There's Gnome One Like You ~ A Gnome Alone Fanfiction

3) A Question

"Chloe? It's time to go back to class. Chloe?"

Suddenly, Erin's voice interrupted Chloe's flashback. She was still staring at her lunch intently, still mostly untouched. 

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking." Chloe answered, looking back up at Erin. The teachers all headed out of the lounge and back to the cafeteria to gather their students for afternoon class. Before Chloe knew it, it was time to go home. 

**That Evening**

"So, you're not going to believe this," Chloe said to Sandy on the computer screen. "My best friend from high school showed up at my new job as a new teacher too."

"Wow, how do you feel about that? I hope it's not awkward," Sandy commented.

"No, not really. I was worried it would be when I first saw him, but then we talked and it felt like old times." Chloe explained. 

"That's good," said Sandy. 

"So hey, I've just been thinking...since this afternoon, when I saw him..." Chloe began. "I wonder if he remembers the promise that we made to each other."

"What promise?" Sandy asked, very intrigued. 

"Before our last year of high school, we promised each other we would always be friends, even as adults."

Sandy gave her friend a sweet smile and leaned in closer to the computer, listening intently. "Oh?" she said. "So what happened?"

"Well," Chloe started. "We just grew apart. As most friends do when they get older. Our interests changed, so we didn't talk as much. We still considered each other friends and walked to school together some days, but it became less and less frequent. But I wonder...does he still consider me a friend?"

"I'm sure he does," Sandy told her. "I mean, he seemed very excited to see you today, so that's a sign that he does. Maybe he wants to reconnect."

"I wonder if you're right..." Chloe wondered out loud. 

"Well, you could always ask," Sandy suggested.

"Are you crazy? That would definitely make things awkward." 

"Just a suggestion, Clo...Anyways, what ARE you going to do?" 

"Well, there's really nothing I can do, and it's not really a big deal. We work together, it is what it is. I'm not worried about it. After all, I feel...very comfortable with Liam."

Sandy gave Chloe another sweet smile. "Then I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Still," Chloe started again. "I wonder...if he still holds that promise as close to him as I do."

"Geez, Chloe, I never thought of you as a cheeseball." 

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Chloe exclaimed.

Sandy laughed loudly. "I never thought of you as the type to get all sentimental!"

"I'm not," Chloe stated. "Friends are just very important to me. And me and Liam were really close. We went through so much together." Suddenly, a memory popped into Chloe's head. "Hey...can I tell you a secret?"

Chloe went on to tell Sandy about moving to the new house with her mom, meeting Liam, discovering the gnomes, and fighting the troggs. Being the good friend that she was, Sandy believed every word and listened to her friend as she described in great detail what had happened.

"Wow, you could write a book about all of that." Sandy commented after Chloe finished. 

Chloe laughed. "Maybe. But how would it end?"

"Well, you defeated the troggs, right?" Sandy said.

"That's not what I mean. If I wrote the book, the readers would probably want to know what happened to that Chloe girl and her neighbor sidekick, Liam." Chloe replied.

"Hmm..." Sandy said, in deep thought. "I guess I would wonder about that, yeah."

"I definitely wonder about it..." Chloe trailed off, getting lost in thought. "Anyways, I gotta get to bed. Work tomorrow. Night!"

"Goodnight!" Sandy replied, turning off Skype. 

Chloe laid back in her bed, her mind still wandering.

**The Next day**

"Hey, Chloe!" Liam shouted from the other end of the hallway. It was still early morning, so class wouldn't be starting for another hour or so. Chloe waved to Liam, dropping her textbook on the ground again as she tried to get herself through the front door with all of her belongings. Liam laughed as she bent over to pick it up.

"Not funny," Chloe said, barely enough for Liam to hear. He continued laughing and headed back into the computer lab. 

Liam went over to each computer in the room to make sure it was running smoothly and set to the Valley Academy home page. After an hour of checking on the computers and playing a little bit of World of Warcraft, the students started to come in. Liam's students were a bit older, and everyday they would spend an hour with Liam learning how to do various things on the computer. The first thing the students were learning was typing. 

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to another day of typing, surfing, and my favorite...gaming!" Liam announced to the class. All of the students had big smiles on their faces and watched Liam intently. 

"Remember, those of you who finish the typing lesson early today will get a chance to play some online games with me! Your choice." Liam explained, as the class cheered and hurried onto their computers to log in. 

**Lunch Time**

Lunch had finally started again, and Chloe grabbed her lunch pack and headed to the teacher's lounge like she did yesterday. This time, Erin and her other new coworker were nowhere to be found, and instead, a few unfamiliar teachers were sitting together while Liam was sitting alone at the table in the upper left hand corner of the room. Chloe headed directly towards him and sat down.

"Long time no see!" Liam exclaimed with a smile.

"I saw you this morning," Chloe sighed.

"Yeah, but that was like three hours ago," Liam argued.

Chloe let out another sigh and rolled her eyes as Liam giggled.

"So how was your day?" asked Liam.

"Pretty good, at least nobody ate their boogers. We started on the basics of multiplication today." Chloe told him. 

"Ooh, getting into the difficult stuff. I struggled with multiplication when I was that age." Liam said.

"So did I," Chloe added. "It's been fun. I made up some multiplication songs and they loved it."

"You're so creative, Chloe," Liam said with admiration. "I'm glad you never lost that creative spark."

Chloe smiled, looking down at her lunch. The two ate in silence for a few minutes, until Chloe decided to speak.

"Hey, Liam? Can I ask you a question?" 

Liam looked up from his food at Chloe with a serious expression. 

"Yeah, what is it?"