A/N: I think some people have been waiting 28 chapters for this one xD

Chapter XXIX:

"When Urges Turn Into Actions"

Without Gary around the last two weeks had been uneventful and, if Elliott was honest, quite peaceful. Having the threat of the Jocks sorted out was a massive weight off her shoulders, and she had managed to get Earnest to take over tutoring Pedro for her. Earnest had practically been dribbling on her shoes ever since she had bent over to pull a piece of gum from the bottom of her shoe a few days ago. So things were going well and, to top it all off, the cast came off today. However Elliott knew that good things didn't last long at Bullworth, and she was cautiously watching for something to ruin everything.

'Looks like it's healed up well.' Nurse McRae said as she tossed the cast into the bin. Elliott's foot was pale and soft looking. It felt wonderful to have fresh air getting at it.

'It doesn't hurt anymore.' Elliott replied. 'Actually, it hasn't hurt since last week.'

Nurse McRae shrugged. 'It probably wasn't even broken. I just put the cast on as a precaution.'

Elliott stared at her. 'Um… what?'

'But it's better now anyway,' the nurse went on, ignoring her. 'You might want to go wash that foot because, well, it stinks. I think it might have been a bit tight too, but you can't expect much from me. I'm only trained to give out shots after all.'

Elliott stared at her for a long time. 'You mean… I didn't even need the cast?'

Nurse McRae washed her hands in the sink. 'Probably not.' She shot her a wicked look. 'But I bet it taught you not to be so reckless, girl.'

Elliott decided that Nurse McRae had just made the top of her hit list. Still glaring at the nurse, she pulled on her shoe. It felt weird on her newly liberated foot. 'So can I go now?'

'Yes. And try not to do anything to bring you back anytime soon. I have enough on my plate with black eyes and nosebleeds as it is.'

Elliott left the infirmary with a frown on her face. Next time she injured herself she would rather go and see Edna than that bitch of a nurse. Edna would probably know more about what she was doing for one thing. She walked a little lopsidedly, finding it difficult to get used to walking normally again. Well, at least now she could go into town without having to take the bus.

She decided to celebrate her cast coming off by having a trip into town. She had no idea what she was going to do in the town; she was still penniless. She figured she could do with the exercise. But, as usual, she had barely taken three steps before she heard her name.

'Ah, you got your foot back.' Gary grinned, leaning against the soda machine with his arms folded. She had no idea how she hadn't noticed him. The guy seemed to materialise out of nothingness.

'Yeah,' Elliott nodded, lifting her foot to wiggle it. 'And I also found out that the nurse has just been screwing with my mind.' She crossed her arms, mirroring his pose. 'So you're showing your face again, huh? I thought you had died or something.'

'Oh no, I've been working.'

'Working.'

'Yeah.' He grinned. 'Haven't you?'

Elliott moved towards him. 'Actually, I want to know what's going on. Because, well, I don't want to be a nag, but I've been flying blind here. I'm doing all this stuff with no idea to why I'm doing it and…'

'I've been waiting for you to get the cast off,' Gary said, interrupting her. 'You wouldn't have been able to handle the stairs.' He jerked his head towards the school building and headed towards it. 'Come on.'

Elliott frowned. 'Hey, I was talking-'

'Oh come on,' he turned and walked backwards, hanging his arms in exasperation. 'It's been two weeks. Don't nag at me straight away, okay?'

Elliott frowned. 'Well I hope you're not just avoiding the subject.'

He chuckled and headed inside. Elliott glanced around to see if anyone was watching, which they weren't, and followed him.

'My God. You're staying here?' Elliott asked, grimacing at the dark, dusty room. 'Seriously?'

Gary flopped down on the bed and put his hands behind his head. 'Don't you like it?'

Elliott frowned, trying to think of an inoffensive response but was unable to come up with one. 'It's a dump.'

'Hey, at least it isn't rampant with rats like the Boy's Dorm.'

