6.

Nick was back in school and Elliot was pacing in the restroom area.

"You can't lose your shit now El," Brian told him. "Just ignore the guy."

"Deep breaths, Stabler," John said encouragingly. "He's not worth it."

"Neither is Kathy as it turns out," Elliot replied harshly.

He had barely slept a wink again and it was exhausting to have all these conflicting thoughts and feelings running through his system. He was too young for this crap anyway. High school was supposed to be a fun time of partying and hanging out with friends; not of walking around wanting to beat people up because your heart was broken.

The bell for the third period rang and they knew they'd be in trouble if they were late in Benson's class. Elliot took a few deep breaths, grabbed his books and then walked out with his friends. It wouldn't be easy to be in the same class as both Nick and Kathy but he had no choice. On top of that, Ms. Malloy was expecting him after school today.

A few girls were standing around Nick, fussing over his injuries, and when the three friends entered the classroom, everyone fell silent. Elliot was glaring at Nick, who stood up a little straighter. Elliot could see the boy wince a bit - aside from a broken nose he probably had a few cracked ribs - but he stood tall nonetheless. The girls standing around Nick all stepped back a little and their staring match went on for almost a full minute.

"Alright! Seats everyone!"

The booming voice of Ms. Benson broke the tension and everyone except the two boys shuffled to their seats.

"You too!" Ms. Benson hollered at Elliot. "You've caused enough damage already Stabler. Sit down or I'm writing you up. Right. Now!"

A few others mumbled among themselves, and it was clear that the class wasn't unanimous on who exactly had caused damage, and who was to blame. Elliot knew the majority would side with the team captain but it was good to know it wasn't just him and his two friends against the rest.

Kathy had been sitting at her desk by the window the whole time. She and Kim sat together in silence, clearly trying to avoid looking at either Elliot or Nick. So Kathy hadn't even gotten a new boyfriend out of what she'd done? Elliot still didn't get it. Ed came strutting into the classroom seconds before Ms. Benson closed the door, as usual. He winked at Kim before walking to the back of the room to his desk. Kim blushed and then looked away. At least one of the girls was happy with what had happened at the party. Elliot took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then tried to focus on their teacher. He didn't want to annoy her and get written up on top of everything.

…

After English, Elliot made a beeline for the door with his friends in tow. He didn't want to be confronted with Nick again or see girls fawning over the guy. Their next class was PE so it was safe to assume Nick wouldn't be there. Maybe he could blow off some steam playing sports. Unfortunately, their PE teacher was also the coach of the football team and it was obvious that he wasn't too thrilled that the team captain was out of commission for a while. He made the entire class work hard and Elliot felt a weird sense of satisfaction seeing Kathy completely exhausted by the end of class as well. She deserved it for what she'd done. He tried not to think about her sweating body for too long but when she gave him a sad look, he had to look away quickly. He could still imagine her vividly, her firm breasts and long, slender legs, wrapped around him while he …

"El! Come on, let's hit the showers."

Brian punched his arm and he knew he should be grateful to his friend for disturbing his little daydream. He had to get over Kathy and once they stepped into the shower, the image of Nick fucking his girlfriend overrode all his other memories of Kathy. She had betrayed him and she wasn't worth pining over. He felt better after the hot shower and the three friends headed for the cafeteria to grab some lunch. Elliot spotted Olivia in the distance, apparently just walking away from her mother. She seemed pissed. She smiled faintly when she saw the three friends walk up to her to get in line for lunch but they could tell that something was up with the young brunette.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you," Olivia mumbled while passing Elliot to get in line behind John.

Elliot looked at Ms. Benson, who was still watching her daughter, and when he made eye contact with the teacher, she glared at him.

"Wow, what a bitch," Brian said behind him and Elliot nodded.

