Bullied and the Bitch

Chapter 10: I like...

"You were amazing today," El tells me as we walk home.

"Of course," I say smoothly. She laughs, like I knew she would.

"Oh, I have to go buy some meat," she says as we pass by one of those chain grocery supermarkets that people shop at to buy their household items. In my house, we got things ordered from overseas, rather than buying from the commoners' shops, and I never did the shopping. Things were delivered to us.

So when I go in I'm in a whole new world. I'd never seen so many things on shelves like in that store. The meat section is full of ice and someone dressed in an apron and a weird cap serves El.

"Do you come here every day?" I ask her.

"No, of course not. I try to do my shopping in bulk. But it's hard to carry it all home, that's the only issue. Simon or Samuel sometimes comes with me, but they can only tag along on weekends, and the best offers are on the weekdays."

Something hits me. When I'd done my research on El to find a time to attack her, I'd been told that she'd go home first, then come out again to buy groceries. Not buy them on her way home from school.

"Do you usually buy them after school?" I ask her.

"Um. Yeah. It's dangerous to shop in the evening, so..." she says, looking straight ahead. Oh. So it was my fault.

"You can buy whatever you want. I'll help you carry it," I tell her, needing to do something to alleviate the guilt. She blinks at me.

"Okay," she says, nodding and smiling.

She didn't hold back. She practically bought the whole store.

"Seriously. Do we need this much food?" I ask. My arms are straining, and even with my male strength this is killing me.

"I'm feeding nine mouths. Including yours," she tells me in lieu of an explanation.

"I still have to work after this, you know," I protest. I did construction work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday... and today's Monday.

"So do I," she retorts indignantly. This is truth. Janice is out till pretty late doing her jobs, so the job of taking care of the household, the home and the garden falls to El.

"Whatever, let's just get home quickly," I say, grunting with effort. She laughs. She's not suffering, because I'd volunteered to take the majority of the heavy things. Damn my guilt and chivalry.

"Come sit with us!" Allen tells me in homeroom on Tuesday. I glance at El, who has already gone to her usual spot beside the window. "Come on, man," Allen says, pulling out the chair beside him. I sit in it, with the full intention of leaving them and going back to El in a few minutes. El looks at me, then turns away. Part of me is disappointed that she doesn't seem more upset about not getting to sit with me.

Whatever.

"You're awesome at football, dude! You ever played a game, before?" Allen asks.

"No," I answer. Cheered at all their games, but never played one. I would have feared chipping a nail too much to do anything like that.

"Coach is asking after you. Think you should come to our practice. He'd probably recruit you immediately."

"There's no more spots on the team," Trent mutters stubbornly. He's feeling threatened. For some reason this makes me happy.

"I might stop by," I tell Allen.

"Awesome. We get to see the cheerleaders up close too," Allen tells me with a wink. I want to roll my eyes. Men.