The Adventures of Brian and Ellie

“Hi.”

Was the first thing he ever said to me, though in context, I suppose, it was quite a bit funnier. See, I had actually just asked if he had an extra pencil while sitting next to him in precalc—I was a fail and forgot to bring my own. He nodded and leaned over his chair to reach into his backpack, to grab a pencil, I suppose, but instead fell right out of his chair and onto his face. He scrambled up, grabbed a pencil from his backpack, and sat up in his chair as if nothing had ever happened. He looked over at me, and said, “Hi.” I giggled a little along with others in the classroom and asked if he was okay.

“Yes yes,” he insisted, in his charmingly British accent. “I'm just dandy, because nothing happened just a few seconds ago. Nobody saw anything drastic happen.”

I couldn't help but laugh again. “Even I didn't see anything!” I said, playing along, even though it was obvious, “You didn't just fall flat on your face and make a complete fool of yourself. Nope. Not at all.”

He grinned. “Good thing, because if something like that ever happened, you would probably think I was a total dork.” He finally handed me the pencil and said, “Here you go, miss.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied and the teacher seemed all in a huff.

“Mister Anderson!” she said angrily at the two of us. “I know you're new in town, but that doesn't mean you can go around causing distractions, and you, Miss Taylor, I expect so much more from you. Don't mess it up this semester.” Then she turned to the rest of the class and announced, “Detention to the next person who disrupts my lecture!” She proceeded to continue with her lesson about limits.

“I'm Ellie, in case you were wondering,” I whispered to him when the teacher, Ms. Mostert, was deep into her lecture

“Brian,” he replied with a smile, “I'm new, in case you didn't notice.”

“I noticed,” I said and turned back to pay attention to the teacher, trying to be the good student I usually was, which was hard since Ms. Mostert was probably one of the meanest, most boring teachers in the school. Luckily math was one of my strong suits.

I later found out that I had two other classes with the new kid, Brian: PE and US History. I also found out that he was a transfer student from a boarding school in the UK (why he ever left, I have yet to understand) and was living with his aunt. I was friendly to him, as I am with pretty much everyone, but we didn't really talk much after our first encounter in precalc.

Sometime the following week, I was sitting in precalc, the most boring class with the most boring teacher ever, just sort of doodling because it was the only thing that could keep me awake in that class when Brian glanced over at my drawing and commented, “That's really good, Ellie.”

I glanced up at him, “Oh thanks,” I said, not really thinking the drawing was all that.

“Could I look at some of your other drawings sometime?”

I shrugged. “Sure. You could come sit by me during lunch, if you want.”

He nodded and grinned. “That'd be great because... uh... I haven't really had anyone to sit with anyway...”

And that was how he started to sit with me and my friends during lunch.

To explain my friends simply is impossible, but I'll try the best I can. First and second we have Kayla and Nichole, who are the fairly normal ones in the group, third is Anna who is unlimitedly boy-crazy, fourth, Jordan, who is obviously smitten for Anna, and last, but certainly not least, Rory (her full name is Aurora, but pretty much everyone calls her Rory). We are all socially awkward in our own rights, which sort of pulled us together.

That particular day, someone had let Rory buy a Pepsi at the vending machines, which was probably not a good idea. She was a spaz without caffeine, and with... well we tended to just avoid that. We all sat on the floor in the hallway except for Rory who was basically bouncing off the walls with energy. She was ranting about how someone in one of her classes apparently had the audacity to call one of her favorite actors a bad actor. I usually would just nod and listen, but that day I had a guest, and he deserved as much attention as the next person.

“So these are your friends?” Brian asked me at some point during Rory's spazzing.

“Yeah, Pretty much.” I named off all my friends to him, not really caring to introduce him to the rest of them since Rory was taking the spotlight like normal. “Oh yeah, you wanted to see my drawings, huh?” I said, remembering why he was originally sitting there. I reached into my backpack, pulled out my sketchbook, and handed it to him. “I'm not that great, but I guess I like to draw,” I said and shrugged.

He flipped through it and told me, “Well you're much better than me, that's for sure,” he said.

I smiled a little and said, “Thanks.” I'm not big on compliments, as usually they are only said to make someone feel better about themselves, and often aren't true opinions. It's not like I wanted criticism, I just didn't like the attention much. That's all. I would always say thanks for compliments, but they usually made me feel weird inside. It was one thing about being introverted that people just didn't understand.

He handed the sketchbook back to me and Rory noticed I had it out. “Ooh! Did you draw something new?” she asked me. She was often excited about my drawings since I liked to draw things we were both fans of. I nodded and handed her my book so she could look at it.