'That's because even the rats think it's a dump.'

They had snuck past two Prefects to get onto the staircase that led up to the Bell tower at the top of the school. The room was halfway up the tower and had probably once been used by a janitor or whoever was in charge of the bells. It had been empty for a long time – the cobwebs and dust proved that – but Gary had left his mark on it. There was a desk underneath the narrow, grimy window that looked out onto the campus, which was piled high with various books and papers. The bed seemed clean enough (well, as clean as could be expected from a teenage boy) and on the nightstand there were two fat, half melted candles, which meant no electricity.

'It's perfect,' Gary replied. 'I'm still on school grounds so I don't have to travel far. I hear all the announcements. And the best part is that I don't have to share a building with a bunch of sexually deprived psychopaths. Seriously, I woke up in the middle of the night once and one of those Greaser kids was trying to get into bed with me. He said it was because he was wasted and got the wrong room, but I knew. He couldn't resist my potent manliness.'

Elliott laughed. 'Of course not. Who could?' She moved to the window, peering out onto the campus. 'It just seems like a lot of trouble to go to, y'know? I mean, relocating to the Bell tower?'

The bedsprings creaked as Gary sat up. 'How would I be able to think in peace with that little bastard storming in every five minutes? And anyway, I prefer it up here. All geniuses need solitude.'

'You mean Jimmy?' Elliott asked, glancing back to him. 'Man, some people might think you're obsessed with the guy.' She turned around and leaned against the desk, folding her arms. 'So no one knows you're up here?'

'Nope.' He grinned at her. 'Except you.'

'Don't they see you coming in and out?'

'Evidently not.' He moved up the bed so he was leaning against the headboard. 'Come and sit.' He told her, patting the bed beside him.

She half laughed. 'I'm okay here.'

Gary smirked and folded his hands in his lap. 'So… how's the Nerd infiltration going?'

Elliott glanced back to the window in slight annoyance. She didn't want to talk about the stupid Nerds. She had had enough of them for one lifetime. She hadn't seen Gary for nearly a full two weeks. She had hoped he had wanted to talk about something else. 'Okay, I guess.' She replied. 'Earnest is practically obsessed with me. I found a rose in my locker yesterday with a frigging poem attached to it, signed E. And he took over all the kids I'm supposed to be tutoring. And he did all of my biology homework.'

Gary chuckled. 'I told you to drop your pencil in front of him, not turn him into some love slave.'

'I didn't even do anything,' Elliott shrugged. 'I guess he just couldn't resist my womanly wiles.'

Gary chuckled again gleefully. 'What about Beatrice?'

'She's basically taken me under her wing in this new world of pocket protectors and jam jar glasses. She tried to get me in an astronomy club vest yesterday.'

'You would look good.'

Elliott turned around to look out of the window again, bending to rest her elbows on the surface of the desk. 'Yeah well, I draw the line at becoming a fully-fledged Nerd. And anyway, if I turn up in one of those gross green sweaters then Earnest might try and make me his queen or something.' She watched a group of bullies pestering little Pedro and sighed glumly. 'I hope something good comes out of all of this, because I'm starting to smell Algie everywhere I go. What the hell is it that I'm supposed to be doing anyway? I've spent two whole weeks on the Nerd Squad not even knowing why.'

Gary said nothing, which roused her curiosity. She glanced over her shoulder at him to see that he was watching her intensely. Or rather, he was watching a different part of her. She straightened up and whirled around.

'You little perv!' she laughed.

He blinked. 'What?'

'You need to wash your eyes out, buddy. I catch you staring at my ass like that again and I'll make sure you don't look at anything.' She shook her head and laughed quietly. 'Man, you've got no subtly.'

Gary just shrugged, not at all embarrassed from being caught. 'Well if you bend over like that what do you expect? I am just another hormone driven male adolescent after all.'

