Chapter Thirteen

Nate

Monday morning, my mind was groggy from tossing and turning all night. I couldn’t get the picture of Elle in that yellow dress out of my brain. Then, when I finally fell asleep, I’d dreamt of Elle and me. The kind of dreams that leave a guy frustrated and mad at the world.

She’s not your type of girl, I reminded myself for the thousandth time. More accurately, I wasn’t her type of guy. She deserved to be with someone going somewhere. Somewhere important. Not a messed up boxer with no real plan and a dismal future.

Besides, the only reason she even talked to a guy like me was because of her brother. If Jimmy hadn’t been there she wouldn’t have wasted two minutes on me.

Sighing heavily, I leaned up against the lockers, my arms folded across my chest and waited outside our English lit class. Kids were streaming past both ways. Some of them shooting me strange looks. I gave each of them a cold stare. What? I wondered. They’d never seen a guy waiting for someone.

Finally, I caught a glimpse of Elle and Jimmy weaving their way through the crowd. I smiled to myself, she was as beautiful as ever. A deep blue top and those perfect jeans of hers. My smile dropped when I saw the angry scowl she shot me. Crap, what had I done now?

“You jerk,” she said as she pushed my chest with both of her hands. “How dare you? I told you, no fighting.”

I looked over at Jimmy for some kind of clue.

“I didn’t tell her,” he said defensively.

“What?” she continued, pushing again. “You thought I wouldn’t hear about you beating up two guys in the boy’s bathroom. Like you thought you could keep that a secret.”

My insides relaxed a little. Okay, this I could deal with.

“Listen, Elle,” I began as I grabbed her hands to stop her pushing me again. “It’s not what you think. You’re overreacting.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jimmy wince and roll his eyes. He shot me a quick look that let me know I’d probably made a mistake.

“Overreacting?” she yelled. “Overreacting? You think me being upset because you get into a fight that might get my brother expelled is overreacting? You idiot, You jerk. You are the dumbest thing to ever walk this earth.”

I had to stop myself from laughing. She was just adorable when she got mad. Instead, I made it worse. “Okay, you’re not overreacting about something that happened eight days ago and no one knows about. Or at least they won't unless you yell it a little louder.”

She grunted while she pulled her hands-free from mine. “Listen, we had a deal. No fighting, remember?”

Oops, I could see she realized the wrong words were out before she could stop herself.

“What do you mean you had a deal?” Jimmy asked. His brow creased while he tried to work out what he had just heard.

“The deal was,” I said, “your sister agreed to go out with me. But only if I promised not to get into any fights.”

Elle’s eyes softened just a little. She hadn’t forgiven me, but she appreciated the fact that I had just saved us.

“Yes,” she said picking up where I left off. “And he goes and risks everything. Just when I was getting to like him. It seems I’m not worth it.”

Jimmy continued to frown but I could tell he bought the story.

“But, Elle, it wasn’t like that,” Jimmy said. “I tried to tell you, he was helping. If Nate hadn’t come in. they would have beat the crap out of me.”

“That’s why you were talking to Joe McCain that day,” she said to me. “That was why you had that scrape on your chin.” She looked at her brother. Her eyes took on that caring, maternal look they got sometimes. Then she looked back at me with her death stare. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” she demanded.

I shrugged my shoulders. To me, it was sort of obvious.

“He’s my brother,” she continued. “If someone tries to hurt him. I should know about it.”

Thankfully, at that moment. Mr. Anderson stuck his head out the door. “Watson, Clark. Vice Principal Bean wants to see you.”

Elle’s forehead furrowed as she stared at me, silently yelling at me that she had told me so.

“I’m going with you,” she said as she turned and started to march to the front office.

“Just your brother, Elle,” Mr. Anderson said after her.

She turned and gave him an evil look. “Try to stop me.”

Mr. Anderson and I exchanged a quick glance. I shrugged my shoulders to let him know that it was out of my control. Nothing in this universe was stopping Elle Watson at the moment. He hid a quick smile and shook his head as he pulled the door closed behind him.

“Come on,” she demanded. “The sooner we set this straight the sooner I can get on with my life.”

“No Elle,” Jimmy said as he hurried to catch up. “You’ll just make it worse.”

I reached out to pull him back and shook my head. It was no use. She was on a mission.

When we got there, the secretary made us wait outside his office in stiff green chairs.

God, how many times had I been in this situation? I wondered. How many offices had I sat outside of waiting to be punished?

The door to the office opened and my good friends, Frick and Frack, stepped out. Before they saw us, I caught Frick give Frack a quick smile. Like they’d gotten away from certain death. Then he saw me and the smile dropped from his face.

“Is that them?” Elle said as she started to spring from her chair.

“Whoa, hold on Tiger,” I said as I grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her back down onto her chair. “Not here, not now.”

She shot me a frustrated look, but she remained seated.

