Clockwork Daisy

Chapter 5

Ellie

Chapter 5

Standing in the doorway of that packed English classroom, I felt like a talentless movie star caught in an embarrassing scandal: exposed. Every single pair of eyes, a rainbow of greens, browns, blues and every combination in between, were studying my freckled face. To fill the silence, I blurted: "Hi. I'm Ellie." I wanted to smack myself on the forehead. Of course these people knew who I was. Even the principal's receptionist this morning knew who I was.

"You're Ellen Wells, the new girl." She hadn't asked it as a question, she stated it as a fact. She was confident.

I straightened the strap on my messenger bag backpack. "Am I that obvious?" I asked, taking the various papers she offered me. 

"Welcome to Small Town, USA, dear. Word spreads quickly when there's a new comer." She took a bite out of her nearby doughnut and pointed to the sheets in my hand. "I've given you a map of the school, a student handbook, and your schedule." She glanced at the digital clock circa 1970 blinking on her desktop. "First hour started about fifteen minutes ago. You've got Mr. Bow's English. He's down the hallway. Take a left, another left, and then a right."

That ended our conversation and turned me loose into the foreign hallways of St. Wisteria High. I decided to take my time finding Bow's classroom. I listened to the way the tile echoed when I walked on it in my wedge shoes, I felt the texture of the brick walls, and I read every single poster plastered around me I could find. Most were hand written, promoting various student run clubs and upcoming football games. From what I could gather, the mascot of my new school was the Gardener. I stifled back a laugh. 

But before I knew it, I had found Mr. Bow's English classroom. That's when I'd knocked, dumbly answered "please" and awkwardly introduced myself. 

"You're not Ellie!" The exuberant teacher exclaimed, looking at, presumably, a class list. "You're Ellen Wells." He flashed me a joking smile.

Relief poured through my body. I hated being put on the spot. "Uh, yeah. I'm Ellen Wells. But I go by Ellie."

"Ellie it is." Mr. Bow marked this information down in pen on the sheet of paper. "So you're new here, Ellie. We're all very excited to have a new student, as you can tell." He motioned to all the alert faces in the classroom. "How about you tell us a little about yourself?"

"Well, um, I'm, uh from New York." I stumbled. 

"New York City?" A kid in the back asked. 

"No." I shook my head, sensing the disappointment. "Brooke Haven."

"Never heard of it." Someone added in.

"Well I'd never heard of St. Wisteria." I snapped  back. The class erupted in approving "ooo"s, respecting my attempt at a diss.  

"Lovely." Mr. Bow chuckled. "I hope you put that much effort into class discussions, Ellie." I felt heat rush to my cheeks. "There's an open seat in the back, next to Ms. Bethany Mallard." Bethany, a petite girl with gorgeous wavy blond hair, gave me a little wave with her fingertips. I got over to my seat as quickly as I could. 

"I'm Beth." Bethany Mallard said once I had situated myself. "Don't worry, you'll get used to Mr. Bow's  dry humor." 

"I'm Ellie." I crinkled my face in embarrassment shortly after I said it. "Duh, you already know that."

"It's okay." Beth said sympathetically. "I'll just pretend I forgot." 

Mr. Bow announced that he was giving us the rest of the hour to mingle. He gave me a wink and I braced myself for the incoming mob. 

"What's New York like?"

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Cool nose piercing!"

"Wanna sit with us at lunch?"

"I love your shoes!"

"Are you single?"

I snapped my neck in the direction of the last question. "Excuse me?"

A guy with way too much hair gel and a cocky flipped collar simply shrugged. "A guy's gotta ask."

"And who would this guy be?" I asked.

"Trevor Oakley, ma'am." Trevor Oakley straightened his posture, as if it would impress me. 

"Okay." I tapped my fingers on my desk. "Tell Trevor Oakley it's none of his business." 

Once the bell rang, the harassment of my fellow classmates died down. They had more important things to do, like get to their next class on time. Only Beth remained by my side, checking my schedule. "Cool. My next class is only a few down from your's. Let's go." 

We poured into the hallway, my ears filling with spurts of various conversations. "How did I hold up?" I asked Beth.

"God you were fabulous." Beth complemented, snapping a loose thread off her gold blazer. "I would've crumbled if all those manics attacked me with questions like that. You're pretty sassy, Ellie Wells. You can hold your own."

"You think so?" I was filled with a new found assurance. Maybe I wasn't a complete dofus. 

"I'm not the only one who thought so, either." Beth raised her eyebrows. 

I cocked my head slightly, like a confused dog. "What do you mean?"

"Deacon Knight was totally checking you out." She informed me. 

"I don't know who that is." I reminded her. 

"I can't believe you didn't notice him ogling you, even with all those people around. It was like he was in a trance!" Beth exclaimed, clearing enjoying her own storytelling. 

"Huh." I pondered what she'd said, and was brought a touch of happiness by the thought. There was a boy interested in me. "What's he like?"

"He's pretty quiet and introverted. Doesn't talk to many people outside his friend group." Beth read the displeasure forming on my face. "Oh but he's totally hot! Lots of the girls in our grade-scratch it-the whole school have secret crushes on him."

"I'll just take your word for it." Any boy who wasn't interested in expanding his social horizon probably wouldn't ever make a move anyway, or would be too shy to accept if I did. Maybe he was nice to look at, but I wasn't going to waste another space of thought on Deacon Knight.