On Sunday night, Ella cried herself to sleep. Her arm was covered in bandages under the long sleeves of Ryan's hoodie, which he'd left with her at the hospital, but the words etched into her skin were still fresh and raw in her mind. The Police had called earlier that day, and she had grudgingly repeated them over and over.

"What was the message the attacker, um, left you with Miss Nobel?" the female officer had asked. Ella noticed how her eyes had flickered to her left arm as she spoke.

"I will get you."

Ella repeated, ashen faced and holding back tears. But she couldn't hold them back now. She wanted them all gone before tomorrow too. She was going back to college. Of course everyone had told her not to, but she was determined. She had to show, whoever it was that she wouldn't back down. In her mind it was the only way to deal with this.

 ----

The next day came all too quickly, as Ella awoke with her arm throbbing and her alarm clock drumming. She hauled herself downstairs, preparing for the onslaught of pleas from her parents for her to stay home, she didn't need to go to college so soon and be so vulnerable, and why was she wearing a long sleeved jumper in June anyway? After what seemed like three hours of questions and pleas, Ella slammed the door shut and almost ran to her car where she shut the car door and gripped the steering wheel. Tears brimmed in her eyes, but she refused them an exit. She was going to make it through today without them.

----

"Ella!" a voice shouted. Heads turned towards her as Carys ran and nearly pulled her over in the force of her hug. When she finally let go, Ella saw tears in her eyes.

"Don't you dare!" she said, gripping her shoulders, "If you start then I will, and I've already had half the college staring and pointing at me this morning." Carys' mood suddenly switched.

"What? Who?! I'll get them!" she said loudly, before Ella grabbed her and told her to can it.

"Sorry Ells, I just don't want people making today more difficult than it's already going to be." Ella smiled at her.

"Thanks Cary, you really are the best." she bumped her hip against Carys, who smiled quickly back then looked away before locating their lockers in the hall.

"Have you seen Ryan today? I really need to talk to him." Ella said, turning the key and rummaging through her books and folders.

"Finally plucked up the courage to ask him out then?" said Carys excitedly, struggling to find her own key amongst the piles of paper and food wrappers in her bag. Ella gave her a look and said

"I don't think a boyfriend is exactly what I need right now. No. I need to thank him, it was him who...found me. He said he was coming round to...well he didn't exactly say actually, but he stayed with me all night until his parents made him come home. It was very, sweet of him. I woke up after he'd gone, so didn't get chance to say thanks." Carys looked ecstatic. She finally found her key and was unlocking her locker door.

"Incredibly sweet! Oh this is so exciting, I think a boyfriend is exactly what you need right now Ella, someone to protect you and care about you. I mean, someone other than me of cour..." she trailed off. Ella followed her eye line into her locker. She moved her head to try and see what Carys was staring at, but she noticed and snatched something out before slamming it behind her. She slowly locked it back up, then turned round to Ella.

"Come on then, you've got English Lit first haven't you? I've got Media, so I'll walk that way with you." she said cooly, pushing the piece of paper from her locker into her back pocket, which she saw Ella eyeing suspiciously. But luckily for Carys, Ella's attention was snatched by someone else as Ryan ran towards her and wrapped her in his arms, being careful not to touch her injured one.

"Well, I can see where I'm not wanted! Meet you by the fountain at break Ella." Carys smiled, before hurrying off, her expression changing to one of worry. But neither Ella nor Ryan noticed this, as they were both pressed together. Ella's head was on Ryan's chest, and she could hear his heart beating, fast. She breathed in and almost melted as she smelt his familiar scent. She'd been smelling it all weekend, but that didn't stop it from being as comforting and heart-stopping as ever. He pulled away from her, but kept one arm on her shoulder as they walked towards A block, where they both had their first lesson.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ryan. His voice gave Ella shivers down her neck.

"Umm, ok I think." she replied, her voice quiet as she suddenly felt very timid and overwhelmed by the weight of his arm on her and his hand on her back. No one had ever done that before, but she knew she should find it comforting. The fact that she didn't bothered her hugely. Ryan noticed that something was up. He moved his hand up to her shoulder, and rubbed it gently before moving it off all together.

"Sorry." he mumbled. "That wasn't, I mean, that was stupid, inappropriate."

"It's ok Ryan. Umm..." Ella was lost for words. Things suddenly felt unbelievably awkward. They walked in silence for a minute, A block becoming increasingly closer. Ella knew she had to say something. Ryan did too.

"I really..."

"There's something..."

They began in unison, before stopping and each glowing as red as the other smiled grimly.

"You first." said Ryan, breathing heavily. Ella swallowed.

