An Unexpected Fate

The Study Group

The next month or so kept Ellie pretty busy. As they got closer and closer to the Christmas holidays, Ellie soon found herself focusing mostly on her upcoming prelims. She still wasn't fully healed and couldn't dance or go to the gym with her friends. She could still take part in cheerleader practice, however. Instead of dancing with them, she found herself leading the sessions whilst Brittany took her part. As time went by, she became better and better at leading the squad, but she still would rather dance with them.

She was still going strong with Freya too. They continued to have their lunch dates and spend most weekends together or with their friends. After the party, the girls friend group had expanded to now also include Patrick and Steven. The two boys joined the girls in the gym and, depending on what the weekend plans were, sometimes hung out with them then too. Despite everything else going fantastic, Ellie still feared that Charlie, Harvey, or Molly would try and attack her again. Her fears were put to rest, however, when the police informed her that the three of them had been arrested and would be held in custody until their court hearing in the New Year. It was a huge wave of release for Ellie, like a massive burden being lifted from her shoulders.

With the fear of her attackers now gone, Ellie truly began to flourish. As Ben, she was always kind of in the middle. She was always bright and smart, but her anxieties always held her back and she always had trouble imagining a future for herself so she never really had the motivation to work hard. Now, as Ellie, her anxieties were still there, but they were a lot less and she had soared to the top of most of her classes. She always got top marks in tests and homework and she finally saw a future for herself. She was happy.

But, as time grew closer to the holiday break and the teachers began going on and on about prelims and exams, Ellie could feel some of her anxieties coming back. The girls, or the gang as they now called themselves to include Patrick and Steven, had formed a little study group where they would get together and just study. These were always fun because after about an hour of study, it would just descend into madness as everyone would get bored. Ellie was stressed, but at least she wasn't stressed alone.

***

One Saturday, the gang was hanging out at Ellie's, all of them studying (or trying to at least). Patrick and Annabeth were rehearsing lines for their Drama play, Steve and Gwen were studying for PE, and Ellie, Freya, and Maple were studying for History.

Freya let out a sigh as she read about the start of the second world war for the fiftyth time. "God, I'm bored."

"Me too." Patrick said as he sat down on a chair.

"How the hell can you be bored? You haven't done anything!" Annabeth said with a huff.

"I've been doing... stuff." Patrick said.

"You've said the same line four times and got it wrong every time." Annabeth said. "Seriously, how?"

"I'm just that good." Patrick laughed.

"That good at being an idiot." Steven piped up. The gang laughed.

Patrick pretended to look offended. "Shut up, you."

"Boys, boys, no need to get your panties in a twist." Gwen said as she closed her book over.

"My panties are perfectly untwisted, thank you very much." Patrick said. His eyes widened as he realised what he said. "Not panties, boxers. I meant boxers." The gang laughed again.

"Patrick, sometimes you really should think before you speak." Ellie laughed.

"Where's the fun in that?" Patrick grinned.

"Anyway." Freya said. "Like I said, I'm bored."

"Study something different." Annabeth said.

"I don't wanna study though, I wanna do something else." Freya said as she closed her notebook.

"Like what?" Maple said.

"I don't know, just something else." Freya shrugged.

"Can't do anything physical." Maple said, looking at Ellie.

"I mean, I'm sure I could squeeze out a hundred or so push-ups if I really tried." Ellie said. Everyone laughed.

"We could go to the cinema? There's that new superhero film we were talking about the other day." Gwen said. "Then grab food afterwards."

Steven shrugged. "Sounds decent to me."

Freya looked around the room as everyone nodded or shrugged. "Cinema it is, then."