A/N: Ooooh this is nearly finished now. I think there are about three more chapters... Phew, this story is SO much longer than I intended it being. You have any idea how much I had to play Bully to make sure I got bits right? Not that I mind, because... well, it's awesome xD Like you lovely reviewers :D

Chapter LII:

"Back To Square One"

'I was so frightened that I was going to end up with rabies. I had to get a tetanus shot and everything.'

'One of them bit you?'

Beatrice shuddered and shook her head. 'God no. I just didn't want to run the risk. Better to be safe than sorry.'

Elliott took a moment to imagine a rat that could give you rabies just by staring at you, and then decided it wouldn't be very nice. She grimaced and then leaned back in her seat, looking towards the stairs that led up to the school building. Everything had calmed down since yesterday, but it had left the campus eerily quiet. Even Algie had managed to pass Trent, Wade and Troy without so much as a passing glance. 'Yesterday was so weird,' she remarked. 'The rats in the library, Johnny Vincent getting locked up in Happy Volts, the gym burning…'

'Well you know what they say about bad luck coming in threes.' Beatrice shrugged whilst pushing her glasses up her nose. 'At least no one got hurt.'

Elliott smirked. 'Like you weren't wishing that Mandy didn't get out of that gym.'

'Elliott! I thought no such thing!' She paused. 'Okay, maybe just for a minute…'

'Something big is going to happen.' Elliott decided, glancing around the quiet campus. 'I can feel it. You know when you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach?'

Beatrice glanced away casually. 'That might not be what you think it is.'

Elliott shot her an irritated look. 'Can we just forget about that? It's over and done with. No babies.'

'Okay. No babies. Sorry.'

'And try not to mention it while we're sitting outside. Actually, don't mention it ever. It's like it never happened.'

'Sorry. It was just a big shock to me. I don't tend to be the one that people come to about those kind of things, y'know? I firmly believe that you should wait until the right person comes along just to avoid this kind of thing. How on Earth would I be able to get through medical school while worrying about things like being preg-'

'What did I just say?' Elliott snapped. 'Please, stop talking about it.'

Beatrice raised her eyebrows. 'Okay, sorry. I was just saying…'

'Yeah well don't.' Elliott frowned, leaning forward on her knees.

The two of them sat quietly for a moment while Elliott sulked. Finding the silence uncomfortable, Beatrice got to her feet. 'Well seeing as the library is clear now I'm going to go and get started on my Biology coursework.'

'Didn't you finish that already?'

'Well, yes. But I like to have two different versions in case I decide the one I've already got isn't good enough. See you later.'

Elliott watched Beatrice head away towards the library. Weird, she thought. She couldn't understand people who did more work than they actually needed to. Although on the subject of coursework, she still needed to finish off her painting for Art. And she needed to finish her Math coursework. And her History.

Hell, with all that had been going on recently she had completely forgot that she actually had work to be doing. Everything had to be completed by the end of the school year, which was only two months away. The year had flown over considering. She stood up and started towards the stairs that led up to the main building. Classes had been cancelled because of the insanity of the day, but the teachers were still around. Surely they wouldn't mind if she turned up to do some work. And plus, it would be something else to keep her distracted.

The door thudded open before she got a chance to open it herself. Jimmy stormed out, fists clenched by his sides. He marched right past her, bumping shoulders with her roughly.

'Watch it!' she scowled, rubbing her shoulder. 'What are you, blind?'

Jimmy whirled around and instantly she regretted getting in his way. She didn't think she had ever seen anyone look so angry. Elliott closed her mouth and shrugged.

'It's okay, forget it…' she murmured.

'You!' Jimmy cried, pointing a finger at her and advancing two steps. 'You can tell your bitch that when I see him, I'm going to kill him for squealing. You understand? I'm going to rip his scheming little head off. If he knows what's good for him he's going to skip town and get as far away from me as possible, because I'm going to end that guy!'

Elliott blinked. 'Um…' She stopped and considered her response. 'Is something wrong?'

'I'll tell you what's wrong,' Jimmy growled. 'This whole damn place is wrong! I stand up to these losers and I'm the one who gets punished.' He managed to regain a little of his composure and waved a dismissive hand before turning away. 'Bullworth isn't for me. It's for bullies and losers.'

Elliott frowned vaguely. 'What?'

