holy ground [j.h]

Chapter 4

"Come on, it's Elena. We'll be lucky if she gets here by fourth period." Cole joked as he walked up, dapping up Johnny through the window. However my day got significantly better as a white Jeep Wrangler flew up the side of the parking lot, with "Stockholm Syndrome" by One Direction blaring through the window carrying the only person I really wanted to see that day, Elena herself. I couldn't even hide the smile that spread across my face as I spotted her through the driver's side window, even though she looked so unhappy to be there and bore not much emotion. However as she stepped out and joined the group, I caught her eye to offer her a smile. It wasn't even really intentional, I just was always a grinning idiot when I was in her presence. I think I felt my heart stop and reboot when she smiled back, her first sign of life all day. I genuinely didn't clock a word that was being said in the parking lot besides "Ziggy" and I was just stealing glances at a certain brunette girl and attempting to ignore Luke's giggles as he picked up on it too. The only thing I retained was Elena commanding us all to go inside and see the aftermath of our senior pranks so naturally we all headed towards the large building. Our miniature herd was on the move, and I found myself near her again. Again, not on purpose. I just was pulled into her gravity like she was the sun and I was Earth. 

"I'm impressed." I worked up my courage, but meaning every word I was about to say. 

"How so?" She asked. 

"You drove here." I stated, referencing the keys in her hand.

"Oh, yeah. I did." Elena answered me, looking down at the keys she was clutching with intensity she seemingly hadn't noticed. 

"And a drive thru? Look at you! I knew you'd be good." I smiled. I meant it. I knew Elena was a nervous driver, everyone did. She hated it more than anyone I had ever met. She was, in her own words, a licensed passenger princess. But I knew how hard she had been trying to practice and gain confidence, and she had done it. She drove herself the night before too, and had braved her phobia of drive thrus. These were big steps for her, and I thought she should know that someone noticed it. 

"Thanks Rowdy, I guess you were right. For once." She joked, making me laugh. 

"Hey! I've definitely been right about... things. Like more than once?" I said, but I knew I was just flat out wrong. I'm never right about anything. Except for the fact that I think Elena Cameron is the prettiest girl on the planet, but she didn't know about that. 

"Face it. I'm always right, and you'll always shoot left." I laughed out loud, impressed that she even knew such a small detail about me. Elena liked to watch hockey and was learning, but that was something she would've really had to pay attention to notice, and I just can't imagine her paying that close of attention to me. 

"Whatever you say Madame President."

We all headed inside, and PCEP had descended into chaos. There were chickens just milling around in the main lobby, and we all knew there were some lingering in the academic hallways. The gym was a full on beach, with students "laying out" and dipping their feet into the kiddie pools instead of heading to homeroom. I was so proud. All of my weeks of planning had paid off as I watched a freshmen get chased by a chicken. 

"How ya feeling?" Dom shook my shoulders.

"Fucking amazing." I said as we navigated through the wild scene of our high school, passing by a group of pissed off football players because of the thousands of plastic forks that had been dumped all over their field. This might've been the highlight. We split off on our separate ways for homeroom, which left me and Dom heading off to our homeroom. I glanced over my shoulder to wave a subtle goodbye to Elena, already counting down the seconds until English class first period. I gave her a quick wink, she just looked so good I couldn't resist it.