Five Steps Away

Chapter 6

The next day, I woke up at 4A.M., unable to fall back asleep.

I didn't have much to do, so I ended up getting ready and watching a movie until I had to leave for school. Needless to say that I'm tired now, and feel like I'm about to fall asleep in the middle of this class.

"Hey, Al?" I hear. I force my eyes open, surprised to see Lily looking at me as if something pressing was happening. The fact that she's talking to me during class already tells me that something's up—she's one of the few people who actually pays attention to Miss Jim's lectures—but her wide eyes, and raised eyebrow confirms it.

"What?" I lay my head on my desk, using my arm as a cushion and stare at her, doing my best to keep my eyes open.

"Look," she whispers, glancing to the side before quickly looking back at me. I follow her gaze, only to see Elijah 2 desks to my right, looking at me with his left arm extended toward me, his hand holding a small white folded piece of paper. I straighten up instantly, reaching to fix my braids by impulse only to remember that I cut it all off. Instead, I make sure the pendant on my necklace is hanging in the right spot.

I reach out and grab the paper, slowly unfolding to see a small letter, scribbled in pen.

Meet me outside the classroom after class.

- Elijah

I look up, to see Elijah sitting in his chair writing notes as if nothing had happened. I furrow my eyebrows. Did he actually think about the dating? No, he couldn't have. It was a crazy idea... but why else would he want to talk to me?

Lily comes closer, trying to look over my shoulder to read the note.

"Lily, Alya, something wrong?" Miss Jim glares at us. I shake my head, whilst Lily apologises profusely.

She looks at us a second longer, before going back to the lesson.

When the bell rings, I get up, rubbing my eyes awake before grabbing my books and making my way right outside the classroom. Lily stays inside, scribbling last minute notes onto her book.

Elijah's already standing there. He's tall, wearing a navy blue t-shirt, with a pair of jeans, and he's nervously tapping his foot. My curiosity spikes.

He breathes out. "I was thinking about it." I nod, holding myself back from bursting with anticipation. "...and I wanna do it. The fake dating thing I mean. I wanna get revenge on them."

***

It's the end of the day now, and I'm currently sitting in Elijah's car, still trying to digest the fact that he actually agreed. When he said that he wanted to do it, I was baffled into silence, my jaw practically grazed the floor. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. But Elijah patiently waited for me to respond.

"Well I... I guess we're doing it then..." I had managed to say, still at a loss of words.

"So should we like, I mean we should probably talk about how it's gonna work. Are you free this afternoon?"

Finally having regained my composure, at that point I was just curious. So I ignored what he had said, and asked a question that was burning at the back of my head.

"What made you change your mind?" he froze, staying silent as if I caught him off guard.

"Are you free this afternoon?" he repeated. I took the hint.

"Yeah, I am."

"We can go out to Ivy Cool and talk there after school. If that's alright with you I mean." I nodded.