A/N: I've just realised how frigging OC heavy this has gotten. The only original Bully character so far is Gary, and he hasn't even had much time xD Don't worry though, when the reunion comes around there'll be plenty of familiar faces lol.

Chapter Ten

Job Opportunities

Elliott let out a huffy sigh as she packed up the little cardboard box on her desk. She hadn't realised she had so much crap; stupid glittery paper weights, a seemingly never ending stream of pens, a ridiculous little bonsai tree thing that some fruitcake thought looked nice in her office. The box was practically full even before she had gotten to clearing out the drawers. This had been Elliott's desk for nearly three years and she was nicely wedged into it. The seat was just the right height and she had just finally gotten her keyboard into a position where it was really genuinely comfortable. This was her desk. Her reception. And now she was getting tipped out and pushed in a brand new, freshly fitted office with big stupid leather chairs and desks so shiny you could see your face in them. Elliott didn't want to look at her face at every minute of the day. Mainly because she knew it would be as miserable as hell.

It was stupid really; Elliott didn't have to take the job. She could have easily told Cole Oakley that she was perfectly happy working for Mrs Young and there were plenty of other receptionists that were much better than her, but lawyers have this strange way of getting you to agree to things without you realising you've even done it. Then when you do magically agree, despite your brain doing backward rolls and furiously demanding why the rest of you isn't doing what it wants you to, the lawyer just acts to damn happy that you couldn't possibly turn around and say that you weren't interested.

So Elliott was not only bitter at being shipped out of her perfectly fine office, but she was angry with herself for being such a damn coward. God she couldn't wait to go home today.

'Huh. Well I would offer to help you move, but I'm afraid if I pick that box up I'll throw it out of the window or something.'

Elliott rolled her eyes and leaned against the desk in exasperation before settling a disgruntled stare on Courtney. 'I don't want to move.' She grumbled.

'Too late now,' Courtney replied, eyeing her fingernails. She leaned in the doorway, one hand resting on her hip. 'I told you that you should have just gotten straight in the closet. But no, always like you to have to ask too many questions. But it doesn't matter, I suppose. He probably wouldn't have picked me anyway. Plus office romances are strictly forbidden, so if I can get transferred to another department I'd probably have a better job of bagging him anyway.'

Elliott raised an eyebrow. 'You would get transferred just so you could go on a date with him?'

Courtney frowned in bewilderment. 'Who said anything about dates? Oh no, I just want to get him to my place so I can screw his-'

Elliott snorted and tossed a stapler that probably didn't belong to her into the box. 'Yeah, I get it. Thanks for that.'

Courtney moved into the room, looking around. 'So who's the unlucky bastard who gets this depressing hellhole?'

'Brenda.' Elliott sighed.

'Oh,' Courtney frowned. 'Brenda's not gonna be happy.'

'Yeah, well if she's got a problem with that then tell her to take it to frigging Cole Oakley. Christ I don't think anyone has ever been able to annoy me so much in such a small amount of time. I only met him this morning for God's sake!' She picked up the box and stomped towards the door, slipping awkwardly past Courtney. 'I hate this stupid job...' she muttered. 'I'm not even supposed to be here today...'

Courtney followed her up the corridor. 'Oh well aren't we having a big sulk today? I don't see why you're so wound up, you're getting a better office.'

'I don't care.' Elliott grumbled. She blew some stray hairs from her face with a snort and shook her head slightly. 'I'm totally not in the mood for this crap. I was up half the night with a frigging unconscious guy in my back garden.'

'Ah,' Courtney nodded knowingly. 'The accountant.'

Elliott glanced to the older woman in surprise. 'You know him?'

'Oh yeah,' Courtney nodded. 'He drinks the bar I go to. He's an alright guy, actually. Apart from the sleeping in the trash thing. Which I totally don't get 'cos he has a real nice house. It must just be a kink.'

Elliott ran this piece of information over in her head for a moment, and then decided she couldn't be bothered to get into the debate. 'Haven't you got work to be doing or something?' she frowned, approaching her new office door.

'Yeah.' Courtney shrugged. She made no attempt to head away and do it. She continued to follow Elliott down the corridor, peering into the box in her arms. 'That plant's not going to go in that office.'

'You've sharp changed your tune,' Elliott shot. 'A minute ago you were threatening to throw me out of the window.'

'I was threatening to throw the box out of the window. There's a difference.' Courtney paused, eyeing her thoughtfully. Suddenly something occurred to her and she smiled sympathetically. 'Ah, so that's it.' she nodded.

Elliott glanced at her in bewilderment. 'What?'

'I thought you were being too whiney over getting a new office,' Courtney smirked. 'You're not in a piss because you've got to change offices, it's because you've still got him on the brain.'

Elliott fought the inevitable flush in her cheeks. 'Oh shut up, Courtney.'

'I don't get you kids,' Courtney sighed. 'You flit about with your bouncy hair and your equally bouncy assets and keep prodding each other in the loins but if anyone so much as mentions the idea of making a real move everyone gets all 'shut uuup'. It's sad, really.'

Elliott frowned as she pushed open the door to her new office with her hip. 'You don't know what you're talking about Courtney.' she sighed. 'Now if you don't mind I'd like to get my new office sorted out.'

'Just get it over with, Elliott!' Courtney sighed. 'When you get home call him. Invite him over, and then make sure you've got your best panties on.'

Elliott stepped through the doorway, cheeks flushed. 'You're such an ass, Courtney.' she muttered. 'I'll catch up with you later. When you're not being such a frigging pain.'

Courtney frowned, wounded, and tried to follow her in the room. 'But you know I'm right, Elliott! All you need is a good all-nighter!'

Elliott closed the door with her foot, teeth gritted. With a disgruntled expression that could probably make small children cry, she turned to get her first good look at her new office. What she didn't expect was to find Cole standing right behind her. She let out a startled cry and felt her grip loosening on the box, but seeing a repeat of that morning; Cole reached out and grabbed the box. They both gripped onto it for a moment, before Elliott took it back in embarrassment.

'You're a jumpy one, aren't you?' he smirked.

Elliott forced a smile and walked around him to a grand, glossy oak desk by the window, hoping that he hadn't heard the conversation between her and Courtney. There was a brand new PC sitting there, electrical leads still in plastic wrapping. The chair looked like it had been bought from the Evil Villains Expo or something, with a huge back and soft gleaming leather. The whole place was pretty smartly decorated – a far cry from her old office. Looking at it made Elliott wonder how she hadn't known about Cole's arrival earlier. She couldn't remember noticing anyone shifting all this furniture up here. Unless they had done it while she was on vacation. Which she was still technically on.

'So what do you think?' Cole asked, remaining by the door. 'You think you'll settle in okay?'

Elliott eyed the desk and set the box down. Suddenly everything inside looked like complete trash. Courtney was right; the plant wasn't going to go in this room. 'It's nice,' she replied. 'It's pretty… fancy. If you don't mind me saying.'

'Well I believe the reception is the most important part.' Cole smiled that lopsided smile and walked towards her, hands in his pockets. 'First impressions are the most important thing in this world, and if a potential client strolls into a reception with plastic chairs and beige walls and a boring as hell receptionist, they're probably not going to be all that impressed, are they?'

'Well you certainly haven't got cheap chairs.' Elliott joked lamely.

'I'm a pretty easy guy to work for,' he said, suddenly getting a little serious. 'I'm not one of these mentalists who demand giant panda kebabs for lunch or something ridiculous. In fact, all I really want for you is to answer the phones and make sure the mail goes out. Maybe retype the odd letter for me. Call a few clients. Nothing really that strenuous. I could probably do it all myself, but it wouldn't be very professional of me to not have a back up, y'know?'

'Of course.' Elliott replied.

