The Elijah Walker Fanclub

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I arrived at French class before Rosa, having come from History in the classroom just next door. I took my usual seat in the centre row, dropping my backpack to the floor and kicking it under the table.

French was probably my worst subject, I really struggled with the masculine and feminine nouns, constantly mixing them up in my schoolwork. I wasn't the best student in any of my classes really, but I got by, getting an average grade in most of them. In French I was below average and frankly I'd be lucky to pass the exam at all.

Resting my head in my hand, I tried to casually check my reflection in the cosmetic mirror I had in my pocket. I had this awful habit of rubbing my eyes and forgetting I had makeup on, this usually resulted in me looking like I was in camouflage and about to dive to the ground and stealthily crawl through some bushes. I'd once looked like that for two whole classes before Cody ran into me and pulled me away from English with a look of abject horror. As much as I wanted to avoid any unwanted attention today, that was not going to be the way to do it.

Several girls came into the classroom giggling in conversation, after scanning the room, they made a beeline for me, hopping up to sit on the desks and surrounding me in a semi-circle.

"Mae, I feel like I haven't seen you in like forever, how are you doing?" asked Bethany, giving me pity eyes.

"We heard that Alex dumped you on your birthday, is that true?" asked Steph. She appeared angry for me, which was kind of nice, I guess. "That's so awful, I'd hate if that happened to me."

Jackie glanced over her shoulder, as if checking if anyone was listening before leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, "I heard that he was cheating on you with that girl that started here a few months ago, is he dating her now? I saw them together during assembly. I can't believe she stole him away from you, you're so much prettier than her."

It wasn't like I didn't usually talk to them; I talked to most people. I just wouldn't have called us close, at least not close enough to swarm me like bees and sting me with questions.

I feigned a smile and swung my head to the side so my ponytail fell over my shoulder. "Thanks guys, but I'm fine," I said trying my hardest to sound as genuine as possible. "I'm totally over it."

Bethany nodded sagely. "If you need someone to talk to, just let us know, okay?"

I smiled back at her. Yeah sure, I'll let you know so you can spread rumours about how cut up I am about the breakup. No thank you. I am completely fine and I won't let Alex hear anything otherwise. One hundred percent.

"Can you get off of my desk please?" said Rosa, suddenly appearing behind Jackie. "As much as I appreciate your ass being where I keep my books, I'd very much like to sit down."

"Woops sorry Rosa," said Jackie, hopping back down. "See you later Mae." They all waved in unison and headed toward their own desks.

"What was that about?" asked Rosa, dropping her French book with a heavy thud onto her desk.

I pulled a face. "They were asking about Alex. Do you think everyone knows he dumped me for Carly Davidson?"

"Okay, one, he didn't dump you for Carly Davidson, he dumped you for her dad's connections to the racing driver thing he loves," said Rosa, waving a hand at me.

It was true, Alex loved racing more than anything in the world and Carly's dad was on the board for one of the major championships. He basically knew all of the drivers which was way more important to Alex than anyone my family had connections with.

"And two," Rosa continued, her voice dropping a little so only I could hear. "Yes, everyone knows."

"It's bad enough it happened, I don't want everyone to pity me for being the girl who got dumped on her birthday, that just makes it so much worse."

"You're also the girl who got cheated on," said Rosa.

"Oh good," I sighed, my tone laced with sarcasm

"Sorry," said Rosa, her brows knitting together. "It's just what people have been saying."

I dropped my forehead onto my desk. Everyone knew, except Elijah Walker, who for some reason knew Alex and thought we were still together. Just my luck. Then again, maybe that meant he didn't know what exactly happened, maybe he wouldn't find out at all. The idea perked me up and I lifted my head with a fresh smile at my lips.

"Okay I'm good," I said, brushing away a stray piece of hair from my face.

"Ugh huh," said Rosa, nodding slowly as Madame Carmel entered the classroom. "Does that mean you're ready for French."

My smile dropped away. "No. No it doesn't."

"Bonjour classe," said Madame Carmel with her perfectly musical voice. Madame Carmel was in fact, actually French, which was bizarre being that the Spanish teacher was from Florida. She was very young for a teacher, definitely not anywhere near her thirties yet and boy did the teenage boys in our school like to drool after her.

"Bonjour Madame Carmel," the classroom mumbled back to her.

"Did we all complete our assigned homework over summer?" she asked, gliding down the rows and collecting slips of paper from everyone, individually stopping at each desk.

I froze. I'd completely forgotten about the homework; it hadn't been with the rest of the homework I'd piled up to complete over summer break. I thought back to when she handed it out originally, trying to remember what I did with it. Knowing me, I probably shoved it deep into the bowels of my old school bag in the hopes that it would disappear, and I could pretend it didn't exist.

When Madame Carmel got to me, she saw the panic on my face and tutted at me in disappointment. "Oh cher. Mae did you not do any of the practice work I assigned you? I have to say I am saddened that you didn't take this more seriously, we both know you are in need of a little more practice."

That was putting it lightly. I was struggling and a little more practice wouldn't be enough to save me. I opened my mouth and then closed it again, unsure of what to say.

"You should give her a break, Madame," said Steph from her seat at the back of the class. "Poor Mae was dumped over summer and he's dating somebody else now."

Madame glanced over at Steph and then back at me. Her lower lip pushed out. "Oh Mae, I am sorry. You can bring me your homework in our next class, okay?" she patted me softly on the shoulder. "Keep your chin up; it will get better I promise."

All I could do was nod. Wasn't that just awesome, now even my teachers felt bad for me. I was basically the leading attraction of the pity parade, which is exactly where I didn't want to be.

**Authors Note**

Hi it's me again, your friendly neighbourhood writer! I've got a big move coming up in the next couple of months, so I will endeavour to get this book all written before then so I don't have too long a break from writing. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, I really feel for Mae. Breakups are hard and it's even worse when everyone else dramatises it where you just want to forget. If you like my books, please make sure you vote and definitely drop me a comment below!