Unexpected Love

1

Ella paced around her room, a bundle of nerves, trying to decide what to wear. It was her first party with her friends since the move, a year ago, their high school closed and they were forced to transfer. While the majority of her friends—Allison, Isabelle, Becca, and Ryan—made the simple transition to the neighbouring school, Ella's parents took this opportunity as a chance to move. So while her friends were comfortably settling in, Ella was having a panic attack, breaking down into silent tears in her bedroom simply thinking about the first day at a new school. She's always had terrible anxiety and trouble socialising with anyone new; she always hated that most about herself but it was something she couldn't control, and something her parents wanted to ignore. This is why she was so nervous for tonight, this will be the first time meeting all the new people her friends have met. Now, in her head, Ella knew her being so anxious was irrational, how she always felt when her anxiety hit from no where, but it was unexplainable. She always had this irrational fear of being judged, she knew this was part of her anxiety, but this was the biggest problem with meeting new people. Her dad had to force her into sports, just hoping she'd make friends, which to no surprise on the friendship front, was a failure.

From what she's heard, all the kids her friends have met are really easy going, but it was Ella's own issues that always got in her way of having simple conversations or just having fun. She's known her own friends for 10 years, meeting them in elementary school and staying friends throughout, now being a junior in high school. She's mostly only stayed friends with these core people and only had one boyfriend that lasted 3 months, because she was comfortable with them and couldn't bring herself to meet anyone new, always being afraid of judgment and had trouble being confident because of bullying she endured through middle school.

      Finally, just wanting a distraction from her own anxious thoughts, she put in her earbuds and blared some music while looking for an outfit. After enough procrastination, she picked out a blue top with black shorts and converse, throwing on some simple make-up and let her curly dark hair do whatever, she was never into the extra beauty stuff because she never had time to focus on it while playing sports. She made herself feel stupid, still stalling, making any excuse not to leave, because she so badly wanted to see her friends, she was just so scared of her own embarrassment. After every possible excuse of delay was exhausted, Ella jumped in her car, and headed towards Allison's.