Chapter XXXIV:

"Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place"

Jimmy had been right about one thing; Gary was like a ghost. For the past week Elliott had not seen hide nor hair of him around campus or in any of the towns, and taking he had passed Chemistry in the first two months of the school year she knew she wouldn't be seeing him in class. That night they had made up he had gone from muttering obsessively about Jimmy Hopkins to murmuring promises of a better life in her ear. Elliott wasn't one to be swept off her feet so easily, in fact she prided herself on having a rational mind, but Gary had some kind of hold over her. He made her act like a kid. She practically hung on his every word. So when she had left in the morning she had looked forward to going to up the bell tower again the next night, but he hadn't been there. And he hadn't come back either.

It was safe to say that she was more than a little pissed off. In the beginning anyway.

But as it turned out life at Bullworth Academy was so much simpler without worrying about his little schemes. Also now her tutoring sessions were over she didn't have to spend so much time at the library, but that hadn't deterred Earnest from leaving presents in her locker. She had made a mental note to tell Beatrice to ask him to stop. She was getting a bit freaked out. Despite having a potential stalker in Earnest, everything else was going fine. Her grades were higher than usual, Mandy was actually civil to her in public, and everyone else just seemed to leave her alone. It had been all she had wanted when she first joined the school. It was just a shame it had taken nearly eight months to achieve it.

However, she still missed Gary. She couldn't understand why he would just disappear like that after they had made up. After she had told him that she would stay by his side even though she still had doubt niggling away at the back of her mind. She remembered him mentioning something about having to go down to Blue Skies Industrial Park for a few things, but Elliott wasn't even sure where that was. She just hoped he was okay.

She was making her way to the cafeteria where she was meeting Beatrice for lunch when Miss Danvers stopped her. She wasn't overwhelmed with dread every time an authority figure stopped her these days because she knew she had done nothing wrong. In fact, the faculty and Prefects had been overly nice to her – in the last week especially.

'Ah, Elliott, there you are.' Miss Danvers smiled. 'Dr Crabblesnitch would like to see you in his office.'

Elliott glanced at her watch. She was already ten minutes late in meeting Beatrice. 'Um, okay.' She shrugged, and followed the older woman up the stairs. As she followed her she wondered what Crabblesnitch could want. Probably wanted her to start doing the tutoring classes again seeing as she had done such a good job with Pedro, but there was no way she was putting herself through that misery again, no matter how many brownie points she would get for it.

Miss Danvers escorted her through the reception and pulled open the door to the Principal's office. 'Here we are, Headmaster, as you requested.'

Elliott stepped inside warily.

'Ah, Miss Nixon. I'm glad Miss Danvers was able to find you without resorting to the PA system.'

Elliott's face dropped. Gary sat in one of the chairs opposite Crabblesnitch's desk, grinning at her. He looked terrible. His skin was pale and his eyes were practically sparking they were so full of excitement. The first horrible thought that ran through her head was that Crabblesnitch had somehow found out about that night in the bell tower and he was going to tell the whole school, but then rationality stepped in and told her that was ridiculous. But still, her legs had gone completely stiff and she couldn't take her eyes off Gary.

'Please, Miss Nixon, sit.' Crabblesnitch told her, gesturing to the chair beside Gary.

Elliott managed to get her legs moving, but she had to work hard in not falling over. She sat down a seat away from Gary and awkwardly folded her hands in her lap. She could feel Gary's eyes boring into her but she kept her own straight ahead. Miss Danvers bowed to the Principal and closed the door.

'Oh, Miss Danvers?' Crabblesnitch called, but she didn't hear him. 'Excuse me for a moment,' he said to Gary and Elliott, and then headed out into the reception.

Elliott remained looking ahead, tensing her jaw. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gary leaning towards her.

'Hey.' He grinned.

She snapped her head around to him angrily. 'What are you playing at?' she hissed in a harsh whisper. 'Why am I in here? Where the hell have you been for the last month? I've been looking all over for-'

'Ah, here we all are.' Crabblesnitch announced, returning. Elliott snapped her head back around and Gary sat up again, still grinning. 'I hope you weren't in the middle of anything, Miss Nixon, but I thought it would be better if the three of us discussed this matter together.'

