Unknown Identity

Chapter Eighteen

He drove me to school. The three nerds were waving at a shaded spot.

Elliot parked the car.

Clark bent down to Elliot's open window, his hands on his knees.

"Hey, we got you a shaded spot," he said, smiling nervously.

Elliot said nothing as he shut down the engine.

"So, uhm, do we get game tickets for this weekend?" Clark still seemed nervous.

I cleared my throat.

Elliot rolled his eyes to me. "Remind me again why I'm doing this?"

I felt my heart drop. "I thought...I thought you said you're willing to be Mr. Right."

He breathed hard, then was about to turn back to Clark when I touched his arm. "I'm sorry. It's okay if you don't want to do this. I just--"

"No, no, no, no. I want to do this. I really want to change for the better. I'm just not used to this. It's new to me."

I smiled. "You can do it. If you want to, you can."

He smiled back, then turned to Clark. "Thanks, man. You wanna join us for lunch?"

Clark's eyes popped out. He turned to Drey and Brandon who has the same looks on their faces, then back to Elliot.

Elliot grinned at them, then headed out of the car to open the door for me.

"See you later," he called out to the 3 of them as we walked towards the building.

"Not bad," I said, nudging his abs.

"What?" he smirked.

"Nothing. I just didn't expect you to invite them for lunch. I just wanted you to learn how to say "Thank you"."

"Was that a bad thing?" He looked confused.

"No. What you did was even better," I grinned proudly.

He tried to suppress his smile as we walked to our first class.

***

"You go on ahead. We have an emergency meeting at the org. It's for the upcoming Christmas event next month," Elliot said during lunch. "I'll see you in class."

"Okay," I smiled. I resisted the urge to ask him not to go yet or if I can come with him--

Ok. I guess I sound clingy now.

I walked towards the cafeteria, but the 3 witches who were guarding the doors made me stop and turn back.

"You!"

Shit.

I turned around and they were coming towards me.

Two men came from behind me and stood in front of me. They crossed their arms against their chests like bouncers.

"Problem, ladies?" Cam said.

"Get out of the way! You shouldn't be protecting her! She's a nobody!" Caddie once again made a scandal.

"Elliot's orders," Nick's barritone voice made them step back.

"What?" Caddie glanced at the two, then glared at me. "You got lucky, Pearson. Next time, I'll make sure nobody will come and save you."

"Yeah. Like that'll happen," Cam retorted.

Caddie and the 2 stomped their heels away.

Cam and Nick turned to me, their arms still crossed against their chests.

"From now on, you're with us when Elliot is not around. You are not allowed to go anywhere by yourself," Cam said. He was quite intimidating since it was the first time I've seen him this serious.

"Elliot's orders," Nick added.

"Uhm," I held back my smile. "Okay." I went and turned my heels around.

After a few steps, I turned to them and asked, "Are you sure you're coming?"

They both nodded.

"Okay," I smiled.

I speedwalked to the corner and they stopped.

"I thought you said I'm not going anywhere alone," I said trickily as I crossed my arms against my chest.

Cam squinted at me with a playful smile. "You're such a tease, you know that? I don't know why Elliot chose you out of the many girls lining up on him."

"That's the thing, Cam," Nick said. "She never fell in line."

They chuckled.

"Just make it quick," Cam said. "The bathroom is empty. It shouldn't take you long." He leaned on his side against the side of the door.

"Why don't you have girlfriends?" I asked.

"We're not commitment types," Cam answered. "And if we would have one, we'd want it to be someone who's just like you."

"Me?" I swear I'm blushing.

"Yeah. Now, don't be such a bighead. You're just our base of standard. We're not saying we like you and we can't ever like you. Elliot would kill us," Cam said humorously.

Nick smirked, leaning his back against the other side of the door.

After lunch, Cam and Nick were at the same class as ours. We all sat together (I have been ignoring the looks that I've been getting from all the other people. I feel safe when I'm with them.).

"I don't understand..." I heard Elliot whisper to himself.

I peeked and saw that he was actually paying attention to the professor in front. His brows met at the center. He was very serious.

I turned my attention back to the professor and held back a smile.

I can see that he's completely trying his best to be a better person.

***

The class finished at 3PM.

"We have a basketball practice. So, I won't be able to drive you. I'll just have Lewis fetch you--"

I wanted to ask whether I could come and watch, but that would sound clingy.

"Okay," I forced a smile as he pulled out his iPhone from his pocket.