“Jessica! Wake up hon! You need to get to school on time today!” my mom yells up the stairs while I try to enjoy my sleep. Ugh. Mondays. 

“OK, Mom! I was just getting dressed!” Not. I get out of bed and scramble to get  dressed. I throw on the closest shirt and pants, run my fingers through my hair, and go downstairs. “Hey, Mom.” She hands me a cinnamon raisin bagel and rushes me out the door. 

“Have a good day sweetie!” She says as I slam the front door to get to the bus on time. 

When I get to the stop I see Ella and immediately run over to her. “Oh my god! You will not believe what happened this weekend!”

“Hey!” She says with as much enthusiasm as you can have at seven thirty in the morning.

“So, basically I was walking my dog, when we pass this other dog and-” She cuts me off.

“Aren’t you going say hi back to me?” What? I continue with my story because it’s rude to cut people off.

“Anyways, as I was saying, I was walking Bailey when we pass this dog and they both start barking at each other and growling, which is very weird for Bailey because he never does that, and-”

“Oh, look! The bus is here.” 

“Ok. Let’s get a good seat.”

As we sit down, I continue with my story. “So like I was saying they start barking at each other and, well, I guess that’s pretty much my story. Not very interesting. So, Ella… I'm really tired. I only got like three hours of sleep last night.”

“Oh, really? Me too.”

“Yeah. Well, anyways you wanna know what I was watching last night? I binge watched three whole movies which is why I went to bed last night.” 

“Oh. cool.”

“Yeah. So what’s your favorite christmas movie? Mine’s The Grinch. I love his dog Max. Oh! We’re at school so I will see you in class. Bye, Ella!”

“See ya.”

                                                *   * *

Ugh. I just want to go home. School is SO boring! “Ms. A, can I go to the bathroom?” 

“Maybe if you raise your hands.” She says in the most annoying way ever. Why can’t she just let me go! I raise my hands.

“Ms. A, can I go to the bathroom?” I say with my hand raised.

“No. But if you don’t call out maybe I will let you.” I roll my eyes and raise my hand again. “Yes, Jessica. Do you have a question?”

“Can I please go to the bathroom?”

“Yes, of course.” I go to the bathroom and stay extra long just to spite Ms. A because I know she hates it.

                *   * *

After school, me and Ella sit on the bus together. “Hey Ella? You want to hang out? I don’t have anything today. I don’t think my mom will care. And if she does, oh well.”

“Yeah! We can maybe get foo-”

“I have an idea! We should get food or something!”

“Well, yeah, I kind of-

“ OK, where should we go? Maybe get pizz-

“We should get pizza!” Umm, what? Why did Ellla just cut me off!

“Well yeah, that’s what I just said!”

The bus stops and we walk to my house. I can’t stop thinking about how she just keeps cutting me off. “Ella?”

“Yeah? Why did you cut me off on the bus? That was kind of rude!”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine but just- Oh! Did I tell you about Ms. A? She’s so annoying!  I forgot to raise my hand and she embarrassed me in front of the whole class!”

“Well did you call out?”

“That’s besides the point! Let’s go get pizza.”

       *   * *

As me and Ella were eating, she doesn really seem to be talking, so I fill in the space. ̈Oh. My. God. This pizza is so good! I haven had pizza in so long! You know what we should do? We should do this every week. Wait, no that doesn ́t work because I ́m kind of broke. Maybe once a month! Yeah. That should work. What do you think?¨

¨I think that you never stop talking.̈ What did she just say? Did she just-.

̈ ̈What did you just say?¨ I ask because I am genuinely curious to know what she means.

¨I said, that I think you never stop talking because you never do. I am sick of it. So just stop.¨ She says kind of angrily, which is very unlike Ella. She usually stays quiet.

̈ ̈Ella? Are you OK?” We are in the middle of a pizza shop and I am on the verge of tears. Nobody has ever talked to me like this.

̈ ̈No! You never give space to other people to speak! You cut people off, you- ̈

¨I do not cut people off!¨

̈Really, Jess? Really? Think about what you just did.¨ Now I really am in tears. Why is she being so mean? 

̈Can we please take this somewhere else? Everyone's looking at us!̈ ̈ Oh, great. Here comes the waterworks. We stand up and leave and Ella starts talking again.

̈Jess, Iḿ sorry. I kind of exploded in there and I should have been nicer about it. I just got sick of you always talking and never giving other people space to speak. I understand that it might be harder for you to realize that I want things to say, but you should work on that. I mean, you can barely breath half the time you talk because you have idea, after idea, after idea.¨

¨Ok. Thanks.”I sniffle. ̈And iḿ sorry that I don't  let you speak.¨ We stop at my door, hug and say goodbye. ̈ ̈See you tomorrow El!¨

̈ ̈See ya!¨

*   * *

The next day at school, I was sitting at my lunch table, and although everything around us was full of the chatter of everyone else in my grade, it still felt so silent because nobody was speaking. What do I do? It’s so hard not to speak, but Ella said I shouldn’t! “Boy, it’s quiet, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I don’t really have much to say, though.” Said Riley while she picked at her food. 

“Oh! Did you guys see the new season of Grey’s Anatomy?” I asked, hoping for some conversation.

“Oh yea! It was so good.” Said Ella as she snuck a smile at me as if she was proud of me for thinking about everyone else.

“I can’t believe what happened!” Said Josi so angrily that it looked like smoke was going to come out of her ears.

“Woah! Chill out Josi! I don’t want any spoilers! I’m only on season six!” Classic Molly. It feels good to have actual conversations. I wish I had done this earlier. As our table keeps talking, Ella and I exchange smiles and the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch.