Elle.

After lunch I wasn't in the mood to deal with Ty so I sat at a different lab table that had been empty the previous days. As kids flooded in I braced myself for when he would saunter into the room and more than likely sit beside me anyway. I was right, he did. His gaping smiled turned my stomach sour causing me to pile my books back up and begin to move again.

"Wait, Elle." He grabbed my arm just as I stood. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you." I sat back down unwillingly due to the force he exerted on my arm. "If you would just give me a chance I could prove you wrong. Just one date is all it takes."

I nearly slapped his cheek being overcome by rage."Yes Ty, it only takes one date for you to take advantage of me." I said it loud enough for the surrounding kids to hear and a round of "Oh, burn." and other mindless sayings to occur.

I then proceeded to get my book and move to a table across the room next to a very shy girl who was reading a novel. I recognized her from the annul staff, so I tried to strike up a conversation.

“Isn’t Ty such an ass?” I mumbled then nudged her when she didn’t reply.

“Who?” She looked up from her book with an angry expression.

That didn’t work very well. I sat for the next hour in complete silence shooting death glares to Ty and Lizzie, who had taken my prior spot.

-

The bell rang just as I had come to the conclusion I would claw my eyes out. Instead I brushed past Ty in a hateful manner making sure to hit his shoulder with enough strength to hurt him but not myself. I ran down the hall without stopping at my locker to change books or even talk to McKenzie.

Once I made it to the last classroom in the hall I turned sharply through the door and was instantly disappointed to not see the cocky boy from earlier. I sat down to wait in case he was just running late, but soon class started and he never came in to sit in front of me.

Nothing could seem to hold my attention. During the rest of Calculus class I wrote song lyrics all over my homework causing it to look messy. Then during annul staff I started to work on the art club page. When Lucy and McKenzie came over to see my finished work they both gasped at the mismatch colors and general ugly presence of the page. I apologized multiple times and began to start over.

I was really falling hard for Jude. His overall mysterious nature is what intrigued me the most. I felt this deep gut feeling that there was something I needed to learn about him. I promised I would do everything in my power to find out what it was.

By the time the final bell rang I had made a decent page that would just need a few touch ups in the following days. I followed McKenzie to her car and tried to listen about all the things her and Avery had talked about during Biology class but didn’t try to focus more than needed so when she asked me a question my dumb “Huh?” reply irked her.

“Have you been listening to me at all, Elle?” She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot behind a old green truck that putted along slowly.

“Yes, there is just a lot of stuff going on internally that I’m trying to figure out. I’m sorry, but I’m really happy for you and Avery. I’m sure you two will be going out soon.”

“Elle! He has a girlfriend, if you had paid me any attention you would have heard!” since we had stopped at a red light she crossed her arms over her chest and huffed like a little child.

“Oh, Kenzie! Would it make you feel better if I killed her? Who is she? I’ll beat her with a stick.” I tried not to smile when McKenzie brightened up at the idea.

“You can’t…he’s going out with Lucy.” My mouth dropped. I couldn’t believe that he was going out with the annul editor; they seemed to be complete opposites. “Yeah, but he doesn’t really like her. I’m crossing my fingers he breaks up with her.”

By this time we had reach my all too familiar house. She pulled into the carport all the way due to the fact Ryan’s car was absent. I pondered where he could be before asking if McKenzie wanted to come in.

“No, I should probably go so that I’ll be home when Alex gets out of school.”

I nodded and grabbed my bag before shutting the door and promising to call her later to talk more about Avery and assemble a plan for breaking him and Lucy up.

The house was eerily quiet once I unlocked the door and stepped in. There was a bright yellow post it note on the coffee table that read: Gone to the store, be back soon. –Ry. I crumpled it up and tried to shoot it into the garbage can by the entryway to the kitchen, but failed due to my poor aim.

Feeling rebellious I declined the nagging voice telling me to pick it up and opted to run up the stairs taking two at a time and changed clothes. I wanted to feel as comfortable as possible so I put on a loose pair of yoga pants and a relaxed graphic t shirt. My hair was horribly windblown so I pulled it up in an odd messy ponytail that could’ve fallen at any given second.

I sprawled across my bed after putting on a fresh pair of socks and just closed my eyes when the door bell rang three consecutive times. I rolled over to stick my head under my pillow, but the bell only seemed to ring louder. The sigh I let out was so hard my throat hurt after wards as I walked down the stairs grudgingly. I figured it was only Ryan who would have a hand full of groceries unable to get his keys out to unlock the door. Boy was I wrong.