I'm Stuck On You

"Good God. You actually spoke to him with your mouth full of food and you're telling me he didn't turn away in disgust? How the hell do you manage it?" Ellie grilled me as we walked towards our lockers before class. Her tone was a lot more surprised than I would've liked, but hey, I was pretty shocked too.

Ellie was a short girl, at least 5'1" to my 5'7", but her personality more than made up for what she lacked in height. Everything, from her voice to her sense of fashion, was loud and she was probably the only girl who could pull it off. For example, today she'd thrown together a tiny denim mini skirt with three quarter length, hot pink leggings. With that she matched a dark band t-shirt, black and white converse and a whole lot of accessories. Amongst these were bright pink hair slides pinning back her emo-styled brown hair and bracelets. Practically hundreds of them.

Some would say she was "scene" but Ellie would say she was "Ellie". After all, you really couldn't label her based on clothes. The day before she'd worn a lemon yellow, strapless dress with light blue skinny jeans, flat white pumps and a ribbon in her hair. Tomorrow, I had no doubt, she'd go for a completely different look entirely. Possibly she'd come to school looking like a hardcore metalhead. It really wouldn't surprise me.

"I know, okay? But I seriously thought it was you!" I whined, pouting childishly as I leaned heavily against the lockers. Ellie rolled her eyes as she opened hers. "I bet he thinks I'm..I'm a complete mental defective!" I turned slightly, lashing out at the locker with a kick that hurt more than I thought it would. "...ow."

"Stop being a baby." She instructed, rummaging through her locker contents as she spoke. "Yes, you looked like a manner-less five year old who doesn't know the meaning of polite," I frowned at that and made to defend myself but she just held her hand up. "but, and this is a huge but, you now have an in."

"I have an in? What the hell is an in?" I asked then, a look of pure confusion written on my face as I watched her apply a fresh coat of lip gloss using the mirror on the inside of her locker door. Her snort of amusement and the way she rolled her eyes in a 'do you know anything?' way made me blush slightly. It wasn't my fault that boys weren't exactly my mastermind topic, okay?

"An in. Y'know, a way in." My face was still blank. "A way in to get closer to him! Damn, you really have no clue, do you?" Ellie was clearly exasperated by me at this point but all I could think of was hushing her. People walking past were already giving us funny looks and I was about ready to have the ground swallow me up.

"If you weren't literally my only hope, I'd take offence to that statement. I'm just not fantastic with boys." I answered her, shrugging my shoulders and subtly trying to give her the wounded puppy lok so she'd cut me some slack. Thankfully it worked because the next moment she's slamming her locker shut, holding my upper arms and giving me a horrendous look of sympathy. As if I really was an idiot and she was going to do me the biggest favour of my life.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I should be more kind since I really am you're only hope." The comment broke the semi-sweet moment and I dead-panned, but Ellie was already flouncing off down the hallway. "Bring extra bagels tomorrow so we can commence plan 'get Charlotte a date with the soccer captain'." Before I could question the link between bagels and dates, Ellie had already disappeared around the corner and gone. The fact my first class was on the opposite side of the school was all that stopped me going after her with a million questions. Damn that girl.

The first few classes of the day seemed to just drag on. Though the mood was brightened considerably In Calculus when Mr. Richmond, a rather portly older man, got stuck in his chair and had to be wheeled out to the nurse's station. I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't just his size that kept him stuck there though. Especially if the group of guys giving each other high fives at the back of the classroom was anything to go by.

Still, lunch rolled round quickly and I'm pretty sure I surprised everyone by practically running out of the class to get to the cafeteria. Ellie was going to explain this master plan whether I had to drag it out of her or not. The last time I went along with one of her plans without question she had me dressed up in some skimpy nurse outfit flirting with the friend of her, at the time, "lust interest". Humiliating wasn't even in it.

The lunch line was relatively short so I grabbed a tray and ordered my usual chicken salad sandwiches, blue jelly with a side of squirty cream and a small bottle of water. I wasn't exactly conscious of my weight. No way, it was just that the sandwiches were addictive. Plus, blue jelly is always win. Always. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're liars.

A glance to where we'd usually sit showed, once again, a lack of my best friend so I moved towards an empty table to wait. That is, until I heard her voice. Unfortunately, it happened to be coming from the side of the cafeteria I hadn't bothered looking over since we never sat there; the jocks' domain.

"There she is. Char! Char, I'm over here!"

