Nick Doesn't Know

Chapter Five: Ella, Ella, Ella:

• Umbrella by Rihanna above. Get it?—umbr-ELLA! Hehehe. Been waiting to use that one for a while •

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Chapter Five|Ella, Ella, Ella:

"Hey, Nick wait up!"

Nick looks behind him and sees Ella running round the corner and his body freezes.

When she reaches him, they begin walking together.

"Hey." Nick said.

"Hi." She smiled.

Should he ask her a question? Yes, he should. This was the perfect time for Nick to get to know Ella more.

"Erm, what's your favourite colour?"

Ella seemed thrilled at his question, no matter how cliché and uninteresting it was. "Blue, the colour just makes me so happy. Don't you just love it?" She gushes. "What's yours?"

His favourite colour was actually pink. There was nothing wrong with the colour! If girls could like it, then why couldn't he? What if Ella laughed at him and thought that the colour wasn't manly enough. He'd have to lie.

"I l-like, erm... brown!" That was a good colour to choose. Her eyes were brown! Nick would flatter her. "Like your eyes! B-because every time I see them... er, my heart stops! W-well not literally of course because then I'd be dead—"

Ella laughs. "You're so cute, Nick."

Cute? Nick didn't mind being called cute like most boys did, but did that mean she didn't like him more than a friend, or was that her way of saying, 'oh, you're so handsome, Nick'?

Well, he supposed it was better than her frowning at him of his weird choice of favourite colour.

The rest of their way to school, Nick asked Ella a few more questions about herself. Girls liked it when boys payed attention to them... right?

Nick actually started to loosen up around her and found himself answering Ella's questions honestly.

Ella and Nick separated once they were in school; Ella going to her group of friends and Nick going to his form room.

Usually Nick was the first one in his form room—the rest of the students playing football on the field or chatting with their friends—but today someone was already there.

Leo sat in the same seat he was assigned yesterday and Nick sat next to him.

"Hey." Leo said.

Yesterday wasn't a dream, Nick thought. Last night, Nick had convinced himself that he had dreamt it all—Leo helping Nick, Leo talking to Nick and Leo being nice to Nick. But it wasn't. It was all real.

Nick was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice the sharp tone in his voice or the hard look on his face.

"Hi, you okay?" Nick asked.

Leo rolled his eyes in a sour way. "Who was that?"

Nick's eyebrows knitted together. "Who was who?"

"Don't act like you don't know who I'm talking about." He snapped. "The girl you were all lovey-dovey eyed over."

Ella? "Are you talking about Ella?"

"No shit Sherlock."

Nick's eyes went wide at what Leo said. Nick had never said a swear word in his life, and the sound of one made him cringe uncomfortably. 

"What's wrong with you? I thought we were... mates?" Mate was what Leo had been calling him, wasn't it?

The bell rang, saving Leo from answering Nick. But Nick wasn't going to back down. He wasn't going to open his book and not talk for the rest of the lesson like he usually did. So as the classroom filled up, Nick raised an eyebrow up at Leo, courage filling him at the last minuet.

Leo sighed and his face softened. "It's... it's nothing. Just forget I said anything."

Well, at least Leo didn't look like he wanted to go on a killing spree anymore.

***

Flyers were stuck up all over the school. The town fair was soon and nearly all of the school was going.

"You going to this?" Leo said as he plonked down next to him at lunch and slapped one of the flyers on the table.

But Nick was never the large percentage of the students who'd go. His parents never felt comfortable with him going.

"You never know what sort of drugs are at those of things, Nicklaus. And if there aren't, there will definitely be alcohol. Your father and I don't want you getting pressured in doing all of these things." His mother had put it one rare sunny afternoon. Nick had almost rolled his eyes.

Nick shook his head, a pout on his face. "My parents won't let me."

Josh chose this moment to come and sit opposite Nick. "What we talking about? The fair? They might let you this year considering they're so proud of you." Josh said, biting into an apple.

"Proud of you for what?" Asked Leo.

Nick blushed as Josh explained. "The Babbage household is still celebrating the fact that their son has finally done something right in P.E. You know, when he catched that ball?"

Nick groaned as Leo raised an eyebrow at him, an amused look plastered on his face. "My dad likes sports, okay?"

"Well, it looks like the chances of them letting you go are high then." Leo stated. "And even if they say no, you can just sneak out."

Josh started laughing. "Ha! You clearly are not familiar with Nick's parents. Knowing them, they'd go in his room to tuck him in and discover him gone, then he'd be in deep shi—"

"Hey! I do not get tucked in!" Nick squealed.

Josh raised his eyebrows—everyone was doing that today including Nick.

"Not anymore." He mumbled.

***

Nick ran up to his room and put down his bag, before running back downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hi, mum."

Mrs. Babbage smiled. "Nickolas. Did you have a good day?"

Nick nodded. "I was wondering if I could go to the fair this year." He had already decided his technic—he was going to rip it off like a bandaid; hard and fast.

Nick's mother frowned. "You know how me and your father feel about that fair."

"But mum, Josh is going too." Nick knew how much his parents liked Josh. His mother shook his head. Guess the mention of Josh wasn't enough this time. "A-and the new boy. I've been given the job to look after him and make sure he feels comfortable—" that wasn't exactly a lie, "—and it'd be good for him I think."

His mother pursed her lips and sighed. Bingo. "Alright. I'll talk to your father about it."

Mrs. Babbage liked how involved Nick was with the school and wanted him to be the perfect student. It was her weak spot like P.E. was his fathers.

Nick indulged his mum in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

His mother laughed. "Alright, alright. Now go get out of your school uniform so I can wash it."

Nick bounced upstairs, a grin on his face. He couldn't wait to Leo and Josh. And Ella! Maybe she'd come.

•••

Why was Leo so angry?

This chapter was going to be all about Ella, but I wanted to add the fair scene here instead of the next chapter.

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