“So now you know I draw,” I said to Brian. “What cool things do you do?”

“Well, I write a lot,” he answered.

“That's really cool,” I told him honestly. “Two questions: What kind of stuff do your write? And can I read some of your stuff.”

He shrugged. “Short stories... poetry... Someday, I hope, a novel. And sure.” He pulled out a well-used spiral-bound notebook and handed it to me. “Oh and please. Give me your honest opinion. I need to know if I should give up on being a famous author or not.”

I chuckled. “Will do,” I promised and began to read.

His writing was really deep and well-thought out, especially for his age, but it also had some cute humor. His characters were believable and had some funny quirks. One girl refused to eat carrots. The whole story was about her friends and family convincing her to try carrots, and in the end, she liked them. I thought it was really cute. I had only gotten to read a couple of short stories before the bell rang signaling us to go to class.

“So?” He asked as I handed him the notebook back.

“So I think you'll make a great author,” I told him with a smile.

“Wait until you see the novel I'm working on,” he replied with a grin.

“Ooh yay!” I told him. “So see you tomorrow in PE?” I asked.

“Ugh. Oh yeah. Right.”

I laughed and we parted ways. Rory caught up to me and asked, “Who was that and why didn't you introduce me to him?”

“His name's Brian, he's a transfer student from the UK, he's in my three of my classes, and I guess because you were too wrapped up in Tom Hiddleston.”

She gasped, slightly offended. “You should have introduced us! British boys are the beeeest! Speaking of, did you see the new episode of Doctor Who?”

“Of course.”

She made some sort of fangirlish squeal. “It was great, wasn't it?”

I laughed. “Yeah, it was.”

“But seriously, make that boy come back. He's cute.”

“Will do,” I said with a chuckle.

“Anyway, see ya, I've got to go to class.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

And that was pretty much how Brian and I became friends, which was the start of a whole new something.

Is that how the world sees me?
I love it, BTW.

Nice Elle! :D I have one question, did you base some of your characters off of some people on this site, like Jordan, or was it just a coincidence.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Somecharactersmaybebasedonpeopleiknowbutjordanisntoneofthem.

This story is great!! It really caught my attention.

*Frizzle Frazzle McDazzle totally agrees with Pabu!*

“So, what was life like for you in the UK?” I once asked him during PE, a day which we were just playing Ultimate Frisbee, and neither of us really wanted to play.

“Well I went to a boarding school and we had to wear uniforms.”

“Yuck.”

“Oh I know right? Anyway, it rained a lot there. More than it does here, and I lived in the city which is different than out here... What do you want to know?”

“Why did you ever leave?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I dunno. I wanted so spend some time in America, I guess. Besides, my aunt lives here.”

“Any... friends or girlfriends you left behind?” I asked, really just curious. It wasn't like I really cared if he had a girlfriend, because I mostly just thought of him as a friend, but I was curious.

“Yeah,” He replied, “My best friend's name was Chance, and we try and stay in touch. I'm also trying to do long-distance with my old girlfriend, Victoria.” He seemed slightly ashamed by this.

I nodded. “Hey, it's fine if you're trying to stay in touch; I get it.”

“Well that does make me feel a bit better,” he said with a slight smile.

“Good. Now why did you ever leave that?”

He thought for a while, as if trying to think of a way to explain it. “Well... It's complicated.”

“Alright,” I said, finally giving up. “I suppose I can accept that for now. So how do you feel about laser-tagging? My friends and I are going this weekend, and you're welcome to come, if you want.”

He smiled, seemingly happy about the change in topic. “That sounds great! When and where is it?”

“I think they said seven on Friday night, and I'll give you the address.” I proceeded to write it down on a slip of paper and handed it to him. “I can ask Rory when she thinks she can do it during lunch, and let you know for sure.”

“Great!” He agreed. Our class seemed to be going back inside. “Oh it looks like we're going in.”

“Thank you, captain obvious.”

We didn't end up going laser-tagging Friday night, rather it ended up being Saturday the following week, but the details behind the date change are irrelevant.

There just so happened to be another group of seven there that day, which made it easy to split us into two teams. We were assigned red. After the silly safety introduction that pretty much everyone had heard before (except Brian, apparently), we picked out our vests, and went out to the arena to play. In the first minute before they started us, we all spread out, but soon, Rory caught up to me.

“Hey, wait up,” she said to me, “You need to tell me more about this Brian kid.”

“Well I still don't know why he ever left the UK,” I replied.

“Come on. You like him, don't you.”

“What? No. We're just friends. Besides, he has a girlfriend.”

