The Elijah Walker Fanclub

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

"I need a plan," I said aloud to the empty house. "A really good plan," I added for good measure.

Dad was out for dinner tonight, so I had the house all to myself. I set myself up on a lounger by the side of the pool with a pen and a notepad. Sitting cross-legged I flipped open the notepad, balanced it on my knee and wrote out a title for my plan.

Mae's steps to dating Elijah Walker.

Step One.

I tapped the pen against my chin thoughtfully. It would definitely help if he actually knew my name. Nicknames were great and everything, but was someone likely to ask somebody to be their girlfriend by starting that question with their nickname?

Oh, Locker Buddy, you are so beautiful. I must have you for myself.

I clasped a hand to my chest and giggled. That was not going to happen. Step One was clear, I needed to somehow casually tell him my name. Which at this point was kind of difficult because I'd let it go on for so many of our encounters.

Step One.

Tell Elijah my name.

Which brought me swiftly onto the next step. I was still wondering about the graffiti I'd discovered. I couldn't be sure it was his work and the fact that he never got into trouble, was never rowdy like the rest of his teammates and just generally followed the school rules made it seem impossible to be his handiwork. I mean, he was the student council president for god's sake. He was supposed to be a model student.

I just had to know. Was it him? If it wasn't him, what on earth was he doing behind the changing rooms? I scribbled down my question.

Step Two.

Is Elijah a graffitist?

If I was honest, that one probably wasn't going to help me in getting closer to my ultimate goal, but it still seemed important.

I'd thought once I got started that this would be easy. Now that I was doing it, I was stumped. I drew a flower in the corner of the page distractedly and then leant back on the lounger, gazing up at the clear sky. What was step number three?

I scrunched up my face. This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I needed reinforcements. Swiping my phone out of my pocket I made an emergency group call to Rosa and Cody. After explaining what I was doing, they jumped on board like the fabulous friends that they were.

"I like where you're going with this plan idea, any battle goes better with a well-planned strategy" said Rosa.

"True," agreed Cody. "Plus, I bet the other girls going after him aren't really thinking it all through, so you'll be miles ahead of them."

"I'm not sure I'd call this a battle," I replied, wondering how many girls I'd really be up against. Besides, I just wanted to stop being the centre of attention for the whole Alex fiasco. I wasn't looking to wrestle girls away from Elijah, that'd not really help my situation of avoiding looking crazy and scorned and on the verge of implosion. "I'm looking for peace and happiness, this isn't a knives out situation."

"What are you talking about?" said Rosa. "You're talking about trying to date Elijah Walker, the schools most wanted and most unattainable guy. This is clearly Guerrilla Warfare."

"She's not wrong Mae, if this is what you want, you're going to need to take it seriously," said Cody his tone grave. "The girls in our school won't pull punches just because you are cute like a little doll."

I snorted. "Hey, I can be serious." I threw a couple of punches in the air, though that was more for my sake as they obviously didn't see it through the phone.

"Okay, so what have you got so far then on your plan," asked Rosa.

I looked down at my page. I didn't want to tell them about the name thing, it was too embarrassing. It seemed like maybe Elijah was trying to keep the graffiti thing a secret, so I didn't want to let that one slip. Especially if I was wrong about it. "Nothing. That's why I called," I said, deciding that it'd be best to keep the first couple of steps to myself. Mae's secret steps.

"So, step one should be to get to know him better," said Rosa. "Then step two, it would make sense to find some common ground." She hesitated, deep in thought. "You need to be involved in things he's interested in. It'll give your relationship some foundation."

I nodded to myself as I added them to my plan. These were great ideas.

"I'd say one of the most important steps would be what you said earlier. You know, about why he doesn't date. The reason could really get in the way," said Cody. "Or you could use it to your advantage. Either way, add it, it's a must."

"Got it," I said, writing it down. I'd made a good choice bringing them in on this, their ideas were so much better than anything I could think of. "So that's five– I mean three things." I snapped my mouth shut. That was close.

"You need to ask him out because he isn't going to do the asking," said Cody with a laugh.

"Put that last though," said Rosa. "Before that, you should ask him somewhere, as like a group thing. He's less likely to say no if there's other people there."

"That's true, do a group thing and invite Max, he's tasty," said Cody slyly. "If his swim captain is there, he'll be more comfortable, and it'll also give me the opportunity to have a little chat with him."

"You can't hook up with Max during an Elijah and Mae hook up thing," stated Rosa. By her tone I could only guess that she was rolling her eyes. "She needs our help."

Cody made a tsk sound. "I can multitask, I'm no one-track-macho-guy."

"You're right about that," said Rosa. "You're the least macho person I know. I'm more macho than you are."

"It's fine," I said, reading through the list again, my heart falling in my chest. "If I'm honest, this probably isn't even going to go the way I want it to. Somebody should get to hook up."

"Mae-be," said Rosa sternly. "He'd be lucky to have you, and if after all this effort on your part he still says no. Well. It's just his loss."

"If he says yes though," began Cody excitedly. "Nobody is going to give two shits about Alex and Carly. Not when Elijae is here."

I pulled a face. "Elijae?"

"It's your couple name," said Cody. "It's either that or Malijah."

"Both sound terrible," Rosa laughed.

That wasn't a good start. "If our couple name sucks, does that mean we wouldn't go well together," I said, panicked.

"I'm not sure I'd base your relationship capabilities off of a couple name, I mean Dex and Stacey's would be Dexey and that just sounds like a fast food restaurant," said Rosa her tone laced with amusement. "Don't worry, you've totally got this."

"Totally," Cody repeated.

I shook my head. I'd never really been superstitious, why start now. "Yeah, you're right. I've got this," I said fist pumping the air.

**Authors Note**

So we've got a plan. That's a good start. What would you have added to her Steps?