Lakewood High

I woke up from my bed, at six in the morning. Still tired I jumped off my bed and walked to my closet.

I rubbed my eyes to feel more woken than before. I put on a black sleeveless shirt and blue jeans, followed by a black leathered jacket.

After getting dressed I made my way downstairs where James was, holding a plate of food in the kitchen by the counter, cabinets and the microwave.

"Good morning." I said to him while walking in and going straight into the fridge.

"Morning. How did you sleep?" He asked as he put the plate of food into the microwave.

"Fine. What about you?" I asked him grabbing the milk.

"I didn't get to sleep. I was on the phone with Jessica all night. She was talking about herself the whole time. I was tempted to hang up on her but I didn't." He said turning around to face me still in the fridge.

I stood up fully closing the refrigerator door. "Oh. Has she done that before?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm honestly tired of it. She's always talking about herself. It's annoying." He said in frustration.

"Than why do you put up with her?" I asked not trying to sound polite when asking.

"I don't know." He said looking down.

I walked over to him as he lifts up his head. I open the cabinet behind him to get the cereal.

We are now face to face with the cereal in my hand.

"You should figure that out. If you don't know than the question is why are you still with her." I said honestly.

He pulled me closer making me let go of the cereal than holds my hands "Can I please say what I wanted to say yesterday?" He asked.

I pushed him away no matter how much I wanted to hold his hands and feel close to him "No. We're going to be late for school."

I grabbed the cereal and walked away from him.

I wanted to hug him, to hold his hands, but I couldn't. He was taken by a girl who wanted me dead, and making that worse would have just made my life worse as well.

***

Finally after walking so long I had made it to school.

Jenna said she was going to be late to school so I had to walk on my own, thinking about what had happened this morning.

This morning I had to make a tough choice. I had to push away the thing I wanted to have most. And if I had also asked him for a ride to school. That would have been a great trap for him to say what he wanted to finish yesterday.

I went into the school looking around for the office. I couldn't find it anywhere and I had no idea where I was in the school, so I was lost.

Than I had heard a familiar voice come my way.

"Oh look who it is. The girl who things she's better than me." Finally I had remembered, it was Jessica who was right in front of me. With her two slaves behind her.

I rolled my eyes. I was already lost in the school, and now she had to come and make things worse.

I didn't bother to talk to her. I walked past her not caring about what she had said. But her two friends had pushed me back to where I was standing before.

"Your not going anywhere." She said in an angry tone.

"Jessica, what do you want?" I said rolling my eyes.

"I want to have a little chat with you. And I wanted my two friends here to be witnesses when I say this." She said with us staring at each other eye to eye.

Before I could say anything, a familiar voice from behind me had spoke first.

"Oh shut up Jessica. Enough with your annoying threats. Unless you want me to tell James that your threatening his adopted sister."

"No no. Please no." Jessica whined.

I didn't have the strength to turn around to see who was defending me. All I knew was that the voice sounded somewhat familiar to me.

"Than how about you step away from the pretty girl and walk to your class." The voice said from behind me.

Jessica walked away slowly, while giving me a death stare.

Finally I turned around to see who my hero was. The boy standing in front of me was carrying cleats, and was wearing a jacket with soccer balls on the sleeves. I heard his voice familiar voice, but seeing him in front of me, I couldn't tell who it could be.

"Hey Ella." He said with a bright smile.

"Um, hi. How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Well I'm good friends with James. He told me about you." He said.

I was confused. I still had no idea who I was talking to. I couldn't figure out who's voice this was.

"Oh. Well you know my name. What's yours?" I asked, curious.

Soon enough he had a shocked expression on his face. "You don't know me? My name has been tosted around school many times than you can count."

"Well I just got here about ten minutes ago. So I don't think I have heard your name yet." I said smiling.

"Oh, than you must've heard it at the party. Maybe you were to drunk to really notice or hear anything." He said rubbing his head.

"Wait what do you mean?" I asked, even more confused than before.

"Oh, well you see... I'm Scott...Scott Lean" He said.

I was in shock. I was talking to the soccer captain. I was talking to the boy I made out with while I was drunk in front of almost the whole school.

"You...um....I...um..."I hesitated.

I couldn't speak, or move or breathe. I had no idea how to form words in the few seconds I had left.

But I knew I couldn't stand there for. I needed to find the office before second period came across.

"It's okay if your speechless. You probably don't even remember because you were so drunk." He said nervously.

Finally I found my voice "Your right, I don't remember. But Jenna did kind of fill me in on some or most of the events that happened that night of the party. Apparently I punched Jessica."

"Yeah. Everyone saw. But that's not what I came to talk to you about." He said still sounding nervous.

What did he want to talk to me about? I asked myself. I was confused. He barely knew me.

"Wait really? What is it?" I asked him.

"Well, I'm just wondering if you wanted to...um...hang out. Maybe Wednesday? If that's okay." He said looking more nervous than he already was.

I was surprised. The captain of the soccer team wanted to hang out with me?! I thought to myself.

I looked at him with a smile. "Let's make a deal. You show me to the office, and I'll think about your request."

He smiled back at me "Ah okay. Very smart."