Cole smiled broadly at her. It was a pure Hollywood smile - teeth like pearls. Elliott wondered how much he had paid for them. 'I'm a pretty good judge of character,' he went on. 'And I can tell already that we're going to get along just great.' He held out a hand to her. 'Here's to a great partnership, huh?'

Elliott hesitated. This was the last chance she had to back out. She wanted her old office back, with crazy Mrs Young who used to yell at her for using the wrong colour highlighters on documents that only ended up in the shredder anyway. But because Elliott was so much of a damn wuss, she only smiled weakly and shook his head.

'Thanks for taking me on.' she said automatically.

'You're very welcome.' Cole grinned, holding onto her hand for a little longer than she felt comfortable with. 'I think I should walk down the street with my eyes shut all the time if it means I bump into people like you.' He took his hand back and glanced at his watch. 'You'll have to excuse me, I have to make a few phonecalls. There's not much to do today because not everyone knows I'm back in town yet. But I assure you over the next few days it'll get busier. You'll be earning your jobs worth.' he chuckled, and then began to turn away.

'Um, actually, Mr Oakley-' Elliott started, holding a finger up.

He glanced to her, amused. 'It's Cole. Please. You only have to call me Mr Oakley when there are clients around.'

'Yeah, well… The thing is, technically I'm still on vacation. I'm supposed to be off for the next few days to finish getting my house arranged.'

Cole's bright smile dropped a little. 'Oh is that so? Oh…' He paused, considering this. 'Well it would be unfair for me to take your vacation away from you.' He crossed his arms, stroking the thin, light brown hair on his chin with one hand. 'The next few days, you say?'

Elliott shrugged and smiled. Maybe if she insisted on keeping her vacation then he might have no choice to get someone else. 'I practically had to rip my limbs off to get it.' she told him.

Cole was quiet for a moment, thumb stroking his short beard. His yellow-brown eyes seemed to focus and unfocus as he thought, and then they turned back to her. 'Well… how about this. If you work your vacation I'll stick a little more on your pay packet.'

Elliott blinked. 'Uh… what?'

'Let's say… an extra four dollars an hour. Sound fair? That would be permanent of course, not just for the couple of days.'

Elliott stared at him. 'Uh… what?'

'I took the liberty of asking about you while you were packing up in your office,' Cole went on, circling the desk and running his hand over the back of the large seat. 'I think the decision that you're the best receptionist is pretty much unanimous. And don't get me wrong, I'm sure everyone else could do a good enough job, but… well, I'm used to having the best.' He chuckled. 'So what do you say? The next couple of days are going to be pretty busy.'

Elliott glanced around the room. An extra four dollars an hour? That would be another one hundred and sixty dollars a week she would be getting. That was another six hundred and forty dollars a month. She would be an idiot to turn that down.

Then why the hell could she feel the word 'no' creeping up her throat?

'If you want to think about it that's fine,' Cole shrugged. 'You can let me know as soon as you've decided.' He paused, and then reached in his pocket. 'There's a million and one phone numbers on that card, but you'll only need the one on the back.'

Elliott took the card and turned it over, to see a handwritten cell phone number. She glanced back up at him. This was quickly turning into a very weird day.

'Well I'll let you be,' Cole nodded. 'Like I said there's not much to do today, so I guess it would be okay if you just set up your office and head back home to enjoy the last of your vacation. Make sure you call me before seven though.' He smiled again and then headed through the door into his office, without waiting for a response.

Elliott looked at the card again. Definitely a weird day.

By the time she had sorted her office it was ticking over past lunchtime. Courtney had disappeared from the building; probably off topping up her nicotine levels and having her lunchtime wine. Elliott didn't particularly want to see Courtney anyway, She couldn't be bothered with her weird attitude, and if she told her about the unexpected pay boost it would probably only spark the older woman into yet another long and boring rant about Elliott's youth working in her favour.

