Life As It Is

Ella was not the average high school student. She didn't smoke, drink, or even go out! Why must you ask? Because her life was a living hell. Her family was poor and also too strict to Ella. She couldn't wait to graduate and leave them for good.

As Ella sat in her English class on a sunny January day in California, she daydreamed of what it was like to be a normal teenager. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a door open loudly.

"Mr. Armstrong, how nice of you to join us," the teacher said to the boy.

Ella looked closely at the boy. She had never seen him in class before.

"Mr. Armstrong please take a seat!" the teacher said, starting to get irritated.

After searching around the room for a while, the boy found an empty seat next to Ella and took out a piece of paper that said on the top '409 In Your Coffeemaker'.

Ella studied him for a few minutes: he had short black hair, wearing jeans and a Ramones T-Shirt. The boy noticed she was looking at him and grinned. She quickly turned away.

"Hey!" he whispered, still grinning.

He was talking to her? Nobody ever wanted to talk to her since 8th grade. All because of how she couldn't hang out with anyone they assumed she was a loser. Her only friend Melissa had deserted her once people started calling her a loser.

"Hi," Ella whispered back, turning her attention to her English teacher talking about a book report. She thought that maybe this boy was about to taunt her or something.

The bell soon rang and the boy caught up with Ella.

"I'm Billie Joe by the way, wanna skip class or something?" he said to her.

"I.. I can't!" she said and rushed to class, leaving Billie Joe alone.