The Elijah Walker Fanclub

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"You know the rules, you can't be here dressed like that," hissed Headmaster Howard.

"If the girls can dress like this, then why can't I?" Cody demanded, crossing his arms before his chest. "I look better than most of them anyway, maybe they should be the ones wearing suits."

The Headmaster looked furious. "I don't care how they look, we're talking about you right now, and if you can't dress appropriately for the occasion then you will be removed from this event."

"Like hell he will," snapped Rosa, materialising in her black silk dress which hugged her figure in all the right places. "You can't kick him out for dressing the way half the people here are dressed." She gestured wildly around the room, her gaze briefly setting on me, quickly bringing me out of my stupor.

"Sorry, I have to..." I walked away from Elijah suddenly, and toward my friends. I wasn't the best back up, but I was going to try my hardest.

"Besides, some of the girls here look like they came straight from a whorehouse, shouldn't the faculty be focusing more on that level of indecency?"

"You've been warned once already Rosa, you're on the right track for a suspension, stay out of this it doesn't concern you," said the Headmaster, shaking his finger at her.

I had been hoping that some kind of magic stream of words were going to flow from my mouth when I arrived, but as I came to a stand still between the two opposing sides, I found that I had absolutely zilch.

"Technically she's right," said a small voice beside me.

I glanced over and was surprised to find that Elijah had followed me across the dancefloor.

"He's wearing one of the assigned dress codes, he's just not wearing what the rules say a boy should wear, and some of the girls here aren't quite in line with the dress code but they haven't been called out for it. That's kind of sexist isn't it?"

I nodded, fuelled by his fervour. "It is sexist. Men and women should get to wear dresses or suits, I don't understand why we're being forced to conform to some kind of weird gender norm," I said, shaking my head. "This isn't the olden days, shouldn't the rules fit the times?"

Headmaster Howard turned his reddening face toward us, and I felt Elijah shrink beside me, it made me shrink too, losing my courage in one swift moment. "The rules are made by me. They are what I say they are."

Cody threw up his hands, sighing with great exaggeration. "Whatever, fine I'll just go then." He turned away and Headmaster Howards eye's followed him.

"Next time you break the rules, don't expect this kind of leeway from me," replied the Headmaster, his eyes narrowing.

"You shouldn't have to go," yelled Rosa, following after a retreating Cody.

"Pfft," said Cody. "It's not worth my time, I'd rather go somewhere where my style is appreciated."

Rosa slowed to a stop. "Alright, lets ditch this dump. Fancy a slice of pizza?"

"Absolutely," he said. He raised his hand and Rosa slapped it with a high five before glancing over her shoulder at me.

"Are you coming?"

I blinked. This had not gone well at all, and more importantly, Elijah had completely backed down. He'd come into that fight strong but had completely conceded as soon as the attention had turned to us. He was frozen in spot, as if Headmaster Howard's icy glare had turned him into actual marble.

"Are you okay?" I asked him uncertainly.

"Um, yeah," he said quickly, but he looked down at the ground when he weakly smiled.

"I've got to go," I said, seeing Rosa and Cody retreat to the entrance. I took a couple of steps then stopped, spinning in place. I gave him an awkward smile. "Thanks for the dance, it was erm... nice."

He brushed a hand over his neck and his eyes rose to mine. This time his smile was more genuine. "It was, even the bit where you stepped on me."

Awkward. My cheeks burned a little and I scurried away before he could see it.

I was a little disappointed we hadn't finished our dance, and now he was probably going to spend the rest of the night spinning Danicka around. I passed her at the entrance, and she gave me the most treacherous of smirks, as if she knew exactly what I was leaving behind. As much as I wanted to stay, my priorities were with my friends, besides, I could absolutely eat some pizza. Damn you Danicka, you've won this round, but I'll be back!

**Author's Note**

Woops sorry, it's been a hot minute! Not only did I move across the country, but I started a new job and I'm studying too, so I've just kind of not had a lot of time. This does set a bit of a precedent with my writing going forward, sorry about that but it's absolutely going to be 'as and when' ad hoc writing. For a second there I didn't think I was going to come back at all, sooooo at least I can fit in some creativity still amongst the business that is my life at the moment. Anyhoo, I hope you liked the chapter, fingers crossed the characters came out right, as I said it's been a whilllllllllle.