only on pizza, please

x.

it seemed to nick that encounters with ellie seemed to occur more often.

"what's up? you seem...weird. i don't know. it's not like you. i think (?) i have no idea what you're usually like," omar ponders to nick. the dorm disperses, and omar disappears with a large crowd of boys, rowdy boys. nick wasn't really 'about that life', so he tended to stay away from big groups of people. he quickly spotted tk at the door and hurried over to him.

"hi," he breathed heavily. getting over to his friend seemed to prove more of a challenge than he'd thought, what with all of the astray bags and clothes lining the floor.

"hello vinnie, i heard that the climbing wall was opening, that's what all this is about," tk explains, gesturing to the mob of teenagers in front of him. (n/a just realised 'vinnie' makes no sense. oh well bye)

"are we going?"

"maybe later, there's too many people right now.

nick silently thanks thomas for saving him from facing too many people at once.

"look, there's apple—i mean, eleanor," nick points out.

tk laughs at her looking lost and standing on her own. "let's go retrieve her, shall we?"

they walk over to wear she's turning in spot, before greeting her and asking what she's doing.

"well, i told john i'd give him a pop tart, but i can't find him...and i can't go inside the boys' dorm..."

"ugh, fine. let's go."

no juan was found within the shack of a room.

"sorry," nick mumbled.

"s'alright. more for me."

"hey, look—the other kids are back to playing rugby. the climbing wall should be free." tk walks towards the road between the dorms and the great hall, after beckoning a stray emma to join them.

"are you sure you'll be able to do it with your arm?" nick points at emma's wrist.

"i'll probably be fine. probably. i mean,
i could die from falling off the top of it, but it's more likely i'd—"

emma stops mid-sentence when she realises nick had stopped listening to her. they all had to race to catch up with tk, who was marching towards the road.

everyone but tk can hear the chortle of a motorcycle speeding further down the road. almost in slow motion, it comes into view and tk isn't fully across the road yet.

"no!" yell emma, nick and eleanor in unison. eyes are squeezed shut and it's silent for about 5 seconds.

when he's gathered up the courage to finally open his eyes, he sees tk standing on the opposite side of the road, max still clinging onto his arm. emma and eleanor share a confused look, but nick is already running to his best friend.

"what happened? are you okay? how did you not die?"

"uh...max?" tk asks, unsure if it's true.

"i saw it happening. i couldn't just leave you," max explains. there's only the five of them there, hidden between tall trees and bushes. "tk, i did it because—"

even nick is disappointed at the interruption by omar.

"yo, yo, yo. have you been on the climbing wall? it's pretty shit. but go ahead. bye."

everyone lets out a frustrated sigh, and max wanders off on his own again. no one talks about the incident.

-

the climbing was pretty horrible. after two steps, eleanor and emma backed out, while nick and tk raced to the top.

nick decided he was done, and they all headed to dinner together.

-

"is that your real hair colour?" nick asks ellie from across the table.

"well—no," ellie admits. "it's curly, though. i just don't want it to look like a swamp brown, ok?"

"oh," nick nods understandingly. "cool."

"cool cool," emma pipes up, too enthusiastically. "sorry," she says, muttering something under her breath. nicole arrives and they're deep in conversation before nick can say: 'ellieiloveyouandireallyhopeyoulikemetoo'. he didn't say that, of course, but he'd wanted to.

"so, where are you from?" he asks ellie, meaning to know more about her.

"england, newcastle, yeah."

"that's nice," he continues awkwardly. she smiles at him and laughs.

"what?" he asks, smiling now, too.

"you," replies ellie, shaking her head. "i never thought i'd meet someone more awkward than me."

nick wasn't sure how to take this. at the time it seemed like an insult but looking back, it was perfect.

-

bad ending but i tried.