“Noooo!” Elle moved to grab his leg and was happy when she didn’t hear the book connect.
“Don’t you tell me no.” Sebastian raised the book back a third time.
Elle managed to get her arms up to cover her again when he smashed her same arm. By the sound, she knew it was as good as broken from the second impact.
Sebastian finally left, satisfied with what had taken place. Elle didn’t even care about her arm when she looked up at Chloe’s crying face. The tears were illuminated red on the right side as they slid down her slashes. It was worth it to her…
“Elle, it’s your turn. Elle.” Elle was brought back by the sound of her name coming from Mr. Evans.
“My turn?” She was starting to become embarrassed when she saw everyone staring at her, especially when Nero turned around.
“Yes, Chloe popcorned you.” Elle couldn’t believe someone had picked Chloe. They probably wanted to hear her stumble.
Elle was grateful when Chloe moved over and put her finger at where to start reading. Elle began reading immediately, not wanting to make a bigger scene. When she popcorned Nero, she decided to follow along this time because she was afraid of the same thing happening again. The class actually flew by for the remaining time now that Elle had decided to get into the story.
The bell rang and Nero actually walked out of the classroom. For some reason, she’d thought he would wait for her. Elle and Chloe packed up their things and walked out to see Nero, Amo, and Vincent leaning up against the lockers, talking. Elle walked over toward them, feeling Chloe following behind.
As soon as Elle got there, their conversation came to an end. Nero nodded his head at Amo and he started walking. Nero was still mad, and he wasn’t trying to act friendly. Elle decided not to care, and subsequently she went to follow Amo.
Chloe walked beside her. Although she was still somewhat awkward, she was getting the hang of it. Elle also thought Nero would walk beside her, but he didn’t do that, either. She turned her head back and saw he was walking beside Vincent today.
Elle was starting to get mad at herself. She didn’t know why she cared so much, but she did. She had actually been getting used to him walking with her and holding her hand. I don’t miss holding his damn hand. Elle decided to get that out of her mind.
“What’s up his butt?” she heard Chloe whisper.
“I don’t know. He was fine before I walked into English. The moment he walked in, though, he flipped a switch and turned into a different person.” Elle kept it at a whisper, as well. The halls were noisy enough to block out anything they said. Besides, they were walking a few feet in front of him while they walked a few feet behind Amo.
“He’s probably bipolar, Elle. You saw the look in his eyes yesterday with Sebastian.” She was probably right. Whatever Nero had, however, he needed to be on medication for his problems.
“I bet you’re right,” Elle whispered back. “He has to have something wrong with him. No one is that perfect and good-looking without having a screw loose.”
* * *
Nero heard Vincent laugh and asked, “What happened?”
Nero kept his eyes on Elle in front of him.
“Nothing.”
A moment later, he watched Elle turn around. That’s fucking right. He figured she would be confused as to why he wasn’t walking beside her, holding her hand. He didn’t want to fucking hold her hand right now; he had barely been able to contain himself from punching Amo in the face earlier. He had gone for it, then he grabbed his shoulder instead.
He had been prepared to fight one of his best friends over a stupid girl, and it hadn’t even been Amo’s fault. Although, he didn’t give two shits about moving. No, instead, he let her hug and kiss him.
“Really? Because, by the look of her face, I think there might be a problem.” Vincent was still smiling. Nero thought he was enjoying the show.
“She did something I really fucking wish she didn’t.” Nero thought he would confide a little in Vincent, who was the ultimate woman killer. Vincent not only slept with girls their age, but girls much older than them. Nero was almost sure he’d even slept with some girl’s hot mother.
“Just talk to her about it. Girls love that shit. Tell her it really hurt you, and that she needs to say sorry by sucking your dick. That’s what I would do.”
Nero shook his head at his friend. The guy was crazy. There was no way Nero would talk to her first. She needed to figure out what she had done on her own. Nero wasn’t going to give Elle the satisfaction of knowing it had hurt him.
“No, man, I’ll enjoy watching her crawl back to me.”
Nero made his mind up. She will crawl, and she won’t fucking do it again.
Nero looked over at Vincent when he spoke. “A piece of advice: that girl will never crawl to anyone. You’ll be lucky to get that girl on her knees, period.”
“If I’m lucky enough to get her on her knees, why would you say she needs to say sorry by sucking me off?” Nero kept his eyes on Elle. The girls were whispering. He figured Elle was talking about him. About how much she misses me already.
Vincent’s laugh drew Nero’s attention. “I said if it was me, man.”
Now Nero’s head was filled with the image of Elle sucking Vincent’s dick, which only made him even more furious. He was glad they’d finally reached the girls’ classroom; he couldn’t look at Elle any longer. Walking behind her was torture; it was hard not to look at her ass, thinking about giving in and talking to her just so he could kiss her again and grab it.
Nero watched Amo wait by the door while Chloe walked in the classroom right before Elle turned again, looking him in the eye. Nero stared back like he didn’t give a shit, then he watched Elle stomp into the room.