Elisa

6

"Is it true that Oliver and Ruby are dating?" Fi asks me. 

I pull my history notes out of my locker. "Yes. Considering they were making out on the dance floor last weekend." 

"I'm so happy for them." She smiles. "Hasn't Ruby been in love with him for like ever?" 

"Yup. I think Ollie always has liked her too, but it's Ollie. He never shows emotion over anything." 

"Woah. Since when was that a thing?" Fi points down the hall. 

I look over. It's Romeo, and he's walking with Emily Reiter. They're holding hands. I'm honestly not surprised that he's talking to her now. She is the prettiest girl at Archbishop Joseph's, and also the sweetest. Which makes it so much harder for anyone to hate her. Emily reminds me of Lily Rose Depp, who is beyond gorgeous. She's got those deep-set, dark eyes. I just hope Romeo doesn't break her heart. He has a tendency to do that to every girl he talks to. 

I feel Fi staring at me. "Can you stop?" 

"What?" She pretends to be confused. 

"I literally do not care what he does. I haven't liked him since the eighth grade." 

"Whatever you say. Sometimes I catch you staring at him like you're on cloud nine." She raises her dark eyebrows. 

I scoff. "Jesus Christ, I do not stare at him. You guys just want me to like him but I don't." 

"You're trying to tell me that you didn't have a literal orgasm when you slept in his bed on Friday night?" 

"Oh my God," I roll my eyes. "I'm at his house like every other day. Leave it alone." 

The both of us jump at the sound of body hitting locker. A huge crowd has formed at the end of the hallway, and the two of us run over to see what's going on. Through the line of people I see Romeo, who's pinned up against the locker. I can't tell who's grabbed him,  though. Here we go again. He probably slept with another football player's girlfriend and is getting the shit kicked out of him. Remi will be here in about a minute to save his best friend. 

"Fuck you!" A familiar voice says to him. Not just a familiar voice, my brother's voice.

I push through the line of people blocking me, to find Remi pinning him against the locker. What the fuck?

Romeo pushes him off. Remi retaliates by punching him the face, hard. Romeo is on the ground bleeding, and Remi is in his face pointing and spitting out curse words. I want to stop it, but my body is completely frozen. I don't think I've ever seen the two of them argue. Let alone fist fight. 

I finally find feeling in my legs, and I enter the scene to break them up. I grab Remi by the back of the shirt, flinging him off of Romeo, who is just taking the punches and not fighting back. I didn't realize I was that strong. 

"What the fuck El!" Remi rips himself from my grasp. 

"Why are you punching the shit out of him?" I stare at Romeo, completely shocked. His nose is bleeding profusely and he's definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow. 

"Stay out of it." Remi storms off into the crowd. Everyone starts to disperse after Remi is out of sight. 

Romeo sits against the locker, his face in between his knees. I look around to see if there's anyone else who could talk to him for me, but everyone went to class. Even Fi exited the area. What is wrong with this school? A huge fight breaks out in the hallway but not a single adult is to be found. Yet when Frankie has a piercing in her face, Sister Roberta is here within seconds to call her out.