October 20th - October 22nd

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Ella stopped by her English teacher's classroom first thing in the morning, turning in an essay that had been due on Monday. She was lucky she was a good student and well-liked, the teacher hadn't even told her off. She'd just asked for it as soon as she could turn it in. Ella assumed it might also have been a lasting effect from Laura's death. She'd had a lot of free passes initially, she was sure Steve would have as well, but he never needed them. And now, over two years later, she thought maybe her teacher's lax attitude was partly a remnant of that, she'd taught Ella since freshman year, so it would make sense.

It didn't stop Ella from apologizing again for its lateness. In all honesty, she could have submitted it on Monday morning, but it wasn't her best work. She knew with an extra day she could get an A and her late submission would never be recorded, so it was worth it.

When she was done, she made her way to her locker, it was on the other side of the building so she rushed. The fact that she would get to see Bucky also made her walk a little quicker than normal.

She spotted Bucky talking to Steve by their lockers, he was being caught up on what he'd missed in the last two days. It wasn't a long list. The biggest news was Ella breaking up with Christian, but there were only three people in the school who knew as far as Ella was aware, and she was happy for it to stay that way for now.

Bucky smiled when he saw Ella coming up the corridor, he pushed himself upright from the locker he'd been leaning on.

"Morning" he greeted.

"Hey, glad to see you look a little less like death today," she joked. 

"Thanks," he rolled his eyes.

"I missed you yesterday," she said as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning in close so only he would hear. She enjoyed being able to admit that without any guilt.

Bucky thought she seemed different this morning, her forwardness took him aback. But he liked it, and he reciprocated.

"I was kind of hoping you would come round again" he smiled as he hugged her back. "I was a fan of the surprise visit on Monday"

Ella pulled away from him, "I really wanted to. I was just a bit busy."

She didn't elaborate her point and he didn't ask. He had a suspicion about what she had been up to, her change in demeanor telling him more than her words. But he knew she would tell him when she was ready if his suspicions were right.

They stood and chatted for a few minutes, Ella kept stealing glances at Bucky. There was a smile permanently etched onto his lips, they were pink and pouty, she couldn't stop thinking about kissing him.

They were joined by Sam not long later. Ella had to give him a subtle look to stop him from asking about Christian as he had done the previous two mornings. She realized she should probably make sure Nat and Wanda didn't bring him up either. After their day out on Sunday, they all knew it was only a matter of time and had consistently checked up with her about it. She understood them asking in the mornings, but yesterday Nat had asked again at lunch as if she thought Ella would have broken up with him during Chemistry. They'd been doing an experiment with Bunsen Burners and in hindsight, she did see a certain comedy in the metaphor of extinguishing a flame as she did it. That train of thought reminded her that she would probably need to find a new lab partner.

The bell rang, and they all made their way to homeroom, they were halfway there when Steve leaned over and glanced at Bucky.

"I don't know what you're waiting for," he smirked, as he spoke in a low voice right into Ella's ear.

They all met up at lunch, walking to the cafeteria and finding a table with enough room for the six of them. As they sat down, Ella looked over to Christian's usual table. He briefly met her gaze but quickly looked back down at his food. She read the people around the table, all engrossed in conversation while Christian sat quietly. It didn't look like he'd told them. She also assumed, if he had, someone would have said something to her about it.

She focused back on her own friends, she crossed her legs under the table, her ankle brushed Bucky's leg, and she gave him a small smile. Steve appeared to be making plans for the weekend.

"Mom and dad are away for the weekend, so I'm thinking Friday night at ours?" He asked, everyone agreed.

"Are we inviting anyone else?" Wanda asked.

Steve looked at Ella for confirmation before he answered, she shrugged, "I don't mind"

"Then yeah, just keep it small," he replied.

Ella's eyes flicked back to Christian's table. She hoped the invite wouldn't make it as far as them, but didn't want to come right out and say it. Steve looked over his shoulder, turning to see who she was preoccupied with. When he turned back, he shook his head. Ella smiled at him, wondering if he could read her mind.

On the way to their next lesson Nat asked about Christian again, Ella told her that she'd gone over to his last night and ended things. Nat didn't do much to hide her excitement.

"Have you told Bucky?" She asked.

"Not yet," Ella replied, weaving her way through the other students.

Nat looked confused, "what are you waiting for?"

Ella told Nat what she'd told Steve the night before, about wanting to make sure she was ready to start something with him, but she also added something she hadn't said to Steve, something she didn't think he'd understand.

"People are going to judge me if in the space of like a week I move on with Bucky. I'm not really sure how I feel about signing up for that."

Nat gave her friend a sorry smile, "I didn't really look at it like that."

"I know, I didn't really either until last night. It's just people are already talking, and if something happens quickly people will talk, people will probably think I cheated," she groaned.

"But you didn't, you both know that. Isn't that enough?" Nat questioned.

Ella shrugged, she wasn't sure, it was something she still needed to figure out.

She was still thinking about it the following lunchtime, but Bucky was making the decision slightly easier. They were sitting in the library together, working on some physics homework.

They kept leaning over to read each other's notes, each time shuffling their chairs a little closer, to the point where their legs were now pressed together under the table. Every so often Bucky would put his pen down and his hand would brush Ella's thigh, she wanted to tell him he could leave his hand there if he wanted. But that would mean telling him about Christian first. She decided not to, in that moment she was enjoying the fun of the sexual tension and seeing him nervous. It was unusual, he was so confident around her these days.

Bucky was scanning a textbook, leaning over it entirely engrossed, scribbling down notes as he read. Ella was watching him out the corner of her eye, a smile was dancing on her lips, she wasn't getting a whole lot of work done.

As he turned the page a small gasp escaped his lips, "this is so cool!"

Ella giggled at him, his mouth was hanging open, his eyes fixated on whatever he'd spotted.

"You're a closet nerd!?" She joked in a whisper.

He scrunched up his nose.

"Maybe," he said, slightly embarrassed. The tips of his ears were doing the thing where they turned pink, Ella noticed.

"God you're adorable" she laughed, grinning at him. She'd been thinking it all lunch, now she was glad she had a reason to say it aloud.

Bucky groaned, "adorable? Really?"

It wasn't exactly the word he was hoping Ella would use to describe him, luckily, she had a few more, slightly less PG, words running through her mind, she decided not to voice them though.

The deciding factor in telling Bucky came the following lunchtime. Ella was walking to the cafeteria by herself, after the last lesson she'd stopped behind to ask the teacher to explain something. She'd said to Steve and Sam not to worry about waiting around and to save them a table instead. It was too cold to eat outside now so the cafeteria filled up quickly at lunch.

As she was walking down the corridor she spotted a huddle of boys, Christian's mousy brown hair was visible from a long way away, he was a few inches taller than everyone else there. As she approached one of the boys noticed her and got the attention of the group. They all glared at her as she walked past, all except Christian who kept his eyes focused on the floor. He told them, she realized.

Ella had wanted Christian to tell people in his own time, she knew she owed him that much. She was just relieved he'd done so before the party later that day because she was hoping to speak to Bucky. This was a green light to do so.

So despite the glares she received, she walked the rest of the way to the cafeteria with a small smile on her face.


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