Elliott frowned slightly. 'What matter would that be, sir?'

'I imagine you would be happy to learn that Gary here is to be the new Head Boy. He tells me you are quite good friends. It's nice to see the good students sticking together.'

She felt a little sick. 'Yes, sir.'

'The pair of us have been discussing whether or not it's necessary to have a Head Girl, but even if the female population at Bullworth is quite low we still need someone to represent them, and Gary here seems to think that you would be the perfect candidate. I have to say that I agree with him, considering your drastic turnaround since starting here at Bullworth. You would set quite the example for your fellow students.'

Elliott brushed her hair from her face and swallowed. Her throat clicked. 'Well, um… I don't really know what to say…'

'A yes would be wonderful,' Dr Crabblesnitch smiled at her. 'I think the pair of you would make quite the team. You're both responsible and courteous…'

Elliott frowned slightly. Gary? Responsible and courteous? Had Crabblesnitch been at Mr Galloway's 'tea'?

'And I believe that your relationship with the students could really make a change around here. I don't expect you to make a decision right away…'

'Actually,' Elliott said, shifting in her seat. 'I um, I don't think it's really my thing…'

'Nonsense. You would thrive in such a position.' Crabblesnitch replied. 'The younger children admire you. Pedro has come along leaps and bounds since you tutored him.'

Elliott couldn't help but glance briefly to Gary. He was still grinning. It was going exactly the way he had planned it. 'Dr Crabblesnitch,' she said, lifting her chin. 'I'm really… happy that you think I'd be good for it but I just don't think I'd want to. There's loads of girls who would be better at this than me…'

'I refuse to take you answer until you have thought about it, Elliott.' The Principal replied, waving a hand. 'It would be such a shame for you to turn down such an opportunity. Imagine the changes you could make. I'm quite sure Gary will help you come to the proper decision.'

'But really,' she insisted. 'I don't think there's much more to-'

'I'll let the two of you go and discuss it.' Crabblesnitch said over her, rising from his seat. 'The History room should be free if you want to talk in private. I would be thrilled to have you on board, Elliott. Keep that in mind.'

'I will.' Elliott said, flatly.

'Wonderful. Now off you both go, I believe I have some paperwork to be getting on with. These report cards don't sign themselves you know!'

Elliott rose from her chair, her legs still feeling stiff and alien. Gary stood also and nodded to Dr Crabblesnitch. 'Thank you, sir,' he said. 'I'll see if I can change her mind.'

'Good boy.' Crabblesnitch nodded.

Elliott led the way out of the office, chewing on the inside of her mouth anxiously. Gary walked closely behind her, and she could still feel him staring at her. The corridor was practically deserted, apart from one of the Greasers being busted for spray painting on the wall. She had barely stepped out of the reception when she felt Gary grab her hand and pull her along the corridor.

'Hey!' she cried, and tried to resist him a little.

He only chuckled gleefully and pulled her to the History class. He pulled open the door with his other hand and went inside. She stumbled after him. When he closed the door she shoved him hard making him bash into it.

'Ow!' he laughed. 'Hey, now come on. There's no need for that.'

'What the hell was that?' Elliott scowled. 'Head Girl? I never said anything about being Head Girl! I said I'd help, but I didn't-'

He tilted his head and held out his hands. 'Come on, it's perfect! You and I, finally in charge of all the students. We've got the faculty on our side now. With the teachers on our side, Jimmy doesn't have a chance! The Big Game is tomorrow night and he's already running around the football field in the Mascot outfit thanks to your work with the Nerds.'

Elliott frowned. 'But I didn't do anything. I sat in that frigging library for two whole weeks contemplating suicide because Earnest thinks I'm his Juliet or something.'

'Exactly,' Gary grinned, snapping his fingers. His eyes gleamed mischievously. 'I knew Earnest would be obsessed with you. He's obsessed with any female who so much as looks at him without throwing up. All I had to say was that you would be really impressed if he got at the Jocks and I just knew he would get Jimmy to do his dirty work.' He chuckled and shook his head. 'The morons at this school are so predictable.'

