Miss Imperfect

Chapter 1

Light  blue eyes stare at me through the mirror as I brush the knots from my long blond hair. Eyes that are so hard to recognize, even when they are mine. I place the hair brush onto the counter as I gently trace my fingertips over my cheeks. I step back with a sigh. I'm not going to figure out who I am by staring into this stupid mirror.

I leave the bathroom and cross the hall to my bedroom. I sit on the edge of my bed as I slip on my tennis shoes. I stand to my feet, grab my phone, and my bag before heading downstairs. I don't even bother to look over at my best friend, who was digging through the cabinets in the kitchen. 

"Come on, Scarlett." I say with a  slightly whiny voice due to being tired. I push open the door and hold it open waiting patiently for her. She always does this. She climbs down off of the chair she was standing on with a sigh. Her long red hair is pulled back in a low ponytail and her dark brown eyes look slightly lighter than usual.
When her eyes are lighter that means she's in a good mood, maybe I will not have to hear her pipe on about some person cutting her off on the drive over here.
Her peach colored crop top is cutting it pretty close for her almost to be considered naked. Sometimes I wonder how me and her even became friends.

We are literally polar opposites. Maybe if I did not meet her when I was three, things would be different. Maybe she would be friends with people more her pace, that don't drag her down. At least not the way that I do. 

"Uh, Ellie, come on." I shake away the sour thoughts in my head, following her out of the door. 

Scarlett presses down on the steering wheel roughly, honking loudly at the person in front of us. I lean against the passenger side of the window. 

"Move out of the way, assholes!" She screams pressing honk again. I sit up gently patting her on the arm trying calm down her rage.
"Down girl, down." She gives me a slight glare but  a playful one. Scarlett is definitely someone you do not want to mess with.

If we were not best friends, I would be terrified of her. Heck, I am still terrified of her sometimes. She has anger issues and she sucks to be on the road with.

Unfortunately, I do not have my own car yet. That's not really the main focus for me. We pull into the school student parking lot and Scarlett sighs.
"Finally, we're here." I mentally scoff, not voicing my opinion. I would rather be anywhere but school. School is a place where I am destined to embarrass myself.

But, I would never just skip for fun either. My fear of never getting a good job overrides my fear of people. We walk together to the school doors. Anxiety finds it's way to my chest and my heart hammers like a hummingbird.

I keep a straight face, making sure my uneasiness  does not show. I use to make Scarlett worried all the time, but now I am better at managing. I clench my hand around the strap of my bag and swallow slowly.

A girl riding on a skateboard, wait who rides a skateboard in the school halls? Well anyway, I barely notice her until she is an inch from running me over. Scarlett grabs me by my hoodie sleeve and yanks me to the side. She glares at the girl as she rides by.
"Watch it." Scarlett bites out angrily. I gently pry her hand from my arm and smile at her.

"I'm fine." Scarlett squares me up and down. I guess just now realizing what I'm wearing. She sighs pushing me on the back to continue walking. 
"I still think you should throw that hoodie away" I mentally laugh, looking down at my black hoodie. There is no way in hell that I will ever throw this hoodie away.

I have had it for way to long and it has special meaning to me. It's got me through a lot. With this hoodie, I feel a lot more safer. I shrug rubbing off her comment. If she knew, If I told her, she would never say something like that about this hoodie again. But that's the thing, there are some things that should be left untold. 

"Not happening." She gently laughs shaking her head. 

"Yeah, I know." 

I say goodbye to Scarlett as I head off to my class. Sadly we only have last period together, even sadder, it's Cells. Miss Amy stands holding the door open to her class. I try not to look her directly in the eyes. She grins at me as I pass. 

"Good morning." I don't respond, only smiling and finding a seat to sit in. The class begins to fill. I pull my books out of my bag and place them on my desk. I reach for my binder, and my stupid ass drops it to the floor.

I internally sigh picking it up quickly but a few papers floated away under someone else's desk. I stand to my feet but the boy sitting there leans over and picks them up himself.

His strange almost violet eyes flicker back to me. I quickly examine his appearance with curiosity. He has short brown curly hair and black rimmed glasses framing his sweet looking face. I guess he is attractive, in a nerdy way. I mentally laugh. Scarlett goes crazy over guys like him. He has to be new. I don't think I ever seen him around before. He gives me a half smile gently handing me the papers I dropped. 

"I think these are yours." I take a deep breath, trying to calm my flaming face. I don't know why I am so embarrassed. It's just how my stupid body works. I force a smile to my lips and nod my head. 

"Thanks." I say, managing to not stutter. I sit back in my seat looking down doing so. He glances back at me once more, looking like he wants to say something, but turns back around. 

I cling on to every word the teacher says the best I can. I write every little note possible. This class is Journalism, which is most of the time easy. But I need an A in here. I have to make up for my horrible math grades somehow. Finally, the bell rings. I take my time sweeping up my books. I swing my bag onto my back, pulling up on the strap.

I begin to walk out of the door. 
"Ellie, wait up." I freeze turning back to the boy that I talked to earlier. A knot builds in my stomach from anxiety.

I drop my arm to my side, balling my fist up, digging my hand into my palm. It usually calms down my raging nerves. He jogs up to me sighing. His eyes flicker down to my hand, he looks back up to me with a confused look. He shakes his head smiling. 

"Ellie is your name right?" I tug on the bottom of my lip, avoiding eye contact. What does he want? He has to know that I'm nervous as hell right? I don't talk to new people. I never get the chance to. They always gravitate to the popular kids and then they become little asses. And if this boy is looking for a friend, he should find someone else real quick. I'm not a good friend to have. I don't even want to be his friend. 

"Yeah." The urge to ask how he knows my name is strong. He probably heard it during roll call. He smiles jutting his hand out towards me. 
"I'm Ben." I glance at him with question. His face almost falls with disappointment. I quickly reach out and shake his hand. He pulls his hand away glancing at me funny. I glance back awkwardly. He's says nothing. God dang it. He's practically forcing me to talk. I open my mouth but he speaks first. 

"Sorry, I can tell your really uncomfortable. And you have yet to make any real eye contact with me. Your are shy. I get that. But I have yet to make any real friends and you seem like the only decent person around here." I swear my jaw could of dropped right then. Ben is the observant type. Never mind, he would piss of Scarlett just by him looking at her.

I feel self conscious. But is he telling the truth? He could be the type of the boys that devalue themselves and when the next person comes around, they use everything in there ability to make you look like a fool. I sigh forcing my frantic and irrational thoughts to the back of my head. 
"Ben," I hold my breath forcing myself to look him directly in the eyes. 
",I now consider you as my friendly acquaintance."

The biggest grin spreads over his lips. I notice the left dimple in his cheek. 
"Well that's better than being nothing." I smile to, not being able to fight it . I internally scold myself, but is making a new friend really that bad?