Elliott pushed some of the books aside and sat on the desk, crossing her legs and leaning on her arms. 'Enough about my little undercover op. Are you ready to tell me what you've been getting up to?'

Gary swung his legs off the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees. 'Oh, nothing special. The odd elaborate lie here, the odd reputation destroying rumour there.'

She chuckled. 'You little gossip queen.'

'It's called building up an attack,' he replied. 'You'll see. You start the rumour mill going and it'll take an atom bomb to shut it down.'

Elliott's smile dropped a little. 'What if Jimmy goes atomic?'

Gary looked up sharply, eyebrows knitted together. Then he relaxed and smiled lazily. 'Then we'll make sure we're out of the blast radius.'

Elliott winced a little. 'You know, Gary, I was thinking… I mean, Jimmy isn't that bad is he? I mean yeah he's a bit of a psycho, but I don't think he's ever maliciously done anything to hurt anyone…'

She stopped as Gary stood up, frowning slightly at her. He slowly wandered towards her, walking in a lazy zigzag and swinging his arms. 'Jimmy is a brainless meat bag. He just wants everyone beat down and in their place. Trust me, I was there when he did it to Russell. He blames me for that, but he can't even find me in a school of no more than sixty kids, for crying out loud. I was sitting in the cafeteria last week and he didn't even notice me! He's too busy chasing his sluts and mowing lawns to realise what's going on. And when he does it'll be too late anyway.' He stopped beside her and rested his hands on the desk, looking out of the window. 'Look at them all. Just a bunch of brain dead morons. They can't see what Jimmy's doing to them. Already the Bullies and the Preps have given into him, and by the sounds of it the Greasers have too.'

Elliott twisted the top half of her body and leaned on one hand to see out of the window also. 'Nerds aren't much against those three.' She commented.

'Not yet.' Gary replied, expression dark. 'It's coming together. You just can't see it. It's all going perfectly.'

Elliott looked to him. The grimy window cast shadows over his face and for a split second she wanted to get as far away from him as possible, knowing he was trouble. But then he shifted and his leg brushed hers. She felt her stomach flip and her heart fluttered a little.

Oh for God's sake, she thought. Stop being so girly.

He glanced to her, a smirk on his face like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Instead of looking away and blushing and going on to do her usual ramble about something pointless until the moment had passed, she lowered her head to him and kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth.

At first he did nothing, he just continued to look at her, corner of his mouth curled up slightly. Just as she was about to melt with embarrassment, he straightened up and moved in front of her. He moved close and brushed her hair from her face, then returned her kiss. Elliott, feeling so light headed that she thought she was going to faint, kissed him back tentatively, putting her hand on his shoulder. She slipped off the table and he hooked his arm around her waist, pressing the palm of his hand against the bottom of her back. She felt a shudder run up her spine like his touch had gave her a minor electric shock and she pressed herself against him, pressing her lips harder against his.

Gary's other hand ran up the side of her body. It lingered just beneath her underarm before journeying up her back to her neck. She felt his fingers in her hair and again shuddered involuntarily. Elliott didn't resist as she felt him moving her towards the bed, his lips still locked with hers. She felt the edge of it against the back of her knees and finally broke their kiss, a little breathless.

As she looked at him she frowned slightly. He didn't look like Gary anymore – or at least the Gary that she knew. His face was softer and his eyes had lost that malicious sharpness that they seemed to constantly harbour. She stepped back from him, keeping eye contact and holding his hand, and then sat on the edge of the bed. He sat beside her and kissed her again, putting one hand on her knee. Elliott allowed him to lay her back, resting her head on the pillow and felt half of his weight come down on her. Gary pulled his face back and looked at her with those strange, unfamiliar eyes.

Uncomfortable under his intense gaze, Elliott cast her eyes down. 'Gary…' she started.

'What is it?' he asked.

She looked at him for a moment, and then shook her head. 'Nothing.'

The corner of his mouth curled up again before he lowered his head and kissed her.