glaring at him.

"Liar." she hissed and then dragged her friend away.

"What was that all about?" Armani inquired after the girls were out of sight. She'd seen plenty of drama in her days, but nothing quite compared to her confusion over what had just happened right in front of her. Elijah just muttered to himself and climbed into his trailer, slamming the door behind him and locking it.

Ivy and Conni continued to practically run away from the scene, Ivy refused to cry, she wouldn't give herself the satisfaction after being so naive. Elijah sat down on the edge of his bed in his trailed, letting out a groan and covering his face with his hands. Armani just stood outside the trailer for a moment longer before shrugging and wandering off to search for Dominic to go over her lines with.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

WOW!
So, the secret is out and Ivy isn't too pleased.
Seems a bit sureal that the two fo them could get through the set like that. If only it were that easy.
*sighs*
Anyway, I'd like to see what Elijah does to smooth himself over with this.
I don't see Ivy being any softer than a rock with him.

~Stacy~

^_^ Ivy's like me about a year ago, so yea, Lijah's a lucky one to get past this lol.

hey, Ivy and Conni are sneaky ;)2 THAT'S how they got on the set :shine: actually, Ivy's just a space cadet (lol i can see licia "space cadet? alex? what? where?!" hehehe) CONNI however pulled a joshua there; those kerrs, they can be just soooo sneaky ^_^ gotta love em eh licia?

next chappy the next time i remember that i've posted this hehe :bye:

:D Good chappy Jewelzy...very good

:rosedown: Chapter ten :rosedown:

By Wednesday afternoon, Ivy's cell phone lay collecting dust behind her computer. At the time when she'd dropped it back there, Elijah had already tried calling her nearly a half a dozen times. But whenever Ivy had recognized his number on the screen, she had proceeded to turn it off and shove it into her purse. By Monday night, Ivy had grown so tired of seeing his number that she had simply set the phone on silent and dropped it behind her computer desk. Ivy refused to talk to Elijah, she didn't want to hear him apologize. If she did she was afraid she'd let her guard down around him again, and Ivy shuddered at the thought of that.

Unfortunately for her, Ivy had to crawl under her desk to retrieve the phone that afternoon in order to call Conni and confirm their plans for Friday. Even if they left for LA right after school let out, they wouldn't get back until Saturday afternoon, and Conni's parents' weren't too happy about that. But luckily Ivy managed to convince them that she'd work something out. At present Ivy was scribbling answers onto her Biology worksheet, her feet up on her desk and hair tied into a pony tail on top of her head.

<<cell phone rings>>

Ivy picked it up and answered, "Conni? Listen I'm not sure how the heck we're gonna get there and back in time for-"

"Ummm, not Conni; Elijah," Elijah fidgeted as he sat on the edge of his bed, praying that she wouldn't hang up on him.

Ivy remained silent for a moment and then said coldly, "What do you want?"

Elijah sighed, "To apologize."

"Oh?" Ivy clenched her teeth in order to keep her cool.

"Listen Ivy, I'm sorry I lied to you," Elijah broke out into the speech he'd been thinking over since he first started trying to get a hold of her, "I should have just told you why I was in town. But after you blew up about movies being crap I- no, I don't want to make excuses. What I did was unacceptable, and I am truly sorry."

"If it's unacceptable, then why should I forgive you?" Ivy started doodling on her worksheet.

Elijah suddenly became quiet, "I....don't know..." he sighed.

Ivy went over the same circle she had drawn over and over, "-Doesn't matter. I don't care, so you lied a bit; who cares? At least now any false images of you that I possessed no longer exist. You are no better than the rest of them." she said coolly.

"Rest of who?" Elijah got up and sat back down at his table. "It does matter, Ivy. I should have just told you the truth, please don't shut me out." he pleaded.

"GAWD!" Ivy finally blew up at him, "Why do you care?! You don't know me! We just met; less than a week ago! Stop playing the hero, I hate people who pull that kind of crap!" Ivy fumed ripping a hole through her worksheet when she'd traced over the circle one too many times.

