A/N: One more update tonight methinks. Wheesh I went a bit crazy today - what is this, three chapters? You wouldn't think I've been doing work for uni today as well lol :P

Chapter XXXV:

"Just A Terrible Judge Of Character"

The only female on campus who regularly frequented the egg splattered yard of the Boy's Dorm was Christy Martin, but that was because she was a big floozy. Elliott couldn't understand why Christy didn't have a similar reputation to Lola, but then again Christy probably only made out with guys. She didn't go the whole hog like Lola. But Elliott had no choice to go to the Boy's Dorm. Gary had done yet another vanishing act after his explosion at her in the history class. Any sane person would have totally washed their hands with him after that, left him to come crashing back down to Earth in his own way, but Elliott couldn't bring herself to do that. She knew he was only acting the way he was because he wasn't taking those stupid pills. If she could get him to start taking them again then he might get better. She wasn't about to give up on him.

But she needed help.

The doors of the Boy's Dorm opened and the boy who she had spent twenty minutes waiting for slipped tentatively out. Elliott stood up, anxiously clicking her fingernails together in front of her. She waited until he had gotten down the steps before she collared him.

'Petey!' she called, heading over. 'I mean uh, Peter. You got a minute?'

Petey looked at her in surprise, and then anxiously rubbed the back of his neck. 'I uh, actually I've got something I need-'

Elliott took his arm and led her towards the far side of the building. 'It'll take two minutes, I swear.'

Petey allowed himself to be pulled along. 'Oh, okay…' he mumbled.

She pulled him around the corner of the Boy's Dorm, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed them before turning to Petey. 'I know you're probably going to tell me to take a running jump, but I need your help.'

Petey shifted uncomfortably. 'Look, Elliott, I don't mean to be a jerk but… I know you're teamed up with Gary and if you think I'm going to fall for all this the same way Earnest did... I know Gary got you to work in the library so Earnest would-'

Elliott shook her head and held her hands up defensively. 'That's not it at all, Pete. Anyway, I know you're not as desperate as Earnest to fall for something that stupid. Gary's told me to sling my hook anyway because I tried to talk him into dropping all of this.'

Petey frowned in confusion. 'You did?'

She shrugged. 'Come on, I might be a bit weird in the head but I'm not as crazy as that guy. I can see that the whole thing is completely insane. But…' She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. 'You're probably just going to laugh at me but I… well, I like Gary. I want to help him.'

Petey shrugged. 'Why would I laugh? It makes sense, Gary was one of the first people who gave you the time of day at this dump of a school. But then again that was the same for Jimmy. Jimmy trusted him until he turned on him.'

Elliott shook her head and ran a hand over her face. 'They're like a pair of bulldogs.' She muttered.

Petey rubbed the back of his neck again and half smiled awkwardly. 'Yeah, tell me about it.'

'I was going to go straight to Jimmy but he would probably just try and get me to tell him where Gary was so he could beat the crap out of him. And I know you're good friends with Jimmy and I heard you used to hang around with Gary before all of this kicked off. What I'm saying is that, well… do you think you could talk to Gary? See if you can make him see sense?'

Petey shook his head and waved his hands. 'Oh no. No way. I'm not going anywhere near Gary. It was bad enough before he openly hated everyone affiliated with Jimmy. If he sees me he'll rip me to shreds.'

Elliott slumped and sighed. 'He would, wouldn't he?' She leaned against the wall and rubbed her face again. 'What a stupid idea… I just don't know what to do, Petey. I don't even know why I care so much about it all. I should just sit back and wait for Gary and Jimmy to either kill each other or something and then just get on with my life.'

Petey shrugged. 'That would probably be for the best.'

'Man this sucks so hard.' Elliott muttered, and then glanced to Petey. 'If you think about it we're in the same boat. Both helping out crazy people.'

Petey half laughed. 'Yeah, I guess so.'

She kicked at the ground a little before pushing herself off the wall. 'Well, sorry for wasting your time Petey. I'll see you around, okay?'

Petey hesitated, and then shook his head. 'Look,' he sighed. 'As much as I find it hard to believe it looks like Gary cares about you. Maybe if you talk to him again you could calm him down and, I don't know, then maybe you could talk to Jimmy…'

Elliott frowned slightly. 'Are you trying to say I should get on Gary's good side and then help out Jimmy?'

Petey shrugged. 'No one knows what Gary's up to better than you. If you tell Jimmy where to find him he could put a stop to Gary before this gets too out of hand-'

Elliott felt a pang of anger. 'You think I'm going to stab Gary in the back like that?'

Petey frowned a little. 'Well, yeah! He's a bully and he has it coming.'

