Colours

chapter two

9 months before

It was finally September 6th, aka the most dreaded day of my entire summer; the first day back to school. I exhale loudly as I turn off my alarm and pull my phone out to check my instagram, twitter, and snapchat. After spending an extra 15 minutes in bed wasting time, I finally stand up and throw on a random pair of jean shorts, a red tshirt, and some white converse. I brush my hair and teeth, put on a little bit of makeup and then run down the stairs. I grab a blueberry muffin off the kitchen counter, giving my mom a kiss on the cheek as I walk by her having her morning coffee.

"Have a good first day honey," she says just as I make my way towards the front door.
"Thanks mom, have a good day at work."

I shut the front door and walk toward my car. I had just gotten it at the beginning of the summer, finally having saved up enough money to pay for part of it while my mom paid the rest. I hop in and drive towards Madison's house to give her a ride. I send her a quick text once I pull into her driveway.

The passenger door opens and she hops in the car, "Morning Ella."
"Morning Madison, you look cute today."

She really did look super cute today. She was wearing a black smock dress with a pair of ankle boots. Clearly having tried harder than me. Another thing I'd learned about blending in: you don't have to wear the worst or the best clothes you own, just wear whatever you feel like that day and it'll most likely help you to blend in because you're not really trying to do anything to stand out or blend in.

"Thank you, you look you normally do," she replies with a laugh and I join in.
"What a nice compliment, thank you so much!"

We continue laughing, talking about nothing in particular as we reach school and go our separate ways to our lockers and first period classes.

* * *

The lunch bell rings just as my English teacher, Mr. Greg finishes telling us all about what to expect from class this year. He dismisses us and everyone begins rushing to get to the cafeteria and to their friends. I take a little while longer, taking the time to put my binders away and then walking out of the classroom. When I do, I immediately bump into the chest of someone walking by, dropping the textbook I had cradled in my arms and almost falling over myself; had they not stuck out a hand to grab my shoulder and steady me.

"I'm sorry I should been watching where I was going," I say quickly, bending down to pick up my textbook without looking at the person.
"It's no problem, it was my fault.... Ella, right?"

I look up and find Jake Bentley staring down at me.

I just nod in reply before beginning to fiddle with the ripped bits in my textbook. He takes notice but then continues the conversation, "D'you have English this semester?"

"Yeah.. Second period with Mr. Greg, why?"
"Well... Uhh.. I have first period with Ms. Drake, and I suck at English and I was looking for a tutor and well; are you any good?"
"English isn't my greatest subject and I don't really know how to teach it but I wouldn't say I'm bad at it, like I understand it or whatev-"
"That's fine but would you be willing to tutor me? It would really save my ass," he interrupts.
"Umm, let me think about it and I'll let you know?"
"Yeah, of course... Want me to give you my number? And then you can like call or text me?"
"Yeah sure, here," I say as I hand him my phone.

He puts his number in and then hands it back to me with a smile.

"Thanks so much Ella, I'll see you around."
"See ya."

By the time Jake and I have finished our talk, the hallway is mainly cleared out and I easily make my way to the cafeteria; quickly finding Grace and Madison at our usual table.

"What took you so long?" Grace asks.
I roll my eyes, having only taken about 5 minutes longer than usual, "I was talking to Jake."
Madison suddenly joins in the conversation at that, "Sorry, did you say Jake? As in, Jake Bentley?"

I just nod my head, trying to act as casual as possible to balance out the expressions on the faces of my best friends.

"Why were you talking to him?" Madison continues.
"I dunno, I bumped into him, like literally bumped and then almost fell over, while leaving class and then he asked me to tutor him in English and I told him I'd think about it."
"You have to do it!" Grace replies immediately.
"Umm, why?"
"Why?! Because it's Jake fucking Bentley. One, he's super chill and nice. Two, he's super hot-"
"He has a girlfriend," I interrupt.
"Not the point, he's still nice to look at it.

I roll my eyes slightly at Grace's antics but nod my head in agreement anyways.

"He gave me his number, I said I'd think about it and so I'll think about it," I say, emphasizing the word think as my two best friends begin to nod excitedly.

The rest of lunch goes by pretty uneventfully with me eating Grace and Madison's food while they complain about me eating their food and the three of us talking about nothing in particular.

When I get to my fourth period biology class, I immediately notice that one, the teacher has assigned us lab partners, and two, I'm paired with none other than Jake Bentley. I sigh quietly under my breath and make my way over to the station. I take out my binder and pencil case, and knowing we won't be doing anything interesting today, my phone and headphones.

"Ella, hey."

I give Jake a small smile and then put my headphones in, turning on The 1975's newest album because it's just amazing. A few minutes later, after the bell has rung; Jake taps me on the shoulder and gestures for me to take out my earbud. I pull one of them out and he whispers to me that the teacher just said she'd be confiscating any and all phones she sees. I quickly pull the other earbud out and throw them and my phone in my backpack. I focus my attention on Mrs. Banks, listening to what she's telling us about the class. One thing especially catching my attention because it's not particularly what I wanted to hear,

"Your lab partner will be your partner for the whole semester so you'd better get used to them."

Not too long later, the bell rings signalling the end of the day and I quickly leave the class, not saying goodbye to Jake and making my way to my locker to meet Grace and Madison who were coming to my house. As we're walking to my car I tell them about biology.

"You guys will never guess who I'm paired with for bio."
"Who?" Grace asks from the passengers seat, Madison texting someone from her place in the back.
"Jake Bentley."
Madison then looks up from her phone, "So that's all the more reason to tutor him, you're going to be seeing loads of him anyways."
I sigh, "I guess so but," I trail off, having no real excuses for why I can't tutor him.

I sigh again and continue driving, heavily debating my options, quickly realizing that it really did make sense for me to just tutor Jake because we were lab partners anyways.