“Uh-huh. He found a girlfriend here already, after only a few weeks living here and you're pretty much the only person he talks to? I don't buy it.”

“Nonono, she lives in the UK. They are doing long-distance.”

She laughed. “You know that never really works out, right?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, but it doesn't matter. I'm not really interested, and I'm fine with us being just friends.”

The signal for us to start went off.

“Riiiight,” she replied, as she ducked behind a wall, obviously not believing me.

I ducked next to her and looked around the corner. It appeared no one else was there so I advanced, with Rory right behind. When I saw flashing blue, I shot it immediately, feeling victorious.

We ended up loosing, pretty badly. Although, we had tons of fun. For the second game, however, the other group left, and were replaced by three other people. Kayla and Lily decided they would trade to the other team so it was fair, and we began again. This time, I noticed Anna following Brian to wherever he was going to go hide.

“Psh, Anna needs to stop going after every guy who walks in front of her,” Rory said, shaking her head.

“You noticed, too?” I asked.

She nodded. “Seriously, leave some guys for the rest of us.”

“Seriously.”

That time we split before the starting signal, and our team ended up losing, again. Wow did we suck at laser-tagging.

The third time around, we changed it up, so Rory and Anna went to the other team, hopefully evening things out. I decided to stick with Brian this last time, as I didn't want him to feel totally left out or something.

“So your friend Anna, she's... interesting,” he told me.

“Yeah... She pretty much thinks she's in love with every guy who walks on two legs. You being kind of attractive and British doesn't exactly help.”

“Oh you think I'm attractive?” he asked, grinning.

I looked at him like, “Really? Come on.” But just then I got shot. “Oh crap,” I said and darted around the corner so I wouldn't get shot again.

He caught up to me and said, “Sorry. I thought it was funny.” He was still grinning.

I shrugged. “Meh. At least as long as you understand that I can appreciate someone's attractiveness without having a crush on them.”

He nodded. “That makes sense, I guess.”

I looked at him. “Are you upset that I don't have a crush on you?” I teased.

“Maybe a little,” he replied.

“But you have a girlfriend!” I countered.

He shrugged. “It's nice to feel liked.”

We both got shot. Again.

“Aw crap, let's move,” I said and walked around to another location. As we walked, I told him, “I like you, but I'm not really interested in being more than friends right now. Not with you, not with anyone, really.”

He nodded. “I guess I can accept that. At least I have a girlfriend to keep me company,” he said with a grin.

I gave him a friendly shove. “Yeah yeah, whatever,” I replied and chuckled.

Just then, Rory popped up in front of us and shot both of us.

“You guys suck at laser-tag,” She told us. “Do you even have any points?”

I looked at my gun which read “0.”

“Nope,” I replied.

“Me neither,” Brian also replied.

“Fail,” Rory said and left before we had the chance to shoot her.

“Okay. For the rest of the round, let's play for real, okay?” He suggested.

I nodded in agreement and we split off, determined to win.

We still lost.

The other three left, and what remained were me and my friends. We decided to play one last round, this time in free-for-all, and I was determined to not be the loser this time.

Kayla and Jordan were below me when the game was finished. I felt pretty proud of myself when I looked at the scores, which was just when Rory pulled me aside.

“Seriously, girl, what were you talking to him about?”

I shrugged. “Just stuff.”

“But what kind of stuff? You had to be talking about something for being distracted that long. Come on. You can tell me.”

“Well, I basically told him he was attractive but that I didn't have a crush on him, because that's the truth, and he seemed a little bummed by it, even though he rebounded with 'I have a girlfriend.'”

Rory giggled. “I still think he likes you.”

“Shut up.”

“And you like him back.”

“Liiieeessss.”

“It's the truth and you know it,” she said before she skipped off, even though we had to ride home together by way of Lily's mom.

Speaking of whom, wanted to know all about how much fun we had at laser-tagging. Luckily, Rory kept her stinking mouth shut about Brian and me (which weren't actually a thing, thank-you-very-much), besides bragging that she shot us both while we were “just standing there.”

I guess it bothered me a little, but I tried to not let it. Rory was pretty much my best friend, after all, and those don't come by so often, especially for someone as socially awkward as me.

The following Monday during precalc, we were having a review day, so Brian brought a deck of cards.

“Wanna play?” he asked me, as he pulled them out and shuffled them.

“What are we going to play?” I asked.

“Go fish of course!” He replied, grinning.

I laughed. “Let's do it!”

He shuffled once more and delt the cards between the two of us. “I haven't played cards in forever,” he admitted.

“Same. It's been a while, though, I used to play card games a lot with my family, and I know so many it's unbelievable.” I picked up my cards and he did the same.

