Out Loud

Twenty

-Eli-

Grayson following me after I had stormed out of the commons, hugging me, being there for me, it all just made me like him more. He was so cute, his little smile, the way he looked at you when he was studying you, how his eyes darted around the room while he took in every little detail. He can talk to you just by standing there, there's just this energy around him.

I followed him to the main office where the others were. Levi was holding Lexi while she stared at the floor with a blank face, Jamie sniffled a bit and wiped tears from his face. When Miranda saw us she ran over to Grayson and held him tightly, I stood back a bit and just watched everything.

"I'm so glad you weren't in there for that," Miranda whispered to him, "it got real ugly, real fast."

"What happened?" I asked as I came up next to Grayson.

"She's relentless," Levi said quietly, "she just wouldn't give up, we tried everything. Miranda even begged her to leave us alone, she apologized for what happened in middle school. Elliot, just wouldn't let it go."

"She wanted to humiliate us," Lexi followed up, "she wanted us to leave. I'm sure she was surprised when we fought back, even if we did lose."

"I just don't understand how someone can say those things," Jamie said as he wiped his tears, "even when we admitted defeat and begged for her to just leave us be, she kept going. How can someone do that and not feel any sort of emotion, Miranda completely broke down for God's sakes!"

We stood there for a moment longer in silence. Grayson went around to everyone and hugged them while the rest of us thought about what we were going to do.

"I reported it to the principal," Miranda said, "hundreds of people recorded the entire thing. Do you think you could get your hands on that video, Jamie?"

"Yeah, I can definitely do that," he replied with a small chuckle.

"Good, we'll need proof of how bad this is," Miranda said softly, "class starts soon, let's get going."

We all walked together back downstairs and into the hallways, the bell rang and the floodgates of the commons opened. I was swept along with the tide to my next class, I'm not even sure where the others ended up. People were chattering non stop about what had happened at lunch.

"That Elliot girl is actually insane," one guy said to his friend.

"I wanted to say something, but I was afraid that she'd come at me too! She seems to know everyone's darkest secrets," a girl whispered. That's Elliot for you. I guess a plus side of not being liked was acquiring everyone's secrets, everyone was comfortable having private discussion around you because they knew you'd have no one to tell. Well, now Elliot is the new Miranda, only she's got this vendetta against all of the popular kids. It's like she wants them to completely disappear or something.

"I feel so bad for all of them, I mean you saw how Miranda just started sobbing and asking Elliot to leave them alone," a girl told her boyfriend.

All these people feel bad for us, all these people hate Elliot, yet none of them will help when she attacks us. Is everyone here really that cowardly? It really is pathetic, but I also understand where they're coming from. If I didn't know Miranda or the others I probably wouldn't help them either. I just hope the principal actually does something about it.

The day ended quickly and I met up with the crew at Grayson's car. We all looked worn out and tired, even in our dressy clothes. You could tell we were ready to just end the day. Jamie was the first to be dropped off, then Lexi and Levi, then Miranda. They all wanted to go home and think about what had happened today, but I didn't really wanna go back to that cold, empty, lonely apartment I call home.

"Do you wanna hang out for a bit? Maybe go get a coffee?" I asked Grayson as we pulled out of Miranda's driveway.

He nodded and smiled a bit, it also looked like he blushed. We played some music and drove off to a nearby Starbucks, no one from school was there when we showed up. Thank god. Grayson and I ordered some drinks and sat down in some armchairs while we waited for them to call us up.

"Today was pretty interesting, huh?" I laughed. Grayson nodded a chuckled a bit. "You could say that again", he seemed to say. I don't know if that's really what he was thinking.

"I wanted to thank you for following me today," I said as I leaned toward him a bit, "it really meant a lot."

He smiled and me and stared at the floor, I think he was blushing again. Our drinks were called and then we walked around for a bit. This Starbucks was located at a sort of mall type place, there were a lot of restaurants and a few shops and stuff. It was a very popular hangout spot, I just hoped we wouldn't run into Elliot down here. Who knows what she's up to right now, probably planning something for tomorrow.

"So, Grayson. Are you always this quiet?" I teased.

He laughed a bit and punched me in the arm. I rubbed the spot where he hit me and looked down at him. God he was so cute, his eyes, his smile, the way his hair was always a little bit messy, his adorable little frame. I wanted to grab him and kiss him right then, but that would've been a bit awkward. I wonder if he likes me too?

We walked for a bit longer, in silence mostly, every now and again I'd come up with some clever one liner. It was honestly really fun, I loved how there wasn't this overwhelming need to keep a conversation going. We both just enjoyed each other's company. The trails around the restaurants were beautiful this time of year, everything was in bloom. Grayson and I walked the trails for a bit, taking in the blooming flowers, the beautiful colors of spring, the warm breeze blowing around us. It was amazing, we eventually came to a blooming Willow Tree and took a break underneath it.

"I'm starting to break a sweat in this heat," I laughed.

Grayson smiled back and ran his fingers through the grass around us. I turned to face him and blushed a bit.

"I, uh, need to tell you something," I mumbled.

He looked up at me and smiled, a bit of blush was visible on his cheeks. I wonder if he knew what I was going to say?

"I've kinda like you for a while now," I said quickly, "well a while is an exaggeration, more like a couple of weeks, but I really do like you. I was just, uh-"

The way he looked at me cut me off. I wasn't sure what he was trying to say, but I think it was the answer I was hoping for. I just sat there and smiled at him.

He grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine, I guess that was my sign. I didn't want to ask him out yet, after all this was my first time trying to be with a guy. But I was happy just being a "thing".

I'm glad I got some amount of happiness out of today.