Elliott was frowning at him. 'I don't get it. Gary, you're not making any sense anymore. Not that you made much to start with…'

'Jimmy's going to sabotage the Big Game!' Gary grinned. 'Don't you see? He defeats the Jocks and then he'll have everyone on his side. He'll practically rule the school!'

Elliott massaged her forehead and sat down on a nearby chair before she collapsed with exasperation. 'I thought you didn't want Jimmy ruling the school.'

Gary squatted in front of her and wrapped his hands around the bottom of her leg to keep himself balanced. 'He won't rule the school. Not without the teachers on his side. What do you think the teachers are going to make of him sabotaging the game like that? And the Prefects? They'll hate him. Without the faculty, he's nothing. And we have the faculty. It's going perfectly. I don't think it could have gone better at all! Jimmy did everything I wanted him to. He fell into every single trap.'

Elliott swallowed hard. 'You're scaring me a bit.' She admitted.

'Why?' he asked, eyes sparkling. 'This is what we've been waiting for. It's what we've been working for. You and me, Elliott, we're going to rule this dump. Those morons will be eating out of our hands.'

'But I thought you just wanted to stop Jimmy from taking over? You've never been completely clear with me about what it is you want. I thought you wanted to make the school better for everyone?'

Gary laughed, sounding manic. 'Everyone? What's anyone done for us, Elliott? No, we're making it better for us. You got to let the losers drown.'

Elliott stood up. 'You're completely insane.' She muttered, moving away from him.

'So?' Gary shrugged. 'It never stopped you before.'

Elliott looked at him worriedly. He confused her so much. Even an idiot could see that he was trouble but… she wanted to be with him. Hell, she thought she might even love that psycho bastard. She moved towards him and took his hands. 'Let's just leave it all, huh? Just forget about all this stupid ruling the school crap. I can talk to Jimmy and I'm sure we can get him to leave us alone. Then we can just concentrate on each other, you know? It'll be good, just the two of us-'

Gary pulled away from her angrily. 'No!' he shot at her. 'We're not stopping now. Not when I'm this close! I can see it, I can smell the victory. I'm not going to let that little thug beat me in this! I'm smarter than him, Elliott! I'm smarter!'

Elliott recoiled. 'Okay, okay! You're smarter! I know you are, but you don't have to prove that!'

'Yes I do! If I back down now then Jimmy will destroy me. I'm not losing to that little scumbag. I'm not!' He stopped, eyes darkening. 'You've been on his side since he fed you all that crap outside of the Girl's Dorm last week, haven't you? I should have known when you started defending him.' He moved towards her, one finger curled out accusingly. 'You're just another one of his little bitches.'

Elliott shoved him back. 'You're insane!' she yelled. 'I am not on Jimmy's side! I want to help you, Gary! I want to help you get better and forget about all this nonsense! I care about you. I don't want to see you get hurt.'

He just continued to scowl and shook his head. There was no way she was going to be able to reason with him now. 'I offered you the chance to be by my side in this. We could have ruled over those morons together, but you messed it up. You're just another one of them now.' He stormed towards the door. 'Have fun fighting the waves.'

'Gary, don't!' she called. 'You need to calm down! You're only like this because you haven't been taking your-'

'I'll do it without you!' he told her, pulling open the door. 'I don't need you. I don't need anyone. You're going to wish you didn't mess it up, Elliott. You missed your chance.'

'Gary, please-'

'I'm going to run this dump, Elliott!' He shot at her, pointing at his chest. 'Me! You lost out.'

He turned and stormed away. Elliott ran to the door. 'Gary!' she called after him, but he ignored her. 'Gary!'

He disappeared down the stairs. Melody and Karen stopped chatting by their lockers to stare at her curiously. Elliott sighed heavily and leaned against the wall, rubbing her face with both hands.

Way to go.

A/N: You'd think these two could manage to stay civil with one another for more than two chapters lol. You can probably tell this is getting on the way to being wrapped up soon (about bloody time - this is the longest story I've ever wrote!!) but when this story is over it won't be the end, because I was thinking about doing two more stories centered around Elliott. That's if people would want to read them, I've just become a bit partial to her. Don't worry though, I doubt they'll be as long as this one has been :P Anywho, thanks everyone for reviewing! I'd give you some fairy cakes but Gary took them as part of one of his insane schemes :(