Love At The Coral Reefs

Chapter 2

Eleanor woke up on the right side of the bed, she was feeling elated for the fact that it was Saturday and that meant she did not have to meet that infruriating bad boy who seemed to be more like a sly fox.

A knock on her door with the sweet voice of her mother, made her sit up on the bed, "Maa, you can come in."

With her words the door opened to reveal the woman that she loves a lot. Her mom's aura of warmth seemed to seep into every corner of the room making the room even more homey.

"Sweetheart, refresh yourself and come down, Dad and I are waiting for you to have breakfast together." Eleanor beamed at her mom who had a sweet, cheerful smile and voice that she felt so at home with.

"Alright, Maa Maa I will get ready." Nodding at her, her mom proceeded to step out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Eleanor stretched on her bed and then stood up to make the bed. After making her bed she went over to her balcony and her mind was at peace when she saw the sea. The waves crashing softly against the sand and the smell of fresh air wift up into her nose.

She loves the sea, it was the only thing that could calm her down and her safe place. She was really glad that her house was located on the beach and every morning she gets to greet the sea before others could.

Feeling refreshed, Eleanor went back in to fix herself up. 'I cannot shower too long today, Maa and Paa are waiting for me to eat breakfast,' she decided. Usually, she takes her own sweet time to shower, because she loves the feeling of water rushing against her skin.

However, her loving parents were waiting for her, so she decided since it was Saturday she could go for a swim in the sea rather than take a long shower. She loves swimming since the age of 2, her parents always finding her near pools of water just staring at it.

After showering and refreshing herself, she picked out a sweatshirt and an ankle-length flowy skirt for herself. She French-braided her hair and then happily skipped out of her room towards the dining room.

Sitting down, Eleanor clung onto her mom's hand as her mom placed a sandwich on her plate and gave her a cup of coffee.

"Dearie, if you cling onto your Mom, how is she going to..." But her dad stopped once her mom shook her head at him. "The two of you are the same, both clingy and stubborn." Her dad continued.

"Nah that is not true Paa Paa, if I am clingy like Maa Maa, I got the stubborness from you, Paa Paa." Eleanor teased as her dad laughed nodding his head agreeing.

She was thankful for moments like these, most people in her school complained about having difficult parents. Those kids loved going to school to escape the environment at home but he parents were one of a kind. They made her want to remain at home instead of going to the suffocating school.

Edwin and Elaine Winters were the busiest people, having to take care of their hotel business and cafe that they owned at the beach. However, they always put Eleanor first in everything they do and would drop their work if ever she was spotted with a lonely face.

"Is Bea coming over today?" Elaine asked as she took a bite of her sandwich. Gazing at her daughter with love, she was a little treasure for them.

Eleanor confirmed, "Yes, she is, we are planning to do homework together." Beatrice texted her that she was coming over at 9.00am so she knew that she had an hour to herself before Beatrice comes over.

~~~~~

"EL...EL...OH MY GOD...YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT..." Beatrice came barelling into the house almost tackling Eleanor, who was waiting at the door for her arrival, to the floor.

"WHAT...WHO IS CHASING AFTER YOU...?" She hobbled towards the broomstick with her swollen ankle and made a defensive move. Her parents were off to work and it was her duty to protect the house as well as her friend and herself.

Beatrice looked at her bewildered, "No, put that down sis, WHO DO YOU THINK I SAW?!"

"Erm...celebrities...?!" Eleanor exclaimed, thinking that Beatrice had met some handsome men that cause her to become overly-excited.

"No...I met six handsome boys from our school." Beatrice panted, trying to sit on the couch catching her breathe.

"Six handsome boys...no...don't tell me it is Dan..." She started but was interrupted by Beatrice waving her hands.

"Daniel Thorn Romero and his friends...yeah I won't tell you it is them!" Smiling at her, Beatrice finished the sentence sarcastically.

"Oh my goodness...why did they even come here?! There are other beaches..." She was exasperated, here she was elated that she managed to get away from him and now he ended up at the beach she was at.

"They were studying..." Beatrice continued but she was no longer listening. Her head analysing the new information that he was here. It was not a surprise to hear that they were studying.

Daniel and his friends were bad boys due to their attitudes towards some teachers and overall the school rules. But when it comes to studying, his group was always in the top with him coming in first for every single exam.

At first, many believed that his parents bribe the teachers and the school for his grades but if he could do so many others could as the school was technically for rich kids. So that possibility was ruled out.

Many girls not only like him for his looks but due to his intelligence, he came in first for exams, sports and even co-curricular activities. The only subject that Eleanor knew he was bad at was Literature but all his other subjects were good enough to help him maintain his uncontestable first place.

"El...El..." Beatrice was now calling out to her, bringing her back to the conversation in hand. "Do you even hear what I said."

Eleanor shook her head sheepishly, "I am sorry I was thinking about other things."

Beatrice gave a sigh and continued, "Don't freak out, but I saw them carrying big bags of food that looked like it was for a party or barbeque of somesort. So maybe they might stay at one of your parents hotel bungalows."

"WHAT...NO...WHY CAN'T HE STAY SOMEWHERE ELSE..." Nonetheless, she did not want to make a bigger fuss by telling her parents, because she know they will do anything if it makes her feel comfortable. Since, the hotel business is her parents she is not going to dent their business. So she decided she was going to hide from him.

Eleanor knew hiding was a five year old thing to do. However, at the moment she could care less about being a five year old when the mere presence of the fox made her feel like she was arguing with a child.

