Secrets and Smiles

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The Writing Owl

Authoress
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. Speed of Light
  2. One post per day
  3. One post per week
  4. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
  2. Adept
  3. Advanced
  4. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Transgender
  4. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Fantasy, Romance, A bit of horror, magical, and almost everything.
"Annelise! You better hurry up or you'll be late for school!" Her mornings often started like this. She'd wake up far earlier than when her mother called. After waking up she would sit in her bed, stare at her ceiling, and contemplate not going to school for the day. Yet every morning she ended up getting out of bed and rushing through a morning routine. She'd brush her mousy brown hair and brush her teeth as she hopped around trying to get dressed at the same time. Her mother would always give her that disapproving stare as she grabbed a piece of toast and ran off to school. Nothing ever changed in this routine. She would always go to school alone and come home alone. That changed all too quickly.

On her way to her homeroom she bumped into one of the other students. Her things in her hands flew everywhere, causing the brown eyed girl to apologize profusely as she quickly tried to pick everything up. It wasn't until she glanced up while picking up a few pieces of paper that she noticed that she had bumped into the school's local open lesbian, Ella Oswood. Oh even her name could make Annelise swoon if she let herself think those forbidden thoughts. It was such a bold name. Short yet strong and completely ripe for nicknames. Annelise could only hope to compare with her far too complicated and old sounding name. As she picked her things up, she wondered how she hadn't noticed the fact that Ella was in her homeroom. It hit her like a speeding train when she truly thought about it.

She sat near the back, carefully trying to avoid conversation. Ella probably sat somewhere far from her so she wouldn't notice the young girl in the corner who happened to be only a year younger than her and kept getting warm butterflies in her stomach when she thought about becoming this girl's friend. Now, on a normal day Annelise would just pick her things up and go to her seat. On a normal day she would have never bumped into anyone. On a normal day, she wouldn't have been so... bold. "I'm so sorry about bumping into you." She gave an apologetic look and held a hand out. "I'm not sure we met... My name is Annelise. You can just call me Elise for short." The world seemed to focus on her as she dared to make friends with this new child, this rebel that she wanted so desperately to be like. Most of the other students ignored them, yet it felt as if they were on a public display ready for people to marvel how cute they looked together or to spit at them and tell them they were going straight to hell... Or at least they thought Ella was. Elise still had to confront those strange feelings and desires her family hated.
 
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Ella awoke that morning as she normally did every other day. She always woke up to the sound of her phones alarm and as always, it annoyed her, but she had no choice but to wake up and get ready for what the day had in store, which was school. Ella stood up and walked to her bathroom and began getting dressed. She usually woke up early so she wouldn't have to be in much of a hurry all the time. She brushed her hair and then her teeth and she was ready to go. She made her way downstairs, where it was dark and quiet, as she lived alone in her own apartment due to many different reasons. Her apartment wasn't too far from school, so she usually walked everyday, stopping by a convenient store to buy a small breakfast. On the way to school, she ate her small breakfast which happened to be a sandwhich and a drink. She finished right before she arrived to the school and she walked in, heading towards her first class.

As Ella was walking, she turned a corner only to find herself bumping into a small body. Her eyes widened a bit and she heard the sound of books and papers falling everywhere. Ella was a bit shocked, but she eventually tried to grab papers that were flying around and some that were on the ground. As she was doing so, she heard a voice apologizing to her. She turned to look at the girl and noticed that the girl seemed a bit familiar, but she couldn't tell why. Before she could even apologize, the girl seemed to have disappeared. Ella sighed a bit and decided to apologize if she ever saw the girl again. She walked to her first period class and sat down in the center of the class, which was where she felt most comfortable.

As she was sitting down, she heard a small yet strong voice apologize to her. Her eyes widened and she turned to face the same girl that she had bumped into earlier. "No, don't be sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I'm sorry." She replied. She looked at the girls hand that was held out and she shook it. When the girl stated her name, Ella's eyes widened as she finally remembered why the girl seemed so familiar. They shared the same home room class! How could Ella have forgotten? "I almost forgot that we shared this class together! Do you sit at the back?" Ella asked. "Maybe we could sit together? If you don't mind that is." She finished.
 