"Thank you." I said as we walked down the halls.

It only took us five minutes before arriving at the main office.

I was still thinking of an answer. I wasn't so sure. I had feelings for someone else, but I didn't even know anything about Scott yet.

"We're here." He said. I could tell he was dying to know the answer.

"Yes we are. And my answer to your request is yes, I would love to hang out with you Wednesday." I said smiling.

He nodded, and than gave me a small hug.

"Great. I'll see you later." He whispers in my ear. Than walks away, disappearing into a classroom.

I walked inside the office and looked around to see if anyone was at their desk.

The whole office was empty expect one women with red hair and had looked very young.

I walked up to her with a big smile to show her that I was a nice person to talk to.

"Hello...um..." I took a quick look at the name tag that was on top of her desk "...Ms. Rose".

She looked at me with a smile "Well good morning young lady. How may I help you?" She asked politely.

"My name is Ella. My guardian, Kate handed in papers with information about me. I'm not sure if you got them or not." I said still having a smile planted on my face.

"Oh yes. She actually called me telling me all about you. I'm kind of a close friend of Kate's." She said looking at her computer.

I didn't know Kate made friends with adults at this school. But it would also make since. James went to this school as well. She might've wanted to see how his grades were or how he was feeling in school while she wasn't around. The reasons were endless.

After looking at the computer and clicking the mouse for almost five minutes, she turned back to me. And as she did the printer had started to print a paper out.

"So, I'm printing out your schedule. If you ever need another one just come ask me." She said taking out the finished printed paper.

"Okay. So what period am I suppose to be in now?" I asked as the school bell rung.

"Well I'm glad you asked. Your going to period two now. Room 23" She said looking at the paper than handing it to me.

"Okay, thank you very much." I said walking about from her desk and out the office.

There were so many kids walking around to go to their classes. But there was one crowd in particular that caught my attention the most.

It had looked like people were just crowding the wall. But as I looked closer, there were two people standing in the middle of the mini crowd.

I pushed past the crowd till I was finally able to see who was in the middle causing all of the loudness in the hallways.

It was non other than James and Jessica holding hands and kissing each other on the lips more than once.

I was disgusted. I had felt this anger inside of me that wouldn't, couldn't go away.

I rolled my eyes. And somehow over all the crowded people Jessica had seen me.

"What? Do you have an eye problem or something?" She asked annoyed.

And after that I couldn't hold my anger in anymore. "No. But after seeing what you apparently call a kiss. I think I might need to bleach my eyes out." I said rudely.

Jessica had a shocked expression on her face. Than she had looked very angry, just like I was, and in some way I had hoped she could feel what I was feeling.

"What did you say to me?" She asked.

I knew she didn't actually want an answer. But I gave it to her anyways. "You heard me. Unless you suddenly became deaf. I mean I would want to become deaf just so I couldn't hear your annoying ass voice anymore." I said speaking my full mind.

Everyone including James was silent, waiting for what was going to happen next.

Jessica walked up to me slowly looking at me dead in the eyes "You don't know who your messing with." She said to me with a serious face.

All I could do at the moment was laugh "Me? Ha! It's you who doesn't know. And for you to threaten me like that. You just became first on my new list of people I hate most of all. So watch your back." I said.

Than, I walked away feeling prouder than ever before. I had just faced Jessica face to face in front of everyone, including James. And I couldn't regret it.

After a few minutes I saw James from down the hall, trying to catch up to me.

"James if your going to tell me never to do that again. To bad, she makes me want to punch her dead in the face." I said rolling my eyes as he came in front of me.

Instead of saying anything he just put his hand on my face gently. "Listen, you did something I never would have done. Someone needed to put her in check. And I'm glad someone has finally come to do so." He said with a smile.

I placed my hand on his hand that was still on my face and pushed it away. "I didn't do it if you. I did it for me." I continued "Also, I'm hanging out with Scott on Wednesday. So I won't be home right away." I said.

"Your hanging out with Scott Lean now?" He asked in shock.

"Is that a problem? I mean making friends is apart of the high school experience, is it not, and he also hates Jessica just as much as I do." I said in a serious tone.

"Ella, you shouldn't hang around Scott. He's bad news." He said starring into my eyes.

I couldn't take anymore of the confusion. He was telling me to stay away from all the bad people in this school. When he is the person who's dating one of those type of people.

"James, you out of all people do not get to say that to me. Your dating Jessica! One of those people you say that Scott is. And your friends with Scott as well. He can't be that bad." I said.

"I am his friend, and I know him well. He doesn't stick to one relationship. He will either break your heart or cheat on you with someone else. I don't want that for you" He said looking down.

Than I removed our hands from off my face "I'm not like other girls. And I don't want to just have one friend at this school." I said in a sad voice.

"Please don't Ella." He said finally making eye contact with me.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't." I asked him.

I was hoping he would convince me by saying or doing anything he could in the moment. But all he did was stay frozen.

"That's what I thought." I said, than I walked away from him. Than walked a fast pace to my next class.

It hurt me to walk away from him. To not tell him how I really felt about Scott and about him. But if he wasn't willing to say it himself. And like I had said, I was here to make new friends. Not focus on something I could never have.