Waiting - Ella tag Brittany, Evan, open

[Ella D'Agustino]

Yesterday with Christophe had been awesome fun. The French boy was entertaining, sweet and charming until she sent him home. Even then he didn't turn off his charm.

Waking up had a different meaning for Ella as she had a mission. She had heard what had happened between Evan Hughes and Brittany Barnes. She was sure far behind on gossip but again, her motto of better late than never came into focus.

So after showering, getting dressed and getting her breakfast to go, she was probably the first person to arrive in school. She hung around the quad to wait for either Evan or Brittany. They weren't exactly friends but they have hung out with the same crowds before and they had clicked despite her being a cheerleader.

Shaking her head of some pretty disturbing thoughts, she tried to concentrate on the matter at hand. The person who was responsible for Brittany being upset with her boyfriend was a cheerleader. A Gould cheerleader no less. Didn't she know about Brittany and Evan? And if she did, didn't she care? It just wasn't right. Ella had liked someone in a relationship but she never tried to ruin said relationship because of it. Ella didn't know which Gould cheerleader it was but she felt really bad for her. Ella knew what it must feel. But the girl shouldn't do that. Not even once.

Ella's shoulders slumped slightly when the people she was looking for didn't materialise. She pulled her legs up to hug as she leaned back against the tree, hopeful that one of them, one more than the other, would eventually turn up.

[Brittany Barnes]

For once, Brittany was actually on time. It was actually a huge thing for her, since she was perpetually late in the mornings since she always tended to over sleep. But today, she'd not only gotten up and gotten ready on time, but she'd also gotten to school with time to spare! Dressed in a pair of skinny jeans with holes in the knees and a fitted Rioter's T-shirt, the unnaturally orange haired girl, took her skateboard to school, listening to music as she skated.

Once she got to school she picked up her skateboard, holding it under her arm as she headed to the building. She still had her headphones in and sounds of the Foo Fighters blasted into her ears as she nodded along with the music as she started to walk. She crossed the grounds, noticing Ella sitting under the tree, but not really paying attention really. Ella was cool and all...for a cheerleader, but Brittany still didn't understand how she could hang out with those girls at all.

But Brittany was still smack in the middle of the song, so obviously, not knowing that the other girl was looking for her, Brit decided to ignore her and keep going. After all, she still needed to stash her skateboard in her locker before first period started...and maybe find Evan too, since she was sure he'd be impressed with her for being on time and all.

[Ella D'Agustino]

Ella had been playing a game on her phone when she heard someone approaching. She looked up and the character she was playing on the phone fell off a cliff. She snapped her phone shut when she saw that it was the outrageous redhead she had been waiting for. She perked up and jumped out of the bench she was in to run to the girl.

Not realising that Brittany was listening to music, Ella called out to Brittany. After a few times, Ella frowned slightly because Brittany didn't reply. Was the girl ignoring her? If so, why?

She picked up her speed and patted Brittany on the shoulder once she had finally caught up with the girl. "Brittany!" Ella breathed out, managing to stop the girl in her tracks. When she turned, Ella made an expression of understanding when she saw the earphones stuck the other girls ears. That was why she didn't answer her.

"Hey, Brittany." Ella waved at her, suddenly feeling a bit shy. She really needed to curb her enthusiasm. The girl already didn't like cheerleaders.

"Uh...how are you? I heard about you and Evan and the cheerleader...I'm sorry for bringing it up if you've already patched things up with Evan...but um...you okay?" Ella asked, adjusting the hem of her dark blue blouse.

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany winced when Ella approached her, not because she didn't want to be near the girl...she was just startled. She hit pause on her ipod and yanked the headphones out of her ears. "Sorry," she said, "they're noise-canceling," she told the other girl with a grin. "When I have them in I might as well be deaf to anything that isn't music...which I guess is bad when walking through traffic but other than that its awesome," she explained.

"Oh, Evan and I are good now," she said with a shrug. "He promised not to talk to that Hannah chick anymore so there really isn't anything else I need to worry about," she said with a smile, completely unaware that Evan had actually talked to Hannah since he'd promised Brit that. "I don't get her anyway," Brittany said, "I mean, Aly would probably kill her, or any of the cheerleaders if they dated a guy like Evan...you know how it is," she said pointedly, emphasizing the 'you'.

In the grand scheme of cheerleaders, Ella really wasn't so bad, but Brittany didn't understand how she could stand those girls. And why would anyone want to cheerlead anyway...just for the sake of cheerleading?? She always considered it a popularity thing since it wasn't exactly a sport... Sure they did some dancing and gymnastics stuff but there were dance teams and gymnastics teams which she considered to be way more respectable than cheerleading.

