Mistakes
Hey guys, thanks to those of you that reviewed the last chapter, sorry that I haven't updated this in so long, but hopefully you like it, anyway, here's chapter 3, please read and review!
Chapter 3
"Lilly-Ella, come on, you're gonna be late!" Troy hollered up the stairs as he heard a clattering from above him, knowing that his daughter would be mortified if she was late for her first day at East High.
"I'm ready, I'm ready," She yelled back as she raced down the stairs, straight past Troy and into the kitchen, returning moments later with a piece of toast clutched in one hand and her bag in the other.
"Alright then, let's go," Troy smiled, grabbing his car keys and looking back to see Lilly-Ella nervously shuffling from one foot to the other, "Okay, what's going on?"
"Well, ummm, you see Dad, I kinda already have a lift," Lilly-Ella stuttered out and Troy raised his eyebrows at her.
"What so I'm not cool enough for you anymore?" Troy joked, grinning at his daughter as she giggled and a car horn sounded outside.
"Something like that," Lilly-Ella grinned back cheekily, "But anyway, that's Joe, so I gotta get going." She smiled at him one last time, reaching up to kiss his cheek before darting from the house, yelling over her shoulder as she went, "Love you Daddy!"
Chuckling, Troy smiled after his daughter, "Love you too baby girl, knock 'em dead," he whispered, before turning and heading straight back for his study to try and figure out what he would do with the team in practice that afternoon.
"Hey Joe," Lilly-Ella beamed at the young man that she had become incredibly close to over the last two weeks since she met him, he had already become like a big brother to her, as she jumped into the passenger seat, and he grinned at her, before flooring it as soon as her seat belt was securely fastened, "What you got planned for today?"
Joe shrugged slightly, keeping his eyes on the road as he flew threw another set of green traffic lights, "Nothing much, just training with your Dad, cramming for a bio test that I have last this afternoon and completely forgot about," Lilly-Ella rolled her eyes at his relaxed attitude, but had become accustomed to it over the two weeks when it came to his schoolwork, as the college had started a week earlier than everyone else, much to the disgust of Joe and David, and the amusement of Lilly-Ella, add that to the fact that she had taken the first week of school off to get used to the move, and the two young basketball players were not pleased, "And then, hopefully, I'll be out in time to pick you up from school, if not David will be here," Joe smiled kindly as he turned to Lilly-Ella for the first time since she had got in the car, the two of them now sitting outside of East High, although Lilly-Ella made no movements to leave the safety of the car, only looking up at the big school in front of her, her piercing blue eyes the size of saucers. "Are you nervous, Bubbles?" Joe asked cautiously, turning in his seat to look at Lilly-Ella properly.
Slowly nodding her head, Lilly-Ella smiled at the nickname that Joe had given her nine days ago, after he had walked into his dorm room to find a hysterical David leaning on the wall for support, and a very annoyed looking Lilly-Ella who was dripping from head to toe, bubbles sticking to her everywhere from the water in the sink that now held one of David's basketballs. "I'm really scared Joe, I mean, what if they don't like, what if I become the freaky math girl again? I don't think that I can take it," Lilly-Ella finally looked back up at Joe, tears shining slightly in her eyes.
"Hey, hey Bubbles, what did David and I talk to you about last night," Joe whispered, placing a hand under Lilly-Ella's chin and making her look at him, "Just be yourself kid, nobody can put you wrong for being yourself, don't ever change because someone wants you to Lilly-Ella, cause your special, and everyone who takes the time to get to know you damn well knows that. Plus, if anybody dares say something bad or rude to you, David and I will personally hunt them down and kick the crap out of them," Joe grinned as Lilly-Ella burst out laughing, after watching him for a short while, unsure of where his sudden rush of genius had come from, before she leant over, kissed his cheek softly and ran out of the car, racing up the front steps and into the school as Joe watched, smiling once more before heading back to the college.
Wandering around the school, Lilly-Ella sighed, she was getting more and more confused as she hunted around for the school office, so eventually seeing a man who looked to be about in his thirties, with shaggy blonde hair, not unlike her father's in the style, she wandered up to him, hoping that he was a teacher, even with his eccentric style, she noticed with his sparkly shirt and matching pink hat, "Excuse me, Sir?" She whispered timidly, and he turned around and gave her a smile as she continued softly, "Erm, I'm new here, and I was kind of hoping that you could tell me where the office is because I keep getting lost."
The man smiled at her, "Aah, you must be Miss. Bolton then I presume?" He smiled, his eyes twinkling as though he knew something that she did not when she nodded her head, and he extended his hand to her, "I'm Mr. Evans, one of the drama teachers' around here." He smiled once more at her as he shook her hand, before pointing her in the correct direction to the office, much to her relief and dismay, when she figured out that it was the complete opposite way to where she had been going.