He turned to look at Olivia, but another girl had joined her and she was visibly trying not to look at him or his friends while chatting with the other girl quietly. Her mom was a bitch indeed and he felt for the girl. His father would get on his case a lot but at least he was free in school to be himself. But Olivia had nowhere to run. Her mom was watching her every move and he felt the urge to block the woman's view of her daughter with his body. He changed his mind when Ms. Benson strode through the cafeteria and glared at him once more in passing. Olivia ignored her mother completely and her friend patted her on the shoulder once the teacher had passed.

Olivia winced and the friend frowned. Olivia shrugged and grabbed a plate.

"Hey Olivia, who's your friend?" Brian asked her once Olivia's mother had finally left.

"I'm Beth," the dark-haired girl told him. "Pleased to meet you."

Brian introduced the other boys to Beth but when he invited them to sit with them, Olivia said she'd better not.

"Because of your mom?" Elliot asked, and Olivia nodded.

"She says you're bad news."

"And I bet Nick's Prince Charming, right?" John remarked dryly.

"Hardly. I am to stay away from all boys if mom gets her way. Especially the ones playing sports."

"I'm on the chess team. Does that count as a sport?" John said with a grin, and that actually made Olivia smile.

"I think chess would be alright, John."

They all got their food and Olivia glanced at Elliot once more before turning away from the boys with Beth to sit at another table.

...

A few minutes later, Serena passed through the cafeteria again and Olivia was relieved that she had decided to sit with Beth and Pamela, another girl from her class. She hated how her mom was hovering. She got that she was scared that Olivia might get hurt, because she'd been hurt so badly herself, but she could take care of herself. Elliot and his friends weren't bad guys, no matter what her mom said. Sure, he'd beaten someone up but she didn't doubt for a second that it had been with good reason. It had been 'over a girl', her mother had told her mockingly, as if that was the stupidest reason in the world to get into a fight. Olivia thought that maybe it wasn't smart but it wasn't hard to understand either. It sure explained Elliot's sad looks in the direction of the cheerleader table.

Olivia rubbed her shoulder absentmindedly and Beth asked her if she had an injury of some kind.

"Yeah. I hit my shoulder against the side of my bed when I was looking for something underneath it," Olivia said quickly.

Telling lies like that had become second nature to her and she knew that even an observant girl like Beth would accept the explanation without question.

"Hiding stuff from your mom under your bed, right?" Beth said with a grin.

"Absolutely," Olivia grinned back. "The less she knows, the better it is."

"Amen to that!" Pamela said.

The three girls giggled and Olivia relaxed. It was going to be alright. It was just a nasty bruise this time, and it wasn't hard to cover up. And it was only the first time in the new school, so she didn't think anyone would get suspicious for now.

Michael had been the only one she'd told. It had been impossible to hide her bruises from him once they started having sex. She had sworn him to secrecy though, and since he was sleeping with a minor, he wasn't going to risk anything. She couldn't wait for her seventeenth birthday, when she'd finally be legal. She was still hoping Michael would find his way back to her, even if he hadn't stayed in touch. He had been her first and she missed him terribly. She had wanted to elope with him on her birthday but things had gone very differently. One day, her mother had come home unexpectedly and had caught them together in her room. They had just been kissing on the bed at the time but Serena had drawn her own conclusions and had gone ballistic. Olivia had been surprised that she hadn't hit Michael. Instead, after kicking Michael out, she'd slapped Olivia across the face and had gone on a drinking binge afterwards.

She thought her mother was a big hypocrite. She had yelled at her last night for even going near a violent boy like Stabler but she was the violent one herself, taking out her own frustrations on her daughter like she did so regularly. She had shoved her hard and Olivia had lost her balance and hit her shoulder against the kitchen counter. Good thing Olivia was very quick, or things might have escalated. She knew that she was going to hit back one of these days, not because she wanted to but because it was inevitable. She could only take so much and she was getting physically stronger every day. She was about as tall as Serena now and she wondered if her mother even realized that.

Just a couple of months and she'd be seventeen. Things were going to change then. She was sure of it.

…

A/N: A bit short but I hope you liked it. To be continued.