'I couldn't do that to him,' Elliott scowled. 'Sometimes I think I'm the only person in this place who gives a damn about him. He's ill, that's all. He needs help, not bringing down by Jimmy Hopkins. How is he going to change if every time he goes off the rails he gets this kind of reception?'

'Gary's always been the same, whether he's on his medication or not. He's not ill, he's insane. There's a difference.'

'Well not in my book.' Elliott scowled. 'God, Petey, your attitude stinks. I thought you were better than that.'

Petey just shrugged his shoulders. 'I guess you came to the wrong person for help.'

She shook her head at him in disbelief and headed away. 'Too fucking right.' She muttered. 'Later.'

She heard Petey calling for her to come back, probably so he could mutter some kind of apology. Elliott had met dozens of people like Petey; he could end an argument brilliantly and then ruin it by coming back and whimpering apologies. She ignored him though and made her way back to the Girl's Dorm, fists clenched by her sides.

This was so frustrating. She could storm around and thinking of a million and one things to say to Gary to calm him down but nothing was going to come of it if until she actually found him. It was like he had fallen off the face of the Earth. Maybe she should just leave it. Or maybe she should take Petey's advice and go and talk to Jimmy…

No, that was out of the question.

As she approached the Girl's Dorm she could hear Mandy's voice. She was yelling something, and sounding pretty irate too. Great, Mandy in a bad mood. Just to make everything better.

Elliott walked through the arch in front of the Girl's Dorm with a frown on her face. Then her eyebrows lifted when she saw Mandy, Christy, Pinky and Angie all in their cheerleading uniforms and high kicking like crazy.

'Pinky, come on!' Mandy yelled. 'Do you think you're going to impress anyone with that? But your back into it!'

'But we've been high-kicking all day!' Pinky moaned. 'I'm going to be all blotchy and gross tomorrow because I've been moving around too much.'

'Well if you don't practice you'll totally screw the chant up for us.' Mandy shot back. 'If you're not one hundred percent devoted to the plight of our footballers, maybe you should go elsewhere.'

Pinky looked down at her pompoms sulkily. 'Sorry, Mandy.' She mumbled.

Elliott shook her head, stifling a smirk, and began to make her way to the Girl's Dorm.

'Right, come on girls!' Mandy called. 'On three, one, two- Oh, hey Elliott! Come over here a minute!'

Elliott contemplated just running for the door and pretending she didn't hear her, but Mandy was one of the students at Bullworth that could clear about a hundred yards in the second you weren't looking. She appeared by Elliott's side, the other girls taking the chance to take a break from high kicking.

'Congratulations!' Mandy beamed. 'I heard about the news.'

Elliott blinked at her. 'What news?'

'About you being the new Head Girl! Crabblesnitch wanted me to do it originally, but I told him I had too much devotion to the cheerleaders and it wouldn't be fair for me be juggling two positions that are so important. So good on you for doing it! I'm glad, really. You'll do a great job.'

Elliott frowned. 'But I didn't even say yes.'

'Oh, if Crabblesnitch really wants you for something, you rarely have any choice in the matter. Hell, when I started Bullworth I didn't want to be a cheerleader, but he picked me out to form the cheerleading team. And I have to say I've never looked back since.'

'Right… well, um, thanks. I suppose.' She paused and considered it. Maybe if she agreed to be Head Girl she could get a chance to talk to Gary properly. For all the good it would do. 'So, you're all practising for the big game tomorrow, huh?'

Mandy's eyes gleamed. 'Oh yeah.' She turned her head to the others and raised her voice to they could hear her. 'Although the way Pinky's been going I'd probably be better off getting Edna on the team!'

'Mandy!' Pinky cried, stamping her foot. 'You're not helping.'

Mandy smirked and turned back to Elliott. 'Are you going to be there?'

'The game? I don't know. I'm not a big sports fan…'

Mandy snorted. 'You can't not turn up if you're Head Girl. You've got to attend all the big events like this, although they don't get much bigger than the big game. If you don't go no one will take you seriously.'

Elliott didn't particularly care if no one took her seriously. 'Well I guess I'll have to.' She said.

'Great.' Mandy beamed. 'I'll keep you a seat on the sidelines if you like.'

'That's okay.'

'Whatever. I'll see you later. I need to make sure these idiots can actually remember what they're meant to be doing. See you.'

Elliott didn't return the goodbye and just watched Mandy return to the others, yelling at them to get up and get to work. After a moment Elliott headed inside, shaking her head. If being Head Girl meant you had to attend the big game, Gary would most probably be there too. And Jimmy was rumoured to be sabotaging it.

She decided it would probably be in her interests to go along.