I wake up to the sound of my buzzing alarm, immediately turning it off as I hear the horrid sound. Some people call it annoying, I'd like to call it deafening.

I head to my bathroom and go to shower and do all my other morning needs then walk out in a towel to see my best friend, Anthony, who I 've called Andy from since I can remember, casually laying on my bed typing away on his phone.

"Jesus I could've at least gotten a warning," I mutter, quickly grabbing an outfit from my closet with my towel wrapped tightly around my body.

"I did, I texted you," he retorts, looking up with a chuckle, "and come on Elle, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before," he winks, me scoffing at him.

"We were 3 Andy! 3!"

"Same difference, I still texted you."

"Yes, because I keep my phone by my side in the shower," I say, smiling at his nonsense.

"Whatever," he waves me off, going back to his device, "now hurry up, I'm going to end up leaving you."

"You would never," I dare, making him look back up.

"Okay, I'll just get going then," he says, grabbing his backpack and heading out the door, "any last goodbyes?"

"Oh shut up," I say, making him raise a brow, me sighing in defeat. "Fine, I'll hurry. Don't you dare leave though."

"Mm... I'll try not to," he grins, sitting back down on my bed.

I quickly roll my eyes and head back towards the bathroom to change and fix my hair then walk back out to gladly see Anthony still sitting there. "Look who didn't leave!" I cheer and he just chuckles, getting up.

"Look who finished at a reasonable time!" He grins, earning a glare which he returns just as playfully, "you ready?"

"Sure thing," I say before grabbing my bag as well as my phone, him following behind me as we leave to his car.

・・・

"So, when did you plan on telling me about this whole Jullian nonsense," he says as he backs out the car, ruining the peaceful sound of... nothing.

"Eventually, but apparently Jewe- Jullian, decided to tell pretty much everyone about it. It wasn't even on purpose. I even tried texting that it was an accident but he blocked me before then, plus, how I was supposed to know his number was-conveniently enough- two off from my mom's?"

"Did you not have his number?" He asks, me scoffing at even the thought.

"I deleted that assholes number a long, long time ago." I mutter, the car going quiet.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know what he did back then hurt a lot. I just want you to know that if anything happens you can trust me and tell me anything you need to."

"It's fine Andy, everything is a-okay." I say, turning up the music, "and I do trust you, but let's just not talk about it anymore, okay?" I say, more of an agreement than a question, and he nods.

"Sure thing, now let's just get this school day over with, yeah?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

・・・

I should've expected this.

All the staring, the laughing, and the mumbling the second I walked in the door. Everyone in our grade and even some from others went silent and just stared at me. Some were judgemental, some were sorrowful, some just confused at all the unwanted attention I was recieving.

I look to Andy and give him a quick smile and he nods, knowing what I was about to ask. He quickly walks away with me, away from the staring, over to his friend group, seeing that mine nearly only consisted of them as well.

"Hey guys," Andy says, getting their attention. They all quickly look to him then directly at me, them all going quiet. "You're kidding right?" He says, scoffing, "don't be dicks and treat her like she's all of a sudden an outsider. You know it was an accident. It's not that big of a deal." He says with authority, making the ends of my lips slightly curl. They all nod, going back to their little conversations.

"That wasn't really necessary, it's fine. I can understand why they'd be confused or feel some type of way."

"Yes I did, Elle. They would've just kept looking at you like a deer in headlights no matter what you said, they don't have brains I swear," he explains, making both of us laugh.

"Well thanks, I guess," I say, my gaze meeting with Jullian, Veronica, and their group of immature, rude, senseless people who finally look away the second I see them, "it doesn't help stop them, though."

He quickly looks over to them and laughs, making me both feel both confused and annoyed. "Don't worry, I'm laughing at them," he reassures me with a smile, "if you're letting them get to you then they're winning. You know it was an accident, you tried to say it was, that's it. If they weren't able to know that then it's their fault, let them stare and talk all they want, they're the ones that look dumb."

"You're right, thanks," I smile and give him a hug. As I'm hugging him I look at their group again, this time nobody looking this way except for Jullian who turns his head away with a solemn look the second I catch him.

The hell is he looking at?

