Here's the next chapter. Eliot's in it, as I promised.
Sarah sat in her new class, her head bent over her desk, scribbling answers to fractions. It was the probably the most work she had done in half an hour in her whole life, but Sarah didn't want to risk looking up because she was sure that the teacher had her eyes trained on her. Obviously Tom and Kate had made up some pretty bad stories about her.
Or was she really that bad? Sarah wasn't sure.
As the bell rung, Sarah slowly packed up her things. Putting first away her maths book, then her pencil case, then her ruler, then her calculator.
All around her people were rushing to put away their things and get out the class. They shoved past her, taking no notice of the "new girl". One boy bumped her and Sarah tripped and fell forward against the wall.
"Sorry," the boy murmured. Sarah looked up at him and then quickly hurried away and into the toilets.
The boy had had spiky, short-brown hair. His eyes were a dark chocolate and his skin was dark colour. He had been wearing a cargo pants and a sweat-shirt. He had looked kinda cute.
Sarah looked in the mirror, readjusted her hair, checked her time-table and hurried to her next class, P.E.
"Okay! Gather round!" Ms Jamie Amiees, the P.E. teacher yelled. Sarah tugged at her skimpy halter neck and tried to pull her small shorts down (her P.E. uniform) and stood a little way away from the rest of the crowds. "We're going to do two laps of the track, and then get back in here and play some basketball."
There were cheers from the boys and groans from the girls.
"It'll ruin my hair—I had it permed yesterday!" One of the posh girls, Rachel Stoners, moaned to her side-kick Lucia Donahue. Sarah rolled her eyes and joined the rest of the class at the edge of the track.
"Remember, breathe easily, focus on your breathing and don't sprint your heart out, or you'll be puffed by your second lap," Jamie dropped her hands and everyone took off.
Of course, the boys raced each other, shouting playful insults over their shoulders when they past one of their friends.
Most of the girls lagged behind and Sarah found herself alone, close to the boys. She was reasonably fit because her dancing lessons and she had played lots of sport with her brothers.
The boy who had knocked into her before dropped behind and jogged beside her. She hadn't notice him yet, and he was surprised that she wasn't panting or breaking a sweat, like most girls did by the time they reached halfway around the first lap.
"You're fit," he told her. Sarah jumped and then noticed him.
"Oh," she paused. "I used to dance." The boy rolled his eyes and he thought that she might be just as stuck-up as the others girls.
"Ballet? Tap?"
"Hip-hop," Sarah corrected. The boy's eyebrows went up. He glanced down at her and looked at her legs and arms. They were tanned, slim and muscular.
"You any good?" He asked.
"Reasonably. My brothers friends certainly thought so," Sarah said this with a bit of a smile. The boy looked down at her and thought she looked cute with a smile.
They reached the end of the first lap.
"Keep going! Quiet talking! Nice pacing, new girl!" Jamie yelled. Sarah sighed as they carried on, quickening their pace slightly.
"I hate being called the new girl," Sarah hissed under her breath. The boy laughed.
"By the way, I'm Eliot Murtaugh," Eliot told her. He brushed his hair away from his eyes and pushed beads of sweat off his forehead.
Sarah's breathing was becoming more shallow. Their was a dull ache in her legs, but she could carry on.
"I'm Sarah," Sarah murmured. "See you around." She took off, wanting to finish the laps quickly or else she would get the usual stitch in her side. As she reached the end, she saw only five other boys laying on the grass, trying to catch their breath.
"Very good…uh, Sarah," Jamie told her.
The boys looked over at her. One nodded, one smiled. Eliot joined them a moment later, and the boys all began talking and joking.
"Got left in the dust by a girl!" The older one, Nickolas Jamison, joked. Eliot grinned playfully, and smiled at her. Sarah gave him a small smile, and then turned away and took a drink of her water-bottle.
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