[Ella D'Agustino]

Ella waved Brittany's apology off, understanding that it was her music player doing the deaf thing for the redhead. She knew it couldn't be because Brittany didn't like Ella. They got along pretty well.

With the revelation that it was one of the younger cheerleaders who had messed things up, Ella frowned slightly. Hannah? She thought to herself. The girl seemed so sweet and bubbly and she's obviously really pretty and could have a pick of any guy she wanted! Why would she want to get with a guy who already had a girlfriend? Who was related to the head cheerleader even! Did the blond girl have a death wish?

"Oh...it was Hannah..." Ella whispered, looking lost a bit but snapped back when she heard a bit of disdain coloring Brittany's words when she mentioned dating and guys like Evan. One eyebrow raised, Ella pressed a hand on her hip and gave Brittany a look of sardonic disbelief. "Do you really think I care who dates who?" she asked the other girl. "And besides...Aly doesn't have me under her tyrannical thumb." She shrugged. "Exhibit A," Ella gestured to her scruffy outfit for the day, a dark blue ruffled button down blouse with washed-out jeans and sneakers.

If she knew what Brittany thought of her, Ella would have given out an inspirational yet tastefully cheesy speech talking about her dream of reaching out to underdogs from her position as one of the populars. But she didn't know so she didn't say. It was tough luck though. Ella wouldn't like being someone Brittany thought was superficial.

[Brittany Barnes]

"Yeah...Hannah," Brittany said making a face. She never really had an issue with Hannah before, aside from the whole being a cheerleader thing, but now, after everything had happened, Hannah was probably Brit's least favorite cheerleader. She made a mental note to try and find out which locker was Hannah's so after school when Brittany had to clean the locker rooms she could stick trash in it or hopefully she'd think of something better...

"I know, I know," Brittany said agreeing with the other girl. "You're not like all them...that is why I still talk to you," she teased, sticking her tongue out at Ella. She just didn't get the why cheerlead at all part. "You know, its just my job to give all cheerleaders a hard time," she pointed out, with a grin.

Brittany then made a face as she remembered something. "Uh...sorry by the way...I heard the goat ate one of your socks....he was supposed to eat Aly's socks, but you know, its kind of hard to like control a goat..." she admitted, knowing very well that Ella knew that she was one of the ones behind the whole barnyard thing. There was no use denying it now...

[Ella D'Agustino]

The grimace Brittany showed when she mentioned the one who failed at flirting made Ella snicker. She supposed if she was in Brittany's shoes, she'd probably be worse. Ella wasn't the type to fool around and if she found that one person whom she was ready to give all of herself to, she would go all out to keep him. Her... And Ella had a feeling that Brittany was the same. And she respected the junior for it.

The tongue sticking out at her made Ella blush before hiding it behind a laugh. "And I am honored that you do," she gave Brittany a mock bow. Her next words made Ella laugh again. "Well, yeah. If I had a step sister like Aly who just so happens to be the head cheerleader, I'd want to do the same. And on my part, it's occupational hazard." She shrugged good-naturedly, well aware that she was bringing herself down too.

"But stop knocking on cheerleaders." Ella punched Brittany's arm playfully. "It's an awesome rush when you get to do those backflips and have someone hoist you up on to a pyramid."

Ella's surprised look when she found out the prank that Brittany and several other pranksters of the school had cost her a sock turned into one of delight. Laughing, Ella had to grab Brittany's arm to support herself. "Okay I'm sorry, that was unnecessary but I could have sworn someone on the team took my sock. That was my lucky pair! Half of the pair would do squat for my luck. Thank your goat for me!" Ella shook her head with laughter.

"Oh! Before I forget," Ella faced Brittany with a hopeful smile on her face. "My brother's having a bunch of people over for a party tonight at our house because my parents are going out of town and my little brother has camp in his middle school.

"You're welcome to come over. And bring Evan and the gang with you. Because anything Casey does is a dud and having a few cool people over would be awesome. Interested?"

"And don't worry, I'll make sure there aren't any cheerleaders." Ella added for good measure.

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany was glad when they stopped talking about Hannah. She didn't even want to think about the Southern cheerleader. As far as Brittany was concerned, she was going to pretend she didn't exist. The same went for that Syn girl, although at least she'd sort of apologized so Brittany at least gave her that.

She noticed Ella blush but didn't really think much of it. It was kind of warm out so she just figured the other girl was a bit overheated. She had run over to her after all. "Yeah...still don't get how she has so many friends," Brittany said shaking her head. Although she wouldn't admit it, she supposed Aly wasn't that bad. Sure, she'd pranked the hell out of her and had gotten her in a boatload of trouble, but Aly had also stuck her neck out for Brittany more than once, and she'd never forget it, even if she pretended to. "What would you do if you had a step-sister like Aly? You know I am always looking for ideas," she joked, although she was half serious.