・・・

When the bell rings for fourth period I already dread what's about to happen. I'd like to title it 'The Confrontation With Veronica Benson.'

I quietly walk in class, minding my own when one of her rats point her finger in my direction, me mentally preparing for the torture about to take place. I quickly take my seat, turning my textbook to 493 when someone slams it shut, getting everyone's attention. I quickly look up to glare at whoever did it and was I surprised at who I saw? Not at all.

"What do you want Veronica," I mumble, keeping my voice to a minimum to deter some of the detention.

"You trying to take my boyfriend- that's what." She retaliates, making the whole class go quiet.

And the teacher was... where?

"Veronica I want nothing to do with Jullian and you know that. The message wasn't meant for him anyways, it was meant for-"

"Then how did it get to him hmm? Care explaining that to me, Eleanor?"

"Sure, it's called I put in the wrong number. By one digit Veronica, one. Can you count that far? Or do I need to help you," I mutter, whispers going around the room.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me Veronica, so leave me alone. You can have your precious little boy-toy to yourself because trust me, I don't want anything to do with either of you. And what's with all the staring, huh? If you're going to come out of your shoe-filled closet for a change of scenery that's fine, but I'm sorry to say that won't be coming from me either," I scoff, putting my hands on my desk in preparation to get up from my seat. She quickly begins to get closer, her eyes narrowing to slits as I can practically smell the venom coming out of her mouth.

"I will-"

"Hello, class, sorry for being late. Veronica, back to your seat please we need to begin immediately," the teacher says rushing through the door and interrupting her, making some of the class chuckle, myself included. Her face begins to turn to the lightest shade of red as she remains standing in front of my desk with a glare, "Veronica. Seat- now."

"I'm not done talking to you." She spat, me just sporting my continuous grin-and-wave as she goes back to her seat.

・・・

I walk into lunch and quickly make my way to the table, sitting next to Andy per usual.

"Hey bud," I smile unpacking my lunch kit onto the table.

"Hey Elle, I heard you decided to tell Veronica off last period," he grins and I subtly nod.

"Yeah, nothing special. Just another thing for people to talk about under the topic Eleanor Maxwell," I chuckle more in anger than humor, which he seems to pick up on.

"I don't know why you're the butt of the joke now," Logan chimes in, getting a smack in the back of the head by Andy. "Ouch what the hell did I say wrong?" He whines, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"You definitely aren't making her feel any better that's for sure," Andy mutters, looking to me, "ignore him, he doesn't have that many brain cells."

"Hey! I'll have you know I am very smart," he says, making a few of the people at the table chuckle, including Andy and I.

"Yeah, sure." Andy deadpans, then looks to his phone, muttering a few profanities before looking to me, "I may have forgotten to tell you they rescheduled practice to today- are you okay staying for a bit? It's just an hour or so." He sighs, turning his phone off and I nod, which he smiles, "Thanks, I'll make sure to get you food after."

"You know the way to my heart Andy," I chuckle, eating some of the grapes I have in a ziplock. As he starts to talk to the other boys I look around, not typically for anybody in particular but just out of pure boredom. As I look ahead I lock eyes with- it, that being Jullian Wilder. As he stares I can feel his eyes burning holes into my own, making me quickly look down, avoiding his looks.

"Earth to Eleanor-" Andy says, getting my attention.

"Huh?" I ask, giving one last glance to the strange glares from Jullian. Andy looks to where my attention was, automatically tensing, a scowl coming to his face.

"Do I need to personally fight him for you?" He asks and I shake my head.

"All he's done is stare Andy- it's not like he's said anything to me," I shrug, Logan starting to sigh in annoyance, gather our attention. "Yes, Logan?" I ask, making his sighs stop.

"Back to the important topic," he says, putting on a serious face, "would you count cereal as a soup?"

・author's note・

There's chapter two! This one I pretty much only edited grammatical things and reworded sentences, so I guess that's a good thing?

These two chapters are already so much better than the entirety of my first book from Dec. 2016-June/July 2017, and considering that I haven't even edited much that's pretty insane.

I'm not going to go off on a tangent as I did on my last author's note, so that's all. 

・originally published on June 20, 2017・updated on June 24, 2019・