Here is the follow up chapter & I would appreciate any comments or critique as it needs to be improved!!
Chapter Two
Ella was sitting at the back of the hot sticky classroom, staring blankly at the white board as their new form tutor, Mr Colling, was droning on and on about what an important year, year eleven was and ‘how their exams are going to decide what they’re going to do when they leave school’ and all that rubbish teachers think is a comforting pep talk for at the start of year eleven. Well news flash to you Mr Colling, it’s not!
Ella froze as she realised she had just said that out loud and Mr Colling and the whole class were staring at her.
“What was that … Gabriella is that it?”
“No that is not it. My name is Ella and I don’t want you to ever call me by that name again.” Ella said in a voice that could have cut glass. She was fed up with all the teachers looking down their big noses at her as if they were actually something a whole lot better than all of the rest of them, which they most certainly weren’t!
“I beg your pardon little missy!” Mr Colling fumed, looking outraged.
“You heard me! My. Name. Is. Ella!” Ella looked round and caught Matt giving her a disbelieved look and shaking his head at her.
She came over all funny as she looked at him and her insides seemed to be doing a good imitation of summersaults. She looked up at Mr Colling, who was going red in the face and muttered regretfully,
“Oh. I’m ever so sorry sir! You see this hot weather makes me ratty and short-tempered. I’m sorry if I was being rude to you!”
“I should think so too Ella. I’ll let you off this time – but only because you apologised to me so very politely. But if I hear another peep out of you during the last ten minutes of form you’ll be sorry! Do you understand me?” Mr Colling said threateningly.
“Yes sir.” Ella mumbled, carefully avoiding Matt’s piercing gaze.
* * *
“Who is that girl?” Matt whispered to Ollie,
“Who, Ella?” Replied Ollie, pointing in Ella’s direction.
“Yeah, what d’you reckon?”
“She’s trouble mate, you do not wanna go there!” Ollie replied reproachfully,
“Why not, she’s kinda cute and looks a total pushover.”
“I know. Every boy in the whole year thinks so, but she doesn’t let them near her. And trust me on this, she is not a pushover!”
“Why’s that?” Matt asked, thoroughly confused, she seemed harmless to him. A bit rude, but harmless.
“I have absolutely no idea. Apparently, this boy called Peter chose to ask her out a couple of years ago and he never told anyone what happened.”
“Did she say yes then?”
“No one knows …” Ollie said mysteriously.
“Oh shut up Ollie, you’re just being silly!” Matt playfully gave Ollie a little shove.
“Ouch! Believe what you wanna believe mate, but trust me on this one, stay clear of Gabriella Tunnet. She’s bad news.”
“We’ll see ‘bout that. I’m gonna play her along and prove to you all that she is a pushover, regardless of what you or anyone else says. She seems perfectly harmless to me and I’m gonna prove it!”
“Yeah, and so does a mountain lion at first,” Ollie muttered to himself, looking away from Matt who was staring at Ella.
Matt looked at Ollie, wondering whether it was a good idea to ask this Ella out or not. He shook his head, he was just being silly. What could a fifteen year old girl do to him?
***
“What a crap day! I certainly haven’t missed listening to all the teachers talk about what they think really matters!” Stormed Ella as she, Robert and Lilia stepped out of the gates and out of school.
“I know! I can’t believe how much homework I’ve got!” Exclaimed Lilia,
“You think you’ve got it bad! At least you don’t have Mrs Bennet, who thinks she owns the place, trailing round in everyone of your lessons!” said a rather hacked off Robert.
“Anyone would think it’s the end of the world the way you two go on!” Ella said, exasperated.
Lilia and Robert both looked at Ella incredulously.
“What?” Ella snapped,
“Nothing,” Robert sighed,
“No, really what is the matter?”
“It’s just you’ve been acting really weirdly today. It’s like you’re on a completely different planet. One minute you’re talking to us and the next you’re staring into space, daydreaming.” Lilia said carefully, but truthfully.
“Yeah, that’s quite true.” Agreed Robert.
Ella was staring at both of them in disbelief. Neither of them had ever had the guts to stand up to her like that lately and she wasn’t going to take it.
She stopped abruptly, put one of her hands on her hip while the other hand pointed at the both of them, and as she stood like that, staring at them with a face like thunder, they both looked terrified. Ella was just about to let all hell break loose when she felt someone tap her lightly on the shoulder.
She spun round. “What?” she said foully, but then her features softened almost immediately as she saw who it was that had tapped on her shoulder.
“Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude to you; it’s just that my friends were annoying me.” Ella apologised hastily to Matt who was looking at her rather oddly, and it seemed slightly scared.
“Oh. No problem, I’m not offended at all.” Matt replied, the scared expression sliding off of his face as he smiled at her, his bright blue eyes turning warm and inviting.
“Good,” Ella smiled back.
She turned round to look at Robert and Lilia and her smile vanished instantly. “Right you two I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye then.”
Robert and Lilia looked at each other and practically ran across the street to get away from Ella with their lucky escape. Ella smiled at the sight of them running for life. She turned back round to smile at Matt,
“What do you want then?” She said cheerily,
“Oh. Nothing much, I was just wondering …”
“What?” Grinned Ella, a feeling of tension building up inside of her,
“Whether you wanted to walk home with me or not?” Matt asked carefully.
“Yeah! That’d be great. Where do you live?”
Matt smiled. “I live just a couple of streets away from the beach,”
“Oh cool. I kinda live actually on the beach, which is fun,”
“Wow, lucky you! I bet it’s great in the summer.”
“Yeah it is, but its hell in the winter!” Laughed Ella,
“Yeah! I bet it is,” replied Matt laughing with her. He couldn’t see what Ollie meant; Ella seemed really nice and friendly, no trouble at all.
“Where exactly do you live though?” Asked Ella.
“Sunshine Grove,” replied Matt as they made their way to their houses.
“Oh I know where you live! I love the houses there! And I don’t live that far away either. Do you want to have a walk on the beach before we actually head home?”
“Sounds good to me,” Matt smiled to himself; this girl was a pushover, just like every other girl he knew. Ollie was wrong; he had Ella right where he wanted her.
* * *
Ella was having the most amazing time with Matt as they walked along the quiet beach of Brighton together; the stones crunching under their bare feet, the cold sea crashing against the shore whilst they walked, laughed and listened. He was just so easy to talk to and he was everything every other boy she’d known wasn’t.
The laughing didn’t last for long though.
that's cute. But if he's doing the whole 'I could nail any girl I wanted to" perhaps he would use something a bit more matcho than 'silly'
