Being You

Chapter 5

God, I love wearing pants to school. Ella hummed softly to herself and skipped past Jeremy towards the bus stop. They're so comfy, and there are pockets!

"El. You're me. You can't be energetic."

"My bad." Ella somehow managed to restrain herself from any bold movements and walked in a somewhat normal manner to the small blue shelter. "I just don't know what to do with all of this energy! Don't you ever feel like that?" She stopped for a moment and stared at him, suddenly seeming enlightened. "Maybe I have ADHD."

Jeremy scoffed. When he saw her expression, he couldn't control the laughter bubbling inside him. "Yeah, yeah. Sounds like you've been self-diagnosing using those tests on the internet again. You do know they're phoney, right?"

"Not all of them," she sniffed. "Sorry we can't all have perfect attention spans like you."

Jeremy's reply was interrupted by the arrival of the bus. Ella watched him greet her friends with as much cheerfulness as he could manage, and she was again struck by the absurdity of the situation. She was watching herself socialising from outside the circle. Abruptly, she pushed her brother further along the aisle and he moved willingly, glad to flee the girls he'd bitched about to her the day before.

"This is so weird," Ella muttered to herself, shaking her head.

"I know." She felt Jeremy's eyes on her. "At least we have a couple of classes together today," he said, nudging her. "That's good, right?"

"Sure, yeah."

He sighed. "It's not gonna be easy, but we're getting better. We can look out for each other this way, too."

"Yeah." Ella gave him a weak smile before turning back to look out the bus window at the suburban houses rushing past. She heard a soft resigned sigh behind her and closed her eyes wearily. God, can this day be over already?

. . .

"Why does it have to be English first period?" Jeremy moaned dramatically, dragging his stockinged feet as he walked into class.

"Suck it up, princess," Ella snorted, pushing past him towards her seat.

"Wait wait wait," he hissed urgently, steering her to the front of the room instead. "Wrong seat, dickhead."

Ella's eyes widened and she made a 'phew' motion, flicking imaginary sweat from her forehead. "Thanks bro."

"Sis," he corrected her.

Ella giggled. "Yeah, that's never gonna catch on."

"Dammit."

Jeremy reluctantly returned to the back of the classroom and fought to keep from punching Jamie as she spoke to him.

"...just can't stand Mia, she really thinks she's the shit. Always going on about her fucking volunteer groups..."

"I know." Rachel was saying. "She's so up herself. Everything's always about her. I bet she doesn't even care about those poor homeless people." Jeremy only just resisted rolling his eyes.

The girls turned their attention to him, probably noticing his lack of interest in their conversation. "You've been quiet, Ella," Jamie noted. "Something up?"

"Nah, just a bit tired," he responded, using the default teenager's excuse for all occasions. Rachel pursed her lips thoughtfully but said nothing.

Thankfully their teacher, Ms Harrison, entered the room at that moment and Jeremy had a reason to concentrate on something other than the irritating girls next to him. He noticed a few scrutinising glances thrown in his direction from Jamie and Rachel, but thankfully they spoke little during the lesson. He crossed his legs nervously and played with his hair.

Halfway through the lesson, Ms Harrison excused herself to speak to one of the office staff who had arrived at the classroom door. Jeremy, doodling in his notebook, was startled from his thoughts when the boy sitting at the desk in front of him said, "Hey. I dropped my pen under your chair. Can you get it?"

Jeremy nodded and retrieved it, noticing the not-so-subtle snickers of a couple of boys in the class. He gulped. "Here you go," he said softly, handing the pen over to the other boy (who he thought was called Ashad).

"Thanks." Ashad smiled slightly and turned to face the front again.

Jeremy was surprised when a scrunched ball of paper impacted the back of his head. Frowning, he turned to find the perpetrator. The girl behind him, Amy, smirked. "Aren't you meant to be gay?" she sneered, scornfully.

"Huh?" Jeremy was surprised she was talking to him, not to mention confused at the blunt question.

"Oh come on, we can all see how hard you're flirting with him," she drawled, rolling her eyes. "Look at you, acting like you're all perfect, trying to get attention." She snarled, "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

The two boys sitting beside Amy smirked. "Uh..." Jeremy looked to his right at Jamie and Rachel, who merely shrugged and stared expectantly at him. He turned his gaze across the room; Ella raised an eyebrow at him significantly. He shot her a desperate 'help me' look.

Amy hmphed disdainfully behind him. "So you can't even fight your own battles, you disgusting dyke."

Ella kicked her chair to the ground and stormed across the room to glare down at Amy. Grabbing the girl by the collar, she growled threateningly. "Say that fucking word again, bitch."

Fear briefly flickered over the girl's features, but she regained her resolve, staring straight into Ella's eyes. "Dyke."

Jeremy leapt upon Ella just before she could slap the girl. "You can't!" he hissed.

"Yes, I bloody well can!" Ella's eyes were bright with fury, and Jeremy shrank back.

"Don't touch my girlfriend, fag," spat the boy next to Amy, rising threateningly from his seat. At first Jeremy thought this was directed at him, but then the footballer advanced upon Ella. Of course. Jeremy mentally facepalmed. It was Jay, one of the guys that liked to pick on him when no one was looking. He was a coward and never got caught in the act, but as a result all of the teachers thought he was an angel and didn't believe Jeremy when he told them of the things the boy had done to him. That was why he didn't even bother to report Jay anymore.

"If she wasn't a disrespectful little slut I wouldn't have to," Ella retorted, retaining her grip on Amy's shirt. Jeremy froze. This would not end well.

In a moment Ella was thrust against the wall. She choked against the grip on her throat that pinned her there, and swung a foot straight at Jay's crotch. He fell to the ground, air escaping his lungs noiselessly as he clutched his gems in pain. Jeremy looked on in horror as Jay's friend Brandon launched himself out of his chair, and in a desperate bid to protect Ella, Jeremy jumped in front of the massive boy. All it earned him was an elbow to the jaw and he landed face first into a plastic chair.

"Bastard!" Ella screamed, but she was silenced by the fist that flew at her nose.

It seemed that was finally enough for Ms Harrison to notice that her students were being more than a little disruptive. "Stop!" she cried, dashing forward. "Brandon, Jeremy, stop it! Hands off!"

A mixed effort from the teacher and a couple of students managed to pull Brandon away. Jeremy leapt towards Ella, who had slid down the wall with a soft groan to sit on the floor. She was clutching her face and seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"Let me have a look, how bad is it?" Jeremy gently pulled her hands away and gaped at the sight beneath. Her face was a big red mess of blood, dripping over her mouth, chin, and onto her white collar. "We've got to get you to the sick bay!"

Without stopping to ask for permission, Jeremy dragged Ella from the classroom. "You're not hurt anywhere else, are you?" he asked concernedly, scanning her body for injuries.She shook her head silently and walked on ahead. He huffed with frustration and sped up to catch her.