(Acacia → Ella's story)
I didn't plan anything serious when I started writing, I just wanted to get something out of my head, but somehow it kept going and the more I wrote, the more it started to turn into something real.
Ella became the version of me I didn't have to explain, and Lou... I guess he just slipped in on his own.
It's not exactly how everything happened, but it's close enough.
So here it begins—the first time Ella noticed Lou Anderson....
Chapter-one
(POV -Ella )
I was in 4th grade when Lou Anderson joined our school along with his best friend Henry Mason, and I remember hearing they had studied in the same school since kindergarten.
I noticed them because they were both new transfers to our class, but honestly, I didn't care much at the time—I was more focused on candy wrappers, half-done homework, and glittery pencil cases, and boys like Lou and Henry didn't really mean anything to me back then.
One year passed in a blink, and before I knew it, we were in 5th grade.
One day, someone bumped into me in the hallway, and I turned around, already annoyed, but then froze when I saw Lou Anderson getting into a fight with Max—one of our classmates who was always joking around and pulling dumb tricks in class.
"Is that Lou fighting?" I asked, turning my head toward my best friend.
"Yeah," Rosie replied casually, standing next to me. "With Max."
There was already a crowd gathered around them, and even though a few students tried to break it up, it was pointless—Lou's jaw was tense, Max looked just as angry, and neither of them was backing off.
Just then someone yelled from the corridor, "Principal's coming!"
Rosie grabbed my wrist, "Let's go, Ella. If not, we'll get in trouble too!"
We turned to leave, but right before we disappeared, Lou slapped Max across the face—loud and sharp.
The whole hallway seemed to freeze for a second and I flinched at the sound, my feet halting on their own for just a moment.
We ran off before the principal showed up, and I didn't stick around to see what happened after that.
From that moment on, I started noticing Lou Anderson—not in a crush way, more like a keep-him-away-from-me way.
I hated people who chose violence, and though I didn't know the reason behind the fight, no one in class talked about it afterward and it was as if nothing had ever happened.
Things returned to normal the next day.
We were still in the same class, but I didn't talk to him, and the only other time I saw him again was during Sports Day, and strangely, he and Max seemed to get along fine by then.
My life stayed calm.I had good grades, friends I could count on, and a quiet little world that made sense to me.
Exams came and went, and I did well, which made everything feel a little lighter, and soon after, we were given a long winter break—just a little over a month, which felt like forever at first but, as always, ended quicker than expected.
Time moved faster when you were actually enjoying it, and before I could even fully settle into the rhythm of sleeping in, watching TV, and forgetting school existed, it was already time to go back.
And now, my sixth-grade journey was about to begin the next day, though I didn't know yet that nothing would stay calm for long.