She's Back

fifty-one: I'm helping him

"Don't touch me!" I yell as Nick continues to walk closer to me.

He doesn't say anything. He takes a seat beside me and as I look into his eyes, I see sadness fill them.

"I'm not going to hurt you Elle," he says in almost a whisper.

"Then what do you want?" I ask almost believing him.

He sighs and leans back against the wall. "We want to ruin Giovanni's 'business'. We want to be stronger than them," he explains.

"You guys apart of another mafia?" I look at him. He looks up and his eyes soften.

"I told her not to hit you," he says moving a piece of my hair behind my ear. He then slowly places his hand on my cheek as he examines the bruises she left.

"And you thought she would listen to you?" I roll my eyes and look away from him.

"She may say she wants Damian but she doesn't. She's not in love with him anymore. She's in love with me, that's why I thought she would," he mumbles looking at my hands.

I don't say anything as I begin to think about what he said. I think she's tricking him. She keeps mentioning to me how she doesn't like him as much as she likes someone else. Now I know it's Damian because she admitted it not to long ago.

I think she's using Nick because he has some sort of connection or something to the mafia they're working for. Unless it's something else that she needs from him for.

             "Elle?" He calls out. "I told you I never wanted you involved but I can't apologize now because-"

             "Because I should've went along with what was happening? I should've let my friends hate me. I should've let Damian hate me and soon after the guys would hate me as well. Yes Nick, you shouldn't apologize because having everyone hate me is better-"

"It's better than this! Am I wrong?" he yells. I flinch and he notices. He clears his throat, stands up and begins pacing back and forth.

"I told you I was looking out for you. I'm sorry I yelled but you and I both know I'm not wrong. Your friends and Damian hating you is still better than you being involved-"

"So why am I involved?" I break into a sob. I begin taking slow breaths in and out because I need to show them I'm strong enough to handle this.

But he knew I was struggling inside. He crouched down in front of me. I'm curled up in a ball at this point.

"You're only involved because of Davina. She didn't know Damian was with anyone at the time we came up with this plan," he says.

"So you told her about me?" I ask avoiding eye contact. He continues to stay crouched in front of me.

"She eventually found out on her own. I came to the school to get an inside look of Damian and his friends. I was the one to find his weaknesses, his routine, who hung out with him and that's when I met you. The more I hung out with you guys, the more I could tell Damian was fixated on you. I knew Davina would want to use you against him and you happened to be one of the nicest people I've met. I knew I had to do something to try and save you from this," he sighs.

He takes his hand and places it under my chin, making me look at him as he continues.

"Ava told her about a girl Damian seemed to like, but I would swoop in and tell Davina that 'the girl' didn't seem interested in him. I tried to keep you away from him during lunch because I knew it would piss him off. Then I did the empty envelope thing to keep the girls away from you because Davina found out about the girls being friends with Damian. I thought my plan was working until Damian came over to my place threatening to kill me. That's when I knew everything from that day on was downhill for you," he finishes.