Elise blinked and fought a blush as Ella asked to sit with her. The butterflies in her stomach flared right back up. "U-um, yeah, I sit in the back. Kind of hard to notice me so I don't blame you for almost forgetting me." She chuckled a bit, running a hand through her brown hair. Though she tried to avoid the topic, Elise realized she still had to answer the girl about sitting with her. "I don't mind you sitting with me, that is unless you mind, but I don't think you'd ask if you minded, but you could just be feeling guilty and trying to rectify your guilt by being friendly with me, or maybe you actually just want to hang out with me and get to know me better, since you're probably a social person and-" The girl was interrupted by snickers from a few of their classmates. She could feel embarrassment flush her as some of the kids laughed.

"No, no, go on! It's funny!" One of the girls said, sounding sincere. However, the rest didn't seem so sincere as they laughed at how much the girl overthought the scenario and came up with possible answer after possible answer as to why this older girl would want to sit with her. They had been waiting for her to try and insinuate that Ella had a crush on the mousy girl, but they hadn't been able to hold in their laughs for so long.

Biting her lip, Elise quickly rushed to her usual seat, trying to hide from the laughter of her peers. She curled into herself a bit as she sat down, trying to make herself seem small and insignificant. This day wasn't like a normal day, and so far it was going even worse than Elise could have thought.
 
Ella stood up and looked at the girl as she began to speak. "Sorry about that. I just don't pay attention to much of my surroundings." She said. Ella listened to Elise as she started talking and continued going on even after a minute or so. Ella was a bit shocked to see that Elise actually could speak a lot. She didn't seem like the type of girl who could talk for more than 10 seconds without getting nervous or embarrassed. Ella smiled a bit at all of the possibilities and assumptions that Elise was thinking of. Ella's facial expression changed a bit when she heard classmates snickering and it interrupted Elise's speaking. Ella sighed a bit, feeling a bit of annoyance from her classmates who were usually mean and rude. She looked at the random girl who spoke, urging Elise to continue talking. Ella noticed that many people were laughing and she saw Elise quickly go to her usual seat. Ella gave a glare towards the girls who continued laughing and she began walking to Elise's desk.

Ella saw how Elise curled up a bit and tried to hide herself from everyone. She softly placed her hand on Elise's shoulder and smiled at her. "Your assumption on me wanting to sit with you to get to know you better is right. That's exactly why I want to sit here. I would love to get to know you better." Ella said. Ella hardly ever lied about anything, and this time she was more serious than she could ever be. She really found Elise to be an interesting girl and she wanted to know more about her. She loved being around people that made everything fun and better and who spoke a lot because it was usually Ella always talking and making conversation, but she had a feeling it would be different with Elise. Ella immediately felt a sort of, attraction towards Elise. She didn't really know what kind of attraction, but she was hoping to find out.
 
Elise jumped at the sudden hand but felt her chest warm as Ella told her she wanted to get to know her better. Oh that could bring a blush to her face. She wanted to know more about her. The thought shocked the younger student, making her smile as Ella smiled at her. "Th-thank you!" She could feel a smile try to split her face as she gazed at the beautiful smile of Ella. "Please, sit! If you want to know something about me feel free to ask away! Well, I guess maybe you should be kind of careful of what you ask since we just kind of met and all, and I really want to know about you! But I don't really know what to ask about because you're so outgoing and I don't want to offend you, so I guess that's kind of strange, but I'm open to any question really, like-" Elise stopped herself as she realized she had been talking the poor girl's ear off. She was glad the giggles and laughs hadn't come back up again. After all, being embarrassed twice in front of her new friend.

"U-um sorry about that... I kind of talk a lot." She rubbed the back of her head, slouching down and looking away from the girl in front of her. The girl had her books all stacked up from largest to smallest on her desk in front of her. Even as the others continued to interact, Elise simply folded her hands together in front of her. The girl seemed to just disappear in the mass of students.
 
Ella gazed at Elise's smile and it made her continue to smile as well. For some reason, Elise's smile made Ella extremely happy, as if she wanted to continue seeing it. She sat down, as Elise encouraged her to, and she looked at Elise as she began to speak. Ella thought for a moment as Elise continued to speak. She was thinking about questions to ask her, but she was never really good at this type of thing. She usually just let things go with the flow. Ella looked at the table in front of Elise and wondered why her books were stacked up that way. Maybe that could be a question to ask? Or was it rude and embarrassing? Ella didn't quite know. After she heard a sudden halt in Elise's words, she looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. She didn't really understand why Elise was so embarrassed about talking for longer than a couple of seconds, as it made Ella happy, but she could kind of understand why.