"Ivy stop! Please!" Elijah broke in, "Stop it with the act! Stop pretending you don't care! It's okay to care.." his voice trailed off.

Ivy wrapped her free arm around herself defensively, "No it isn't..." she choked out, struggling not to cry. "Don't you see Elijah, if I care about anything, I'll only end up getting hurt again. It's safer to just stay numb." she admitted, as tears started to overflow from her eyes.

Elijah sighed, "No Ivy, you know just as well as I do that staying numb doesn't help anything."

"-But look what happens when I let my guard down." Ivy referred to what had occurred on Sunday.

Elijah rubbed his temples with his fingers and rested his head on top of his arm on his table, "Ivy I'm so sorry. But I'm only human, just like everyone else. And yes you probably will get hurt, especially if you set your standards too high. Everyone you care about will hurt you at some point in time." Elijah lay his head in the crook of his arm, his face inches from the tabletop, his voice muffled a bit "But the hurt will be worth it, the good times will make the hurt worth it Ivy, and I know you know that." he watched his breath fog up the table top.

Ivy dropped her pencil and paper down on her desk and sighed, "I hate it." she wiped her eyes bitterly, "It's not fair."

"I know," Elijah leaned back up in his seat.

Then Ivy smiled and giggled a little, "You sure know a lot for a movie star." she joked, feeling a little better. Staying mad wasn't worth the energy, and she had known how things would turn out from the very minute they'd fought. That was why she'd abandoned her phone, in hopes of avoiding having to hear the truth.

Elijah smiled and let out a sigh of relief, "Yep, I'm pretty darn brilliant," he joked, glad to hear Ivy laugh softly on the other end of the phone, "So... are we okay?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we're okay." Ivy smiled and twisted the ends of her hair between her fingers. She groaned slightly, "Oiy, why do friendships have to be so difficult? Why does everything have to be so difficult?" she thought aloud.

"Everything that's worth anything isn't easy." Elijah got up and pored himself a glass of water and then sat back down, lighting a cigarette.

"You're just full of elvish wisdom today aren't you?" Ivy joked. Elijah just laughed and shook his head, having to remind himself that Ivy didn't know about his past films (obviously).

Ivy crawled over her bed and switched on her radio, "Mmm I love this song," she hummed to herself, "You've got your ball you've got your chain tied to me tight tie me up again, who's got their claws in you my friend.."

Elijah chuckled, "That's a dirty song," he pretended to scold her, "Little girls like you shouldn't be listening to those sort of songs." he teased.

"Oh please," Ivy rolled her eyes and continued humming, "Elijah, I've got to go, but you should come see Conni and I tomorrow, if you get any time off from filming."

Elijah tapped the end of his cigarette, "Sounds great, I'll see you later then eh, lil girl?" he couldn't resist teasing her a bit more.

"Okay bye bye frother." Ivy yawned.

"What the heck is a frother?" Elijah laughed.

"Well Mr. Wood," Ivy changed her voice, pretending to be an announcer on TV, "You've just gotten yourself an invitation into a very elite group of friends. Fristers and frothers are something Skye and I made up a few years ago," Ivy's voice faltered a bit as she spoke Skye's name, "It's like closer than friends, like a sibling, er 'fribling'" Ivy joked. "What it really is my friends and my nicknames for each other, as a joke."

"Ooooookay..." Elijah teased. Ivy made a *humph* noise at him and then said goodnight. "Goodnight... frister?" he laughed.

"Yep!" Ivy laughed and then hung up the phone, leaving Elijah to stare at his phone shaking his head. Ivy confused him to the nth degree; one minute she was dead serious, and the next she was joking around like a careless child. Elijah just shook his head and smiled as he hung up his phone.
~*~*~*~*~*~

i'm bored, i think i'll post TWO chapters :shine:

:rosedown: Chapter eleven :rosedown:

"Everybody cut Footloose!" Conni jumped off the roof of Elijah's car, laughing as the song ended. Conni, Ivy and Elijah had been over by the railroad tracks dancing around for at least a half an hour, and Conni had already played "Footloose" about five times in a row. Ivy watched from her place on top of the trunk as Conni shoved Elijah a bit, trying to get him to dance to the blaring soundtrack. But Elijah just stared at her, holding fast to the claim that he could not dance.