Heading from the office, Lilly-Ella found herself barely able to see over the mountain of books that she had been given, much less see her schedule or her locker number, she suddenly gasped when she felt her foot catch on something, and she felt herself tumbling to the ground, closing her eyes as she waited for the impact, hearing the clattering of her books falling all around her, but unable to feel the cold, hard floor like she should have done by now, instead she felt a pair of warm arms wrapped securely around her, although she stayed in the dipped position.
Slowly opening her eyes, Lilly-Ella found herself staring up at a young man with sandy hair falling over his eyes and the most entrancing golden caramel coloured eyes that she had ever seen. Slowly, he placed her back up onto her feet, and helped her scramble up all of her books and her schedule, before flicking his hair out of his eyes and smiling at her.
"Matt Baker," He smiled, extending his hand to her, as she gently took it, still blushing furiously, embarrassed at herself for tripping over like that already, not even an hour into her first day.
"Aah, poster boy," She smiled, laughing gently when he silently raised his eyebrows at her, "Sorry, it was the first thing I saw when I walked into the school, a huge poster of the basketball team, with you in the middle, anyway, I'm Lilly-Ella Bolton," Her grin widened when she saw him grimace slightly at the reference to the poster, "Anyway, do you happen to know where locker 1224 is? Because I'm completely lost."
He chuckled slightly, and almost instantly, Lilly-Ella found herself entranced by his melodic laughter, "Sure I do, I'll walk you, cause it's right by mine," He smiled again and held his hand out to her, which she eyed up nervously, "Come on, I don't bite," Matt laughed, wiggling his fingers at her as she grasped a hold of them, and the two started up the corridor, each still carrying half of her books each, and unconsciously entwining their fingers together, Lilly-Ella shifting uncomfortably, as she felt the stares of everyone on the pair, and heard them all whispering behind their hands, although Matt never seemed to notice, so she shrugged it off.
"Well, here we are," Matt beamed at her, helping her to put her books into her locker, before smiling once more at her, "Can you find you way to your homeroom from here? Because I've got to head over to the gym for a quick basketball meeting?"
Lilly-Ella smiled slightly and nodded, chewing on her bottom lip, "Yeah, I should be fine," She whispered as he turned away, "Hey Matt?" Matt turned back towards her, his caramel eyes shining at her, "Thanks, for everything."
He grinned at her again before walking off, melting into the crowds as Lilly-Ella sighed and glanced at her schedule, deciding to head for her homeroom now, rather than get lost and have to explain why she was late later.
She smiled, before walking in the door to her homeroom, hoping to appear confident as she walked up to the teacher's desk, although she was quivering internally, "Mrs Danforth?"
The thirty something African-American woman sat at the desk looked up at the nervous young girl and smiled, "You must be Lilly-Ella right?" The young girl nodded her head slightly, her curls flying as she did so, "It's nice to have you in the class, why don't you take a seat, the bell should ring in a few and the last ones should come in…usually from the basketball team," Taylor muttered the last part quietly, but Lilly-Ella heard and giggled quietly, making Taylor beam at the sound of her laughter.
The bell rang moments later as Lilly-Ella sat at the back of the room, trying to memorise her schedule, although the class barely heard the bell as only a moment or so before, eight young men clad in red tracksuits burst into the room, cheering at the top of their lungs.
"What team?" One of them yelled, and the other seven responded almost immediately.
"Wild Cats!"
"What team?" The first one yelled again while the other seven stomped their feet.
"Wildcats!" They screamed back, and Lilly-Ella caught the glowing eyes of the sandy haired player of her earlier run in, neither of them able to keep the grins of their faces, Lilly-Ella's in pure amusement, and Matt's full of excitement.
"Wildcats!" The original one screamed once more.
"Get your head in the game!" Most of the class screamed with them, minus a few who rolled their eyes, and Lilly-Ella, who obviously had no clue as to what was going on.
"Alright boys'," Taylor Danforth chuckled, getting up from her desk, "I know your excited for the start of the season tomorrow, but we have a new student with us today, so please take your seats, so that I can introduce you," Taylor smiled again as they all rushed to their seats, Matt's incidentally being right beside Lilly-Ella's at the back of the room, as he winked at her, "Alright class, like I said, we have a new student, I'd like you to please welcome her, and Lilly-Ella, can you come up here and tell us a little about yourself?"
Reluctantly, Lilly-Ella pushed herself up from her desk, and wandered to the front of the classroom, instantly blushing as a few guys' started to whistle, only to be shut up by glares from Mrs. Danforth and Matt.