Brittany's mouth fell open in mock disgust when the other girl playfully hit her arm, but of course she didn't care. "Yeah...I just don't get it, but then again I've never really been in a pyramid," she said, pausing to think about what it would be like. "That's totally not a request though!" she laughed, "Although that might piss Aly off most of all, if I joined the cheerleading squad, but it would be far to devastating to me to be worth it," she laughed, shaking her head at the thought of it. She remembered when Aly stole all of her clothes and she'd been forced to wear that cheerleading outfit. It had been beyond humiliating.

"Yeah...well, he was a pretty cool goat, but he also ate everything. He even ate my homework...I swear, but it's not like I could tell my math teacher that a goat ate my homework...it would have totally given us away! But we have been caught now...I wonder if its too late," she said, with a laugh as she pictured her teacher's reaction.

"A party," Brittany said. "Okay. I mean, I'm not sure what everyone is up to, but I can at least put the word out," she said with a shrug. She'd never really hung out with Ella outside of school much but...or ever, that she could recall at least, but she was really cool and if she promised no cheerleaders if could be a good time. "What time you want me to come over," she asked. "Oh and should I bring anything? Maybe I could pick up cupcakes because I'm kinda craving cupcakes..."

[Ella D'Agustino]

"How sure are you that those people are her friends?" Ella wriggled her eyebrows at Brittany in a joking manner. She liked Aly but sometimes she could be way too controlling. If things were not going according to what she had planned, everything needed to be redone. And she would do it over and over again until she was satisfied with the results. Ella liked to assume the best of everyone and in Aly's instance, Ella gave her the benefit of the doubt by telling herself that Aly probably has too much going on in her life that the only outlet for her anger is through cheerleading.

Yeah...Ella was so sure that was it.

"If I had a step sister like that? I'd kill my parents for even thinking of marrying the girl's parent in the first place." Ella shook her head in laughter. "Although, since all narcissistic tyrannical dictators ever want is attention, I'd probably just completely ignore her existence." She shrugged.

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't want to be in a pyramid unless you're willing to get back aches and neck pains. I'm lucky I have a personal live-in chiropractor." Ella shrugged once more. "My mom does it freelance but I promised her that I'll be her first paycheck." It was a lame joke but then again, at least Ella tried.

Brittany's laughter perked Ella up but she tried to curb it as much as possible. "Well you could certainly try. Dogs are overrated homework eaters. It's time we start blaming goats for our shredded assignments!"

"Ah that's awesome. And sure, cupcakes sound awesome. Just bring whatever you need. I'll give you my address," Ella rummaged through her bag to find a pen and a piece of paper before writing her address down in her neat handwriting. She handed the piece of paper to Brittany. "The more the merrier, alright?"

[Evan Hughes]

Something must be wrong, Evan decided. He must be coming down with something, getting sick. That was the only explanation he could think of for being early to school every day this week. And today he was the earliest he’d been all week too, and it was a Friday! That clearly was messed up. All the sleep he was missing out on too, and everyone knew that sleeping in sleep was the best kind of sleep you could get. If he wasn’t careful, he might actually start doing homework on time to. That would be a worry.

But at least being early meant he had time for breakfast. Or a second breakfast, really, he supposed it should be called, seeing how he usually managed to cram something down at home on his way out, usually pop tarts. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day after all. Although, could chocolate and candy and the other junk food he often ate really be called breakfast, or second breakfast? He pondered this thought as he rummaged through his bag, looking for munchies.

As he walked through the quad, Evan managed to tear his eyes away from the search a couple of times to check he wasn’t about to walk into anything, and during one of those glances, he spotted Brittany. The sight caused him to freeze on the spot, staring. He wasn’t staring because she was talking to a cheerleader, even given her not so secret dislike of them. Because it was Ella, she was pretty cool for a cheerleader, and super nice. Plus she liked cookies. You couldn’t not like someone who liked cookies.

No, he was staring because his girlfriend was actually at school, at this time. Maybe she was coming down with something too. Or maybe she came early to see him, maybe. That would be nice, he figured, and so with a big grin, he found what he was looking for in his bag before jogging over towards the two girls.

“Hey Ella!” he waved, before Brittany turned to him and he happily planted a long, enthusiastic kiss on her lips. “Morning beautiful, you’re early.” Evan sounded impressed as he said this, opening up his current favourite bar, a Butterfingers. He let the wrapper fall to the floor as he broke it in half and after carefully studying both halves, gave the bigger one to Brit.

He then took a greedy bite of his half, only now noticing that both girls were staring at him. He stared back for a moment, looking a little confused, before slowing reaching down and grabbing the empty wrapper, stuffing it into his pocket. When he realised that they were still looking, he swallowed his mouthful. “What? I got something on my face?”