Please don't do this to me, Ellie.

"Char!!"

I'm begging you.

"Charlotte Pond, I know you can hear me."

Pasting a smile only Ellie would know was fake onto my face, I turned on my heel and looked at the group she was sat with. Surprisingly, or not, it was Ellie, Luke and his best friend--self-proclaimed king of the school--Freddie Jones. The self indulgent grin Ellie was giving me was almost too much to bear when I notice that the only available seat was right next to Luke. God I hated her at times.

"Sorry, my mind must've been elsewehere, I didn't notice you sat here." I tried not to grind out, setting my tray down as gently as I could--resisting slamming it and sending my jelly into Ellie's face--and giving the two boys a friendly smile. The moment I sat down I felt those overgrown butterflies in my stomach again and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat anything.

"Oh, yeah. I heard that poor Freddie had to break up with his girlfriend last night so I thought I'd cheer him up. Didn't I, sweetie." She cooed up at Lakeshore's now most wanted batchelor. Freddie Jones, a 5'11" blonde haired adonis, was probably the biggest player known to high school girls anywhere. He was never in a relationship for more than a month and he was always the one to break it off. Saying that he was "poor Freddie" for having to break some girl's heart was like saying a lion was a "poor lion" for having to maul a zookeeper to death. I was pretty sure girls only wanted him because they were under the delusion that they could change him and be the one to tie him down. Poor girls, right?

"Yeah, he's so torn up about it. That's why he's flirting with you, Ellie." Luke teased, earning a glare from Freddie. "'sides, what would you want him for? I thought you had a college boy?"

"I do," she started, smiling almost triumphantly which made me snort in amusement. "It's an open relationship. We get to see people our own age or whatever, but I still get an older guy and he gets me. It's a total win win."

"Wouldn't you rather have someone who was faithful to you though?" I asked then, curious. "I mean, call me old fashioned but I wouldn't want to share with another girl."

"I agree with Charlotte." Luke piped up then, causing us all to turn and look at him. "Well, it's better to be faithful to one than to lie to a few, right?" His smirk and clear implication must've annoyed Freddie more than he let on but he frowned anyway.

"Don't you have a soccer meeting to prepare for, Nixon?" He bit out, happy that he'd effectively managed to get rid of him when the other boy glanced at the clock and cursed. Ellie, however, looked surprised and then panicked; as if this wasn't supposed to happen.

"But Luuuke! You're bailing on this riveting conversation." She complained, giving him her classic puppy dog eyes. Luke was no exception since he certainly did look guilty about having to rush off.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Ells. How can I make it up to you both?" His gaze fell on me then and I couldn't help but blush; something Freddie noticed since he sat there and started to smirk to himself unbeknownst to myself or Ellie. However, being under pressure made my mind work ten times faster and suddenly Ellie's request of more bagels clicked.

"You could have breakfast with us tomorrow." I blurted, trying not to turn a deeper shade of red when he gave me a curious look. Thankfully Ellie came to my rescue.

"You and Freddie. We have breakfast together before school and Char's mom makes the most delicious toasted cream cheese bagels." Luke's knowing grin made me smile sheepishly. He probably already knew they were good considering he'd witnessed me stuffing my face with one. My mind cried for a moment.

"I won't miss it." Luke promised, with a grunt of agreement from Freddie too. "I'll get your number from Mark and you can let me know times and stuff, 'kay?" I nodded mutely and watched as he cleared up his tray and made to leave the cafeteria, but he paused and turned back for a moment. "By the way, Char, your hair looks nice today." And then he and his amazing, heart-fluttering smile were gone.

Despite his best friend still sat at the table with us, I shot Ellie a look that told her how much I loved her right now. Her small nod told me that she knew. It was then that Freddie gave a stretch and sighed heavily, catching both our attention.

"Well, I'd best be off too. I have to show the new kid around school even though he already knows where everything is. Stupid Coach's orders." He grumbled and Ellie pouted. If I didn't know better I'd think that she was honestly disappointed he was leaving.

"New kid? What new kid?" She asked.

"I don't know, he just moved here and transferred in yesterday. Joined the football team and now I'm babysitting him. Oliver something. Digby, I think. I have to go though, call me later, yeah?" He replied, directed more to Ellie, and she nodded blankly before he left. She was more interested in staring at me with an equal look of disbelief.

It couldn't be the same Oliver Digby...could it?