"I really...wanted to say thank you. It was so nice of you to stay with me the whole time. I mean, before I woke up. They told me you'd been there, but you had to go. Oh, I've got your hoodie by the way. Thanks for leaving it with me, I wore it yesterday hope you don't mind, couldn't find mine. Haven't had time to wash it though so..." the words cascaded out of her mouth. She barely took in what she'd said, until she found herself rummaging through her bag for Ryan's hoodie.

"Don't worry, you keep it for a while." Ryan said as they stopped in the entrance to A Block.

"What were you going to say?" Ella asked.

"That there's...actually, I can talk to you later, it's nearly nine o'clock. See you around." Ryan stepped towards her as Ella stepped back, and they both froze, not knowing what to do. Then Ryan stepped the opposite way, raised a hand to her and smiled before walking down the opposite corridor. Ella was still frozen, unable to get over the awkwardness of that situation. Wasn't being in love meant to be...well, not like that? She shook it off and looked at classroom number 106. She didn't want to face a whole classroom of people, but at least English Literature was a breeze. It was her favourite lesson, after Dance of course. She sat next to Kim Stratton and Theresa Emery, who she'd known since secondary school and got along with well. She'd just open the door and make a beeline towards them, not give anyone else a glance. She closed her eyes momentarily and prepared herself, opened the door and walked straight in the direction of her seat...to find it was taken by someone else.

"Sorry Ella, I've moved everyone about today." said a voice. Ella looked up from where a girl, Summer, was looking very affronted after Ella had charged into her seat. Her teacher Liz smiled nervously at her, and then looked enthusiastically around the room.

"We're doing pair work today Ella, looking at the social context of modernist literature. I'm sure your partner will explain it all to you, oh yes. Right then, who was it who didn't have a partner?" In the back row, a hand rose up. Ella saw some of the girls, including Summer, sniggering, and some biting their lips as they tried not to laugh. Then the crowd parted so Ella could get through, and she saw why.

"Oh god." she thought, as Josh smiled widely at her. She grimaced back. Everyone watched as she walked through the middle of the classroom, and felt her cheeks glow pink. It seemed an age had passed before she sat down, gripping her hands together and willing herself not to blush too much, and Liz instructed the class to continue with their activity. Ella couldn't just sit there, she knew. She put her bag on the table, then turned to Josh. Who looked back at her with wide, expectant eyes. She half expected him to pull out a tattered bunch of flours, or a handwritten poem. But he just stared, then suddenly said.

"Um. You need your notebook out. And a pen." Ella sat dumbly, then suddenly sprang into action.

"Right! Sure, so what are we doing?" She half listened as Josh tried to explain that umm they needed to go and research into umm modernist writers and their umm lives and works and umm how their lives were relevant to or umm integrated into their works and umm stuff like umm that. Silence. Then he said

"There's books here from the umm library, I think all the computers will be gone by now." Ella looked up and saw that at least three quarters of the class had legged it to the computers outside. She saw Theresa in the doorway. She mouthed a quick 'sorry' then left the room. Ella got up and picked up a book. She didn't even look at the title, she just wanted to bury her head in anything right now. Josh did the same. He breathed in, and Ella knew what was coming.

"So, how are you feeling? I heard what happened on Saturday. You know, you really don't deserve what's happened to you, you're the nicest person I've ever met." Ella could believe this. She was the only person who had actually ever given him a second of their time. She felt a pang of guilt. He really was sweet, and she couldn't shake her feeling about him being misunderstood. 

"Thanks Josh. I'm, coping." she said. Then after a few seconds silence added.

"So how are you?" WHAT! Said her mind, why didn't you just leave it? Now you've really started a conversation! But Ella couldn't help it, something had taken control of her and the words had just come out.

"Oh. Ok I guess. Busy weekend." she couldn't stop now, so she just let whatever it was take over.

"Really? What did you do?"

"Just looking after my little sister. That's why I wasn't at Ballet."

"I didn't know you had a sister. How old is she?"

"Six, her name's August. She's a good girl really."

"Were you parents working or something?"

"Um. Not exactly. My Mum was...ill."

"What about your Dad?"

"I don't...he's dead."

The minute the words were out of Ella's mouth, she knew it had been a mistake. Josh's words only confirmed this further. She didn't know how she was going to fix this.

"Oh! Josh I'm. Uh. I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"It's ok" He said, shrugging and writing something down "Not many people do. I don't exactly advertise it and, well, I'm not exactly popular am I, so I don't tell anyone anything." Ella bit her lip. She felt terrible.

"That must be awful for you and August, and your Mum too."

