One Last Chance (Chapter 2)
By Emily, age 13, Ohio
Her black silhouette sat there along the horizon, the water washing up on her feet. He was approaching her. The charm in his green eye was as charming as ever. That perfectly spiky brown hair of his was utterly perfect as always.
"Hey. You new here?" he asked, as he sat down in the sand beside her.
She turned to him, her eyes shining. "Yea."
He scooted closer to the girl. "Well, what are you doing on the beach at 5 am?"
"Looking for the sunrise." At that precise moment the sun rose. As the sun's beautiful rays looked down on them, Ellen turned. "Who are you?"
With an enchanting look upon his face, the guy wrapped his arm around Ellen's neck. "I'm Luke."
"Ellen."
Luke groaned as he looked up. "Ellen, you're so lucky to have such a beautiful, interesting, and mysterious name."
Ellen giggled as she extended her arm toward Luke. "Ellen a beautiful name? I feel like some old lady on Little House on the Prairie. Luke is so exotic and it's so mystical and unique; your name is way better than mine."
His presence lingered over Ellen's skin as he stood up and walked closer to the water. "The beaches here are quite amazing, aren't they?"
"Quite." A sigh escaped Ellen's pink lips. "If I could stay out here all day I would."
Luke checked the gold watch on his wrist before starting to run away from the beach. "Where are you going?" Jumping up from the sand, Ellen started to follow him.
His strong hand laid flat on Ellen's shoulders. "I barely know you. Don't follow me please." He turned and ran away before Ellen could even say goodbye or ask for his last name.
She let her small body fall to the sand as she scooted a little closer to the rough waves in front of her. The water on her feet relaxed her, until again another boy approached her and sat down.
Ellen immediately recognized the childish grin on the boy's face. "Hey Jay." Her brown waves were up in a ponytail, and Jay reached for it.
"Enjoy the party last night?" He wrapped his long and very strong arm around Ellen's neck.
A flirty grin stretched across her face. "It was awesome!"
"Glad you enjoyed it," Jay laughed as he grabbed Ellen's waist and pulled her into the cold ocean water.
Ellen and Jay splashed around in the ice cold water. Her brown hair was soaked and his perfect hair was still perfect when they got out of the water.
They walked hand-in-hand across the beach, the sand in between their toes. "Is this awkward?" Jay asked, noticing their hands holding.
"Is what awkward?"
"Holding hands and being only friends."
"I don't find it at all awkward. It's okay to hold hands and be friends." Ellen's small hand reached into his and they walked on silently just exchanging smiles.
When they finally reached the campus, they continued to walk hand-in-hand getting odd glances from passing people. Jay seemed uncomfortable but Ellen didn't seem to care at all.
A ginger girl walked past, spitting an evil look to Jay and Ellen. A long necklace with a pink heart on the end flew through the air into Jay's other hand. "Mira?" Jay questioned.
"Well, duh, it's me. Who else did you give this necklace to, bud?" The ginger, Mira, had a fierce look on her face. They always say redheads are the meanest. Her eyes were plain brown, nothing interesting about them, and her hair was straight red - no pizzazz, no waves, or perfectly straight ends - nothing interesting. This looked like a boring girl, minus her feisty attitude.
"Mira, I gave you this when we dated and, uh, we've been broken up for two months now. Why now?" Jay stepped toward Mira, letting go of Ellen's hand.
Mira's posse laughed loudly and she chuckled. "Jay, you've always been a little dumb in there." She chuckled before motioning toward Ellen. "Give it to your new girlfriend."
"Uh." Ellen started to tell Mira the truth, but before she could Mira approached Ellen and pulled her by the hand away from Jay.
"Honey, be careful. Advice from a big girl to a little girl. Jay wants to be with you to have a girlfriend. Maybe it's best if you didn't date him because you may regret it in the long run, when he breaks your heart and comes back to me, the girl he truly loves." Mira pursed her lips, and fit her right hand on her hip, before turning to walk away.
Brown hair flickering, Ellen turned around and quickly caught up with Mira, making a scene. "I'll date Jay if I want to date Jay. He would never come crawling back to a girl with an attitude like you. Get things right, honey." Ellen had purposely added emphasis on 'honey' and turned to walk away.
"Nice comeback." A chuckle that sounded practically evil escaped Mira's big mouth. "That's all you got, 'Miss Honey?'"
Green eyes sparkling in the wind, Ellen turned around, her feet still on the street. "I could say a whole lot more, but I'm a real lady. I don't spat, like certain young ladies. Now goodbye." Long legs running, Ellen ran away before Mira could say anything else.
"Wow." Jay admired Ellen, speechlessly. Jay's mouth was probably hanging open, but he didn't care.
Confusion took over Ellen. "What?"
"You're brave, I like that." As Jay leaned in to kiss Ellen, he reached down and brushed both sides of her face, brushing her hair out of her face.
Her heart skipped a few beats as she turned her face away from Jay. "I just got out of a bad relationship. I can't do this again. I'm sorry, Jay." She ran her fingers across his shoulder and then ran away towards her dorm.
She sprinted up the front steps and straight back to her room and ran straight into a boy. "Crap, I'm sorry." She looked up to see Luke from the beach that morning.
"Stalking me?" His hair wasn't spiky like normal; it was straight and even hotter.
Ellen chuckled and twirled a piece of brown hair around her finger. "Um, you were the one who was in the girl's dorm wing."
Looking straight into Ellen's marble like eyes, he used his own breath to blow a piece of hair out of her eyes. "I came to see you."
She melted inside like chocolate sitting in a hot car. "You did?" She swallowed, making a gulp-like sound, as she reached for her bag she dropped running into him.
"Of course I came to see you. Your eyes, your smile, your hair. You." He leaned closer to her as if he were going to kiss her.
Ellen felt drawn in as if she could kiss him back, but she suddenly stopped. "Wait, I don't know a thing about you."
He turned away quickly, leaving Ellen in the air alone. "We can change that. Meet me behind the English building at nine tonight." He kissed his hand and placed it on her cheek. "Goodbye, Ellen."
She felt hypnotized, and oddly more comfortable with this stranger than with Jay. Maybe this school was more interesting then she had thought.
Epilogue (from Ellen's Perspective)
Luke, Luke, Luke, Luke. Those eyes just seemed to capture me and I feel like falling into his strong arms, and letting him hold me to his chest. Safety surrounded me when I was near him. The problem was I didn't even know him. I knew his first name and his looks, that's all.
I had exactly three hours until our meeting time. Ecstatic, I was. My hair had been up, down, back up, and back down, till I finally left it with down with a little bit of curl still lingering.
I plopped down the bag of makeup in my hand in front of the vanity. As I glared into the mirror I noticed I was tan. I'd never been tan before; I was always so pale, and everyone thought I was some sort of gothic person, unless they knew me, of course. I pulled out a tube of mascara and applied it to my eyes gently, and then the same with my eyeliner.
"Get away from me, Grey!" the shouting came from outside my room. I was utterly confused about whether to stay in my dorm, away from it all, or rush outside and break it up.
Slipping on a pair of black Old Navy flip-flops, I ran out of my dorm to see a girl crying and a boy on his knees apologizing.
"Are you okay?" I asked the black haired girl who was screaming and sobbing at the same time, her makeup smeared and hair a definite mess.
She wiped away a tear using her fist and looked to me. "He cheated on me with my sister when I invited him to visit over the summer!" She screamed at him as he apologized once more.
"It was a mistake, Kay bear, take me back," he pleaded, as he crawled on his knees across the hall.
"My sister is having a baby and it's yours," she screeched, as she flung herself across the hall to me.