Considering that she would be a complete moron for turning Cole down on his job, Elliott figured she should go home and enjoy the last of her vacation. Early start tomorrow, so she might as well relax the rest of the day. Not that she would be able to do much anyway, as during the course of the day the heavens had decided to open and now rain was lashing down all over Bullworth. She felt a pang of joy at the thought of Cole Oakley trudging home in the pouring rain.

The roads were clear, so she was home in no less than five minutes. The further she got away from her workplace, the guiltier she felt about her negative thoughts towards Cole. After all she had only met him this morning; she wasn't really in any place to judge him. And he had been nothing but nice to her. He had given her a nice new office, not to mention the extra four dollars an hour. Fair enough it was weird that he would do so much when he hadn't even seen her work, but still…

Her thoughts were cut off as she approached her house and glanced to the front door. With a frown she pulled up to the curb and looked curiously at the person sitting on her porch, staring grimly out at the rain. At the sight of her car Gary rose to his feet, but wisely stayed where he was to prevent getting soaked.

What the hell was he doing here? Sitting on the porch in the pouring rain? Didn't he have work? Elliott killed the engine and gathered her belongings, before opening the door and preparing herself for the sprint through the rain. Her heels clicked noisily on the pavement as she jogged up the path, but it didn't really help as she was still soaked by the time she reached the porch.

'What are you doing here?' she asked, confused. Had she made plans with him and then forgotten? No, she never made plans with him. And anyway, he had seemed keen to leave of his own accord last night.

'I tried calling you,' he told her, scratching the back of his neck. He looked a little embarrassed actually. 'To see if that guy in the garden was any trouble. I um… tried a few times but you weren't answering, so I waited and tried again. Then I…' He paused, then chuckled. 'Then I guess I thought I would just come over and check for myself. You uh… might want to get someone to fix the lock on your back door.'

Elliott frowned and smiled at the same time as she unlocked the front door. 'You bust my back door?' she asked, amused.

Gary just shrugged. 'I'll pay for it.'

She laughed and went inside, dumping her handbag on the table by the door. 'Get inside,' she told him. 'It's frigging freezing out there.'

Gary lingered for a moment, hesitating, then followed her inside. 'I thought the guy had gone psycho and bust in here or something.'

'I thought you said he was harmless?'

'I did say that,' Gary smirked. 'But then again I say a lot of things.'

Elliott shot him a disapproving frown and took off her damp jacket, laying it over the banister. 'I'll remember that next time you try to tell me something is safe.' She sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair. 'I'm glad you're here actually. I've had the weirdest day.'

Gary raised his scarred eyebrow. 'How's that?'

Elliott led him into the kitchen, kicking her shoes off on the way. Gary seemed amused by her trail of outdoor garments but didn't mention it. 'Well I got called into work this morning to find this dumbass file that turned out to not even exist,' she sighed, moving to the counter to make two cups of coffee. Gary lingered by the doorway, leaning against the wall. 'And when I was going to get into my car this idiot knocked my bag out of my hands. My stuff went everywhere…'

'Did you punch him?' Gary smirked.

Elliott laughed. 'No. Although if I had done it might have saved me a lot of bother. Anyway he went on his way and I get to work, where Courtney tries to bundle me into a closet because I have a nicer ass than her.'

Gary half nodded. 'Good enough reason.'

'She's going on about this new guy who is apparently right up Courtney's alley and he's after a new receptionist. She seemed to think that he would want me over her.'

'At least she's not completely insane.' Gary nodded.

'Anyway, guess who this new guy is?'

Gary faked thought. 'Buddy Holly?'

'Nope.'

'Notorious BIG?'

'Close.'

'Elvis?'

Elliott laughed. 'Stop naming dead musicians.'

'Sorry.' Gary smirked. 'The purse spiller.'

'Spot on.' Elliott flicked on the kettle and turned around, leaning against the counter. 'He's this big shot lawyer and because we bumped into each other that morning he thinks it's fate or some shit and offers me the new receptionist job. But get this. Because he wants me to be there from tomorrow he said he would bump up my paycheque to an extra four dollars an hour. Can you believe that?'

Gary blinked, his eyebrows rising. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah,' Elliott nodded. 'So even though I really don't want to move, I'd be frigging dumb to turn that down.'

'Yeah you would,' Gary agreed. 'But it sounds a bit… well…' He stopped, eyeing Elliott's expression and deciding not to continue with whatever he was going to say. 'So is he some fat old perv? He probably just wants the prettiest receptionist.'

Elliott rolled her eyes. 'Flattery doesn't suit you, Gary,' she smirked. 'And he's not actually. He's this young guy. Not much older than us actually. His name's Cole Oakley.'

Gary's expression dropped immediately. 'Oakley?' he repeated. 'Oh geez. Well that explains everything. The Oakley clan are the top lawyers around this area. An extra four dollars an hour is just small change to them.' Gary screwed up his nose and shook his head. 'Frigging Oakley's… I work with a guy who has the misfortune of rear-ending Rupert Oakley's Mercedes and the whole family ripped him to shreds. Took him for every penny. Bunch of piranhas they are.'

Elliott looked down thoughtfully. 'Yeah I had a feeling it would be like that.'

'So which one are you working for? Cole?' Gary searched his memory. 'Don't think I've met him. Bet he's just a slimy sleaze ball like the rest of them.'

Elliott thought about it. Cole wasn't necessarily slimy or sleazy - actually he was quite pleasant and charming. But she didn't think it would be a very good idea to say something like that, so instead she just shrugged and smiled. 'Pretty much.'

Gary snorted. 'Thought as much.'

Elliott watched him for a moment, head tilted. 'So are you still, um… going for that new job?'

'Yeah,' he nodded, avoiding eye contact with her. 'I'm not going to be making anywhere near the amount you are, Miss Moneybags, but it'll be better than what I'm on now.'

Elliott turned away and poured out the two coffees. 'Well I hope it goes well for you.' she said, quietly. She set the kettle down and stirred the cups, feeling a little sad. 'It's always nice to get a fresh start. And I don't blame you for getting the hell out of Bullworth. It's not like there's anything worth staying for anyway…' She stopped and glanced up as Gary reached around her and picked up one of the coffees. She hadn't even heard him approaching.

'It's not so bad.' he told her with a smile.

Elliott fought a blush and picked up her own coffee. 'Don't forget about the reunion though,' she reminded him. 'I'm not going to let you skip town until after then.'

Gary rolled his eyes in amusement. 'Oh man, you were serious about that?'

'Of course I was! Do you think I was just saying it?'

'Well you say a lot of things,' he chuckled. 'And not a lot of it makes sense at the best of times.'

'Cheeky,' Elliott laughed. 'You're coming whether you like it or not. I'll drag you kicking and screaming if I have to.'

'Make that a certainty and I'll definitely come.' Gary grinned.

Elliott laughed and shoved him playfully. Suddenly the thought of him leaving gave her a tight feeling in her chest. But it wouldn't be fair to ask him to stay. 'So um… what are you doing for the rest of the day?' The words poured out of her mouth before she had even thought of them.

Gary looked at her curiously over the rim of his coffee cup. 'Not a lot.' he told her. 'I've got the day off. Pulled a sickie so I could come over and check that you were still alive.'

'Well if you don't have to be anywhere you might as well stick around for dinner,' Elliott said, shrugging and keeping her eyes on her coffee cup. 'Because I feel like a loser sitting at that massive table and eating on my own.'

Gary's lack of response made her regret mentioning it. He was going to have another freak out like he did last night when she had invited him in and run off again. But when she looked up he was smiling. 'Sure,' he nodded. 'Last thing I'd want is to make you feel like a loser. Enough people do that already.'

Elliott laughed and narrowed her eyes at him. 'Don't push me, Smith,' she joked. 'I could take you on.'

He just chuckled and drank some more of his coffee. Elliott smiled back, deciding to forget that he was leaving for the time being.