Green With Envy

Chapter One

"S-sorry," Ellie said, stuttering slightly. The boy just continued to stare at her, his gray eyes seeming to see inside her, his face showing no emotion. Then, he curtly nodded and briskly walked away. Ellie stared after him, confused by the whole exchange.

All of a sudden, a figure appeared before her, and Ellie found herself facing a another very attractive young man. His messy brown hair ruffled in the breeze. The boy's warm brown eyes looked over Ellie and his lip curled into a smirk on his tan face.

"Lost?" His deep voice hinted with amusement.

Ellie felt the heat rise into her cheeks as she blushed. "No," she lied. The guy raised a disbelieving eyebrow and she caved. "Okay, you got me," she sighed. "I'm hopelessly lost," Ellie admitted.

The boy grinned. "And that is what I'm here for. My name's Brian," he added, still smiling at Ellie. Ellie still couldn't believe that this totally hot guy was actually talking to her.

"Ellie. I'm new," she added dumbly.

"I guessed as much," Brian said with an amused smile. Ellie's face burned as she inwardly scolded herself for her stupidity.

There was an awkward silence. "I'm here on scholarship," she blurted without thinking. She instantly felt mortified. She tentatively looked a Brian, expecting to see a disgusted look on his face. Instead, he was looking at her as if he was intrigued by her.

"Scholarship, huh?" he said, looking like he was deep in thought about something. Then he looked at Ellie again and grinned. "Well, that's very interesting. You must have one hell of a brain to get into Briarwood," he said, looking-to Ellie's surprise-impressed.

"So, how may I be of service to you, Miss Ellie," he said with a mocking bow. Ellie giggled, but immediately stopped, realizing how stupid she must seem.

"I need directions to, uh," she paused to look at the packet in her hands, "Hastings Dormitory?"

"Ah, Hastings, that's this way," Brian said, loosely gesturing to the right. "I'll walk you there," he offered helpfully, brown eyes shining kindly.

"Thanks," Ellie said as he put his warm hand on the small of her back and guided her in the direction of her new dorm.

"So, Ellie," Brian said, drawing out her name, as if he was testing the way it tasted on his tongue. Which, of course, made Ellie blush madly. "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a junior," she replied, trying to keep her voice from wavering, for his hand was still resting on her back. "You?" she shot back, trying to seem only mildly interested, while in fact, she was dying to know.

"Senior," he answered. Ellie fought to keep the disappointment off her face. He was a whole year older than her, which meant she probably wouldn't be seeing him too much this year.

"Sucks," Ellie said in what she hoped was a nonchalant tone.

Brian nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "but I had all your professors last year, so I'll be able to give you the scoop on them," he said. "Not that a scholarship student should have a problem in that area," he said with a smirk. Ellie blushed once more.

"Thanks for the offer," she smiled at him.

"So, while we're walking, I might as well give you a tour, yes?" Ellie nodded. "So we just left the courtyard area. I guess you can say that's where students spend most of their time, besides their own dorms. Right there," Brian said, pointing to a busy building on their left, "is the cafeteria. All three meals of the day are held there. Next to it is the actual school building, where the classes are. Across from that is the library. Bet you'll be hanging out there a lot, eh, Miss Scholarship?" Brian teased. Ellie smacked his arm and blushed some more.