A/N: The saga continues. Never meant this to be so Ellie-centric, but it seems that she's become the best way to move the story along. I'm envisioning some pace pick-up by the next chapter, and I apologize, but I'm wildly detail oriented. I could take pages to explain the events over the course of a day, as you may have noticed. Thanks for reading, though, and of course, review to let me know what you think!
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Disclaimer: I still own nothing.
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Not entirely voluntarily, Ellie met with Craig in the broom closet during second period. She felt as though she'd been dragged halfway through the school by the time they reached their destination, but she understood that Craig was a class or two away from exploding. Besides, she couldn't deny that she was anxious to get down to the bottom of all of this.
When Craig had secured the door and regained his composure on some level, he opened his mouth to begin. "So, uh, sorry that I made you skip, but--"
"Craig, just get to it already."
Audibly, Craig gulped, and all the words that followed spilled out in one messy lump.
"We kissed. I mean, we--he--kissed me."
There was a silence between the two, and Craig was pretty sure his heartbeat could be heard loud and clear.
After a few tense moments, Ellie crossed her arms and settled on her response: "Okay."
Even in the dimly lit room, she could see Craig's expression turning to confusion. "That's all? 'Okay'?"
"Well, I was going to say 'Welcome to the club,' but I thought that might be insensitive."
"Funny," said Craig quietly.
Ellie pulled up an overturned mop bucket and took a seat. Craig followed, and so they sat briefly in silence.
"You know," Ellie started, "as well as I know Marco, you're going to have to tell me more before I can help you."
"I guess, I just don't understand very much right now. About myself, about Ash." He paused and looked up at Ellie. "About Marco."
Ellie attempted a response, but Craig cut her off immediately. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet, though." He added quickly, "No offense."
Craig stood up, gathered his bookbag, and started to unlock the door; Ellie, meanwhile, sighed softly and wondered what the whole point of this meeting had been. Clearly, Craig wasn't comfortable enough around her to speak his feelings, all of her valuable knowledge aside. He flashed a half-smile before finally shutting the door, and with that, Ellie was left sitting alone in frustration.
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Later that afternoon, after Ellie had said goodbye to an irritated Ashley, she sought out any friendly person who might show some normalcy. Alex seemed like the perfect candidate, until Ellie realized that due to the impending end-of-year dance, Alex was spending much of her after-school time in the company of Marco and the planning committee. At the end of what seemed like one of the longest school days in history, Ellie was pretty sure her eyes were going to roll right out of her head.
In lieu of any better ideas, she chose to stand in the doorway and watch.
"Alex, how can we not have a theme for this? It's the end-of-year dance. It's important."
"Sue me, Del Rossi, but I don't attend these stupid things. Why should I care?"
Apparently close to losing his cool, Marco held his face in his hands. Fortunately for him, though, one of the other members spoke up.
"Maybe we don't need a theme."
Marco looked up, and in this motion caught Ellie out of the corner of his eye. He gave her a quick look, then turned his attention to Liberty, who'd made the suggestion. "O-kay." His tone, in typical Marco fashion, was open and positive. "How so?"
"Well, we already did the Valentine's match-up dance. Why can't this dance be generic? A semi-formal feel, perhaps."
"Yes, Marco, a semi-formal feel," Alex repeated. "Just what I was thinking."
Nodding with a touch of apprehension, Marco took a quick poll of the committee and found that the idea went over well. "Themeless it is, then!" he announced with a clap of his hands. "We'll get down to the details at our next meeting on Thursday."
With that, the room slowly emptied, leaving only Marco and Alex lingering back to clean up. Ellie strolled over, smiling. "Going to be able to handle a themeless dance, Marco?" she asked.
Marco glared at Alex. "Guess I'll have to."
"Liberty, as obnoxiously power hungry as she can be, had a point," Alex said. "Besides, less work for us."
"Yeah, because that's really the idea, Alex."
"A little testy, aren't we?" Alex playfully punched Marco in the arm on her way out. "Later, ladies!"
Ellie could have sworn she heard a noise only slightly short of a growl come out of Marco's throat. For someone who didn't often let annoyance show, Marco was acting awfully, well, annoyed.
Putting her bag down, Ellie slipped up on a desktop. She could only manage a few minutes of Marco sifting through papers before speaking up:
"Marco, you can't let Alex get to you like that."
"I know, Ellie."
"I think we both know that something else is bothering you." Marco scoffed, not bothering to look at Ellie, but she continued, "You didn't tell me the complete truth about the party, did you? About Craig maybe?"
Marco finally turned to face Ellie, who was looking vaguely smug with her legs swinging back and forth against the desk. It didn't take long for him to give up the stare-down and join Ellie on an adjacent desktop.
"What do you want to know?" he asked reluctantly.
"I heard you kissed him."
Marco choked out a laugh. "Oh, so he's confiding in you now? That 'evil, two-timing, Craig monster,' if I remember your words correctly?"
"Not exactly. More like, he wants information about you from the font of all Marco knowledge." Marco only swayed slightly as Ellie nudged him. "You threw him for a loop, Marco. It sounds like your little kiss made him reevaluate his whole life."
"But I didn't even mean it! I was upset with Dylan, I wanted to make him jealous, and Craig was just... there..."
"So if I had been 'just there,' you would have kissed me, right?" No answer. "Wrong, Marco. There's something you're not telling me."
"El--"
"Marco, I know you too well. Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself."
Marco anxiously ran his hands over his face and back into his hair, practically pulling his face taut out of frustration. "It's just... did you see the way he acted this morning? I freaked him out, El. I should never have done something that idiotic."
"But, it's not like you like him, right? I mean, if he really was coincidentally there when you plotted to make Dylan jealous, then you can explain that to him." Again, no answer. "Marco?"
"Look, what if I told you, Ellie, that Craig has always been the unattainable friend? That I couldn't say a word about it to you, because all this time he's been dating your best friend. And that Dylan made me forget about that silly, stupid, impossible crush, but even then, Craig was there. He'll always be there."
One thing about Marco was that his face never lied. Any pretending on his part could be shot just by looking into his eyes, because they, of all his features, spoke the loudest.
At that moment, Ellie knew that Marco had been lying to her for some time. It would have been so simple to check his eyes whenever Craig was in his company; then, certainly, she would have known.
She would have realized it was exactly the way she felt about Marco.
"Hey, El?" Marco's tone was quieter now, and less severe.
"Yeah, Marco?"
"You can't... tell Craig."
Ellie nodded. "You're right," she said, sliding off the desk. "But you can."
"El! Ellie, I can't." Marco slid off his desk in a similar fashion, closing in on Ellie as she prepared to leave. "I never planned on telling him anything, ever."
"Trust me when I say that I think you and Craig need to talk. From the sounds of it, the situation is less one-sided than you make it out to be." Ellie began out the door, but turned her head at the last moment. "Besides, Marco, you of all people should know that plans change."
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