third time's a charm

"get to the good stuff"

chapter twelve: get to the good stuff

Friday, December 15. 7:39 am.

"Elle, come on!" I huffed under my breath as I jumped into my skinny jeans, having to do a dance to get them over my thighs. Will was in a strange hurry to get to school, and I was not having it.

"Give me one second, please!" My eyes rolled as I fastened the button of my jeans and I grabbed the shirt I had laid out for myself this morning, quickly pulling it over my head and getting it situated. I looked at myself once in the mirror and accepted my fate of not looking stunning for a normal day of school.

I grabbed a few things while leaving my room, and hurried down the stairs.

"Hey! I bought you that shirt." My eyebrows furrowed at Will's unexpected pep and I slowly nodded, knowing he had bought it for me a couple of months ago. "It looks good."

"Thanks," I said, moving past him to get to my backpack. I threw the few miscellaneous things I had gathered on the way downstairs into its main pocket and zipped it up. I stepped into my shoes, picked up my backpack, and then looked up at Will. "Ready."

"You wanna grab something small to eat?" Will asked, seeming concerned.

"Rowan's getting me a bagel."

"You lucky bastard." I smiled at him sweetly and he began walking to the door, opening it swiftly as he got to it. "Bye, Mom!"

"See you later!" I added.

"Bye, guys! Have a good day!" We walked out of the door once our mom had responded, and made our way to the car.

"What's the occasion?" I asked Will, knowing we would normally never leave for school thirty minutes early. Will started the car and began making his way out of our driveway when he glanced over at me to respond.

"We need to talk."

"What?" I asked him, immediately becoming nervous.

"Jamison Burnside?" I promptly placed my head in my hands and was furious that Will had set me up like this.

"Oh, fuck you, Will," I whimpered, not wanting to talk to him about anything.

"Ellie, c'mon," Will said, almost begging. "I just want to know how things are going... I want to know how things started. You lied to me, and I want an explanation."

"I had to lie to you! You would have buried me or Jamie alive if I hadn't." I crossed my arms and decided to look away from Will during our conversation.

"Jamie?" Will asked softly. I slowly glanced at him and nodded my head. Will sent me a small smile and I sighed quietly. "Ellie, you're the smartest girl I know. I guess I just want to know the real Burns. Obviously he can't be as bad as I had expected. You wouldn't go for a sleazeball; I know you have a good radar when it comes to jerks."

"He's not a sleazeball at all, Will." Thinking about Jamie caused me to smile, and I knew once I started to smile, it would probably never end.

"I wouldn't normally get involved, but I'm dying to know. How did he impress you so much? What is he doing right? I'm just curious, honestly. I want to know about the party... I want to know everything. I guess you don't have to tell me everything, but I want you to know that I'm only asking because I want to hear about it. I'm not trying to analyze anything, or make you feel badly for having a thing for this guy. You've seemed so genuinely happy the last couple of days, and I wanna hear about the guy who's responsible."