“Hmm... Wanna play speed after, then?”

I nodded. “Sure, should I go first?”

“Go for it.”

I lost, pretty badly at Go Fish.

“Okay, let's play speed next, because I'm pretty good at that.”

He chuckled as he shuffled the cards. “We'll see about that.”

As he started to deal, Ms. Mostert walked up to us and asked, “Why aren't you two studying? You have a test next time.”

I looked right up at her and said flatly, “If I had something I needed to study, then I would study. But, seeing as I'm basically ready for the test now, I'm choosing to take a day off.”

She huffed, seemingly upset by my response, and turned to Brian. “And you, Mr. Anderson. Why aren't you studying? Surely you need to get caught up.”

“Actually, Miss Mostert,” he said, really polite, much more polite than I was, “Back at my old school, we were already past this, so I think I'll be okay.”

She frowned, as if hating to admit defeat. “Well, I shall be looking at your tests, and we'll see if it was a good choice for you not to study.” She walked off to go answer another student's question, and behind her back, Brian and I high-fived.

“So, speed?” I asked him. He nodded, and we played.

dfghjkl;
It's kind of sad that I'm that rude/obnoxious in real life...

W00T NICE! :D

E-P-I-C A L that is how we spell... EPICALLLLLLLLLLLL!

“So I was thinking,” I told him after our second round of Speed, “That one more game and we'll know who the winner is.”

“Wanna place bets?” he asked. “Like say... a movie after school.”

I nodded as he shuffled the cards. “Alright. Maybe dinner as well?” I suggested.

He agreed and we shook on it before he dealt the cards. This game turned out much more exciting than the last two, and I took a narrow victory.

“Ha ha ha!” I gloated. “You now owe me dinner and a movie.” I grinned.

Brian chuckled and packed away his cards as the bell rang. “Well, would you like me to pick you up at 5, then?” he asked, which suddenly sounded weird to me.

“Wait. You wouldn't call this a date, would you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Psh. No. Just going out as friends because you beat me at a card game, fair and square.” He grinned.

“Okay good,” I said and laughed. “I wouldn't want it to be a date, and let's face it: Neither would you.”

“Agreed,” he said with a nod as we parted ways to go to our respective classes.

During lunch we agreed to keep the whole arrangement quiet, at least the part about agreeing for him to take me to dinner, because it was simpler than explaining that we were going out as friends, because knowing my friends, that could get frustrating, quick. However, I still had all the bragging rights.

“Totally beat Brian at Speed today during precalc,” I told them, grinning.

“Well I beat Ellie at go fish!” he argued and everybody laughed. After that, Rory took the stage to tell us how annoying some kid was in her history class, and how the teacher kept waking her up whenever she fell asleep during a movie. She argued how if he turned the lights off, he should expect people to fall asleep, and let them be, gosh darn it. she sounded upset, but I didn't really make much of it. She would get over it soon enough.

“Oh, Ellie, there's something I need to tell you!” Rory said, basically in the middle of a rant, as if she remembered something. She grabbed my arm and pulled me up off the floor where I was perfectly comfortable sitting. But of course. I was the best friend, which meant I was obliged to listen to her. Don't get me wrong, I love Rory like everything, and actually enjoy her stories, even if they do get a little tedious from time to time. Anyway, after we walked down the hall a bit, she checked to make sure we were out of sight, and out of ear-shot, which wasn't that hard in such a crowded high school.

“So. I think I like Jordan.”

“You don't think I didn't see that a mile away?” I asked with a slight giggle.

“Oh shut up,” she told me, blushing. “Just keep it a secret, okay? I just had to tell someone.”

“You know me,” I told her, motioning a zipper across my lips. “I don't really tell anyone anything.”

“Not even Brian?” She asked. “You know, I ship the two of you almost as much as I ship Jordan and Anna.”

“But don't you like Jordan, so wouldn't that make it all moot?”

“Shuuuush! You know I can't control my feelings, no matter how much I want to!”

I laughed. “Yes, Rory, I know you can't.”

“Anyway. That's all. Unless you wanted to tell me your deep, inner feelings for that Brian kid.”

“Nope. We're just friends, how many times do I need to tell you that? Seriously.”

She rolled her eyes. “I still ship you!” She said and scuttled back to our group of friends.

I shook my head and followed her, sitting back down in the tiny space against the wall between Brian and Kayla.

“Any more stories?” I asked Brian.

He shook his head. “Not since yesterday, sadly. Not much to write about in this sleepy town.”

I nodded. “I hear ya.”

