The Last Red-Head Standing

Introduction (Part 1)

A/N: Hi Everyone! Note that this is not edited. Auto-correct could've done something to my story. :3

I'm woken by the highly recognisable sound of my alarm clock. I groan as I shift in my bed, praying for five more minutes of sleep. I turn over, trying to avoid the inevitable.
"Ow!" I whine as I come into hard contact with the floor. For such soft carpet you really hurt to fall on. My thoughts are interrupted by my sisters voice calling from outside of my door.
"Get up Ella!" She whines. "Mum won't serve breakfast until your down so get up!"
"Go away Lucy! Give me five more minutes!" I yell back agitated.
"Whatever.." I hear her mumble as she stomps back downstairs.
Come on, get up. I push myself up and off of the floor, feeling dazed and tired. I peer out of the gap in the curtains; the sun's shining and no clouds are in sight. Today's going to be a good day. I trudge into the bathroom and turn on the shower, hoping that it'll wake me up; fully. I felt half asleep. After pulling off my pyjamas I hop in, glad that I can spend the next few minutes under the hot stream of water. Just as I finish up washing my hair before I hear my brother call,
"Ella! Don't use all the hot water! I still need a shower." What a household, do we all just care about ourselves? I hop out and wrap my towel around me. I feel much better now and then set about with the task of choosing an outfit.

I sigh as I look through my closet. Nothing in there seemed right. For some reason I felt like I had to dress nicely today but I just can't remember-

Oh no. NO NO NO.
"Muffins." I mutter under my breath as I frantically search through all of my items of clothing. I finally manage to choose an outfit that isn't totally crazy looking. Usually when I quickly throw together an outfit it....well, let's just say it doesn't look right. I quickly stuff all of my books and stationery into my bag and rush down the stairs. I can't believe I forgot about the first day of school. I whip open the cupboard and grab a muesli bar before rushing out the front door yelling, "Bye Mum! Can't stay for breakfast!" I sprint to the top of the street, wondering if I've already ruined my first day of school. I haven't. I manage to catch the bus as it rides up to the bus stop. Quickly I jump on, pay the annoyed looking driver and sit down in the front seat.

Made it. Lowering my bag to the floor beside my feet, I wait for the bus to take off. I bite into my muesli bar wondering how my mother didn't wake me up on time. After 16 years you'd think she would remember the first day- My thoughts are interrupted yet again when the bus slows down to one of its stops. A girl with platinum blonde hair hops on. Cheers arise from the back of the bus and she grins back at all of them. Like I did, she pays the driver except this time the bus driver is smiling at her. What?! He wasn't all nice with me. The girl goes and sits at the back; middle seat. OH. I smirk to myself. I see, she's a popular. Chatter begins at the back of the bus, everyone wanting to talk to her, desperate to get her attention.
"Melanie! Wanna sit with me at lunch today?"
"Melanie, how do you get your hair so soft?"
"Melanie! I saw this really cute bag that would totally match your eyes!"
It was Melanie this, that and the other. This is going to be everything I hear at school. Melanie, Melanie Melanie. Just like last year and the year before and the year before.

"Hey red head!" A deep voice calls from the back. I bite my lip. This is it Ella, your first impression this year on everyone. Most of them already know you but still there could be new people back ther-
"I said HEY RED HEAD!" The voice calls again.
I whip my head around agitated,
"What? And I have a name you know, it's Ella."
Everyone down the back is smirking at me. To say I'm scared is an understatement I'm uncomfortable, annoyed, sweaty and I have a feeling I'm about to be made fun of.
"Well ELLA," The boy begins over-emphasising the word 'ella'. "I just wanted to tell you that the sun called, it wants its hair back!"
Everyone, including me, looks at the boy incredulously. The sun called?! Seriously?! That was the lamest insult ever.
"I'd like to see you do better then!" The idiot jock says. Oops, didn't mean to say that out loud.
"Sure. Your girlfriend just called, she wants her joke back." I say with a small smirk. I know that I have better comebacks but I will not waste them on this doofus. Everyone's whispering now, some of them with 'Oh she doesn't know what she's in for' faces.
"What did you say about my girlfriends?!" The jock starts again. His hands are clenched in fists and his knuckles, white. His jaw has tightened and he's hunched. He looks so comical. I snort to myself, imaging this boy as a cartoon character with steam coming out of his ears.
"Wait, did you say girlfriends?! As in you have multiple girlfriends?!" Melanie says looking over at the jock.

"W-What?!?! I-I don't know w-what y-y-you're t-t-talking about." He stutters, looking extremely uncomfortable.
"Don't try to get yourself out of this." Melanie says in a very I'm-in-charge-and-you-will-do-as-I-say voice. "I'm so telling Stephanie about this!" She begins tapping away at her phone.
"No!" He cries as he looks at her with begging eyes. "She'll dump me!"
"Well you should've thought about that BEFORE you cheated on her!" She continues tapping and finally stops. She folds her arms and says,
"Done." She glares at him before turning her attention to me. "Thank you Ella. If you hadn't have done that then I would never had known that Brad here had cheated." She then turned away from me to begin talking to her friends.
"RED HEAD!" The jock calls again. "You are dead for doing that to me!"
"You're the one who exposed your secret by YOURSELF!" I yell back. He begins to walk towards me, once agin looking like a comical, cartoon character. But one of the other boys stops him. He holds his arm out in front of him so that he can't walk any further forward.
"What are you doing?!" Brad yells at him.
"Don't go after her, okay? She's a girl and she didn't mean to do that so chill. You ratted on yourself. I'll help you out with Stephanie. Just don't cause a fight." This mysterious boy seemed to be on my side. Not that I was eavesdropping or anything. I just, happened to umm, FINE I was eavesdropping! Who wouldn't in this circumstance?

The idiot jock walked back to his seat and sat down, glaring at me as he did so. The nice boy who had saved me from near embarrassment and potential fight looked over at me. I quickly mouthed,
"Thank you." And he turned away.