A/N: I am never using roman numerals to number my chapters again. It's okay if you have like, 15 chapters or something. But when you get up to Chapter L, you know it's a bit much xD

Chapter L:

"News Gets Around"

Elliott decided to try and concentrate on something a little less brain agonising for the rest of the day. Like her Art project, for instance. She hadn't cared about it in the slightest until now; she had never really had the patience to stand with a paintbrush in her hand for hours on end, but now the idea of staring thoughtlessly at drying paint appealed to her more than anything else. So, avoiding any lingering students, she made her way into the school building and up to Ms Phillip's class to get her supplies to take back to the dorm. She might get a few funny looks for working on a Sunday, but to hell with everyone else. From this moment, Elliott decided not to give one damn about a single living person who walked the campus.

She got her canvas and a few tubes of paint and was just about to leave the room when she heard footsteps on the other side and the sound of voices. Automatically she stopped and listened.

'I know, it's unbelievable,' a young female voice said. 'I mean, this school is supposed to be prestigious. Can you believe there are tramps like that at Bullworth? If my parents knew they would have me out of here in a flash.'

Elliott tried to place the voice. One of the little kids… Melody, she thought. What the hell was she doing inside school on a Sunday?

'It's so gross.' That was the blonde girl, Karen. Elliott recognised her irritating voice anywhere. 'I mean… that meant whoever left that in the bathroom actually let one of those gross guys actually near her… y'know… with his… y'know. It's gross.'

Elliott's eyebrows drew together and she pressed her ear against the door harder.

'Are you sure that's what it said?' Melody asked. 'You're not making it up, are you? Because Sheldon said you make stuff up to make yourself feel more important.'

'Sheldon is a brat.' Karen spat. 'He likes boys too you know. I know what it is. Here, I have it in my pocket.'

Elliott listened. The two girls had stopped near the other side of the door.

'Oh it is!' Melody cried. 'Gross!'

'That was so stupid of them as well, leaving the receipt in the bathroom. I mean… duh. How stupid can you get?'

Elliott's heart lurched in her chest. Receipt? Had there been a receipt in the paper bag? She had no idea.

'I wonder who took it then.' Melody mused aloud. 'I think it was Mandy.'

'Maybe. More likely it was Lola. I heard she let Trent touch her private bits.'

'Girls don't have babies from boys touching their private bits, Karen. Maybe she used a boys toilet and got pregnant off the seat.'

Elliott had to stop herself from thumping her head off the wall. Shitshitshitshit, she thought.

'Ew, Melody!' Karen whined. 'That's disgusting.'

'Christy Martin told me that's how girls get pregnant.' Melody defended.

'She was making fun of you.' Karen told her. Then she paused. 'Maybe it's Christy who's pregnant.'

'Ooooh, yeah.' Melody agreed. 'She's been wearing her skirt really short lately.'

Karen laughed suddenly. 'What if it's Eunice?'

'Ew!' Both girls giggled in unison.

Elliott felt sick. Had she really been stupid enough to leave the receipt for the pregnancy test on the floor in the bathroom? Really? What if Mandy had found it instead of those two little kids?

It's okay, she told herself. Calm down. They don't know it was from you. They haven't even thought of you yet-

'What about that new girl?' Karen suggested. 'You know, the weird one. Who did all of Pedro's work for him.'

'Elliott?' Melody snorted. 'No way. I heard she used to be a boy. Boy's can't have babies, even if they got changed into girls. That's what my mom said when my brother got turned into a girl. She told him he wouldn't be able to have babies or anything.'

'Of course they can.' Karen replied, her voice getting quieter as she walked away. 'Then why else would they turn into girls?'

'Well, you do have a point…'

Their voices dwindled away into incoherent murmurs. When she was sure they had gone, Elliott poked her head out of the door.

Looked like she owed Mandy one for starting that rumour.

Okay, so taking her mind off things by working was now out of the question, as now Elliott was terrified that she had left more incriminating evidence lying around. She wanted to get rid of the pregnancy test, but then she was frightened that if she binned it someone would find it. Then she was scared if she put it in her pocket to dump in the sea then it might fall out of her pocket and someone might see that. So for now the unused pregnancy test was destined to live inside a sock and underneath one of the loose floorboards under her bed.

She would probably move it to a safer place later.

She left the school and headed into town, not sure why or what she intended doing when she got there, but she just needed to walk. She walked blindly out of the gates, automatically turning right and heading towards Bullworth Town. She could barely face Bullworth Vale these days. And she certainly couldn't face the Carnival. Too many stupid memories.

Elliott's mind had remained in a blissful blankness until she was rudely interrupted by the sound of sirens. She glanced up as a police car whipped by and realised that she was outside of the barbershop. She watched the car like it was the first time she had ever seen one in her life, and then frowned as it skidded to a halt in front of the Town Hall. In fact, there seemed to be an awful lot of people suddenly gathering there.

For God's sake, she thought bitterly. Is there a single place in the world where I can just be alone? Without listening to incessant whining and moaning and…

She frowned again as she noticed that most of the people were pointing up at the Town Hall. She followed their fingers, and then tilted her head, trying to distinguish what she was looking at.

It looked like someone had spray painted something in luminous pink paint on the very top of the Town Hall. She couldn't really make out the words, but whatever it said it seemed to be mightily pissing off the locals. One woman was yelling that it must have been due to one of those terrible students from Bullworth Academy, and that the place should have been shut down years ago. Another man was ranting about how the whole of civilisation was going down the pan.

Curious, Elliott joined the crowds and squinted at the graffiti. Bullworthless, it said.

'Huh,' she mumbled. 'Witty.'

'You, girl!' a voice barked at her suddenly.

She glanced around, bewildered to see a giant police officer advancing on her. 'Um, yeah?'

'Do you know anything about this?' he demanded, pointing up at the Town Hall.

She blinked. 'I know that whoever did that shouldn't have used pink paint.' She replied. 'It's kind of hard to read.'

The officer scowled. 'This is a very serious offence, miss. Do you want me to drag you back to your school and have you explain this to the Principal or are we going to start again? Do you know anything about this?'

Elliott decided a more polite approach was in order. 'Sorry sir, I have no idea. I was just walking by and-'

The police officer just snorted like a gorilla and moved away, asking if anyone had seen anything. Elliott smacked her lips and thought it best that she left before this turned into a Bullworth student lynching. She was already getting the evil eye from some creepy looking hobo. She spun on her heels and headed back along the road towards the school.

Wow, so someone climbed all the way up there just to tag it? Sounded like someone who was craving respect to her. Probably one of those stupid Townies. Looked like something they would do. Plus, they had the writing skills of a three year old.

Elliott glanced up as a bike whizzed past her, followed by the sound of something metal being dropped. She looked down as the fallen object rolled along the pavement and stopped at her feet. She frowned after the person on the bike. Unsurprisingly, it was Jimmy. She glanced down to see what he had dropped.

Now this was surprising. She stooped down and picked up the empty can of pink spray paint. She tapped it on her hand, watching as Jimmy disappeared into the distance, and then slipped the empty can into her pocket.