Chapter 5

"Ms. Ewlden, could you kindly move out of the way and find a seat, please?" The teacher's voice floated up to me.

A few students snickered, making me flush with embarrassment. I made my way to the middle, trying not to stare at Ace.

Beth followed me, but before I could sit down, she grabbed my arm and dragged me to the back. No no no no! HE was at the back. I didn't want to sit with him. Who knows what embarrassing incident would take place?

"Can't resist me, Princess?" My head snapped towards him, and my eyes narrowed to slits.

"Don't. Call. Me. Princess," I all but growled at him. I have no idea why, but his remarks seem to rile me up. He flashed his famous smirk at me, and patted the seat next to him. I scoffed. As if I would sit next to the jerk (he really wasn't that much of a jerk). I turned around, my back facing him, and proceeded to sit two seats away from him.

Before I could move, Beth simply blocked my way, and pushed me onto the seat next to Ace. I stumbled ungracefully onto the chair, and flushed a deep red. I glared at Beth, and she smiled sweetly at me. What kind of best friend does that? A demented one, for sure. Before I could get up and move-

"Everyone, please have a seat. I'm Mr. Darlen, your Chemistry teacher, and this year we will be dealing with hazardous chemicals. Don't worry, you will all be equipped with safety clothing to cover yourself up. Now, each of you will have a partner, who you'll work with for the rest of the year." I glanced at Beth, and she gave a quick smile and a nod and turned to face the front.

"You will not pick your own partners, I have already decided that you're desk buddy will be your partner." This earned groans from the whole classroom. I'm pretty sure mine was the loudest. This never used to happen before, so why now when I didn't want it to? I glanced at Ace, and saw that he was - as always - smirking. I noticed how he hadn't uttered a single sound.

I squeezed my eyes shut in annoyance, and for the rest of the period, I tried to ignore him completely. Surprisingly, he didn't say anything for a long time. The teacher droned on and on about the rules and what we'll be doing and I completely zoned out. I might be a nerd, as everyone called me, but that doesn't mean I have to take notes on everything I heard.

A tap on my thigh jerked me out of my thoughts. I looked up, and noticed Ace looking at me. My heart beat accelerated, and I tried to play cool. He suddenly leaned in close to me, our faces only inches apart. My breath hitched in my throat at his sudden and close proximity. He turned his head slightly to my right, and I had to suppress a shudder caused by his minty breath fanning my cheek.

"Do you..." he whispered, and stopped, not completing his sentence. Unconsciously, I leaned in even more, our cheeks almost touching, sending sparks where our skin would touch if I moved just a few inches forward.

"Do I what?" I whispered, even though I had no idea why I was whispering. It just seemed right to do at that moment. And probably because we were still in class.

"Do you...do you have an extra pencil?" He whispered, then burst out laughing at my stunned expression. All that whispering, only for a stupid pencil? All heads turned towards us, and I found myself shrinking in my seat in embarrassment.

"Mr. Horris, do you have anything to share with the class?" Mr. Darlen glared at him. He composed himself, placing his hands behind his head comfortably, before replying in a serious voice.

"No, sir. Ellie here was telling me about how she knew all the rules and that you're just wasting your time and ours by giving us a boring lecture."

I gasped, so did a few other students. This was too much. He'd taken it too far this time. My whole face turned red from anger as I slowly turned around to face him. He actually flinched slightly at my murderous glare towards him. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by the teacher.

"If you really think that my lecture is that boring, I'm pretty sure you'll have fun spending your time in detention, Miss Ewlden," The teacher snapped at me. "In fact, why don't you report to detention right now? And don't forget to serve the one after school as well."

I could actually feel my whole face deflating from anger to pure shock. I have never, in my whole life, ever, gotten a detention before. I'm the type of girl who cries if she gets late to class, and has her points taken off for being so. If I would cry at such a simple thing, guess what I would do if I got detention? You're right. I'd bawl my eyes out. I knew I would, but not now. Not in front of at least forty students watching me.

I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes as I hastily stood up. I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry. I kept chanting it over and over again in my head. But I couldn't stop the few tears that betrayed me and silently flew down my cheeks. Thankfully, no one saw, since my head was bent low.

I turned to my seat, picked my back pack and swung it over my shoulders. I knew I couldn't hold on any longer, so I turned around swiftly, but not before Ace saw me. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed my tear-stained face.

"Ellie..." he said softly, his face the mask of guilt.

Before I could burst out crying, I hurriedly walked out of the room after quickly grabbing the detention slip from Mr. Darlen's desk. Once out, I let my tears flow freely down my cheek. I knew I was being stupid, and it might mean nothing to anyone else, but I'm, well, I'm me. I'm the "good girl" who's never gotten in trouble before. I quickly wiped my face with my hands, still sniffling a little, and walked to the Detention room.

There was no one in there, except for the teacher who was snoring on his desk. Sighing, I walked into the room, dropped the slip on his desk, and plopped down on the back seat. For the rest of the period, I just sat and read my book. To be honest, detention wasn't as bad as I thought. But that didn't mean it won't go in my record, I thought angrily.

