this is me trying | taylor swift

twenty

❝i can still make the whole place shimmer❞

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

A heavy sigh escaped her throat as Ella slammed her door of her mom's car shut.

"Try to make it a good day, El," Andrea practically begged at her teenage daughter, bidding her farewell.

Ella turned around and nodded with a tight-lipped smile that didn't quite reach her eyes before venturing towards her first class of the day.

It had been two weeks since the incident. Five bruised knuckles (you should see the other guy!) and three days of suspension later, Ella was back in school by the end of the week. However, things were anything but normal.

Upon her return, Ella felt anxious. This was not a new feeling, but it certainly felt different than before. The beginning of the school year brought with it a lot of new faces and as a result, a lot of new opinions.

For the first time in ten years of academia, Ella felt uncomfortable attending school. Although the blonde was not necessarily being bullied at school, there was an obvious shift that had occurred after her quarrel with the other student. That paired with Ella's increased popularity due to her attendance at the tour and her sister's exponential rise in fame over the past year allowed for the floodgates to open and questions from inquisitive minds. Suddenly, Ella was receiving attention, and not the good kind. While it wasn't always downright obvious, the little comments here and there as well as the weakly-veiled stares and attempts at inconspicuous points she received throughout the day were slowly catching up to her.

Today was no different.

Ella was sitting in her United States history class, scrolling on her phone. Class had not started yet, as the teacher had excused himself to attend to a phone call he had received. Ella kept glancing at the door, waiting for Kenna to appear. Her best friend was always running late to class.

As the blonde looked up at the door for the fifth time, something -- or someone -- caught the corner of her eye. Two of her classmates, Maeve and Jackson, were whispering not so quietly and glancing in her direction every few seconds. This continued on for a few minutes until Ella had seen enough.

"Do you have a problem with me?" Ella asked, turning to the right to face the two, not caring if she was speaking at a raised volume. The class was bustling with noise, every single student having their own conversation with their peers.

Maeve scoffed, turning away from Jackson and towards Ella. While Maeve and Ella had never necessarily been friends, they were always friendly, so this behavior shocked the blonde.

"I was just telling Jack how you punched a kid because he wasn't a fan of your sister's music," Maeve rolled her eyes, a look of disgust on her face. Ella felt her hands trembling as she quickly placed them on her lap to avoid them being seen. She was scared, but she wouldn't let them see it. She couldn't give them that satisfaction.

"That's not what happened," Ella responded, her voice strong as she made direct eye-contact with Maeve, refusing to falter. By now, the three classmates had quite a few onlookers, the majority of the other conversations having diminished. After all, there was nothing teenagers loved more than gossip and drama.

"Do you really think I don't know what went down? Everyone's talking and we all know that because of you, he got him suspended and kicked off the soccer team. He lost his chance at a scholarship all because you were so butthurt that he didn't like your sister's mediocre Walmart music," Maeve sneered, a certain hint of venom evident in her voice.