Beautiful things - jaylor story (peace book 4)

new school year

"yeah, I guess so. Exited to take harder classes, it was way too easy last year" she says, and I chuckle. "Being a borderline genius and that problem" I tell her, and she laughs too. 

Aurora and kenzie comes downstairs too and I give them their breakfast before I star to braid auroras hair. She is grumpy this morning, but it's not a new thing with her. She has long hair but it's not that curly, its more waves while Ellies is way curlier. Ellie isn't that happy with her curls, so she straightens her hair a bit to get it toned down. She begged us for a few years to get her a straightener, but we held off because we didn't want her to ruin her hair. Eventually we caved though and now she straighten it a bit but not too much so it's still a bit wavy. 

-ellies pov- 

I walk into school, and I'm excited to move up a grade. It's going to be an interesting year and I'm going to do more academic things and less dancing which will be a good change for me. Dance is still a big passion of mine, but with my leg injury I see different sides to life now, I see that there are more things than being in a dance studio for hours every day. 

My physical therapy has been going well, it's still a long road ahead of me but the physical therapist I have is really talented. I also get to do barre exercises there because she figured that it would be something that would motivate me to do the exercise, I need to do to get my strength back. They say the whole process can take months, but at least I'm on the way to get better. 

I walk to my locker and Alex is already there putting things in his locker. On Friday he got his driver license back, so he is excited about that. I'm taking my driver's test on my birthday next week, September 10th which is exiting. I already picked out a car, my parents promised me a car for my birthday, and I picked a range rover because I think those are pretty. I know I'm privileged that I get a car for my birthday, not everyone has that luxury, so I'm really grateful. 

"Hey there beautiful" Alex says and kiss me softly. Today he is entering junior year, which is exiting. "Hi babe" I say and get my stuff in my locker and grab the books for first period. "how was it driving to school again?" I ask him and he grins. 

"Good, more freeing. Want me to start picking you up again? I would love that" he asks, and I agree. Before the shooting he used to pick me up and drive me to school. It's no trouble for my parents to drive me because they're driving my sisters anyway, but I love it when my boyfriend picks me up. 

"What do you want for your birthday?" he asks and look into my eyes which makes me melt. "honestly, I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about it. You don't need to get me anything, having you is enough" 

He chuckles "of course I'm going to get you something baby. You're turning sixteen. But I guess that I will just figure it out on my own then" I was going to argue more with him about it, but I'm caving because he seems excited about it. It always feels weird to me when people buy me stuff, but I guess it's normal. 

Our conversation is cut short by someone with a snappy voice, Halsey, Rebecca's former side kick that's now the school bully after dethroning Rebecca. She is picking on Rebecca. But I go over and link my arm with hers "let's not be petty bullies, I'm sure you have better things to do, like... watching grass grow" I say and drag Rebecca with me back to Alex and she relaxes. 

"Thanks for that" she says with a nervous smile, and I smile back at her "no need to thank me. She was being a bitch. I'm sick and tired of crap like that" I say and lean back into Alexs arms. I don't know where I've gotten this new confidence from, but I like it. 

It's funny how much can change in a year. A year ago, I was timid and couldn't stand up for myself, but now I have found my voice. What exactly changed I don't know, but I guess that it's a combination of everything. Once again, I had to stand up to Adam and his bullshit and then it's just been one thing after another. Now I'm stronger, I have a voice and I'm going to use it for good. I'm never going to turn into a bully, I'm not going to use my confidence in that way, but I'm just not going to let people step all over me anymore, I know now that I don't deserve that. It's not that I don't still doubt myself and have my stuff, but I have learned that its actually okay to feel good about yourself sometimes. Feeling good about yourself don't take the bad things away, it doesn't minimize the hard stuff you're going through, but it gives you a light to keep you going regardless.