Breaking Pointe

Chapter Five

The next morning was a mess. Arabella’s late, stressful night led to a late, stressful morning. Since she didn’t have time to shower she whipped her hair up into a messy braided bun.  She skipped the makeup but put it in her ballet bag along with her clothes. Arabella jumped into a soft, oversized shirt and leggings, grabbed her books, and ran out the door. She didn’t even pretend to stop for breakfast.

Nobody looked twice at the girl running down the sidewalk at 7:00 AM. It was New York, nobody cared.  She hopped on the subway just in time and sat down to try and get a little more of her homework done. She had about ten minutes to finish her math.

She was putting her books away at her locker when a familiar voice greeted her. “Hey Ella.”

Arabella smiled to herself before turning around. 

“Whoa,” he said, “You look like a mess.” her jaw dropped in disbelief. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it!” he grinned and she shook her head.

“Timothy.” she guessed.

“Nope.”

“I give up!”

“Not allowed.”

“ What do I have to do to get you to tell me?” she asked, exasperated.

“Jeez, you like me even more than I thought. If you really want to know that bad...” he said with a cocky smile. She scoffed, smacked his chest, and walked away.

“Hey!” he protested with a happy laugh. The big, gorgeous grin stayed on his face. Arabella couldn’t believe she had just done that. She was usually the shy one that didn’t say much and kept to herself. What about this boy made her so brave? Did she really just flirt with him?

He caught up to her and walked her to her first class. The conversation was easy because he was asking her trivial things and she answered. No pets, 17, dancing for 11 years, etc.

“Alright, enough changing the subject. You WILL tell me your name.” she said  when she got to her class. He just winked and headed off to his first hour.

Arabella flushed and took her seat at the back of the class. When her teacher called on her she had no idea what he had asked due to her daydreaming. She had been thinking about the way his chest felt when she hit it and the way he winked at her. She should touch that chest again... Mr. Gonzalez must have noticed her zoning out and called on her to embarrass her. She shrugged and looked at her feet. Thankfully he just gave her a stern look and moved on.

Arabella was sitting in the library studying through lunch as usual. The reason she gave people was that her ballet schedule was so rigorous that she was often pressed for homework time. People generally just accepted that and left her alone. She preferred it that way because she usually did get most of her work done. Today, however, she just couldn’t focus so she drew random patterns all over her notebook. She didn’t want to admit that the reason she couldn’t focus was nameless boy, but she just couldn’t stop thinking about him. He made her feel special and interesting. Like a normal girl. 

While she really did use the time for homework, the main reason she spent lunch in the library was to avoid awkward questions about why she wasn’t eating. When she had first gone on a diet, people had made fun of her. They didn’t mean to be harmful, but it was one of the reasons she withdrew from her old group of friends. After that she just ate lunch with Maddock. When he graduated, she retreated to the library.

Someone slid into the chair next to her and she jumped. Her pen jumped, too, and slid across her pattern drawings. Arabella pouted a little and turned to see who had disturbed her.

“Coffee,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Arabella asked, confused by his question. She wasn’t surprised to see her southern stalker next to her. Seriously, how did he find her?

“You asked what you had to do for me to tell you my name. I know you’re just DYING to know, and that is my answer.”

“You want me to go get you coffee?” she rolled her eyes.

“No, silly, I want you to get coffee WITH me. My treat.”

“That doesn’t make sense, then you’re giving me coffee and your name. What are you getting?” she asked, suspicious.

“Time with you m’darlin” he said and absolutely dazzled her with a smile. It was a cheesy line but she looked down and blushed all the same. 

“I have ballet, sorry.” she used her usual excuse when guys asked her out. It didn’t happen much anymore because the guys at her school had pretty much figured out that she didn’t date. The excuse usually came naturally, but for some reason this time she felt sad.

“What time does it end? I’ll pick you up” he said. Arabella opened her mouth to make up another excuse about homework but he cut her off. “I’m not taking no for an answer. And don’t try to make up an excuse about homework because I can see that you’re sitting here doodling! Why are you in here anyways?”

She told him what she told everyone else. He asked, “Don’t you get hungry?”

“No” she lied and changed the subject. “Why are you here?”

“I’m new, I don’t know anybody but you, and I didn’t know where to sit. I had been planning on bugging you but I couldn’t find you. I came in here so I wouldn’t be the loser sitting by myself and saw the opportunity to bother you.” he responded. There was no cockiness, but no self pity either. He just stated the facts.

She took the opportunity to make fun of him. “Are you sure you don’t want to eat lunch in the bathroom stall? Maybe you can make friends with all the other loners.”

“You’re by yourself too! Want to be loners together?”

She giggled. “I’m the lone ranger!”

“HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OWN” he sang and they both cracked up. They got a stern shushing from the librarian, who looked shocked to see that Arabella even knew how to laugh. Her shocked expression made Arabella laugh even harder, but she made sure to try to silent laugh.

“I have to get to class early because the teacher wasn’t happy when I was late yesterday from walking you” he said accusingly.

“I didn’t force you to do anything!”

“I know, Ella.” he smiled softly and turned to leave. 

Being the little trouble maker that she could already tell he was, he couldn’t help but disrupt the silence one last time. “What time should I pick you up darlin’?” he shouted across the room.

She only hesitated a little before shouting back, “Six!” and she was rewarded with one of his smiles.

She waited for the librarian to reprimand or shush her, but when she looked she saw the old lady quietly smiling to herself.

A/N: Soooo I lied. I'm terrible and I'm sorry but dedication to the person that guesses his name is the NEXT chapter:) I just keep liking his character more and more, how about you guys? I actually wasn't planning on updating this soon, but you guys convinced me;) You guys make me so happy, keep it up!

xoxo Hannah Rose

(Gossip Girl reference)