Stolen Kisses and Competitions

Friends and Enemies - 2

"Amber!" Ella screamed, dashing across the hall and throwing her arms around her friend.

Amber didn't usually like being hugged but she was pleased to see Ella so she gave her a quick squeeze back before pushing her away.

"Go and sign in and then we can go to our room." Amber grinned.

"I can't wait!"

Ella headed off and Amber watched her graceful movements through the crowd, studying them. Even just walking, Ella's movements were fluid and perfect. Amber had always grafted to become and achieve exactly what she wanted, but she was sure she would never possess Ella's natural beauty. That was a God given gift.

"Hey Amber Bell." A playful male voice spoke from behind her.

Amber turned and grinned at the tall tanned boy. "Hey Jamie Adoro."

"Well look at this," Jamie said "We both made it. We both got in just like I said. What did I tell you?"

Amber and Jamie had texted a bit since the day Westwood Dance Academy had sent out offers. She'd consciously tried not to grow as close with him as she had with Ella, but he was a good person to talk to if she ever felt particularly insecure about her chances of actually being accepted. She found out he was the only person who understood this, as Ella, Maddie and her sisters had all been accepted straight away and Amber's best friend Kayla was in Slovakia with her grandparents for the summer so she wasn't very available.

Jamie patiently continued to have faith that they would both be given places. He got an offer first and made sure to break the news gently to Amber. This approached seemed to work with her because at that point she made up her mind that she would get accepted by any means necessary. Amber wrote an email to Westwood outlining why she would be the perfect student for their school and the school must have listened because Amber was offered a place two days later. Jamie was the only person who knew about that letter.

Now the boy she had spent entirely too much time thinking about was standing in front of her looking absolutely gorgeous and laden with his and Ella's bags. Her mind dwelled on the fact that he really would be the perfect boyfriend, but then she took that thought, locked it in the vault and threw away the key. Her relationship with Ella was much more important. They hadn't stopped talking since the auditions and once she confided in Amber that she was definitely in love with Jamie, although they had never said those exact words to each other. Her heart would be broken if she lost him and Amber needed Ella as a friend to help her through the next three years.

Ella skipped back over to Jamie and Amber.

"This is so exciting!" she sang out breezily before taking her bags from Jamie "Thanks babe."

She pecked him on the cheek and then took Amber by the hand and started to lead her away. Amber internally winced and pulled her hand out of Ella's.

Outside their room, three girls were standing in a group chatting. Well, two were chatting while a small ginger girl stood a little awkwardly, watching.

One of the taller girls began walking away from the other two and Amber dashed after her, recognising her immediately. Ella approached the other two.

"Hi." She said, flashing them a sunshiny smile "I'm Ella. I guess you're going to be our neighbours."

The awkward girl smiled but the other one took some time to assess Ella before responding. She was thin and pale, with died black hair.

"Which room are you in?" She asked.

"My friend Amber and I are in 176." Ella indicated towards Amber, who was deep in conversation with the girl she'd run after.

"We're in 175, just opposite you."

"I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then."

The awkward girl smiled again "I'm Megan." She said.

"Nice to meet you." Ella turned to the dark haired girl "And you?"

"Robin. She/they"

"She/her" Ella replied "Did you two just meet today or did you know each other before?"

"We just met, I actually only know one other person here." Robin said "Sapphire, the girl talking to your friend."

"My best friend Kara is here too." Megan said "but she's a year older than me so she's in one of the flats. I've known her and her sister my whole life, she's kind of the only close friend I've ever had"

Ella smiled at Megan. She seemed so cute and nervous!

"Well don't worry, now you have at least oneother friend."