It was Ellie's first day at the boarding school and to be honest she just wasn't looking forward to it. In the past five years she had been to three different boarding schools in either France, Canada, or California. And each time she had gotten kicked out for either fighting or getting into trouble with her teachers. Now her mom & her grandparents had shipped her off to England to a British Boarding School. She was staying at a house, which she forgot the name of, but it sounded Egyptian. Her taxi pulled up in front of the school. Classes must have ended because students were filing out the doors.

While the taxi driver got all her luggage, she put down the skateboard she was carrying and rode around the cab doing a few tricks. She noticed a people, mostly girls, staring at her and pointing at her. They were probably talking about her California skin. What? They'd never seen a tan before? Probably not. She heard the sun hardly ever came out here. Another reason why she didn't want to come here.

"What are you..." she started to say to a couple people. But she forgot to watch where she was going and ran into someone. She fell on the ground and her board rolled away.

"Hey, watch what you're doing!" the boy said. "Don't you know better..." He looked at her and paused. "Oh...hi...um...can i give you a hand?" He held out his hand to help her up.

"No, thank" Ellie said getting up and grabbing her board. She walked back to her cab. He followed her.

"Cool skateboard," the boy said.

"Thank," she said.

"Is that a California accent?" he asked. "I recognize it from when I went there for a sports scholarship"

"Sports?" Ellie asked now interested in what he had to say. "So you're an athlete?"

"Yeah..." the boy said. "Ah, you must be Ellie Tailor" an older man said walking up to them. "I'm Mr Sweet, your headmaster. I see you've met Mr Campbell, very nice"

"Is she staying in Anubis House?" Campbell asked hopefully.

"No," Mr Sweet said. "She staying at one of the other houses on the other side of the grounds.

"Oh, well" he said. "I've got to run to practice. Maybe I'll see you around" He gave her a smile and walked off. At her house, her housemother showed her to her room. Her roomate wasn't in yet. Instead of unpacking Ellie laid on her bed checking her phone. No messages or texts from her parents. Figures.

"Look at this mess!" A girl walked and scanned all of the luggage on the ground. And then she saw Ellie. "Oh, hi! You must be my new roommate!"

"Obviously" Ellie said.

"I'm Theresa," she said. "Nice to meet you. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask" Ellie ignored her. "So anything I can help you with? Like unpacking?"

"No thanks!" Ellie said a bit annoyed.

"You must be tired," Theresa said. "Must be from traveling. You're from California right? I can tell by your tan. What's America like?"

"You're right," Ellie said. "I am tired. I think I'll take a nap. Would you mind?" Theresa shook her head, got up and left the room. A couple hours later she awoke to someone yelling about dinner being ready, but she waited to go down. When she did everyone was already eating. Before walking in, she heard her name mentioned. She paused and listened to what they were saying.

"What's Ella like?" someone asked.

"She's ok," she heard Theresa say.

"You don't like her?" someone else asked.

"Its not that..." Theresa said. "Well she was kind of rude."

"She's from California," a boy said. "Most people from there are mean."

"That's not entirely true Jack," a girl said. "I have a distant cousin from San Francisco and she's pretty nice. Well...I've only seen her once.

"You see Wendy," the first person said. "I bet she's from some rich and stuck up family."

"Shut up Austin" Wendy said. "I'm sure if we get to know her..." They were all startled when they heard the front door slam shut and realized that she had heard them talking about her. Ella walked away from the house angrily. They were just like everybody else, thinking they knew who she was and what she was like. But they didn't.

Nobody knew how her dad walked out on her mom. How her mom lost her job, her house, and how they had to live with her grandparents. They had no idea how hard it was to live up to her grandparents expectations, how they wanted her to be someone she's not. After awhile, she had given up on what they wanted and started doing what she wanted. Those guys didn't know anything about her.

She kept walking until she got to a giant field. There she saw the boy from earlier doing laps. He saw her and stopped.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just doing my evening run," he said. "I'm Mick by the way"

"Ellie" They shook hands.

"Wow, thats the nicest you've been since you got here,"Mick joked. Ellie was quiet. "Is something wrong?"

"Do you mind if I run with you?" she asked. "It helps me clear my head."

"You're not exactly dressed in running clothes," Mick said glancing at her skinny jeans and lacy shirt. "You don't exactly look like a sports girl either"

"You clearly don't know me..." Ellie said. "I'm not afraid of a little sweat." She took off jogging. "Catch me if you can!" They jogged for a couple laps then paused for a break. They sat on a bench.