When the bell rang, I gathered up my stuff and headed for my next class. Almost as soon I was out, I saw Beth heading straight for me. "El, are you okay? I know this was your first time, and I know how much you-"

I covered her mouth with my hand. "Just drop it, okay? What's done is done. I don't wanna talk about it." I pulled my arm back, and started walking with her to my next class. Beth put a hand on my shoulder.

"Ellie, I'm sorry. But, please, don't look so gloomy. There's nothing to cry about-"

"Who said I was crying?" I snapped, cutting her off yet again. I knew I was being rude but I knew that Beth understood.

"You think I don't know? I've known you since we were babies El. Don't ever think you can hide anything from me. Because you can't. And I can't believe that jerk did that to you. I'm going to rip his balls out for making you cry," she said angrily.

"It's just...leave it, Beth. You're not going to gain anything from doing anything to him. Revenge is not the solution. Just let it go."

Beth hesitated, before nodding her head. "Kay," she muttered. We entered the classroom and took our seats.

I didn't see Ace for the rest of the day, which meant I only had two classes with him. I was glad for that, though a little part of me was disappointed.

After school, as I was walking towards my locker, I glanced to my right, when my eyes met with Ace's. He immediately started walking towards me, but I quickly jogged up to Beth, who was standing by my locker, told her I'd be walking and not to wait for me, and started running towards the Detention room.

She called my name, but I didn't stop. I didn't want to talk to him. Not because of what he did. It might sound crazy, but I was avoiding him because I wanted to hold a grudge against him. Because if I talked to him, I knew that I'd forgive him instantly.

I spent half an hour in the room along with a few students completing all the homework, and sighed in relief when my detention ended. I walked out of school and noticed that it was getting dark rather quickly. It was going to rain, I realized. There were heavy, gray clouds hanging in the sky, and I had twenty minutes of walking to do. I started walking, humming quietly to myself, when it started drizzling.

I picked up my pace, feeling cold all of a sudden. It was really dark now, and I still had a few minutes of walking to do. Honestly, I was totally freaked out. I'd always been afraid of the dark, and now I was walking in cold darkness, all alone. As that thought came into my mind, I heard footsteps behind me.

I froze. My eyes widened, and my heart started thumping wildly. I resumed walking, this time picking my pace up a notch. Someone was following me! I wanted to cry right there and then. Why did it have to happen the day I chose to walk alone?

Suddenly, the footsteps were right behind me, and without wasting even a second, I started sprinting as fast as my legs would take me. I could already feel my calves burning after two minutes, but I kept running until, of course, me being clumsy, I slipped in a puddle of mud, pitching forward.

My hands shot out to brace myself, but it was horrible timing. Before I could fully put my hands out, my right elbow landed hard on the rough pavement and a sharp pain shot up in my right hand. I gasped at the sudden pain, momentarily forgetting about the footsteps.

Not for long, though. Someone's arms shot out, grabbed my arms, and pulled me up. I puffed in some air and screamed as loud as I could, making the person clamp their hand on my mouth, muffling my scream. "Mmmmpphhmmphpph" was what came out as I tried to yell out 'let me go!'

"Ellie, be quiet! It's me, Ace!" His voice hissed in my ear, and I instantly stopped struggling. Despite the cold, his hands were warm as he held me. My racing heart slowed considerably, now that I knew it wasn't some kidnapper running after me, only Ace.

Ace pulled his hand away, and looked at me in concern. "Why the hell did you start running? And are you okay?" The latter sentence, and the concern in his voice made my heart go in a little frenzy.

I nodded, "Y-yeah, I'm o-okay." Just then, thunder boomed, making me jump in fright. Instinctively, I clutched Ace's arm. It started raining hard, soaking both of us completely. As soon as the water touched my bruised skin, pain shot up my elbow.

I winced in pain, which didn't go unnoticed by Ace. He gently grabbed my right hand, pulling it up to get a better look at it. His eyes widened slightly, and he looked back at me.

"You're not okay. You're bleeding." He narrowed his eyes at me accusingly.

I shrugged. "We're close to our houses anyway. I'll go in and clean it up," I responded, and pulled out of his grip. I regretted it instantly. I was missing the warmth of his hands already. Oh com'on Ellie! Get over yourself. You need to stay mad at him, remember?

"Is your Mom home?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, of course she is," I said, confused. "Why?" My anger that I was trying to hold in dispersed as I noticed pure confusion in his voice as well.

"All the lights are off in your house. Doesn't look like anyone's in there to me," he shrugged.

I glanced up at my house, and sure enough, the lights were out. I quickly pulled out my cell, and with difficulty, dialed my Mom's number. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hello? Sweetie, is everything alright? I know you're scared of lightning baby, just go to Jason's-"

"Mom, what do you mean go to Jason's room? Are you not in there?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. I was just hoping that she would say the opposite.

"Of course not sweetie. Remember I told you to take your keys in the morning? Because I'm going to be out until midnight today?" She asked, confusion clear in her voice.

I smacked my forehead. So that was what she tried to tell me this morning. I guess it was important, after all. "Right, Mom. Yeah, I just...uh, forgot. I have the keys in my purse...so...uh, see you when you come back?" I stuttered.

"Honey, don't stay up until midnight. You have school tomorrow. Good night baby, take care," with that, she hung up.

As soon as she hung up, I realized that I was locked outside my own house, soaking wet in the rain pouring down on me. That, too, in the dark.