--

I probably spent more time than was necessary getting ready for our evening of fun. I wasn't normally the kind of girl who liked to dress up, but I wanted to look nice. I actually straightened my hair for once in my life, making it pin-straight, rather than almost-but-not-quite-straight. I put on one of my favorite shirts with a cute belt, and even put in matching earrings. Why was I even fussing? I thought several times throughout the ritual of changing clothes. It's not like this is an actual date, so what does it matter? I shook the thoughts from my head and told myself that I just wanted to look nice so I could feel pretty. It had nothing to do with Brian, obviously.

By the time he knocked on the door, I was probably way too prepared. I had told my parents I was just going to see a movie with a friend, which was mostly the truth. No big deal. I just didn't care to mention that this friend so happened to be a guy, and on purpose, too. I didn't need them thinking this was a date. I didn't need anyone thinking it was a date, because this was definitely not a date.

“Ignore the embarrassment that is my car,” he mumbled as he came to my door with keys in hand.

“Why?” I asked, a little confused as to why he would be embarrassed about having a car.

“You'll see,” he said and lead me to it.

I snickered. “Aww what a cute little convertible,” I teased him and let myself in the passenger seat.

He grew visibly red as he got into the driver's seat and muttered, “Shut up,” as he turned the engine on.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Um...” he replied, thinking. “Well, I figure you should decide, since you won and all.”

“Hm... then the Spaghetti Factory sound good?” I asked.

He nodded. “One problem, though.”

“What?”

“I have no idea where that is or how to get there.”

I laughed lightly and replied, “It's okay, I know where it is,” I told him with a grin, “You can trust me for directions.”

Brian nodded, started up the car, and exclaimed, “Great! Let's go!”

He started driving as I directed him to the nearest Spaghetti Factory. By the time we got there, the dinner rush hadn't started, so we got right in and to our table after we walked in, which was extremely convenient. The moment we sat down, I looked at the menu, but apparently Brian ignored it.

“Sweet! Crayons!” he said instead and started coloring on the napkins.

I laughed and asked him what he was getting, even though he was obviously distracted.

“I dunno. Probably spaghetti or something like that,” he replied, not looking up from his coloring.

“A classic,” I replied. “I think I'll have the same, actually. Sounds delicious and very appropriate.”

He grinned. “Fabulous! What to drink?”

“Just water,” I replied with a shrug. It was my drink of choice, actually, because not only was it much healthier and cheaper than soft drinks, but I always thought water tasted better anyway. More real and fresh.

He nodded and said thoughtfully, “I wonder if they have Pepsi...” He finally opened up the menu to look.

“Probably, unless they have coke products instead.”

“Oh yeah, only coke... ew,” he said, sticking his tongue out. “I guess I'll just have Dr. Pepper then,” he decided and put the menu back down as we waited for the waiter, who came by soon enough. We both ordered and the waiting began.

“So...” I said slowly, tapping my fingers against the table.

“So... Speed again, just to make sure I'm paying?” he asked.

I laughed and shook my head. “You're definitely paying, but if you want me to whoop your butt at speed again, we can arrange that.” I grinned mischievously, challenging him.

He chuckled. “Well I beg to differ. Let's see how I whoop your butt,” he replied as he pulled out his deck of well-used playing cards.

We played until our food was delivered, in which time we didn't finish completely, the big pile shifting from me to him and back to me again, showing how evenly matched the two of us were. As soon as we received the food, we gathered up all the cards and put them away so we could eat.

“Mmm... I love Spaghetti Factory's spaghetti,” I said happily as I ate.

He nodded in agreement, with his mouth pretty much full and replied, “Mhm. Definitely.”

It was... odd. I felt really comfortable around him through dinner. I don't know why, but we just sort of... clicked together, but we were definitely just friends, and I didn't want or expect that to change. Brian was funny and witty, and I'm glad to have him as a friend in this cold, dreary world.

After dinner, we went over to the movie theaters and there we basically picked the next movie that was showing that day. It was one neither of us had heard of, but it was okay. I didn't mind it so much, and I think Brian actually liked it.

“So I suppose I should take you home,” Brian realized after our fun night out.

“Oh yeah, it is getting kind of late,” I agreed sadly. “This was a lot of fun though, Brian. I'm glad I beat you at speed.” I beamed tauntingly at him.

“I'm glad we decided to do this. I haven't really gone out much since I came here, and this was nice,” he told me as we walked back to his car, which he still seemed embarrassed about. I have no idea why.

“Yeah, I just tend to not be social most of the time,” I replied and got in the car.

He got behind the wheel again and beamed. “I'm glad you were at least social for me, then.”

I laughed, which turned into a smile, and said, “Yeah, me too.”

NICE MS. ADMIN! :3