The Hopeful, The Hardheaded and the Homework

Chapter 36 : Throw Everything on the Line : Olive

"That was just jerkish and rude, I'll go right over there and tell Mr. "Lord of the Manor" he can't treat you like something to dismiss."

Emma looked ready to kill the moment Olive sat back down beside her and had Olive not felt so crummy, she would have been flattered how readily her best friend stuck up for her.
"Don't. It's okay..."

She could feel tears stinging her eyes and struggled to swallow past the lump in her throat. She felt silly, it was nothing to get upset about, surely. She was being foolish and overreacting again.
Emma shook her head.
"No it jolly well isn't okay. How long has he been acting like that again with you?"

"I don't know...not long at all. It's just weird. I'm being silly." Olive sniffed and then drew in a long breath to steady herself, at least while they were on the bus.
Enoch was hard to read and unpredictable at the best of times but he'd warmed up to her so much more and more over the last few months, even in public he was slowly but surely easing up. His sudden coldness towards Olive had come on so suddenly it seemed harsh. He'd all but ignored her all day and hadn't even come into the cafeteria at lunch at all. She'd tried to text him to see if everything was alright after he'd all but run away from them night before and, unsurprising now, he hadn't responded at all. It kind of stung how suddenly he would brush her off. If he was in a bad mood, she could normally tell right away, but he didn't seem angry so much as just distant, more so than ever. He was hiding again. He had told her it wasn't her that was the problem but Olive was less than convinced as uncomfortable as he seemed around her suddenly.

He just needed a few days to cool off. That was probably it. A little space, and she would happily give that to him if that's what Enoch wanted.

But Enoch was little different the next day, or even the day after. He barely said two words to her even in Biology, that weren't directly related to the subject, only glared at anyone who so much as looked at their bench. While he spoke many in mumbled words and grunts when she tried to start a conversation with him, one little reassurance Olive had was that he was at least looking at her. She would catch him staring at her sometimes, over the bench or out of the corner of her eye, much like he had done in the early weeks they'd been going out. But the moment she smiled at him or asked him what it was, he would firmly mutter that it was nothing and everything was fine. It was certainly not fine.

If he would just tell her why, even if Enoch had changed his mind, which would have genuinely shocked her given their recent behaviour before whatever it was that was wrong had hit like a wave, she would rather he told her. But no. If he had, surely that would be clear. Olive didn't even want to think about that chance, it upset her too much.

Emma repeated her offer to scold him into the next life with a vengeance every few hours or so that the wedge that had been driven between Enoch and Olive grew wider. But it wasn't until Enoch, after two days, finally decided to join them at the same table again that she did.

"Well looks who's decided to join us today. What's changed, Enoch?"

"Shut up, Nullings." Enoch only growled and Olive's head shot up in surprise as he actually took a seat with them again. At least he wasn't so mad he was completely against them. He sat right across from her, despite the empty spot on her left, but for a moment she caught his blue eyes again.

He didn't look away straight away, surely that was a sign things were getting a little better. Maybe. Save for his eyes, Enoch's expression was almost unreadable but Olive could see something alive behind their gaze, and the smallest, ever so slight twitch in his jaw that would have gone unnoticed to anyone else.

"Enoch, I..."

"Why don't you sit with Olive, Enoch?"

Emma's voice was a little strained, like a rubber band stretched out as she tried too hard to be nicer. Olive closed her eyes and shook her head. Emma definitely was doing it for her sake, but if anything, it was going to annoy him more.