OK for the last post when she said i won't be here. That's true. She is going to New York to get away for maybe a year? Maybe a month? But anyway I was thinking that they could get to know eachother better over that time.

they could! but do you mean get to know each other whilst juliet's in NY and Ella's back home?)

-

Ella didn't exactly hear the words Juliet said, her head was seemingly aching just from the slight raising of her own voice. She stuck her middle finger up as Juliet continued talking, just uttering an unbothered "didn't hear you" and dissapeared round the corner. After she had managed to drag Abi and Harley to sit down they did so, conversing about the events of what had just happened. It was clear Abi hated her and Harley? Well she was capable to smacking sense into absolutely anyone so there was no problem there. All Ella could really do was drop things overboard like she usually did- lace another girls drink, post deepfakes of her, beat someone black and blue on surprise without thinking about any consequences. But obviously, they were stuck in school so she couldn't exactly do that now.

(Yep, do you think Ella's would feel bad or be like ???)

-

I yawn, taking a sip of my coffee when my phone rings. I pick it up and answer it. "Hey bro, whatcha need?" I ask him. "Li! We are supposed to be boarding a plane in an hour! Get you butt home!" He yells through the phone. Hanging up as soon as he's done. "Oh sh!t." I mumble grabbing my stuff and rushing out. When I get to my house I grab my backpack. Heave it Into the car and wait for my brother. About 2 seconds later he comes sprinting out. He throws his bag in the car, hips into the driver seat and off we go. Thank God it's only a 8 minute drive. When we get to the airport I pull out my bag and my suitcase, my brother doing the same and we hurry inside. Once we get through, security, bag check, and too our gait we are already boarding. I huff out a sigh in relief. Then we get called, we scan our tickets and board the plane...

ella could start to have a bit of a soft spot for juliet, surprising)

-

The rest of the school day was a breeze for Ella- mainly because she hadn't gone to a single lesson after lunch. She couldn't be bothered, felt a little too ill and plus, what did one half a day of lessons missed matter? She was smart enough as it was, plus if needed her dad could just..get her a job at his company. It really didn't matter that much to her. To Abi however, it would matter greatly, she wasn't smart, her dad didn't have a company and was never there as much to actually care.

Soon enough the girl was on her way home with Kera, and once she had managed to settle herself in her room and was once again on call, she messaged the mysterious girl that she had been texting before, without much of a care. "Sorry I couldn't reply. Lessons nd stuff" she sent, setting her phone down after.

After I get to NY I'm in the hotel with my brother. He's making some reservations on his phone and I'm on my phone scrolling through YouTube when I get a text from "Darling." I raise an eyebrow. Confused to who this is then I remember mysterious person! I click on the message.

It says. I nod in understanding and type back.

I send it and switch back to YouTube, with a small smile on my face.

Ella laid on her back as she read the multiple messages sent through to her by various people, watching the notification come through. "nm, i'm going to a car meet tonight though. you?" she sent back, then proceeding to sit up and set her phone down on the desk to finally get changed. She pulled a on a rather see through cropped shirt, cropped hoodie and cream coloured cargos, white trainers and a couple pieces of jewelry before sanding staring at herself in the mirror. Naturally of course, she thought she looked good. Because, well..she did. She took a couple photos, picked one out that she liked- phone over her face, hand on her thigh, clearly showing the ribbons and trophies and posters of cars in the background, and posted it. On impulse, she also sent it to the mystery number, then simply saying "opinions?" before putting her phone back down. It wouldn't be easy to tell who Ella was from the picture, she covered her face and nothing in the background really showed who she was, so it wasn't too risky.

I get the message in while sitting in a restaurant in NY. It's a fancy one too, brother said it would be atleast $100. I open my phone and click on the message.

I smile and I'm about to text back when I get a picture. with the text,

It's definitely a girl. And they are quite pretty. Nothjngbyells me who they might be, but I now know they have black hair. I send her back.

I send it and decide to send her a picture of me earlier. I'm wearing a black, pencil dress, low cut, with a slot up the side. I have my red hair curled nicely and my phone covering my face. It's one of the only pictures I like if myself to. So I send it with.

Me: *picture* How about me?

And turn off my phone to continue eating.

The evening until around 6:30, when she was scheduled to leave, consisted of pretty nuch Ella finally getting her homework done. Spanish homework, the stuff she had been putting off not because she didn't like it, but because she was already fluent in the language. She filled in gaps, write sentences and a little story in Spanish, submitted it into the teacher and finally looked back at her phone. The first thing she gaze set on was the picture of a girl, from the mystery number. She had curled, red hair, a black pencil cut dress and from the looks of it, a slim, impeccable figure. She felt her heart skip a beat as she gazed over the photo, and she let a small smile slip onto her mouth as she replied. "You look gorgeous girl" she sent back, proceeding to stuff her phone in her pocket quickly after as Kera wandered past. Ella knew if her sister saw anyone she wa a messaging, she wouldn't hear the end of it.

-

About ten or so minutes later Ella had left and was walking down towards the town, waiting to be picked up. She hadn't checked her phone much, and was just happy taking in the sights and sounds of the outskirts of town, whilst listening to the faint noise of revving engines all heading to the abandoned car park on the other side of the small town. Soon enough, a deep red, loud idling mercedes made its way down, with a rather tall looking brunette man in the drivers seat. It was Kole, Ella's ex. She gave a very weak smile and inserted herself in the passengers seat, the nerves from finally seeing him again taking over. The two had been dating for well over a year, and she was sure she love shin, and he was sure he loved her. But some random foreign exchange student had come, fucked Kole and ruined basically everything. They had only just made up.

After dinner my brother had decided he wanted to photograph me in NY. Because I quote, "Your beautiful! Please! You'll be very popular!" Which I knew probably wasn't true but I said yes anyway. So here I am posing in Times Square, in my low cut, side slit, black pencil dress. Hair curled eyes shining with the lights of Times Square. As you would think, a lot of people were staring. Thank God my brother hired a bodyguard. We aren't famous or anything but my brother said it might be good, due to what we are going to wear while we are here. I open my phone and realize I have a new message from Mystery. I click on it.

I smile at that, I'm actually starting to partially believe that. Which is new... I send back,

I send it and ask my brother to black out my face in some of the photos and send the originals and those to me. He complies and I know that if she doesn't mind seeing another, she'll know I'm in NY. But a lot of people are in NY so nothing really crazy about it. "Can you stand over there and look up, with your hand on your hip, and foot on the wall?" He asks. I nod and strike the pose he wanted. Smiling at a new found confidence. It felt metallic running through my bones, I felt energized and surprisingly not like I'm ugly. All of the people staring felt weird and strange but I didn't mind...? Somehow a random strangers words helped the most with my confidence.

"Sure!" Ella sent back, staring down at her phone as the message came through. She found it increasingly hard to talk to Kole, he scared her slightly- not because he was ever abusive, physical or verbal, but because he had moved on and seemed so much happier a lot faster than she had managed to. And she didn't like that. As he pulled out the parking space and started off down the road at what seemed like definitely an illegal speed, Ella replied to his various comments, though kept her eyes glued to her phone. In the end she made the decision to message the mystery number, hoping that whoever was on the other side would at least be able to help calm her nerves just a little bit. "I'm stuck w my ex, he drives like a prick- pray for me" she sent, her text only the tiniest bit a joke.