"Umm, well I'm Lilly-Ella Bolton, I'm sixteen and I just moved to Albuquerque with my Dad from L.A., and I love to read, run and swim," She finished off bright red as she basically ran back to her seat, glaring at Matt as he chuckled beside her, clapping along with the rest of the class.
Thankfully, her first four classes came and went without much disruption, and she wasn't made to stand up in front of the class again, she had even been in her element when she had had her AP chemistry lesson with Mrs. Danforth first, surprising even Taylor herself when she saw just how much the young sixteen year old knew.
Mercifully though, it was now time for lunch, and Lilly-Ella was in desperate need of a break from meeting new people and new teachers, but much to her dismay, the library was closed, and as far as she was concerned, there was no way that she was going to the cafeteria for lunch, so she just stood outside her locker, chewing her bottom lip nervously, until all that was left in the corridor was herself and a blonde girl, who was chatting away animatedly on her phone, and to Lilly-Ella, it sounded like the girl was whining over something that had not gone her way.
Snapping the phone closed, the girl turned to glare at the wide-eyed Lilly-Ella, "What the hell do you think you're looking at?" She shrieked, "Did you just listen to my conversation?" She hissed at Lilly-Ella, who couldn't think that it was hard not to hear the conversation with the way that the girl had been screaming, but she kept her mouth shut as the girl stalked towards her, "What are you deaf as well? I said were you listening to my conversation?"
"N-n-no," Lilly-Ella finally managed to stutter out, shaking her head furiously as the girl's eyes narrowed and her glare intensified.
"Yeah well then lets keep it that way," She hissed once more, banging roughly into Lilly-Ella's shoulder as she passed, pushing the young girl against the locker.
"Yeah, I'd try to stay away from her if I were you," a voice muttered from behind Lilly-Ella, and she jumped around, one hand on her heart, to find a chuckling Matt standing directly behind her, "They don't call her the ice princess for nothing."
She raised her eyebrows at him, "Well hello again to you too Poster Boy, don't scare me like that again!" She yelled, hitting him over the arm as he continued to laugh, her brow furrowing in confusion, "What do you mean ice princess?"
Matt shrugged slightly, "Her name's Sassy Mitchell, she's the richest person in the school, and boy does she know it, she's cruel, rude, and just plain mean to everyone, she's the president of the drama club, and can get away with murder. The reason that she's like that is that she's spoilt rotten at home, because her parents are never around, she sees them once every six months if she's lucky, she was raised her whole life by nannies, and her parents get her whatever she wants, to make up for their absence in her life," Matt chuckled dryly as he turned and walked away from Lilly-Ella, calling back to her over his shoulder, "She's bad news Star Girl, stay away from her!"
Lilly-Ella smiled slightly at the nickname that he had given her, before picking up her school bag once more, and noticing that there was no one else in the corridors anymore, she headed back for her homeroom class, her arms folded protectively across her chest, and her head down.
"Umm, Mrs Danforth?" Lilly-Ella questioned nervously, standing in the doorway to her homeroom, with one hand raised up to the door in a knocking position as Taylor looked up at her in surprise, "I was wondering, would it be okay if I ate in here today? I mean I don't really make friends easily, and I'll be really quiet, I swear, I'll just do my homework silently, I would go to the library, but it's closed, I'm really sorry to bother you though."
Taylor smiled reassuringly back at the young girl and beckoned her into the room, "It's fine Lilly-Ella, just take a seat, only I hope you don't mind, a friend of mine also has lun-"
Taylor was cut off suddenly by the door bursting back open, a frazzled looking brunette woman rushing in, her almost black curls bouncing on her shoulders as her short sleeved baby blue dress swishing around her knees, "I'm so sorry I'm late Tay, my last class were behaving like raving lunatics! I couldn't even get them to settle down even with bribery of sugar."
Taylor chuckled at her friends panic, and even Lilly-Ella couldn't help the small smile that graced her features as she sat uneasily at the desk in front of Mrs. Danforth's, her AP history book open in front of her, anxiously chewing on her bottom lip.
"Okay, first of all, relax and calm down, all of the students are hyper today, you know that, something to do with the big basketball game tomorrow, and how Matt's going to lead them past the quarter finals later on this year, and hopefully win it for the first time since you know who," Taylor smiled softly at her friend when she saw her timidly start to chew on her lower lip, "And secondly, I want you to meet my new student, this is Lilly-Ella, and actually I believe that she is going to be in your English class next period, so Lilly-Ella, this is your new English teacher, Miss Montez…"
Well, that was chapter 3, hope that you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought of it, and hopefully chapter 4 should be up within the next week.