Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,14
she’d spent the remainder of the evening working on her assignments. Since Svatura only needed a few hours of sleep each night, the extra time came in handy for keeping on top of homework. At least that’s what Ellie often thought. She often wondered how the normal kids managed to do everything with fewer hours available.
More often than not, however, the extra hours could become tedious. Lonesome. And these days Griffin was so grumpy, it wasn’t like he was great company.
Ellie pulled into a space in the school parking lot. Just as she was reaching for the door handle to get out, she caught a flash of movement in the distance.
“Griffin,” Ellie called her brother mentally.
“What?” he immediately responded.
Ellie remained silent for a minute. “Elle?” Griffin prompted.
“Nothing. It’s nothing”, she finally answered. “I thought maybe I saw something. I think you’ve got me spooked with all the talk about the Vyusher.”
“Good. You need to be spooked. You take too many chances.”
Ellie shot her brother a mental image of sticking out her tongue.
“You sure you didn’t see anything?” he asked. Even in her mind Ellie could hear his worry.
“I’m sure.”
“Better to be absolutely sure. I’ll go check it out just in case.”
“I’m absolutely sure. But you do what you think is necessary. I’m going in to school now.”
“Alright. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
The morning was a cold one, so she grabbed her backpack, huddled down into her parka, and made a dash for the building. As soon as she walked in the main doors, she saw Lila.
“Hey, Ellie!” Lila waved her over. “Delia, Nate, and I hang out in the cafeteria before school. Wanna come sit with us?”
Ellie smiled, hitching her bag into a more comfortable position on her shoulder. “Sure!”
When they got to the cafeteria, Ellie slumped into one of the chairs at the table. “Hi, guys,” she greeted Adelaide and Nate. They both gave her a generic but friendly greeting in return. The three of them concentrated on their homework.
Talk stayed fairly minimal until the starting bell. This high school revolved through a block schedule, five classes each day, but a different five classes every other day. Today, Ellie’s first class was P.E. Ellie liked most sports, so she usually enjoyed it, except for having to dress out in the mandatory ridiculous gym uniform.
Jill, the girl she’d sat behind in English the previous day, was getting dressed in the locker room. She’d seemed very nice, so Ellie decided to approach her.
“Hi,” Ellie said as she sat down and started pulling off her shoes. “Jill, right?”
The other girl gave her a big grin. “Yeah!”
Ellie didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading to know that Jill was pleased that she’d noticed her.
“You’re from Texas, right?” Jill asked, as she pulled her gym shirt on over her head.
Ellie’s eyebrows shot up. “How’d you know?”
“Small school. We don’t get new kids often.” Jill grinned. “Why’d you move to Estes?”
Ellie shrugged nonchalantly. “The usual reasons… family commitments,” she answered. “Have you lived here all your life?”
“Yeah. Born and raised. It’s too bad you moved here in the winter.”
“Why? It’s gorgeous!”
“But in the summer the tourists fill the place up.”
Ellie was confused. “And that’s a good thing because…?”
“Uh, hello! Boys!” Jill laughed.
Ellie laughed along with her as they finished dressing and headed to the gym, Jill chattering all the way. Today was basketball, so they didn’t have much time to talk any more while they practiced passing, dribbling, and shooting. After P.E. finished and they’d showered and dressed, Jill walked with Ellie to economics still talking a mile a minute. By the time they reached the classroom, Ellie had the low-down on practically the entire school.
At the door Jill paused and waved. “Hey, Brian!”
A good looking, red-headed boy returned her wave with a nod. “Hey, Jill.” He casually strolled over to the girls. “Who’s your new friend?”
“I’m Ellie.” Ellie held out her hand with a friendly smile.
Shaking her hand, Brian said, “The new girl in school, huh?”
“Yeah.” Ellie returned the smile as she surreptitiously sized him up. Cute, definitely cute…In that captain-of-the-football-team kinda way.
“How’s it going so far? You liking Estes Park High?” he asked.
“Can’t complain. Everyone I’ve met has been really nice,” she answered.
“Well, you let me know if anyone gives you trouble and I’ll set ‘em straight.” Brian winked and Ellie hid her amusement. Definitely the captain of the football team type. Probably popular.
Although Brian was in Ellie’s class, he didn’t sit near her. So Ellie was surprised when he waited while