~~~~~

"So...Dan, how was the first day of school." Simon smirked at Daniel who looked up from his notes unamused.

"Stop smirking, you literally look like an over grown rabbit." He replied causing Simon to huff at him angrily looking even more like what he had said.

The rest of the boys sitting at the beach table started laughing clutching onto their stomachs. Simon was the tallest in the group standing at 185cm but his rabbit like face made him look like a kindergartener in a high school uniform.

"Hahahahaha, we know Si looks like a rabbit, but Dan how was it?" Henry wiggled his eyebrows, still giggling. He was the youngest in the group and honestly was a man child due to his alpaca like face even though he was one of the tallest.

"First day of school was fine, the lessons were alright." He replied, his voice monotonous, he knew what they were asking but he was not about to give them the answer so soon feeling the need to tease them.

"Dan, we are talking about Eleanor, come on bro!" Benjamin urged with a frustrated face but that only made the rest laugh at him as he looked like a teddy bear rather than being scary.

"What about Eleanor?" He questioned looking at the rest with an innocent face. But the rest knew him well enough to know that he was having fun leading them on.

"Dan, you know what we are asking, Eleanor made something in you awaken right?" This time it was Terrius who spoke up, his bright eyes sparkling curiously, enchancing his squirrel like face. Daniel knew he was going to reply honestly this time. Terrius might be the second youngest of the group but his wisdom and his ability to grasp things made him one of the mature ones of the group.

"If you guys must know, she is an amazing desk mate, and I know what you guys are thinking, she is not a play thing. You guys know I never do that kind of lowly thing to anyone. I just want to know why she dislikes me so much and maybe change her dislike to a like! But I mean it when I said it at school, she is out of bounds for you guys!" Daniel explained and warned looking at all of them in their eyes one at a time.

They were proclaimed as bad boys, but they were not jerks or womanizers who tries to get their way with different girls. The rebellious attitude they put out was to show that they were against the school, when they feel that things are getting too corrupted, and their obnoxious fathers but other times they were just normal boys attending school.

"Is ok I am not interested in her, I am more interested in..." Marshall next words were interrupted by the rest who shouted.

"BEATRICE, YEAH WE KNOW!" The collective shout almost made Marshall fall off the bench. The boys looked at him as he put up his hands with his uncountable number of bracelets and they sigh. Marshall and his many bracelets were inseperable, no matter what occation. Since the bracelets were all of different funny colours he looked like a peacock.

"I am only interested in my books and studying." Terrius replied, his resolved clear in his mind, he honestly felt that he had no time to date around and he just wanted to finish the damn obnoxious school.

"I am not interested too, I am too busy trying not to be careless." Benjamin nodded agreeing with Terrius's words. All the boys believe him instantly as he was the clumsiest person, he was always too busy trying to not fall everywhere than to look at girls.

"Neither am I interested, I am too busy taking care of all of you to do anything else." Simon said, sighing with the burden of caring for his zoo animal like friends.

Henry then excitedly raised his hands up, something he would never do in school but only in front of his friends who were more like brothers. "I am not interested too, I am just focusing on my figurine collections."

This made a collective groan sound out from the rest of the boys with Simon scoffing, "For someone with the title of a bad boy, you sure do a lot of things that does not really belong to that title."

They all knew how Henry was like, he was a kid in a teenager body. But they still tolerated each others quirks as they have known each other since kindergarten, their bond too strong to be broken by funny habits.

"Alright, if you guys still want to have barbeque and book one of the bungalows, we need to finish the homework by today. So keep quiet and finish up your own works." Daniel hissed, going back to his own notes.

He was the oldest of the group, even though they were all the same age he was still a few months older, making him have a much higher authority over all of them.

"Wait a minute..." A gasped sounded from Terrius who was looking at his phone with a shock expression.

"What's wrong?" Simon, who was beside him asked looking over his shoulder to see the phone screen when he gasped as well, looking straight at Daniel with wide eyes.

"What got you two looking like that?" Daniel questioned, with the rest also gazing at the two.

"Dan, do you know who owns these chain of hotel bungalows?" Simon asked as Terrius continued reading.

Daniel shook his head with a scowl, how was he suppose to know, when it was the first time they came to book one of the bungalows in this beach.

"The couple who owned the hotel is Mr Edwin Winters and Mrs Elaine Winters, who are also the parents of Eleanor Winters." Terrius read, at the mention of Eleanor's name, a smile broke out on Daniel's face as he thought about how to annoy the girl when he meets her.

"That is great I cannot wait to finish our homework and book one of those bungalows." With his signature smirk on his face, the rest of the boys knew that he was about irritate Eleanor, and they were really curious about what was going to happen next.