Ella was a flurry ruffled hair and loose papers by the time she reached lunch that day. The morning periods - one, two, three, and four - had been pure hell. Forgetting homework in Algebra 2 and Chemistry had set her up for a bad morning, and since Mr. Haster hated her anyways, her only real break that morning had been sitting next to Parker Rossen in third period. A lot of people assumed them to be dating, but in reality, they were just really, really good friends.

Ella wouldn't say he wasn't hot though. He was. Very.

Forcibly pulling her consciousness away from her horrid morning, the brunette pushed her way through the hordes of teenagers that were all heading to the same place - the cafeteria. She could already smell the rubbery hamburgers in the conventional microwaves.

Just delicious.

When she reached a clearing in the crowd, Ella managed to catch a glimpse of her friends sitting at one of the oblong tables along the cinderblock walls. She never really knew how they all got there so fast, since she was only about a five minute walk - in traffic - to the cafeteria when the bell would ring.

Quickly, Ella strode over to the table and flung her backpack into an empty seat with a quick "be right back" half-shouted to her friends before flinging herself into the crowds once more. 

The acrid smell of cigarette smoke assaulted her nose as she accidentally rammed face-first into some guy.