The two idiots scooted by, keeping one eye on me, the other on the lioness sitting next to me. I honestly don’t know which scared them more.

“Watson, Clark,” a deep voice bellowed from inside the office. “Get in here.”

Vice Principal Bean fit every stereotype. It was like he’d been ordered from central casting. A big man going to fat. Black horn-rimmed glasses. A short-sleeved white shirt and a paisley tie. But it was the flat top haircut that sealed the deal. The guy just looked like a vice principal in charge of discipline.

He looked up and frowned when he saw us accompanied by Elle.

“I’m here as my brother’s representative,” she said. “To make sure his rights aren’t violated.”

Mr. Bean’s frown grew even deeper. “You’re in high school. You don’t have any rights. Remember that and things will go a lot smoother.”

“You are incorrect …” she began.

He sighed heavily. “Sit down Elle, you too,” he added pointing at me and Jimmy.

Pausing, he pushed his glasses up onto the top of his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. I could tell he was upset. School had barely started and he had to deal with stuff like this.

Pulling a manila folder and flipping it open, he read it for a minute then looked up at me. “I can see you are familiar with how this goes Mr. Clark,” he said.

I kept my mouth quiet. No use giving him ammunition.

“And you, Mr. Watson. I must say, I am surprised.”

Elle leaned forward as if she was going to give him a piece of her mind. I quickly reached out and grabbed her arm. She shot me a look like she wanted to cut it off at the elbow, but I stared her down. Just wait, I silently told her.

She took a deep breath and then settled back into the chair.

The VP hadn’t missed a thing. He looked back and forth between us then leaned back in his chair, folding his arms.

“You may have heard,” he began. “There is a rumor going around school that two young men were savagely beaten in the west wing boy’s bathroom last week.”

“Really? Savagely? That was the word they used?” Jimmy asked as he shook his head.

Great, why didn’t these Watsons know enough to just shut up?

Bean stared at Jimmy for a long minute. Long enough for the kid to begin to squirm, then flipping my folder closed, he turned to me.

“I called you in to make sure you know that fighting will not be allowed. We have zero tolerance for such activities.”

Looking down at my lap I tried to hide a smile. They didn’t have a thing. Just rumors. Frick and Frack had kept quiet.

“I understand sir. It was the same policy at my last school.”

“A policy you didn’t always comply with, I see,” he said as he tapped my folder.

Shrugging my shoulders I said, “School can be a learning experience.”

Bean scowled at me, letting me know that I might have just pushed things a little far.

“Mr. Bean,” Elle interrupted. “Just so I’m fully aware of the school policy. What is a student supposed to do when two bigger kids are beating up a little kid? I mean, are they supposed to just stand there and watch it happen and then pick up the pieces when it’s done?”

Bean pulled his stare away from me to look at Elle. I could tell that there were things he wanted to say but was holding back.

“The student should get a teacher, Miss Watson. Let them handle it. Fighting will not be tolerated.”

“But by the time I go and get a teacher. The little kid will be pummeled into the ground.”

Jimmy started to lean forward so I knocked his leg with mine and shook my head. I swear the kid was going to challenge his sister and assure her he could have taken care of himself. Therefore, admitting he had been involved. What was it with these people, didn’t they know anything?

Jimmy saw what I was thinking and leaned back into his chair.

“We have zero tolerance for fighting,” Bean repeated as if he were quoting from a manual.

Elle folded her arms and stared back at the man. She knew it was ridiculous but you couldn’t change bureaucracy.

“Anyway,” he said as he dropped my folder into a desk drawer. “In this case, we don’t have an actual report. Just rumors. Of course, too many rumors about repeated events and I will have to take action.”

“Without evidence?” Elle said. “Shouldn’t the bullies be the ones punished?”

I caught Mr. Bean’s attention and rolled my eyes. He had to hide a laugh as he shook his head.

“Get out,” he said. “And Miss Watson, since I did not send for you, this will have to be a tardy situation for you. A couple more and it will be detention.”

Elle’s eyes grew big, the thought of Elle Watson serving time in detention was absurd. At least to her.

“As for you two,” the vice principal said pointing at Jimmy and myself, then pausing for a long second. “Just go. And remember, zero tolerance for fighting”

I grabbed the two of them and hustled them out the door before they could say something to make him change his mind.

As I was shutting the door I stuck my head back in and said, “What would you have done in the situation? When you were a student.”

He frowned for a moment then said, “I’d have beaten the crap out of them.”

I smiled back.

“But then, as Vice Principal of discipline,” he added. “I’d have suspended my butt.”

I nodded, fair enough.

By the time we dropped Elle off at her class she had calmed down. Not completely, but enough so that I didn’t have to keep looking over my shoulder.

“We’ll talk about this later,” she said when we got to her door. “Try to keep out of trouble until lunch.”

I smiled to myself. Okay, she didn’t hate me. At least not completely.