Ella smiled a bit. "Don't be sorry. I like hearing you talk. It makes me have more to talk about as well." She said. "And first of all, you are right, I am a bit of an outgoing person, but I don't get offended by any questions that anyone has to ask me. Trust me, I get different types of questions every single day by random people! You can ask anything you may want, I promise I will not get offended." Ella said. She looked back at the books and then back at Elise and began to speak. "Are you a very organized person? Or are you the exact opposite?" Ella asked, out of curiosity.
 
Elise blinked as Ella asked her about her organization. "I tend to be pretty organized, yeah... I'm kind of a person who likes to keep things in a set routine and order. When things get out of order then usually that day is going to be a pretty bad day." She shrugged before turning a curious stare onto Ella. "What about you? Do you prefer organization or messiness? What kind of stuff do you like to do outside of school? I like to write and read, but I guess that's kind of stereotypical of me." She smiled as she waited for Ella to answer or ask more questions. The young girl for once seemed happy as she talked with this new friend, not having to worry too much about talking far too much. However, she wanted to hear her new friend-were they already friends? or just apprentices-speak as well. So she waited for her to answer her questions.
 
Ella laughed a bit. "Yeah, I could tell you were a bit organized." She Said, looking at the girls books that were stacked up nearly. She turned to look back at Elise who began to speak and ask questions. She thought for a moment, looking out the window. "Well, I'm not necessarily an organized person, but I'm not really that messy of a person either. I guess when things start to look messy, I'll clean a bit, but other than that I wouldn't know what category to put myself into." She said laughing a bit, rubbing the back of her neck. "And outside of school? I don't really have a certain hobby or anything that I love to do. I'm in a couple of sports, so that's something that keeps me occupied." She said. "I'm also in this photography class and every once in a while the teacher will let us take a camera home for the weekend, so I'm also pretty decent at taking pictures." She finished. Ella also felt as if she was talking a bit too much, but she didn't really mind it while she was with Elise. "Are you good at writing? And if so, what do you write? Poems? Stories? And what topics do you usually write about?" She asked curiously.
 
Elise smiled as Ella talked about sports and photography. At the questions about her writing, Elise blushed as she realized just how private her writing topics really were. "Um, well I guess I'm kind of good at writing. I like to write all kinds of stuff, really. Anything with words and a creative story and I'm in." She shrugged before quickly returning to asking questions. "What sports do you play? Do you like those sports or do you just play them because of peer pressure or your parents make you? Or maybe you just want something to do with your time? You said you're decent at taking pictures. Could I see them sometime? I mean, I'm sure whatever your subject is they're pretty cool looking, whether it's scenery or people or weird things or even plants!" She finished with a small flourish, feeling happy that Ella wasn't stopping her. If anything, the girl seemed to like hearing what she said and wanted to hear more. This brought a small blush to Elise's face and butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
 
Ella smiled and laughed a bit. "That's good to hear. I would love to read one of your writings someday if you don't mind." She said. Ella smiled when Elise began talking again. She figured that she was very interested in Ella and that made her happy. She thought for a moment again. "I love playing basketball and softball. Those are the only sports I'm in and I'm in it because I like it. No one ever forced me to be in them, I just found them intriguing." She said. "And photos? Of course you can see the pictures I take. They're just of everything that I love to see. If I like the way something looks, I'll take a picture of it basically." She said. "Oh, I almost forgot, I also know how to play piano and guitar!" Ella said. "I would like to play for you sometime! That's kind of something I do on my free time." She finished. She didn't mean to seem as if she was bragging, she just felt like mentioning it to her. "Sorry if I sound like I'm bragging. I'm not trying to." She said.
 
Elise smiled as Ella apologized for bragging. "No, no, you're fine! I think it's pretty cool that you actually can play something. I'd love to learn how to play something but I've never really had the time or money to find something to learn to play. Plus, Mom would get extremely annoyed if I played in the house-she doesn't like a lot of loud noises. I'd love to hear you play some-"

"Ms. Rindsom, I would appreciate if you knew how to keep quiet when I walked in like the rest of your classmates." Elise froze as the teacher walked in, ready to start class. "I would think you would be able to hear the bell but it seems your own voice is a bit too loud. Now, let's begin class." With that the man turned and started to write on the board. Elise blushed in embarrassment. While the teacher wasn't looking, she took out a loose piece of paper and wrote a small note before shoving it toward Ella.

