𝐁𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐁𝐚𝐛𝐲 |» 𝘫.𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰

-having a little paddle, are we?-

Fiddling with the lock on her locker, Ellouise frowned at it until she wriggled it open. Shoving her books into her locker, she glanced at her watch to check the time. "Ellie, Ellie, Ellie," she heard an annoyingly familiar voice ring. Groaning, she slammed her locker shut and began to walk away. Tristen jogged after her. "So, am I going to take you to the debutant ball?" he asked, flinging his arm over her shoulders.

Lifting his arm off her, Ellouise groaned. "No."

"Why?" the boy asked her and followed her as she wandered down the halls.

"Because..." she tried to think up an excuse on the spot by looking around her. A couple, cuddling up against a locker, caught her attention. "I have a boyfriend," she lied through her teeth.

"You? Ellie Wilkins? You have a boyfriend?" he stuttered with confusion.

"It's not that hard to believe, jeez," she scoffed at his reaction. "I'm not that hopeless," she sighed as she joined Rory by her locker.

"What's up?" Rory asked her cousin.

"I have a boyfriend. Don't I Rory?" El asked, elbowing the girl in her side.

"Of course she does," she answered with a smile. "Now go bother someone else, Tristen," Rory nodded as she shewed the boy away.

Backing away, Tristen held his hands up in defeat. "See ya around Gilmores," he called out to the pair.

Rolling her eyes, Ellouise pressed her back into the line of lockers. "He is very persistent I'll give him that," El sighed as she spoke to her cousin.

"I know," Rory chuckled about Tristen's strong crush on her last year.

+++

Stepping out of the school, Jess pushed his way through the crowd. Just as he looked up, he saw his uncle approaching him. "Great," he groaned to himself as he tried to sneak past him.

"Hey. How was school?" Luke asked as he chased after the teen.

"Fine," Jess replied in a mundane voice as he carried on talking through the school car park.

"You learn anything good?" he questioned Jess.

A swift exhale left Jess's lips before he spoke, "Oh yeah, tons of things. I've got gold stars plastered all over my forehead," he responded sarcastically.

"I had an interesting call today. Wanna know who it was from?"

"Not particularly."

"It was from Taylor Doose, you know he owns the market," Luke explained anyway as he followed Jess around.

"If you say so," he continued walking.

"He said you came in today and he said you took some money out of a little donation cup to help repair the bridge. I told him he was crazy, you wouldn't do that, you weren't a thief, that he was just trying to start trouble, then I hung up on him. But don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging up on Taylor, and he is crazy, but I was just wondering if maybe any of the other things he said were true." Luke used millions of hand expressions as he explained to Jess the contents of the phone call.

"What do you think?" Jess asked him as he shoved the book in his hand into his back pocket.

Sighing, he answered, "I think that if you tell me that what he's saying is not true, then I'm gonna believe it's not true."

"Okay, it's not true," the teen smiled sarcastically as he spoke in a mundane voice.

"That doesn't sound very convincing," Luke mumbled.