Ivy wasn't surprised by how quickly Conni had become at ease around Elijah. She was a people person, no doubt about it. Conni had only first met Elijah earlier that Thursday afternoon, but she had immediately started joking around and teasing him relentlessly. Conni was greatly relieved that Ivy had finally answered Elijah's phone calls, because right afterwards Ivy's mood had improved drastically.

Ivy laughed as Conni continued to order Elijah around, "Now I have to go home soon, and I’m going to get you to dance before I go, or else!"

Elijah just looked over at Ivy with a look that said "Help!" all over his face. "Sorry hun, you'd better do what she says." Ivy grinned at him and shrugged.

"Dance!" Conni ordered, folding her arms and tapping her foot in exaggerated impatience as "Let's Hear it For the Boy" blared out of the car stereo

"Nuh uh," Elijah shook his head, "No way! I'm more than four years older than you two, you can't boss me around. I'm the adult here!"

Conni rolled her eyes, "Yea suuuure you are.... now dance!" Ivy laughed.

"No!" Elijah opened the front door of his car, jumped in, and lock the two girls out.

"Hey!" Conni exclaimed as Elijah snickered and pointed at her from inside the safety of his locked car. Ivy laughed and hopped off the trunk as Conni started banging on the car window. Elijah pretended to ignore her, and proceeded to light a cigarette and turn up the stereo.

Conni stopped banging on the window at the sight of Elijah smoking and looked sideways at Ivy warily. Ivy glared at Elijah and knocked on the car door, "Open up." she ordered.

Elijah rolled down the window, "Yes?" Ivy grabbed at his cigarette and Elijah leaned away from her, grinning. Ivy leaned further into the car, trying to get rid of the cigarette. "Gimme that!" she said, only half joking. Elijah then scrambled into the backseat, laughing as Ivy climbed through the window after him.

Conni held her sides as she laughed hysterically. She shook her head as Ivy continued to scramble after Elijah and he threw the cigarette out of the window, still laughing. Conni sighed and laughed, "I've got to go now you guys, Tchao!" she jogged off, still laughing, leaving Ivy and Elijah to their bickering.

"How can you smoke? That's such a disgusting habit!" Ivy smacked Elijah's shoulder.

"It's my disgusting habit." Elijah laughed and folded his arms stubbornly.

"Not anymore!" Ivy then grabbed the pack of cigarettes that Elijah had stuck in his shirt pocket and jumped out of the car. Then she took off running, and laughing, down the railroad tracks. Ivy let out a little shriek when she glanced over her shoulder to see Elijah chasing after her, laughing.

"You'll never catch me!" she called over her shoulder.

"Watch me!" Elijah yelled after her as he stumbled on one of the railroad ties and almost fell. Ivy laughed and then turned her focus back to running away from him. She ran until she reached the edge of the canal. Ivy started to cross the bridge when she suddenly looked down at the rushing water

Ivy stopped dead, staring down at the water, and suddenly fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands.

Elijah stopped in dead shock when he saw Ivy fall but then he ran swiftly to her side and knelt down. Ivy knelt, shaking like a leaf, staring at the rushing water in the canal.