"Yeah. It's why we moved here. People where we lived where starting to judge Mum you see. She's had a bit of a drinking problem ever since he died. That's why I'm always looking after A. I mean August. I, call her A sometimes." He half laughed, but Ella could see his eyes welling up slightly. He didn't dare to look up at her, but for once, she wished he would. She wanted to tell him it was ok, to comfort him. It was all she could do not to fling her arms around him and hug him. She hated seeing people upset, but seeing Josh like this was provoking a bigger reaction than usual. It was a strange feeling. But instead, she reached out and held his arm. She felt him jump slightly and look up at her. Suddenly she realised what she was doing. Josh is practically your stalker! She reminded herself. She let go and said.

"Sorry, I just hate seeing people upset. It sucks about your Mum." It sucks? God that sounded heartless.

"Yeah. Really does, but A is no trouble. Just wish I could do more with her, get her out of the house. I don't like her seeing Mum when she's having one of her...phases. But I can't drive yet, and the bus is so expensive. I took her to the park once, but a few of the guys from college started shouting stuff, and August threatened to beat them up! She's pretty defensive of her older brother." Ella laughed, and felt a real genuine smile upon her face.

"She sounds adorable. I love kids, I hate that I have no siblings of my own." Then she had a thought.

"This might sound a little crazy, but I'd love to meet your sister. I can drive, I can take you guys somewhere if you want me to?" To her surprise Josh stopped smiling.

"Um, Ella that's really sweet but..." he glanced at her arm "I don't know if it's a great idea, with you in your, um, condition? You know what I mean. Your back can't be one hundred percent better either." To Ella's further surprise, she interrupted him.

"I insist Josh, you deserve someone's help right now more than I do." It took a while, but she managed to convince him. She didn't know what she was doing, this was mad - absolutely crazy! She'd never spoken to him for as long as she had this one lesson, but she was meeting his sister and taking them into town on Saturday afternoon.

"August will love the library. She's such a bookworm, takes after her brother I guess." said Josh as the rest of the class returned and they packed away.

"Bless her, I need to get a few books for summer assignments if that's ok? I emailed all my teachers when I was off college, I do not want to be behind before next year's even begun." Ella said, attempting to pick up her bag.

"You're a trooper and a half Ella Nobel, there's no way I'd be worrying about college work if my back was nearly shattered! Here." said Josh, picking up her bag and putting it on her shoulder. Ella was about to say thanks, when she noticed Summer and her friend Amy staring at them, before bursting into giggles and shuffling away. Ella suddenly felt embarrassed, and muttered a quick thanks before gliding quickly to the door, where she found Kim and Theresa waiting for you.

"We are SO sorry Ella!" said Kim.

"Yeah babe, really really bad luck you got stuck with Joshua Dennis, is it true he fancies the pants off of you?"

"Uh. Dunno really." shrugged Ella.

"Still," said Kim as they walked towards the exit from the block, "he's SO weird, total nightmare for you eh Ells?" She laughed.

"Yeah." replied Ella quietly. "Total nightmare."

 ----

Carys paced up and down the alley. The note had said meet here at the beginning of break, and it had started five minutes ago! She didn't want anyone to catch her here. Ella would be getting suspicious too...She was about to give up, when a hooded figure glided around the corner and made her jump. 

"I'm here." she said, trying to sound defiant. "What do you want? You got what you wanted last time didn't you? Ella nearly died! Isn't that enough? And what you did on Saturday, it's sick. You're terrifying her and you're getting nothing more from me." Carys' voice was shaking. She couldn't see, but under the hood and balaclava the figure smiled.

"Come along now Carys? I see you've already spent the money I gave you for your help last time. That's a lovely new car you've got there, does Ella know she nearly gave her life for you to get it?"

"That's not fair. Ok. I didn't mean to sell her out, I didn't know it was my life or hers."

"But you know now, and yet we both know which one you'll choose."

"I said you're getting nothing more from me!"

"People say silly things Carys."

"Please, just leave her alone!" She shouted, before something hard hit her in the back. She began to cry, and tried to stand up, but she was struck again, and again. She cried out.

"Stop! Ok! Ok! What do you want!"

"I want your word. Your word that you'll help me with something on Saturday."

"What? What are going to do to her?!"

"There's no guarantee it will fatally injure her. I don't want her dead Carys, but it's possible that it may be...a side effect. I'll give you details soon. Oh, and of course you will be rewarded for your help."

"You can keep your filthy money. I don't want something that tainted." She'd cut her lip where she'd been knocked to the ground, but she tried her best to look fierce. Her voice was no longer shaking, and she felt a fire inside her like never before. But also a sadness. She couldn't say no. She loved Ella to pieces, but she didn't want to wreck her chances at becoming a dancer either. As the figure walked away from her, she burst into tears and cursed herself. She'd never forgive herself for doing this, but it had to be done.

----- 

AUTHORS NOTE:

Just home from my holiday, wrote this when I was there and I'm actually pretty happy with it! As ever, comments and criticism will be taken on board and replied to :) Thanks for reading!

Ceri xo