Off to Neverland

Off to Neverland (49)

“Have a nice day at school, Cassidy,” Claudia called out to her daughter when she dropped her off along with Eli and me. It made me roll my eyes, since she had obviously not mentioned us on purpose, but I wasn’t going to let it bother me.

Right when the three of us got out of the car, Claudia sped away and Cassidy walked away from Eli and me as quickly as she possibly could. This only made me roll my eyes again, not believing I had to call these people my family.

It surprised me greatly when Eli’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. This wasn’t something I was expecting, especially where there were so many people around. It wasn’t like we were keeping any of this a secret or anything, but I just wasn’t expecting him to be the type of guy who was okay with PDA.

People were staring at us as we walked through the hall, but I was able to easily ignore it as I leaned into him a little. I could definitely get used to something like this.

When we stopped at my locker, his arm dropped from my shoulders, upsetting me just a little bit. I really didn’t want him to let go of me.

“I have something for class that I have to do,” Eli told me once I opened my locker. “But I’ll see you in class, okay?”

I smiled at him. “Okay.”

When he lowered his lips to mine, I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting him to do anything like this, since I hadn’t ever seen him be affectionate toward Courtney or anyone else in public before. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it was just something I wasn’t expecting Eli to do.

And then he left, and I was alone as I went through my locker like I always did. It was strange being all alone, since I usually had someone there with me, so I tried to get everything I needed as quickly as possible.

“Hello, Ivy,” Courtney smiled at me once I shut my locker door, which she had been standing behind for who knows how long.

“Ah!” I couldn’t help but cry out, not expecting to see her of all people there.

“Here,” she said, pushing something into my hands gruffly. I looked down in surprise to see that it was an invitation. “This is for you.”

“Um, why?” I couldn’t help but ask, opening the invitation to see that it was for her sixteenth birthday party.

“I’m inviting you myself because I know one of the Lost Boys are just going to invite you anyway,” Courtney informed me with a too-sweet smile, and it freaked me out just a little bit. “I might as well give you an invitation because I know you’re going to come anyway.”

“Um…” was all I was able to say at first, because I didn’t think that there was really anything I could say. “Thank you?”

“Don’t thank me,” she said now, and her sweet smile turned into her usual scowl. “I still hate you.”

I shrugged, not expecting anything less from Courtney McGuire. “Well, the feeling’s mutual.”

And we turned away from each other without even speaking another word, neither of us wanting to see any more of the other. And the rest of the school day went by normally, even though I did notice a few people staring at me and whispering. I knew it was because of Eli, so I thought nothing of it as I continued to go through the rest of my day normally.

I was at my locker again after school, taking things that I needed out of it and putting things that I didn’t need into it. And when I saw Jack coming my way, I didn’t run for the hills like I would have weeks ago. I just smiled at him welcomingly.

“So,” he started, a sort of sad grin on his face. This sure surprised me. “I saw you and Eli today. Actually, everyone saw you and Eli.”