"Skye!" Ivy sobbed, her voice shaking. Elijah wrapped his arm around her, pleading to know what was wrong. But as Ivy's body was raked with sobs, she was already lost in her terrible memories...
~*~*~*~*~*~


:rosedown: Chapter twelve :rosedown:

Skye climbed up onto the railing of the bridge and jumped up and down while both Ivy and Anne laughed hysterically. All three were drunk out of their minds. Earlier that evening Skye had appeared on Ivy's doorstep and broken down into tears. Both Ivy and Anne (who had been practicing guitar together) were shocked at the sight of this because Skye had never been the type to cry. Once they got her to calm down, Skye told them that her father had up and left her and her mother that afternoon. Then her mother had proceed to lock herself in her room and leave Skye to deal with the pain of being abandoned all alone. So Skye had quickly driven over to Ivy's, seeking council.

An hour of two later, the three of them had broken into Ivy's parent's personal stash of alcohol, grabbing all they could carry and then heading directly to the railroad tracks. After becoming sufficiently wasted, they had wandered to the canal and began joking around on the bridge.

"Don't you idiots know not to play by the canals?" a girl yelled from a few yards away.

"Nope! Our mommies never taught us better!" Skye called back. The girl yelled something inaudible back and then turned back to her friend, grumbling.

"Hey mother!" Skye mocked, she was the drunkest of the three girls, and wasn't nearly done insulting that girl yet, "Why don't you and your boyfriend get a room!?"

"Shut up bitch!" the girl yelled, "Go back to your wasted friends and pathetic life!"

Skye fumed, "Oh no! Mommy's mad!" she mocked, sending Ivy and Anne into hysterics.

"Damn you!" the girl started stomping toward them, but her guy friend grabbed her by the arm to stop her, "Conni! Let it go! Those idiots don't know what they're doing!" Conni grumbled and went back to talking with Kevin.

A while later Skye, Ivy and Anne started playing chicken on the railing of the bridge, stumbling and laughing like fools. Kevin had gone home, but Conni still sat by herself a ways away, watching the other girls with disgust.

"Hey look!" Skye jumped down from the railing and ran over the bridge to the other side of the canal. She ran right up to the edge and pointed down to the water, "A chair!" she burst out laughing. Then Skye ran to where steps were carved into the side of the canal and climbed down them until she was just above the level of the water, "I want it!" Ivy heard a scream.
~~~~~

"Skye! NO!" Elijah grabbed onto Ivy as she screamed. He tired desperately to bring her back to reality, but Ivy's eye's remained glazed over and blank with memory...
~~~~~

<<Splash>>

"No!!!!" Ivy shrieked and ran over to the edge of the canal. She fell to her hands and knees and crawled toward the edge, "Skye?! Skye where are you!?" She couldn't see her in the dark waters of the canal. Ivy stood back up.

"Did she hit her head!? Ivy! Did she hit her head!?" Anne cried from the other side of the canal.

"Skye! Skye where are you?! Skye I can't see! Stop playing around! It's not funny!!" Ivy shrieked over and over, feeling as if she would never be able to stop. Where was Skye!? She had to find her! Ivy scrambled to the canal and teetered on the edge, almost falling in.

Suddenly Ivy felt arms grab her from behind and drag her, kicking and screaming, away from the edge. Ivy shrieked and shrieked, calling Skye desperately

Conni shook as well as she held onto Ivy to keep her from following her friend over the edge. Ivy shook and covered her face with her trembling hands, feeling as if the tears might never stop. Anne still called for her and Skye from the other side of the canal...
~~~~~~

"No no no no no no..." Ivy repeated, shaking violently. Elijah just held onto her tightly, terrified for her, until Ivy's hysterics faded into silent tears...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm so sorry I haven't been reading this.
I think your last 3 chapters were awesome!
I'm happy Ivy forgave Elijah.
I was a little confused with the last chapter, though. Was Ivy just seeing things in the water and hallucinating? I think that may be what it is.
Anywho... :yay: Good job!

~Stacy~

twasn't REALLY a hallucination bc it was OF a memory, but yea

hopefully i'll be able to post some more b4 i leave. if not, i'll email the fic to Jinx (Nef-) and maybe SHE can post it for me *grins* peas?

man, i despise my mother's friggin slow computer. it reminds me of the MACs in newspaper at school *rolls eyes*

swing heil :noangel: