Ella closed the door behind her and walked into the living room. Her back was aching alot more than normal, maybe going on such a long walk hadn't been her best idea to date. She remembered her thoughts about Carys, and pulled her phone out of her pocket as she sat down on her sofa and began to text her a message.

Hey C, so sorry about fighting with you. Meet up soon? Ells xxx

Send. Ella waited nervously for her reply, when suddenly the door banged open and made her jump.

"Ella!" Her mother called up the stairs.

"I'm right here Mum, no need to shout." said Ella, waving her hand. Anne Nobel stood stock still, and her usually happy expression was replaced by shock.

"What is it Mum?" asked Ella, suddenly worried.

"Why are you wearing your coat? You havn't been out have you?!" asked her Mother. Ella widened her eyes in surprise and found that her ability to speak had suddenly cut out.

"Ummm..." Ella's Mother sighed.

"Oh Ells, I know how eager you are to get back on your feet properly, but you must understand darling. Not only is your back not ready but there's also someone out there who wants you dead. You seem to have no idea how serious this is!" Ella decided not to answer back and to just take her Mothers lecture, which seemed to go on for at least half an hour before she felt her phone buzzing in her hand.

"Sorry Mum, it's Cary's, gotta take this!" She dashed from the room as fast as she could without it being too painful, and limped her way up the stairs before just managing to answer the call.

"Hey Carys! Sorry about that, my Mum was..."

"I'm so sorry Ella."

Silence. Then both girls burst into tears, then laughter.

"I was completely out of order, I can't believe I said those things to you after what you went through. I'm such a cow." said Cary's, sniffing.

"It's ok Cary, everyone was pretty stressed out." Ella said, sinking onto her bed.

"I guess so. I've missed you so much. Everyone was asking how you were at college, I didn't know what to say! That's when I realised that for the first time since we met I didn't know how you were, or where you were, or anything! Our friendship means so much Ells."

"I know it does. Want to come round later?" Ella asked, full of relief.

"I was waiting for you to ask! I've got chocolate and popcorn and Mean Girls on DVD, be round in 10 minutes?"

Ella laughed, "Ok, see you then!" She hung up the phone then lay back on her bed, smiling. At least that was sorted, and she could now look forward to her girly night in. Mean Girls was a proven pick me up, and the combination of her favourite film and her best friend was unbeatable. Yet even through her happy thoughts, Ella's mind still lingered upon the thought of her attacker. She had the sense that this particular thought would never go away. It was going to take more than chocolate and chick flicks to scrub those words she'd read last night out of her mind, and as they moved to the forefront of her head they seemed to flash and glow red. The attacker wasn't giving up. Ella knew this. But she wouldn't give up either.

-----

Four hours and two bags of popcorn later, Cary's and Ella lay in Ella's bed, giggling and chatting like five-year-olds.

"I swear, he must have asked me five billion times if I'd heard from you yet. Even more than Josh! Fancied by the college hottie Ella, how does it feel to know that Ryan O'Connor is in love with you?" Ella kicked her playfully.

"Shut up Carys! He's not in love with me!" But she was glowing with happiness. She'd been in love with Ryan for years but never let herself believe he liked her back. But hearing it from someone else had sealed it into her heart.

"He is. He's crazy for you. Everyone knows. Anyway, I said you'd call him a.s.a.p just to shut him up so, you should probably do that now."

"I'm not calling him! What would I say? No. I'll text him instead."

"Alright fine, chicken." smiled Carys, nudging her gently in the arm. Ella got out her phone and began to write the message, carefully keeping it out of her best friends eye line.

Hey Ryan, Carys told me you asked about me at college today. Just wanted to let you know that I'm fine, recovering well. See you at dance tomorrow! Miss you. Ella x

She read the text, then decided to change the 'Miss you.' to 'Miss everyone.' She decided not to give anything away right now. Although her blood was pumping at the news that Ryan seemed to like her back, she knew that she had to keep their relationship professional for the performance of Giselle. Nothing was going to mess that up for her, not even her injured back.

"So you're at dance tomorrow?" asked Cary's, opening the giant bar of Galaxy in front of her and smirking.

"Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?!" Ella exclaimed. How had she managed to read that text?

"Bad call changing the 'you' Ells, I said he was into you, why arn't you making the most of it?" said Carys, ignoring the question. Ella told her about keeping their relationship professional, causing her to snort with laughter and spray chocolate all over her hands.

"What's so funny about that!" Ella asked, giggling at how funny Carys looked.

