Ironclad Love

Chapter 1

"Aww sh*t!" Thomas half shouted as he and his classmates received their test scores back.

He had scored a seventy-one percent on the test, not only barely passing with a C-, but also receiving the absolute lowest score amongst his friend group, and probably the class, meaning that he had lost their bet.

"Alright, alright, fine," Thomas sighed, "What's the punishment this time guys?"

All of Thomas' friends lifted their heads and looked at something behind Thomas, causing him to turn around and look too.

"You need to ask her out on a date."

"Sh*t," Thomas said as he rolled his eyes.

They had been looking at Elaina.

Elaina was a girl in their class. She had beautiful brown hair and gorgeous green eyes. She was also quite athletic and had quite a beautiful body as well. If not for a single aspect, she likely would be considered one of the cutest and most popular girls in their grade. Unfortunately, what held her back were her metal prosthetic arms.

Elaina is a girl with a disability that caused her to be born without arms. As a result, she's needed to use metal prosthetics her whole life.

Ever since she was a little girl, Elaina has been using these metal prosthetics. In high school, such add-ons might seem "cool" to some people, but to young elementary schoolers, having metal arms was far too abnormal. Unfortunately for Elaina, her peers had mocked and derided her for her metal ligaments all her life. To them, it became something as simple as breathing. To Elaina, it was a torturous reality that she experienced countless times every single day.

"Well, this'll be easy," Thomas said jokingly as he winked at Laura, his actual crush, causing her to laugh, "Watch me make her fall for me."

Thomas casually strolled over to Elaina trying to act cool, "Yo."

"Oh, hey," Elaina says as she turns to look at Thomas, a well-practiced fake smile plastered on her face, "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, your number," Thomas said as he winked at Elaina, causing all his friends to laugh in the background.

"Sh*t, did you see that? Ahahahaha!"

"Oh, umm, I don't actually have a phone," Elaina said awkwardly as she lifted her metal arms, "These make it kind of hard to use one..."

"I see," Thomas said, trying to act as if he hadn't already assumed that she had no phone, "Well then, could I just go out with you instead?"

Elaina's ears seemed to perk up when she heard that. Obviously, she had never been asked out before.

"Really?" she asked, her eyes sparkling, "Do you really mean it?"

"Umm... uhh... yeah," Thomas continued to nervously lie, "I've actually liked you for a while now, but never knew how to ask..."

Seeing how genuinely excited she seemed made him feel like a terrible person inside, but a bet is a bet, so he had to do it.

"So... uhh... do you want to go to a cafe, or the movies, or an arcade, or something this weekend?" Thomas asked her with shifty eyes as he fidgeted with his hands.

"Like this weekend? I can't do Saturday because I have stuff that day, but is Sunday okay?"

"Uhh, yeah, sure. Have any specific place in mind?"

"Oh, umm..." Elaina said nervously as she tapped the tips of her pointer fingers together, "Well there's Cafe Minami... I go there sometimes..."

"Okay, sure, sounds great. Twelve o'clock work for you?"

"Yeah!"