"So why did your parents ship you off to a boarding school in another country?" Mick asked.

"Well, my mom did" Ellie said. "She just wanted to get rid of me. My grandparents were more than happy to see me go"

"What about your dad?"

"I haven't seen him in years" Ellie said. "He left my mom when I was little."

"I'm sorry" Mick said.

"Eh, its ok" Ellie said. "He's some big doctor now so I'm sure he's forgotten me by now"

"My dad's a doctor too" Ellie smiled.

"So what are you studying in school?"

"I'll probably just end up getting kicked out, so why bother studying anything?" Ellie said. "I've been kicked out of three boarding schools."

"Well, in that case, you'd be great friends with my buddies Alfie and Jerome" Mick said. "They're a couple of troublemakers as well" Ellie laughed. "Come on, there must be something you want to be"

"Well, I've always wanted to be a professional skateboarder..." Ellie paused.

"But?"

"Has your mom or dad ever pressured you to be something you're not?" Ellie asked.

"For years my dad wanted me to be a doctor until I finally stood up to him and said I wanted to do sports" Mick said.

"What did he say?"

"It took some persuasion but after awhile, he caved"

"My grandparents always badgered me about how I should be a nurse or a lawyer," Ellie said. "They don't understand my athletic abilities."

"As long as you're doing what makes you happy that's all that maters" Mick said. He looked at his watch. "I have to go before I get grounded for being out past curfew. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have some classes together." Ellie smiled and nodded and watched him walk away. She had this feeling there was something familiar about him.

The next morning Ellie arrived to class late. When she walked in, everybody looked at her.

"Ah, you must be Miss Tailor" the teacher said. "I'm Miss Andrews. How nice of you to join us fifteen minutes after class started. Since this is your first day I'll let it slide, but don't let it happen again. Take a seat" The only open seat was next to Theresa so she took it. She noticed Mick a couple rows away and she gave him a smile as she walked by.

After class she walked out to her locker. Theresa followed her.

"So, I'm supposed to show you around," she said. "I know you don't like me for some reason but can we try to get along?" Ellie was quiet. Theresa sighed and started to walk away.

"Wait," Ellie said. "I'm sorry I was rude. I guess that's not the best way to make a fresh start."

"Fresh start?" Theresa asked confused.

"Never mind," Ellie said. "But it would be great if you could show me around, introduce me to some new people"

"What do you want to know?"

"What do you know about Mick Campbell?" Ellie asked. She pointed to where Mick was talking with some athlete.

"Yeah, I noticed you've met Mick" Theresa said. "Not a good choice in my opinion."

"Whys that?"

"He's dated two girls, both from this school and both from his house. He comes from a rich family. His dad is some well known doctor. In my eyes, he's bad news. Why are you interested in him?"

"He gets me," Ellie said. She walked away from following after Mick to his locker. "Hey!"

"Hey," he said. "How you liking classes?" She shrugged.

"Eh, its ok" she said. "Not sure how I feel about Miss Andrews though"

"You get used to her" Mick said. "I have practice after school, but maybe when its over. We can hang out? I can show you around."

"I'd like that!" Ellie said. Micks phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket, replied to a text and put it away. "Who was that? Your girlfriend?" Mick laughed.

"No, that was just my dad letting me know he was here" he said. "He likes to check up on me and see how I'm doing. But no, I'm perfectly single. What about you, you must have a boyfriend."

"Umm...no" Ellie said. "I usually scare the guys away."

"How is that possible?" Mick asked. "Cause you don't scare me!"

"You'd be surprised." Ellie warned. "Let me remind you that there's a lot you don't know about me."

"Well, you can tell me some more about you while I walk you to your next class." Mick said putting his arm around her shoulders. They started walking towards the end of the hall. Mick's dad came walking through the double doors.

"Hey Mick!" he called. Mick and Ellie turned around at the same time. Mr Campbell saw Ellie and paused.

"Dad!?" Mick and Ellie said at the same time. Mick and Ellie both looked at each other. Mick said it more in excitement. Ellie said it more as surprised.

Before her, Ellie saw the same man who had walked out on her mother years before.

"You're right," Mick said in a shocked disappointed voice. "There is a lot more that I didn't know about you. Like you have the same dad as me..."

Author's Note: I wrote this short story FF at the request of Ellie_LovesLuke. If you have an requests for a FF, just send me a private message! FYI, I don't do anything inappropriate. I'm keeping them clean!

Let me know what you think!