Twin Reflection

Chapter 4 - Ella

As Ella put her phone away she carried on walking towards school, wondering if Willow was okay. She was happy that she had been able to help Willow a little as she really wanted to be close to her sister again. However, she knew she had been ignorant towards her over the past year and that it would take a long time before they could be as close as they used to be. As she approached the school gates she noticed a dark-coloured car with blacked-out windows parked outside on the pavement. She had heard people mention this car which had apparently been there every few days since the start of the year. Ella had barely given it a second thought but today she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched as she hurried past it.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she glanced down at it to see a text from her sister. She smiled to herself, she was safely back home. She looked up again and saw the strange black car already driving away down the road.

For some reason, she felt sure that she had forgotten something as she walked through the school gates, but she didn't know what. She never usually arrived at school this early. Deciding it probably wasn't important, she headed across the yard to her form room. Looking around she saw that nobody was in there yet which was odd as she was always late. As she sat down in her usual seat, she took out her algebra and decided to attempt the first few questions. She realised she would need help for the rest of it.

The door to the form room opened and her form tutor walked into the room, "Morning Willow, are you feeling better today?" she said brightly. Ella looked up in surprise, but she realised it was an easy mistake to make, after all, they were identical twins and Ella hadn't made her usual effort to look different from her twin as she hadn't put any make-up on or done her hair. She realised that her hair was tied up into a ponytail which is what must have confused her teacher, as she never wore it like this. The door swung open again as Vicky and her friends strutted into the room. With a jolt Ella remembered what she had forgotten this morning, she hadn't gone to the corner shop to meet up with her friends before school. As Vicky took her place at the back of her room Ella turned around, ready to apologise. Ella saw her eyes light up with amusement, "Look here guys - we've got another homework freak!" Ella span around to face the front, her cheeks burning.

As soon as the bell rang Ella was already making her way across the classroom and out through the door when she realised she had left her bag in the classroom. With a heavy sigh, she walked back in the room and headed towards the bag. She was too late, Vicky had already reached her desk and had picked up her homework. "Very interesting," she smirked, tearing the paper into two. Ella looked around, searching their form tutor, but only to see her disappear into the mass of people in the corridor. "No teacher to stand up for you now is there?" Vicky said. Ella grabbed her bag and ripped-up homework and rushed out of the room.

As Ella took her seat in her first lesson, she was about to pull out her homework when she remembered what had happened to it. She muttered a made up excuse and was told to bring it in the next day. She sat back in her chair, relieved. She couldn't focus on what their teacher was saying, and as she stood up to leave at the sound of the bell, she felt suddenly dizzy and a bit sick. She steadied herself against the table until the dizziness had cleared.

"Are you alright Ella?" asked Katie, who was sat behind her and was also packing up her things. She had known Katie since she was 4 because of Willow being her best friend but they had never really spoken much. Katie had dark brown hair and striking blue eyes, she was tall and slim and could easily be accepted by Vicky and her friends, however, she seemed happy spending time with other people in school.

Ella smiled gratefully, "I'm fine, just a bit of a headache. I'll see you in a minute, I'm just going to my locker."

She opened it and put her Maths and History books into it and took out her Geography book. Suddenly she felt another wave of dizziness come over her and with nothing to steady herself on, she slumped to the ground. She came round a few seconds later, but as she attempted to stand up her ears were ringing and she felt suddenly sick. She rushed into a nearby toilet and locked the door, barely noticing other kids shooting strange glances at her.

Five minutes later she made her way to the school reception, she couldn't face Vicky and her friends and she wanted to go home. Her vision was blurred as she walked, the woman at the desk didn't look up as she said harshly, "What's the matter, shouldn't you be in class?"

"I-I d-don't feel very well," she stammered, struggling to speak clearly as she felt dizzy yet again.

The woman finished what she was doing and finally looked up and peered over her glasses at Ella. "You do look a bit pale. Are your parents in? I can give them a ring to pick you up, what's your name?"

"Ella Wright. But I think my parents are at work."

The receptionist nodded, "Wait here for a minute, I will give them a call."

After standing around for a while, the receptionist told her that her parents said it was alright for her to walk home if she felt good enough to do so.

Ella walked home slowly, the cool fresh air helped her to stay focused. When she made to the front door she let herself in and headed towards the kitchen, getting out a glass she poured herself some water.

She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked up as Willow entered the room. She saw the look of surprise on her sister's face.

"What's up?" Willow asked curiously.

"Oh, I didn't feel well this morning either, I was all dizzy and sick through maths and nearly passed out at break, so I thought it might just be better to come home. And Vicky was angry at me for not meeting her this morning. They wouldn't leave me alone." Ella sat down looking like she was holding back tears. "I-I'm, I'm sorry." Ella stammered, sobbing quietly, "and you've been putting up with this all term and not even said anything to Mum and Dad."

Willow sighed and carefully led her to the living room and they sat down on the sofa. "Look, Ella, it's not really your fault and I'm not angry. You're not the reason I've not been spending time with you. I've never liked Vicky so I don't really understand why you want to be friends with her or the others. I get that she is very popular but you can tell by how she treats other people that it wasn't a good idea to hang around with her."

Ella nodded, "I know, she seemed nice enough at first and I used to ignore the fact that she was a bully because I had always had trouble making friends and I wanted to fit in. I wish I hadn't become friends with her now, she lead me into this mess..." Ella felt ashamed at her behaviour, why hadn't she just listened?

"Well there's nothing stopping you from leaving them Ella, it's basically up to you. It'll wear down after a while anyway, you'll see. Just try not to let them get to you." Willow smiled encouragingly.

However happy Ella was to have her sister's support,she still didn't want to go back to school tomorrow...