"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" he repeated, clinging onto Ella's hand. With a cold look, she shook him off.

"Whatever." With that, she walked off, San still yelling after her. When she heard his footsteps getting a little too close for comfort, she whipped around and glowered at him. "Leave me alone."

"Come on, El--one more chance." He pleaded. San was handsome, of course--Ella was picky about who she dated. And at first, he'd been cute with his shortcomings and silly little weaknesses, but as time wore on, his ridiculousness had begun to irritate Ella to no end. And now she learned he was clingy, too.

", San, we're OVER. Understand?" She flashed her large eyes at him and watched with twitching satisfaction as he winced. Then, from behind, someone came, whistling along.

"Heeeello, there." She was small, maybe even smaller than Ella, and had a nice face, pale and round. This annoyed Ella, too. It was always the cute girls that would stab you in the back and then run away, giggling. "How are you doing tonight?" She continued on as if she didn't know that Ella and San were quarrelling.

"Can you leave?" Ella strained her voice. The girl smiled with a small shake of her head, and took a single step back. Scowling, Ella turned her back to the girl and faced San, who was now sweating nervously.

"Please, Ella, you know I l-l-lo--" --at this point, he was stopped by Ella, who kicked her leg up into his stomach and pushed him back.

"Don't say it. If you leave now, you won't get hurt. Guaranteed. Leave." By now, Ella wasn't only frustrated, she was angry. San backed up a little--two months with her had taught him when to cease fire. Turning his back to her, he ran. Ella watched tiredly as he became smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing behind some buildings.

She turned back, only to find that the girl was still there. Now, the girl was clapping. Ella growled under her breath, and unexpectedly, the girl stepped up to her--obviously oblivious to Ella's bad mood.

"My name's Hebe. I believe I'm your new neighbour?" Hebe grinned tentatively and extended her hand. Stupidly, Ella stared at it until Hebe sighed and took Ella's hand to place it on her own. "Our parents are having dinner at this moment; I was sent to find you."

With that, Hebe led a flustered Ella back to their homes, through the front door of Hebe's new house, and into the dining area. Ella's parents and brother sat on one end of the table, while the other family sat on the other side. The parents, it seemed, had hit it off quite fairly. Turning her gaze to the new family, she noticed the two parents, and a son. He looked lanky and handsome, and Ella arched her eyebrow, incredulous of his looks. She'd come to learn that the attractive ones were either taken, narcissistic, or stupid.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she sat down at her seat, beside Calvin. Hebe sat down as well, and generously spooned herself some soup. Ella watched Hebe gulp down the soup, only to take a full bowl of fried rice and pork and egg. Never had she seen anyone--much less a mouse-sized girl like Hebe--eat so much. When Hebe finally realized that Ella was staring, she set down her bowl.

"Sorry," she smiled. Her brother cleared his throat impatiently, and she shot him a glare. "That's Chun. He's a , so you can just ignore him if you like." At this point, Chun flushed a faint shade of pink and swatted Hebe upside the back of the head, causing her to duck her head. This wouldn't be so bad if her hair had stayed out of her tea.

"Hebe! Chun! Be polite!" Their mother spat out her soup. "Don't just tell your new friend that!" Ella's parents chuckled a little at Hebe, completely fine with this. They were used to it, of course, because of Ella and Calvin.

After the dinner was over, the parents left into the living room, beckoning their children to go to the basement and socialize. They did this, somewhat reluctantly. Hebe showed Calvin to the bathroom, and then excused herself for a drink.

"Ella, huh?" Chun came down the stairs after her. Ella turned around, blinking. Up close, he looked even more gorgeous. Shiny hair, dark eyes, long eyelashes, toned body. She grinned unconsciously, and he grinned back, his face suddenly boyish.

"Uh. Yah. Chun, right?" Her grin faded and was replaced by a tight little smile. "We're going to be friends, right?"

"What else would we be?" Chun's grin widened, and Ella rolled her eyes. His question was open-ended--one wrong answer, and he'd be laughing at her for the next month.

"I don't know. But if we're going to be friends, I have a rule for you." Chun indicated he was listening. "Don't fall in love with me."

At this, he let out a guffaw, throwing his head back. "Sure, Ella. But only if you don't fall in love with me first." They shook hands, slightly amused by the stupidness of her rule; from behind them, Hebe's smile grew as well. Even if Ella acted like she knew the secrets of the world--even if Chun was older--Hebe knew something they both currently didn't.

Rules were always meant to be broken.

--
holy . this took me the longest while.
this is pretty open-ended as well; i don't want to enclose their entire relationship within a page.
maybe i'll write about them again some time. >:)

march 12, 09.
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