Let's meet up during lunch. With a tiny smile, Elise moved to listen to the teacher. The girl seemed to disappear after class, only reappearing once the lunch bell run and kids could move to the cafeteria. The brunette looked around lost as she tried to find her new friend.
 
Ella smiled as she began to reassure her. She was glad that Elise wanted to learn and that she wanted to hear her play. Ella continued listening to Elise until she was brutally interrupted by a mans voice and it happened to be the teacher. Ella sighed a bit, as she got aggravated that the teacher had to use an embarrassment tactic to make someone stay quiet. She turned to face the teacher and had her cheek leaning on the palm of her hand until she saw a note on her desk. She smiled a bit and opened it, reading the words on it. She folded the note and put it in her pocket and awaited for the bell.

The bell finally rang and before she could try and speak to Elise, the girl was gone. Ella raised an eyebrow and she walked out of class and made her way to her next class. Of course, class was extremely boring, but she couldn't go anywhere else. She waited and waited until the lunch bell rang and when it did, she walked to lunch, quicker than usual.

When she got to the cafeteria, it was already a bit packed. She looked around a bit to find her friend, and she caught a glimpse of a girl who seemed to be looking for someone, and the girl happened to be Elise. Ella smiled a bit and walked towards Elise and finally tapped on Her shoulder. "Boo"
 
The sudden contact and boo made Elise flinch. "Oh God!" She gasped before wheeling around to look at Ella. "Oh... You scared me!" She gently pushed the other girl's shoulder with a smile. "So, let's go find someplace to sit! If there are any free tables..." With a purpose in mind, Elise weaved through the throngs of tables and students before finally finding a small table near the corner of the room. "Ah, our little paradise!" Elise tried to joke, setting her things down and waiting for Ella to get situated before talking. "I'm sorry for kind of messing up in class this morning. Normally I'm the only one not talking so I guess the teacher didn't know what to do with me talking." She shrugged before starting to pick at her food. "So, what kinds of classes do you like best? Besides your photography class. I mean, you obviously like that one, but it's always so interesting to see what other classes a person likes." She smiled and waited for a response.
 
Ella laughed a bit at Elise's reaction. She then nodded. "Alright, lead the way!" She said, following Elise from behind. As she was following, she looked around the cafeteria and then back at Elise. Elise finally found a table and Ella laughed at her joke, sitting down in front of her. Ella shook her head. "That's okay. Don't be sorry. Teachers are douches." She said. Ella didn't know what to answer with, since she seriously thought all her classes were extremely boring, so it took her a few moments to respond. "Hmm, well I'm not really sure because I dont really like any classes. They're all pretty boring to me. The only thing that makes them a bit fun is the people in them." She said. "But if I seriously have to pick one, I guess I would say chemistry. I like that subject a bit and the teacher is nicer than most." She said. "What about for you?" She asked.
 
Elise listened carefully as Ella answered her question. Thinking a bit, Elise finally found the one class she had that she truly liked. "I like our class together." She finally answered, feeling a bit of a blush creeping up on her as she smiled as Ella. Her heart was racing a mile a minute. Her body tingled as if she had crossed a line that normally wasn't crossed. Everything slowed yet sped up at the same time. This small sentence, so unusual for the likes of Elise, seemed to put the final nail in the coffin. She had just moved on from association to a budding invitation of friendship. During the rest of lunch, Elise spoke a lot about her different observations, learning more about Ella and herself as they laughed. However, once lunch was over, the young brunette seemed to disappear with a see you later. No matter how hard Ella tried she couldn't seem to locate the strange brunette who could talk for days on end. The next few days Elise set up a new routine. She would meet up with Ella for their first class together, leave for the rest of her classes, meet back up with Ella at lunch, then go about the rest of her day like normal. The new routine made Elise's heart soar. Finally a little bit of interaction in her life! However, her routine was broken up a bit as she arrived far earlier than she normally did, already sitting in her seat and writing in a notebook as Ella entered the classroom.
 
