And he took her hands with his, gazing at her with a soft sincerity that only a knight could bestow on her. "My Catherine." Knight Wesley whispered lovingly as he leaned down to lift her lips in a gentle dance of love.
"LIZZY!" Elizabeth Mae Thomas jerked away from her book, Fading Whispers, and straightened her shoulders to stare at her friends. Sara was the one who spoke, her hands on her hips and bright red hair flowing down her back while snarky blonde Jane and boisterous black haired Lily watched in amusement.
"Yes, Sara." Lizzy said nervously, knowing how Sara got when Mother Nature came around. Lizzy tucked her bookmark in her book, closing her new Fantasy love story reluctantly and rolled a lock of dirty blonde hair between her fingers.
"Come on." Sara stressed, motioning to the cafeteria door where students were streaming out. "James Monroe is at it again." Lizzy pursed her lips but put her book underneath her arm and quietly followed her much chattier friends out the door where said boy was fighting.
Lizzy couldn't say she hated James Monroe; she wasn't that type of person. But something about him made her teeth grind. Maybe it was the way he walked around like he owned the school with his followers. Maybe it was how he slept with girls and dumped them the next day. But it was probably the fact that he was a bully, a jerk that hurt and scarred nerds like Lizzy.
So why was she following her friends out to watch the bully beat up some defenseless nerd?
Lizzy knew the answer almost immediately: because of her friends. The four girls had been friends since kindergarten and they weren't about to break up the group anytime soon. In fact, it had already been decided that the four girls would get an apartment after they graduated.
"Christ, he's gorgeous." Jane said as they approached the crowd. "I would do things with that boy." She purred, a confident smirk playing on her lips.
"Like Al would let you near him." Lily scoffed, rolling her brown eyes. Lizzy grimaced at the mention of Jane's overprotective boyfriend. He was too much, at times, for her.
Lizzy peeked over the masses of teenagers to peer at the fight but failed to see anything. She heard grunts and a squealed hiss of pain but didn't see any fighting.
"Come on." Sara said after watching Lizzy struggle for a few seconds. She put her arms in front of her and started to push through the crowd. "Move it or lose it, morons! Sara Crowne coming through! MOVE IT, DUMBASS!" Lizzy scurried after her ginger friend, a flush of embarrassment on her cheeks.
Lizzy went to stand by Jane and held back a sigh of relief when she saw Monroe wasn't beating up a nerd. He was beating up one of his "followers".
"Gorgeous." Jane sighed appreciatively, eyeing Monroe's body. Lizzy would admit it, James Monroe was hot. He was dangerously gorgeous with tousled black hair and deep green eyes. He was tall too, at least 6'3, with broad, muscular shoulders and rippling muscles. And he always wore a skintight t-shirt and black jeans. Yes, James Monroe was gorgeous.
As Lizzy was thinking this, James Monroe had straddled his opponent and held his fist up. His emerald green eyes caught Lizzy's own hazel eyes and he held her attention, interest flickering through his eyes, before he returned to the fight, slamming his fist in his follower's (former follower's?) jaw and a crack rose above the cheers of the crowd.
James stood up, the boy on the ground out cold with blood dripping from his nose and his teeth now crooked, and Lizzy cowered back as he began to stride towards them....
And he walked past the four girls with only a brief look towards Lizzy.
"He likes you." Lily said excitedly, pushing her black hair back from her eyes. "He was totally checking you out!"
"Uh huh. Sure." Lizzy said, pulling her book against her back, hazel eyes wide with terror. "Please don't say that."
"He does." Jane grinned wildly, rubbing her hands together. "Lizames. The perfect couple." She cackled.
"Elizames is a better name." Lily argued, turning to Jane who rolled her eyes.
"Uh-huh, you keep thinking that, sweetheart." Jane snorted and began to walk towards the school with Lily following after her.
"Hey." Sara said, putting a hand on Lizzy's shoulder. As usual, Sara towered over Lizzy. Actually everyone towered over Lizzy with her tiny height of 5'3. Sara gave her a slight smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure it meant nothing." Lizzy nodded, brows stressed together as the two began to walk back to the school.
"Yeah." Lizzy nodded. "Why would he like me, anyways? I'm a nerd and he's a bully." Sara frowned.
"You're not a nerd." The ginger insisted.
--------
"The blonde nerd." James said as he began to wash his hands of Ken's blood. "What's her name?" His friends (or followers as the other students had began to stupidly call them) stared in confusion at him.
"You mean Elizabeth Thomas?" Catelyn asked, raising a blond eyebrow. "Commonly known as Lizzy by her friends?" James glanced over at the pink haired girl. It didn't surprise James that she had followed them into the boy's bathroom. She usually did that.
"The one wearing the purple hoody?" Leon asked, lighting a cigarette and looking at his best friend. "What about her?"
"Dunno." James shrugged. "She's cute. She's mine. No one touch her." His friends looked surprised, even Jon who never got surprised.
"Why?" Jon asked curiously, chewing loudly on a potato chip.
"Because he's got a crush." Drew laughed, running a hand through his blond hair. Drew was Catelyn's twin although you'd never know it. They were as different as night and day.
"Shut up." James grumbled, shutting off the water and grabbing a paper towel.
"Never." Drew retorted with a bright grin. "Now, Cat, got anything on Jamie's new girlfriend." James cast an irritated look over at him but said nothing and leaned against the sink, staring at Catelyn. She rose an eyebrow at all of the boys but shrugged and looked down at her phone.
"Elizabeth Thomas lives with her mother and father, Anthony and Lydia Thomas in a small house downtown. They have two dogs, a Pug and a German Shepherd. She has all A's, except for P.E which is a B+. She has a few friends, Jane Lane (guys, don't laugh, it's not funny), Sara Crowne and Lily Summers. Most of her time is spent in the library where she usually checks out love stories. She recently checked out a book called Fading Whispers."
"Never heard of it." Leon muttered, rolling his cigarette between his fingers.
"My mom loves it." Jon crunched on a potato chip, a contemplative look in his blue eyes. "Always shouts at dad to be more like Wesley."
"Who's Wesley?" Drew asked.
"Fuck if I know." Jon shrugged.
"Here's the summary," Catelyn offered, clearing her throat. "As winter comes to a halt and spring flowers begins to bloom, a new knight from the far kingdom, Fare, comes upon the kingdom of Taren where he meets the beautiful princess, Catherine. Romance begins to bloom with the roses of spring as they meet face to face. But war is coming upon Taren. Can Knight Wesley and Princess Catherine ever live happily ever after or will all end in tragedy?"
"Jesus. James' girl reads this shit?" Leon muttered.
"Yup." Catelyn said, scrolling through her phone. "The last month, she's brought back and checked out nine of the same author's books." James didn't look shocked. From what he heard, Lizzy Thomas must be smart.
"Does she have any classes with us?" James asked quietly.
"Yes. She's got first and eighth with me and Drew, seventh with Jon, fourth with Leon and third, second, and sixth with you." She said to James. James rose both eyebrows in surprise but nodded.
"Thank you." A curved smirk flickered onto his lips as the bell for sixth hour went off. "Well, then, let's get to class.