Getting away with murder 101

Chapter 19: Ella's POV

After that rather unpleasant encounter with Nancy, I set out on a mission. A mission to find Alexander. He is amazing at French, and I really needed help translating what I heard while in my detention with Miss Lang. As I turned a corner, luck struck me as low and behold Alexander was in the hallway. He was leaning up against a pillar, his shirt sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and his feet were crossed at the ankles. He appeared to be deeply engrossed in a book - "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie. Damn he has good taste in books, that's my favourite book ever. Christie is an amazing author who creates well thought out and exciting mysteries. Smiling slightly as his brilliant blue eyes scanned the page he was reading, I looked down and saw that his blazer and bag were haphazardly discarded on the floor. Rolling my eyes fondly, I called out "You need to be careful where you chuck your bag and blazer you know, you could injure someone."

Alexander looked up then grinned at me "I humbly apologise Miss Gresham; it won't happen again."

I laughed, how can something so simple be so funny at the same time. Alexander put his book in his bag before swinging it over his shoulder, he then picked up his blazer and asked, "Did you want to go to the library?"

I nodded enthusiastically then we walked to the library. As we walked, I could not get the image of Alexander leaning up against the pillar out of my head. He looked...handsome, his mousy brown hair combed neatly, the streak of blonde at shining gold in the light. As he peacefully read his arms were crossed. He looked like the fictional character that everyone falls in love with. If someone fell for Alex, first how dare they he's my boy – wait my boy, that's a new thought – and second, if they fell for him, I would not be surprised. He's the most handsome boy in our year.

We walked into the library and sat down.

"So, Ella, how was your detention?" He asked.

"It was actually rather exciting; Miss Lang and old Duffy boy were conversing in French. I managed to scribble it down however I need some help translating it." I explained excitedly.

"Do you want me to have a look at it or shall we go and ask Rosalind?" Alexander suggested.

"Perhaps you could look at it, you are amazing at French after all...Alex" I hesitated slightly before calling him by his nickname.

If it were possible, Alexander beamed at me brighter than the sun shone. His cheeks tinged pink as he asked, "Surely you jest Ella?"

I shook my head "Nope, not jesting Alex. I'm merely speaking facts."

He blushed but took the papers out of my hand and began to read them.

It didn't get him long to be fully engrossed in my writing, so much so, I could practically see the cogs whirring in his brain as he translated the French.

"You know you could've just asked Rosalind to translate this for you?" Alexander said to me, glancing over the sheets of paper, "She would probably do it ten times faster than me,"

"She's probably doing something important," I shrugged his comment off, "Besides she might not have finished her detention yet,"

Alexander hummed something inaudible in reply and went back to translating the atrociously written French, jotting down the English in a black biro he had produced from somewhere.

Watching him work I realised that he probably was right, that Rosa could translate it faster than him however it was nice just spending time with him. It was peaceful, the only sound coming from the scratching of pen on paper, the soft hum of breathing and the occasional rustling of papers. His hand darted over the page as his brain tried to take in all the French words that, to me, looked like nonsense. He brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, making me smile softly as I caught a glimpse of his extremely good-looking face, etched with concentration.

He glanced at me, catching me watching him and gave me a small knowing smile.

I flushed red and looked away, realising that I was probably distracting him, "Sorry," I mumbled.

He simply blinked in reply which drove me bananas because I don't like when people don't respond to me.

He finished off scribbling the last pieces of English down and showed them to me, "Here's what I got from that. You might want to run it past Rosalind just to be sure...?"

I grinned up at him, "Thanks, you're a lifesaver," carefully taking the papers out of his outstretched hand. Our hands brushed together ever so slightly making my face heat up once again. What on Earth was going on with me? This was certainly not normal. Alexander's cheeks were tinged pink however I brushed it off, it was hot in the library, and I didn't want to get my hopes up besides he liked someone else, I think.