Ella smiled wide at Elise's comment. "Now that you mention it, I like that class too." She said. The two continued talking, learning more about each other. Ella found herself laughing a whole lot more than she usually did on a daily basis. She couldn't get over the fact that she had just met this girl, yet it seemed like they knew each other for years by the way they communicated. The bell rang and Elise seemed to have disappeared. The next few classes went on and Ella tried looking for Elise, though it didn't work out.

After school Ella went back to her home and took a long nap, which is basically what she did every day unless she made plans. She woke up, showered and fell back asleep to wake up the next morning as usual. The routine between them continued until one day Ella couldn't find Elise in the morning at the time they normally met up, so she walked to class to see Elise inside by herself. Ella smiled a bit and walked up to her, sitting in the desk in front of her and facing her. "You got here early today huh?" She asked. "I was looking for you!" She said. After a while, Ella remembered how Elise said that this was her favorite class and she wondered why. "Hey, remember when you said you liked our class together? Why is that?" Ella asked curiously.
 
Elise jumped a bit before relaxing as her friend sat down in front of her. "Yeah, Sorry about that. My mom decided today was the day to try and break my routine." She slumped a bit at this, not looking forward to a routineless day. Everything continued as normal until Ella asked her why this was her favorite class. Elise nearly slammed her notebook closed, red dusting her face as she tried to process the question. "U-um w-well..." She felt her throat dry up as she tried to calm those butterflies twisting around in her stomach. "I said I liked it because..." She paused, gathering the courage to say her answer. "I said I liked it because its the first class someone actually talked to me willingly in, a-and you're in it." Her face lit up like a Christmas light as she tried to push down the sudden tingles that spread from her chest throughout her limbs.

The girl froze as a boy who had a fair amount of classes with Ella and was quite familiar with her walked up. "Hey Ella! Haven't talked to you in ages. Is this your girlfriend?" The boy acted so casual as he threw an arm around Ella's shoulders, watching as Elise clamped her mouth shut, blushing three different shades of red. The need to deny it ran through Elise's head yet the butterflies only increased at the thought of being her girlfriend... No! No, those were bad thoughts! She wasn't supposed to feel that way for this girl. She couldn't!
 
Ella smiled a bit. "That's okay. I'll try and come earlier too." She said. She wanted to be able to talk to Elise more than she would from now on and the only way would be to come earlier. When Ella asked her the questions, she looked down at the book that was just slammed, feeling a bit surprised. She looked back up at Elise, only to see her face was a bit red. She raised an eyebrow waiting for the response. Ella smiled wide at her response. She felt a lot happier than before now. She saw that Elise's face was even more red now. She wondered why Elise was so red. It made her wonder for a good while.

Ella was about to ask if Elise was okay until she was interrupted by her friend Matthew. She turned to face him when he asked if Elise was her girlfriend. She laughed a bit and shook her head. "This is my friend Elise." She said. Ella turned to looked at Elise and her face was bright red. Ella's eyes widened a bit. She began to put the pieces together. She smiled a bit. "Are you okay Elise?" Ella asked.
 
The girl nearly jumped when Ella asked if she was okay. "Oh, I'm perfectly fine! There's nothing wrong, absolutely nothing! It's very sweet of you to worry for me, but I'm just fine! Perfectly and utterly fine!" Elise nearly sped through the response, quickly trying to calm the red in her face. She shrunk back a bit as Matthew laughed at the younger's reaction to the question. The brunette wanted to hide from the new boy as he calmed his chuckling.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. I just kind of assumed, I guess." He looked between Elise and Ella with a smile. "Name's Matthew by the way. I'm curious how Ella managed to stumble on a chatty little friend such as yourself." The teasing made Elise flinch a bit before looking down at her hands. She wasn't sure she wanted to explain if she would just get teased again.
 
Ella listened to Elise as she began to respond. She smiled a bit. "That's good. You just seemed a bit red." Ella said. Ella then looked at Matthew as he began to speak and she sighed a bit at his comment. Of course Matthew had to say some stupid remark. "You're always assuming things Matthew." Ella said, in a bit of a joking way. Ella looked at Matthew and she thought about how they met. "We bumped into each other in the halls and we kind of just started talking after that. Now we're pretty close, in my opinion." Ella said with a bit of a smile. She was happy that they ended up meeting. Elise was a very fun and kind person. "Don't worry Elise, he's stupid. If there's someone who talks a lot, it's him. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth closed, that's for sure." Ella said with a bit of a glare towards Matthew.
 
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