Ella Westmore

Tease (Eli)

Angel (Spencer)

Emma Westmore (Sister)

**Ella Westmore** is the main protagonist of the 2021 story *Ella's Storm*. Ella is a seventeen year old weather whiz who joins her junior class to Suva, Fiji in December of 2022 for their annual class trip. In the process, she learns terrible truths about some of her classmates and begins a fight for survival as a devastating cyclone bears down on Fiji. Ella is set to appear in her sequel, operationally titled *Ella's Storm 2*. This book was released in December 2021.

## Early Life

Not much is known about Ella's past. What is known is that she was born on May 20, 2005, as in 2022 she is 17 years old. She was born as the eldest child to James Westmore and an unnamed mother. When she was two, she became the sister to Emma Westmore.

As Ella grew up she became fascinated with weather and tropical cyclones in particular. In middle school it became her passion and she became dead set on becoming a hurricane expert and a meteorologist. Also in her teenage years, her spiritual beliefs were tightened and she became a devout Christian, unlike the rest of her family. She also developed strong conservative political beliefs, which differed from her family as well. In middle school she developed a small romantic attraction to one Spencer Harris, though she ignored these feelings, believing that Spencer was too good for her and he wouldn't possibly see her the same. In high school she tried to move on from Spencer by trying to like Elijah 'Eli' Fox though it wasn't the same attraction as it was to Spencer.

## Ella's Storm

The story opens with Ella getting ready for her school trip to Suva in Fiji. As any teenager would be, Ella is beyond enthused to get away from her parents for a couple of weeks. She explains that her sister Emma has been away for an unknown amount of time for an unknown reason which upsets Ella. She finishes packing up, says farewell to her parents and heads off to North Medford High School.

Upon arriving, Ella meets up with her best friend Morgan Freeman, who is teased for her name, and her 'crush' and other friend Elijah 'Eli' Fox. Soon the group is at the airport, going through security and Ella briefly goes through a moralistic crisis when asked to remove her purity ring, a strong sign of her beliefs. The security guard allows her to keep it on, having given one to his daughters as a gift. They take off for Hawaii, which is the first stop in their trip.

When they land in Hawaii, Ella and Morgan search for food to eat, but come up pretty empty handed. They finally settle on the famous A&W after arguing about what to eat.

After another long plane ride, the class of North Medford High arrives in Suva, and for the next few days, Ella and her friends enjoy themselves and the trip as a whole.

That is until December 11, when Eli tries to convince Ella to go to a drinking party with him and pretty much everyone else in the junior class, though Ella boldly refuses. She cites that her morals shall not slip up, especially since she questions whether or not Eli wants to sleep with her. That night, while writing her novel, The Extraordinary Escapades of One Livia Aurelia , her English teacher speaks to her. With next to no hesitation, Ella spills the beans of the party, alerting the entire chaperone staff to the location of the midnight booze bash. Ella appears unbothered by her reveal, knowing she won't get in trouble for it.

The following morning, Ella finds herself alone, which irks her and she takes note of the rough ocean conditions outside. Upon arriving in the dining hall of the hotel, she gathers her breakfast and learns the devastating truth: Eli was never her friend. He openly talks to his friends about trying to get Ella in bed with him, and that it wouldn't mean anything if he did 'bang' her. When Eli realizes that Ella had overheard them, he tries to get her back, but fails. Spencer Harris joins Ella, having ditched his group of footballers, finally sick of them. The two have a conversation and realize they have a lot in common, just like the old days in middle school. Ella learns Spencer also has a love of extreme weather and that's when Ella learns that Cyclone Osai has explosively intensified overnight and is now rapidly becoming a severe threat to Fiji. She and Spencer choose to hang out in his hotel room and track the storm together.

After a hostile goodbye to Morgan and Eli, Ella meets up with Spencer, who she begins to call 'Spence' a recurring nickname. Spencer delivers terrible news that the cyclone took down an entire recon squadron, which gives Ella her first insight into the true nature of the storm.

With the school becoming aware of the imminent danger imposed by the cyclone and spearheaded by both Ella and Spencer, preparations begin, though Ella begins to question the necessity of the preparations, seeing herself as dead already. A while later, Ella and Spencer call home to say goodbye in case they die, but poor wifi leads to Ella's tearful phone call getting cut short, and Spencer having an angry shouting match with his overbearing father. Then Osai reaches its record breaking peak intensity as the power cuts out.

A few sleepless hours pass and conditions deteriorate further. Spencer and Ella watch cringy homemade movies, courtesy of Spencer and his friends from middle school. Ella admits she believes, and isn't surprised that she may be falling for Spencer again. The two then share secrets that they could die with so nobody would know of them. During this time Ella pressures Spencer to reveal his crush on her, which confuses her at first. The new romantics then share their first kiss.

A few more hours pass and Ella admits to Spencer that she is terrified. It's here where Spencer begins calling Ella 'Angel' a nickname that persists throughout the rest of the book, and will be attributed to the character from now on. The two then hear the sounds of the storm defenses they worked hard to put together smashed to bits by the full wrath of Osai. Ella begins crying, believing that they are firmly dead in the water, both literally and figuratively. Eventually Spencer gets up to use the bathroom and they realize that the hotel room is currently flooding. As Ella gets up, the door buckles, caves in and a torrent of water crashes in, throwing Ella off the balcony and into the raging floodwaters.

Ella frantically swam towards the surface and remembers the promise she made to her mother, that she won't stop fighting, not until she physically can't fight any longer. She tried to find anything and everything she can to get out of the water, but to no avail, and she nearly drowns. She finally manages to grab hold onto a torn leather couch, which she calls her saving grace.

Over the next few days, Ella slowly loses her grip over reality, and begins in a literal sense, losing her marbles. She befriends some of the sharks circling around her and mentions her dying will to live. Before long, as she is on the brink of death, she is rescued by U.N Australian troops. She is put into a medically induced coma for over two months.

When she wakes up, she is slowly re-immersed into her surroundings while in King Solomon's Hospital, in the Solomon Islands. She hear's of just how much damage and destruction the storm caused, as well as an initial death toll. She is stunned, but is quickly recuperating in the hospital, and is soon ready to return home after a routine physical examination.

After returning to Medford, she reunites with her family, learns that the reason for Emma's disappearance was that she was pregnant, and now has a baby, named Olive, and that Spencer has survived. This is despite Morgan's death, which profoundly affects Ella, and will be her drive in the sequel story. Ella leaves off, knowing that she is truly in a happy place, back home with the ones she loves.