Ellie was popular. Guys liked her. She was wealthy and smart. To the naked eye, she seemed to be perfect in every way, with her long white-blonde hair and emerald eyes. She had the perfect figure, all designer clothes, and the hottest accessories available. She had everything, and it wasn’t until she met Christoph Morguean that she realized she actually had nothing at all. She fell in love with him upon sight, and hasn’t been able to get her mind off him since.

But his wicked little sister Crissy had always stood in the way of his love life. He could never have a girlfriend because Crissy was a jealous little brat, and Ellie hated her for it. She perhaps hated Crissy more than anyone else in the school. But, she could handle that. The only woman standing in the way was his sister, and not another love interest. She could easily deal with that, as long as she never had to see him with another girl.

That had all changed. Ever since that dyke Sara Janus had began sucking up to Crissy, Christoph had been all over her. Ellie cursed herself for not thinking of that idea before Sara. The key to Christoph’s heart was obviously his little sister. But Ellie couldn’t imagine being nice to that twit, much less even speaking to her. And to think that Sara, that wild barbarian who had shoved her against the wall and threatened her, now held Christoph’s affections.

Ellie walked down the hall toward her class, her steps soft and casual, never letting her inner pain interfere with her image. A few girls ran up to her. “Hey, Ellie! What’s up?”

Ellie wanted to hurl. She was sick of these groupies following her around, pretending to be her friend just to up their own social status. But she smiled brightly. “Nothing much. What about you guys?”

That was their cue to gab and gossip about the latest fashions, the cute guys they met at the mall, and the new romantic-comedy they watched last night. All of this was so boring to Ellie, yet she smiled and nodded, pretending to be ever so interested in their moronic rants. Then one of the girls looked to the others nervously then to Ellie. “Ellie, did you hear about Christoph?”

Ellie’s smile nearly faltered, but she struggled to keep it plastered across her face. “What about him?”

“He kissed Sara Janus in Miss Jenkins’s class.” the girl replied lowly.

“Really?” was all Ellie could force out.

“Yeah. Don’t you have that class with Sara, Ellie?” another of the girls asked.

“Yeah, I do. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” she said with a nervous laugh. She wasn’t exactly the best liar, but the girls sucked up to her too much to even consider questioning her.

“I can’t believe it. That girl is so plain and ugly. She doesn’t even fix her hair!” one of them said.

“What hair? It’s barely longer than Christoph’s! She could at least wear more make-up. Does she even know there’s more to it than foundation?!” another said.

“Apparently not. She must be stupid and ugly.” a third one laughed.

Ellie couldn’t take anymore of this. What were they trying to do? Rub her nose in the fact that such a horrible girl had been chosen over her? Well, she refused to listen to it any longer. She said some quick “good byes” before walking off, toward her class. She was so angry and distracted that she didn’t even look up from the ground. Suddenly she slammed into something and tumbled back onto the floor. “Hey, watch it!” she screamed, straightening her skirt and standing up. “You should watch where-” she stopped immediately when she saw it was Christoph that she had ran into.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ve had a lot on my mind and wasn’t paying attention. Are you all right?”

Ellie could melt. Christoph had only talked to her a few times, when groups of the most popular people would all get together and hang around at lunch or break period. Everyone just assumed that all of them were the best of friends, when most of them actually just knew each other through other friends and were casual acquaintances. “I’m fine.” she answered.

“Great. I really didn’t mean to bump into you like that. I hope you can forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven.” she smiled.

“Thanks. Bye, Ellie!” he said walking on.

“Bye.” she called back. She loved it when he said her name with that rich voice of his. It was so pure and beautiful, just like him. But she sighed, feeling worse now than she had before. She felt so very restrained. She loved him so deeply yet when she bumped into him in the hall, she couldn’t even strike up a conversation with him. She replayed everything that was said in her mind, thinking of all the other things she could’ve said that may have produced a different outcome. Then she realized that the outcome would probably have been the same, no matter what she said.

As she walked on, she ignored all the turned heads and raised eyebrows. She was well aware of the fact that she was the most popular girl in school. All the guys wanted her, except for Christoph. She swallowed hard, that fact still hurting her, even though she had accepted it long ago. It still didn’t seem fair though, that with all her beauty, wealth, and popularity, he would choose an heathen like Sara Janus over her.

One boy had the nerve to call out her name, and when she turned, she recognized him as one of Christoph’s groupies. “Hi, Kurt.” she said dryly.

“Have you seen Christoph? We gotta discuss something important.” he said seriously.

“No, why are you asking me? I barely know him.”

“C’mon, all the girls follow every move the guy makes. Don’t know what they see in him.” he said offhandedly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“Well, I’m not ‘all the girls’. And you’d see what they see in him if you would take one look at him.” she said snobbishly, starting to go on about her business.

“Wait, Ellie!” he called, catching up with her. “Why don’t you come to my party tomorrow night? Christoph will be there.”

She stopped and turned around. “Anyone else of importance?”

“Of course. Sara Janus. You don’t want to let her have him all to herself tomorrow night, do you?”

She was silent for a moment before she smiled. “I’ll go, but just because I have to keep up my ‘party-girl’ image.”

He smiled back and handed her an envelope. “The time, place, and directions are in there. And Ellie, I’m glad you’re coming!” he said, walking off. Ellie watched him yell and wave at various people along his way. He seemed to know everyone. She sighed and stuffed the envelope into her purse. Tomorrow night would probably be the most boring night of her life, yet she couldn’t afford to give Sara such an advantage. She walked on down the hall, as normal as usual.

Suddenly her hand slipped and she dropped a folder. “Damn!” she muttered, stopping in the middle of the hall. It seemed that fate just didn’t want her to make it to class today. She bent down to pick it up, but instead the folder was right at her nose. She glanced up to the owner of the hand that was holding it: Sara Janus.

“Here.” Sara said, holding out the folder to Ellie.

Ellie stared at her, studying her indifferent expression. Sara had picked up the folder for her? Had she not just attacked her moments before? Ellie didn’t know what to do. She felt like tearing the folder from her hand and calling upon every insult she could think of. But Sara’s eyes kept her from doing that. They were sincere and calm, not wicked or spiteful. Had Ellie judged her wrongly? Ellie dismissed that thought and took the folder. “Thanks.” she said quickly and walked on by.

Once she was past Sara, she glanced back over her shoulder. Sara was walking as if nothing had happened, or as if Ellie had been just another clumsy girl in the hall. Ellie couldn’t decide if that made her angry or relieved. Either way, Sara had done something relatively nice for her and she couldn’t ignore that fact. Ellie’s heart was too large for her to simply toss acts of kindness aside in exchange for the deepest of hatred. She struggled to remember the scene from class earlier today, when Sara had shoved her against the wall. The humiliation, pain, and fear were enough to make Ellie smile mischievously as she mentally made her plans for tomorrow night.