Five Steps Away

Chapter 8

"We both know it's not gonna last with Amhaud."

If it wasn't already clear enough that Cire had seen Elijah and I together multiple times all of last week, this is a big, face slapping confirmation that he knows we're dating.

Elijah had picked me up from school this morning like he had done all of last week, but instead of us walking to class together like we usually do, he went to the bathroom, giving Cire the perfect opportunity to ruin my day. He came to me as I was stuffing books into my locker, the stupid butterflies in my stomach fluttering by instinct.

"Elijah." I say. "His name is Elij—"

"He's nothing compared to me, and you know it. What are you gonna do with him? Start a knockoff black panther?"

"You alright?" I turn around to see Elijah behind me. He pulls me closer to him by the waist.

I pause. "Yeah, let's just go." Elijah looks at Cire, staying planted on the spot.

"The fuck did you say to her?" My eyes open wider. I must've heard wrong, because there is no way Elijah said that.

"Elijah it's fine, it's noth—."

"She came to me man, ask her." Cire slams my locker shut before walking away, leaving me baffled.

"Asshole." I hear Elijah mutter, before he looks down at me. "You ok?" he asks. I nod, confused by the utter lie Cire just told. He walked to my locker to come and talk to me. And did he just call Elijah and I's relationship a knockoff black panther? Elijah doesn't seem to even care about what Cire said though (if he even heard). Instead, he takes me by surprise and hugs me. I don't complain though, his hugs are shockingly warm.

When he pulls away, we start walking to class.

"Do you wanna go out to Ivy Cool after school?" he asks.

"If you want." I say. Elijah stares at me for a good while, making me feel weird.

"But do you want to?"

I shrug. "Sure, I don't mind." A moment of silence goes by, and I can feel that he wants to say something.

Elijah stops walking, turning to face me. "Why do you always get so... opinion less after talking to Cire?"

I stop in my tracks. "The fuck do you mean opinion less?"

"See? Now you're coming back, but just seconds ago you were being so... passive."

"Passive?"

"Ok I may not be wording this right..."

"You think?"

"What I mean is that..." I glare at him as he talks. "Whenever you're with Cire you turn into this whole different person."

"When did you ever even speak to me when I was with Cire?"

"I didn't need to speak to you to notice. I would see you two around the halls and I could just tell. You clung to him like you would be lost without him."

"Wow, thanks for that." I walk faster, getting away from him. I hear him say my name behind me but I don't stop until I'm sitting in my seat in class. Fuck him. Fuck him, and Cire, and everyone. It's not true.

"Alya?" Lily, who's already sitting in her usual seat calls out in a worried tone.

"Don't ask." I say. Elijah walks in the class and sits on the desk beside me. He leans close to me.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he says. I ignore him. Before he gets the chance to say anything else, the teacher comes in.

5 minutes into the lesson, a crumpled up piece of paper lands on my table. I look up from my book to see Elijah looking at me.