invisible string - simon elroy

one

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Evangeline stood outside the main office staring at her brother. Nicole and Simon stood not too far away from her. She turned and started walking away as Simon grabbed her arm.

"Did you know?" He asked as she stared at him. "Did you know he had her phone? Do you know what he did to Maddie?"

"What the fuck?" Evangeline pulled her arm out of his grasp. "No. I didn't. I'm just as confused as both of you."

"Are you sure you don't know what he did to her?" Simon questioned.

"Simon stop! She's the one who grabbed his bag and exposed him for having Maddie's phone." Nicole said as she walked closer to the two.

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm sorry." Simon said rubbing his arm.

"It's fine." Evangeline put her hand on the boys arm. "I'm so sorry about Maddie. Trust me if my brother did anything i'll figure it out."

"Thanks.." Simon looked at her hand on his arm then stared at her face.

The two stared at each other for a little while before Evangeline pulled her hand away and looked away.

"No fucking way.." The girl said as she looked back to the main office.

"What?" Nicole questioned as they all looked to see Claire standing outside the main office and waving in.

"What is Claire Z doing?" Simon questioned.

"I can't fucking believe him." Evangeline said as she started walking towards the front of the school.

Simon and Nicole stared at each other before quickly following her. Suddenly Xavier exited the main office.

"They let you out?" Simon asked as he walked up to him, the 2 girls following.

"Just leave me alone." He said looking down at the ground.

"You had her phone for 3 days." Simon said finally making Xavier look up at him. "Why didn't you say anything."

"I don't have to tell you anything." Xavier looked at his sister standing with them as she was looking anywhere but him.

"Why don't you just come clean." Simon took a step forward. "Spare us having to force it out of you."

"Who's gonna force it out of me, Simon? You?" Xavier was acting cocky.

"Chill out!" Nicole said making Evangeline finally look at her brother.

"Don't do anything stupid, Xavier." Evangeline crossed her arms as her brother stared at her.

Simon suddenly couldn't take it. He took off tackling Xavier to the ground.

"Simon! Stop!" Nicole screamed as the two boys wrestled on the ground.

"Holy shit!" Evangeline exclaimed as Xavier flipped them over and raised his fist. "XAVIER STOP! FUCKING STOP!"

Xavier punched Simon in the face as the principal came out of the office and quickly pulled him off.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The principal exclaimed as he pushed Xavier away. "Don't give me another reason to expel you."

Xavier scoffed as he walked away. He stopped in front of his sister, but she once again wouldn't look at him. He quickly brushed past and left.

"Are you okay?" Nicole asked as her and the principal stood next to Simon. Evangeline quickly made her way over to them.

"You still wonder where the blood came from?" Simon pointed to Nicole before quickly taking off down the hall.

Evangeline sighed before quickly taking off following him. She followed him down the hall before he walked into one of the bathrooms.

"Simon?" The girl asked standing outside.

"Not now, Nicole." Simon called from inside the bathroom.

"Not Nicole.." Evangeline said. "Can I come in?"

"Oh uh.. yeah.." Simon looked towards the entrance as she made her way in and walked up to him.

"Are you okay?" The girl stared at his bloody nose.

"Oh yeah. I'm fine." He said making her tilt her head. "I'll be fine."

"You don't look fine." The girl grabbed paper towels and wet them at the sink then came back to stand in front of him. "Can I?"

Simon nodded and Evangeline brought her hand to his face holding his cheek as the other hand brought the wet towel to his nose and held it there for a second.

The two stared into each other's eyes for a little as she wiped the blood from his face.

"You're so different." Simon said causing the girl to have a confused look.

"What do you mean?" Evangeline kept her hands on his face.

"I don't know. You seem so bubbly and caring." Simon said sheepishly. "You seem nothing like Xavier."

"Well I am nothing like him." The girl smiled at him. "I'm Evangeline, not Xavier."

"Yeah no I know." He chuckled. "I'm sorry for tackling your brother."

"Honestly, if you didn't i was about to." She smiled as she grabbed another paper towel to stop the bleeding. "Jeez he really got you good."

"That was nothing." Simon looked down towards her hand holding the bloody paper towel.

"Oh yeah. Sure." Evangeline threw the paper towels away and grabbed new ones then looked back at Simon.

"Hey uh.. Can i ask you something?" Simon stared at her as she walked back up to him.

"Yeah." She put the new paper towel up to his nose and held it there.

"When you saw Claire Z outside the main office.." He started as he looked at her. "You seemed kinda uh.. distressed? Like you were really mad about it."

"Oh. Yeah uh.." Evangeline looked down at her feet. "I feel so bad. I was going to tell Maddie because I had my suspicions but I thought I was just crazy."

"Suspicions?" The boy tilted his head.

"I thought Xavier was cheating on Maddie with Claire."

"Wait what? Why?" Simon's eyes widened.

"He was sneaking around and I caught her in his truck the one day." The girl looked back up at him. "He claimed he was just giving her a ride home because her car ran out of gas."

Simon stared at her with a shocked expression as she sighed.

"I was going to tell Maddie but I never really saw her." She took the towel away from his nose. "I was convinced I was just crazy cause I hadn't seen them talk since. Then when I saw her standing outside the main office I just knew."

"Holy shit."