[color=LightSeaGreen][CENTER][h1][b] Elle Miller [/b][/h1][/CENTER][/color]
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[indent] The weekend had gone by faster than Elle wanted. It was great to have the house to herself. It almost felt like it was her own place. She didn’t have to tiptoe around her stepfather or ignore the smell of vodka and wine that her mother left behind as she passed through rooms. It was quiet without the everlasting chatter of a TV coming from the living room. Elle spent most of Saturday on the couch reading instead of out boarding like she usually would. She enjoyed having peace in the house for the first time in a while. It was nice to relax in the house. Especially after such a chaotic evening downtown.

She hadn’t heard from Helen or Willow since. For a brief moment Elle had considered reaching out to them, but she never sent the texts. She was sure that their parents were worried sick after Friday’s events. Her mom probably had no idea it had happened, but she would know the moment they returned from their trip. Downtown was still a wreck. Most businesses were closed Saturday for good measure. It seemed like the town was on edge since then. The rock monster was seemingly defeated, but there was no one to blame for its creation. There were no leads, either.

The ASA had set up a temporary post on Main Street near Mooncash. The golem’s body had been removed during cleanup. Elle assumed that they were running tests on it in that tent. There were probably monitors set up, relaying footage of the attack over and over again like some little detail they may have missed would reveal itself after the hundredth time watching it. Elle had the news on in the background as she read. It was muted for her peace of mind, but Elle always noticed when what little footage the news station had gotten their hands on played on the screen and had to look up from her book to watch it again. She’d seen the clips a hundred times like the ASA agents, she guessed. Nothing revealed itself yet.

On Sunday she was curled up on the couch with her book again. She’d woken early in the morning at daybreak with little chance of sleeping in for longer. It was when the sun had reached the highest point in the sky that Elle grew tired of seeing the same clips play over and over, the same story being written in the captions repeatedly, and she decided to get out of the house. She was gliding on her board down the streets on autopilot when she suddenly realized her feet had taken her right towards Main Street. She rolled down the quiet street and surveyed the cracks in the cement where the golem terrorized the town. Mooncash had a tarp covering the front window. The pole was already removed, she noted. 

Elle spent the afternoon at the park. It was unusually quiet for a Sunday. She assumed most of the citizens stayed home for their safety. Either that, or most of their cars had been totaled in the attack. She couldn’t say. If she did see anyone out and about, she watched them as they strolled by. It wasn’t like she was on edge, just… a bit more cautious about her surroundings now. With the ASA on high alert, she didn’t expect another attack to happen any time soon. 

The sun was setting on the quiet town as Elle boarded towards home. It was getting darker earlier each day, she noticed, as it does every year when the cold winter months began to creep into town. The cold wouldn’t stop her from boarding. It just meant that she’d be colder really. Otherwise she’d spend more time reading in her room or the library. Mooncash wasn’t an option anymore, unfortunately. As the memories of Friday evening began to return, Elle decided she wasn’t in the mood for them. So she kicked off of the ground hard and spent the next few minutes focused on her route home instead of those unpleasant thoughts.

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An hour or so later, Elle stood in front of her mirror snacking on a leftover pizza crust. She looked over her outfit. She wasn’t sure what state of mind she’d leave the party in, and she sure as hell didn’t trust anyone to drive her home. So she was dressed in layers for the walk across town. Her socks were pulled up past her ankles with biker shorts underneath her plain baggy jeans. The long sleeve graphic tee she wore under a dark green hoodie had been cropped for the purpose of showing off her frame, and the hoodie had an upside down smiley face on it in yellow. She finished off the look with a pair of black vans as she popped the last piece of crust into her mouth. She pulled on a black beanie, gave one longing look at her skateboard, and then headed out for the night. She’d learned not to board home under the influence the hard way.

Elle could hear the party from outside as she approached Chad the Lad’s modern castle of a home. She stopped to catch her breath after walking up the hill. She could appreciate the view from up here, but why did it have to be so damn high up? She huffed and glared at the large house, before sluggishly making her way inside. As she stepped through the door Elle turned invisible. The students in the foyer that knew of her didn’t flinch when the door seemed to open on its own, but the students that didn’t instantly had a laugh. Elle didn’t say anything to explain it. She just continued into the house in peace.

Not even a minute into the house and Elle had to carefully avoid a guy stumbling past to get to the bathroom. Poor guy looked like he’d had too much to drink already. Speaking of drinks, Elle headed directly into the kitchen to grab one. In the kitchen, a cup was lifted off a stack on it’s own. It was then stuck under the cooler of jungle juice and filled a third of the way. A few pieces of ice dropped inside on their own, and Elle’s drink was made. It then vanished with her as she headed towards the main room. She spotted an open place on Chad’s massive white leather couch and took it. It was really only a two person gap, but she was small enough to feel comfortable right in the middle of that space. As she plopped herself down, she re-materialized, and the two groups on either side of her looked her way as she took her first sip of juice. She swallowed and leaned back, offering only a “sup” to those who had bothered to look her way. Both groups turned back around to continue their conversations, and Elle kept drinking. At the beer pong table before her, she wasn’t shocked to see Mateo Ramos’s boxers. She turned her head towards the balcony to avoid seeing any more of him. It was tempting to join the smokers and spend her night looking out over Leesburgh, but was that how she wanted this party to go?

Before she could decide, she felt a light thump against her ankle. She turned her head to see that a stray ping pong had landed right at her feet. She leaned down to pick it up, and when she looked up to return it Titus MacArther’s large frame was blocking the party lights from her eyes as he drew close. Elle instantly felt like she was in the presence of giants, but she wasn’t going to let him know that. 

She would have to stand on the couch just to comfortably put the ball in his hand, but she didn’t want Chad to see her putting her vans on daddy’s couch. In an effort to meet him halfway, Elle tossed the ball to him before she’d have to stand and look like an infant in front of him. 

Titus caught the ball with ease, and perhaps the alcohol had softened his spells of cruelty because he actually gave her a smile and thanked her for tossing it back. Elle nodded and said “No biggie,” before taking another gulp of jungle juice. She glanced at Titus as Mateo taunted him into throwing the pong faster and thought about how he’d come to help Henry with the golem. Something about him seemed lighter, maybe more confident in the way he stood. [i]Good for him,[/i] she thought. Maybe taking on a golem was what he needed.

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