"You sound like my Mother!" exclaimed Cary's, rushing over to Ella's en-suite to wash her hands. Ella laughed, but was a little hurt by Carys' comment. Still, they'd only just made up and she didn't want to jeopardise their friendship again by arguing her point. They passed the rest of the evening peacefully and full of laughter. Cary's ended sleeping over, and the girls made a joint decision not to stay up too late as there were dance rehearsals in the morning. However, Ella's alarm clock was against them, and they ended up waking up just ten minutes before they had to leave. Ella's Dad grudgingly agreed to give them a lift, and the two girls ran around like headless chickens scrabbling for hair pins and ballet shoes before finally making it to the studio, just two minutes late. Luckily Eva was in a good mood, and simply rolled her eyes at them before nudging her head towards the rest of the students, who were warming up at the barre. There was a rush of people towards Ella, and a chorus of voices asking if she was ok? Was it scary? Can she dance properly yet? Did she die? Ella opened her mouth, not sure what to say, but luckily Eva spoke first.

"Now now students, that's quite enough excitement. Can we all return to our places please?" She said, making the please nice and long, until everyone had moved away from Ella. Ella and Carys glanced at eachother, then took their own places. Everyone began their own version of a warm up, and Ella heard Carys whisper furiously to the girl next to her, Fiona Gray. "Leave her! She's been through enough without people bothering her!" Fiona blushed and turned away from Carys, who had turned equally as red. Ella smiled to herself. She knew she could always count on Carys to stand up for her, whether she wanted her to or not. Eva announced that she was needed in another class, and would be back in a few minutes. The entire class took this opportunity to chat, naturally. Carys and Ella were talking to a few of the other girls, who Carys had finally let near her, when they were interrupted by a small cough from behind Ella's ear. She spun around to see Lanelle Yates smiling wickedly at her.

"Ella, darling, how are you after your little...accident?" She put her hands on her hips. Ella looked at her arch rival and forced a smile onto her face. Lanelle's fake american accent made her skin crawl.

"Good Morning Lanelle. I'm fine thank you. How are you, still biting the heads off off dolls like you used to in play school?" Lanelle blushed furiously as the rest of the class sniggered. Ella noticed that everyone was watching them. But she didn't mind, no one liked Lanelle so a chance to show her up was always welcomed.

"I'm not the one who used to come in dressed as a fairy." Lanelle smirked.

"I'm not the one who had to bully people to be popular."

"At least I didn't have an imaginary friend."

"At least I don't have an imaginary accent!" Ella said, almost shouting. Lanelle stepped towards her, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Carys ready to jump at her, but Ella put her arm out to stop her.

"I'll show you what it's like when you mess with me." hissed Lanelle.

"Is that a threat?"

"Absolutely." Ella was about to give Lanelle a piece of her mind, when Eva walked back in.

"Back to work girls! What is this nonsense!" She said clapping her hands. Just then there was another interruption as someone burst through the doors, panting breathlessly. Ella turned around and her heart leapt as she saw Ryan O'Connor, looking slightly more dishevelled than normal but still as gorgeous as ever. There was a collective sigh from every girl in the class as he walked in and apologised for being so late. Eva gave him a glare, but then continued adressing the room.

"Now that we have finally settled down, I'd like to speak to you about our upcoming performance of Giselle. As we all know, there was an incident a few weeks ago involving our star Miss Ella Nobel. Now, in the event of Ella's back not healing properly which, of course, I hope does not happen, I have had to select an understudy." Ella looked at her in shock. What did she mean if? IF was not a possibility!

"So," continued Eva, "in light of this I would like to ask Miss Yates if she will kindly understudy for the role of Giselle." Ella's mouth dropped open, Lanelle beamed, Carys shouted "NO!" and Ryan said "I am not dancing with her!" But Eva put up her hands and immediately silenced them.

"My decision if final! Now, can we please get on with this rehearsal with a bit of professionalism!" And with that she hoisted up her long skirt and glided across the floor to the piano. Ryan whispered in Ella's ear making her jump.

"Don't worry Ella. I'm not going to let her steal you away from this part...or from me."

Ella turned to face him, her cheeks flushing pink. But the music has begun, and so had rehearsal.

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AUTHORS NOTE:

Sorry it took three weeks to upload this!! Hope you like it, finally get to meet Lanelle. Not gonna lie, she's one of my favourite characters. Such a bitch, so fun to play with as a writer!

Ceri xo