The Taking of Eleanor Ainsworth

Chapter 1

The chaos was perfect, so perfect in fact, that it resembled a scene out of a hollywood movie.

The dimly lit hallway was teeming with students of every different background and ethnicity, all pushing and shoving to get to class on time. On the left of the wide hallway stood that one couple who would make out anywhere, regardless of where it might be.

Further down the caramel coloured hallway stood the populars and opposite lounged the footballers and a few feet away stood the newbies, the geeks and the band players, and then there was Ella, the loner. With her brown locks tied up into a high bun and her chocolate eyes cast low, she scurried through the hallway, pushing past groups of hormonal teenagers and zigzagging through, like a mouse maneuvering it's way through a maze, trying to sniff out cheese. She ran past towards the staircase, skipping two steps at a time, attempting to get to class on time.

She clutched her reading book - The Scorch trials close to her chest as she ascended the large grey steps, her notes tucked neatly within the pages. She reached the last step and stopped catching her breath back. If there was one thing that Ella was not good at, it would have to be exercise. She deemed exercise unnecessary and a waste of time, after all why exercise when she had the metabolism of an athlete and could burn off anything she ate without lifting a finger. That and the fact that she hated getting sweaty, the thought of a sweaty back made Ella shudder.

She was about to step forward when a black adidas shoe shot out in front, tripping Ella up. Ella found herself falling, hurtling towards the dirty grey floor. Time seems to slow down when you're falling. In the seconds it took Ella to reach the ground, she knew it was going to hurt and there was no avoiding it. Time resumed and Ella hit the floor with such force, that the 1b pencil behind her ear, detached itself and bounced twice against the floor, before rolling to a stop at the feet of her attacker.

Everyone on the second floor grew quiet, all eyes were on Ella now. She was mortified, frozen to the spot, she couldn't believe that she had fallen in front of everyone, she kept her head low as she slowly got to her feet, her notes scattered everywhere and her book laying open on the ground, she bent down to pick it up, as everyone started laughing, soaking in the cruel laughter she frantically gathered all her notes together.

"Maybe you should look where you are going more often Ellie," laughed Amber "You're lucky you never scratched my shoe." She bent down as if to help Ella with the mess, but instead she wiped invisible lint off of the black shoe and stood back up. Trotting off.

Ella suppressed her tears and messily tucked the papers back into her book. By now Ella's fall was old news and the students went back to gossiping loudly, oblivious to the time. No one offering to help her.

"Here let me help."

Ella wiped away a single tear and gladly accepted the strangers help, taking the remaining papers from his hand and tucking it into the book.

"Are you okay," he asked. Helping Ella up off of the floor and staring at her. She looked back at him and tucked a stray hair behind her pencil-less ear.

"Yeah, I guess." She rubbed her shoulder and shrugged "My knee hurts a little but i'm good." She said, walking off, the stranger walking beside her.

"Girls can be cruel," He sighed "maybe you should go and get your knee checked over, you could have grazed it," he said, his blue eyes drifting towards her leg. She shook her head and kept walking, turning left onto the chemistry block.

"This," Ella gestured towards the grey door in front of her, "Is my stop." She glanced at him, mulling over her words. "um, thank you for helping me out back there." She smiled, placing a hand on the door handle. The boy nodded.

"No problem."

Ella turned around to open door,

"Theo,"

"What?" She turned back round, The boy was shuffling on the spot, his hands in his pockets.

"My name is Theo, just in case you was wondering, you probably don't care but yeah -"

"Eleanor." She laughed. "My names Eleanor." and with that she turned back round to the door, opening it and walking into the half empty classroom.

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Ella looked up as Matthew barged through the chemistry door, his eyes frantically searching the room. She smiled as his eyes landed on hers and he visibly relaxed.

"Take a seat Mr Jones." The teacher croaked, peering over his glasses at Matthew.

Matthew sat beside Ella and slumped down in the seat. "Right, I heard about what happened," he looked around the classroom before bending his neck to whisper in Ella's ear. "Who do I have to beat up?"

"You can't hurt a girl," laughed Ella, imagining Matthew uppercutting Amber in her square jaw, the thought made her snicker. Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes I can, dearest Ella. I wont physically touch her," He scrunched his face up in thought, mulling over the different ways he could hurt Amber without touching her and of course not get suspended.

"How about we scratch her car ?" He said, grinning. Ella looked back at him and shook her head.

"You can scratch her car, but leave me out of it." She said, turning her attention back to her work. Matthew stared at his friend and wandered why anyone would ever want to hurt such a kind soul like Ella.

"Come on Ella, these girl treat you like scum," he said, leaning his head on the table and pouting at Ella. She looked back at him and sighed.

"They only treat me like scum, because of you," she jabbed her finger into his chest and watched as he recoiled, feigning mock hurt. "They're infatuated by you." She laughed, leaning back. Matthew pondered over her words, leaning his hot cheek against the cold desk.

He loved Ella, but Matthew knew he couldn't tell her just yet, she thought of him as a friend, a best friend in fact, a person she could run to when the little world she lived in broke apart, leaving her exposed to the outside world. She would find comfort in Matthew and he would always fix her. Often his mind would wander and nostalgia would creep in every time he looked into her big chocolate coloured eyes. He would remember when they were children, how shy and awkward Ella was and still is.

Her cheeks would flush a deep shade of red every time she caught his eye. Throughout primary school her mother would always curl the ends of Ella's hair, Matthew loved those curls and the little dance they would do when she ran to him in the playground. Ella hated those curls and would scrunch up her face whenever he touched them or twirled a finger around it.

He knew from the moment he met her, that he loved her, she was perfect but Ella always thought of herself as less. She hated her imperfections, especially the faint scar lining her hairline, but to Matthew, the subtle dent above her lips and the curve of her smile was enough to make Matthew's heart race, if only Eleanor knew the effect she had on Matthew.

Then maybe just maybe, they could work something out. But Matthew felt guilty, he blamed himself for the constant abuse Eleanor endured on a day to day basis, making things official with Eleanor would only subject her to more abuse and he did not want that.

He did not want Ella to hate him, he loved her too much to loose her. He sighed and turned his attention to the board as the teacher walked in.

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