He whirled around to her impatiently. 'I've been expelled! Happy now? That's what you wanted, wasn't it? Well there you go. Well done. Go have a party.'

'You've been expelled?' Elliott cried. 'Seriously? Why?'

'Because Gary told Crabblesnitch that it was me who defaced the Town Hall.' He scowled. 'And I'm more than likely getting the blame for burning the school gym, even though everyone saw that Townie kid running out! Plus every idiot in this place blames me for their own stupid problems because they're too dumb to deal with them.'

Elliott scratched her head, trying to understand. 'You're expelled?' she repeated.

'They're just waiting to get in touch with my mom then I'm out of here.' Jimmy told her, still scowling. He sighed and shook his head. 'Screw this place. Screw all of you. I'm outta here.' He began to stalk away, muttering irritably under his breath.

'Hey, wait a minute,' Elliott said, following him. 'It was Gary that got you expelled?'

'Well, yeah!' Jimmy replied angrily. 'It's what he's wanted all along, isn't it? You should know that. He's your boyfriend.'

Elliott frowned defensively as she walked alongside him. 'He's not my boyfriend. Actually I pretty much hate him at the moment. Probably more than you do.'

'That's unlikely.' Jimmy muttered.

Elliott half laughed. 'Oh, believe me, it's likely.'

He glanced at her briefly, still frowning. 'Was it Gary behind the gym getting burned down?'

She hesitated. She knew that he had been planning something with the Townies, and in all probability it was to get them to burn the gym down and put the rats in the crates and steal the Preppies boxing trophies, but she didn't have any proof of that. She could tell Jimmy about that day in New Coventry with Johnny Vincent and the three Townies, but it could have been nothing. And plus, a small part of her still wanted to defend Gary, no matter how much she thought she hated him.

'I don't know.' She replied. 'I mean, I haven't spoken to him properly for a while. And… well, if I'm completely honest I have no idea what he was planning even when we did talk.' She shrugged in embarrassment. 'I guess I was just a blind follower.'

Jimmy frowned briefly, but he didn't look quite as angry. 'Guess you were.' He told her. 'Well, I've got some things to be doing. Like packing my stuff. I'll see you later.'

Elliott allowed him to walk the rest of the way to the boy's dorm unescorted. She stood in the centre of the walkway between the two dorms and looked up at the school building.

'Gary?' She nudged the old, creaky door with her foot. 'Are you here?'

She got no response from the small, musty room. She stood in the doorway for a moment, peering around. It didn't even look like anyone had been here since the last time she had come up looking for him. She wouldn't be surprised if he had abandoned this room, probably to avoid her poking her nose in and pestering him every five minutes. Although if he didn't want to see her why did he keep popping up and acting like nothing was wrong? She guessed that had something to do with his slightly unstable personality.

Elliott lingered in the doorway for a moment. She could wait for him, after all she had nothing better to be doing. But what exactly was she going to say to him? Try and talk him about of all of this? Obviously that wasn't working and she was sick of hearing herself trying to tell him. She could tell him about Jimmy being expelled, but she knew he would already know. She had a feeling that she had come to tell him about the pregnancy test.

She moved to the window and peered out onto the campus. Everything was still pretty quiet. She watched Jimmy walking out of the boy's dorm, not in his uniform, and head out of the school gates. This must suck for Jimmy, but he should have known better than to graffiti the Town Hall. In a way, this was all his own fault; it had nothing to do with Gary.

'I thought you hated me.'

Elliott didn't bother turning around, but she was still a little surprised. She hadn't expected him to turn up. 'I strongly dislike you. If it's any constellation it's not quite hate.'

She couldn't see him, but she could sense him in the doorway. After a moment he walked in and joined her side, looking out of the window.

'Jimmy's gone then.' Elliott said, breaking the silence.

'He won't be gone for long.'

'Yeah, I figured.'

They both fell silent again for a little while. Elliott realised that this was the first time in weeks they had managed to stay within a couple of meters of each other without arguing or shoving each other.

'I hope you haven't come up here to recite your peace speech again.' Gary said, finally moving away from the window and sitting on the bed.

'Nah,' Elliott replied. 'I can't be bothered.'

'So why have you come all the way up here?'

She thought about it, and then shrugged. 'I was bored.'

'You want me to help you pass some time?' he asked, cheekily.

Elliott turned around, unsmiling. 'There's something I should tell you.' She said, casting her eyes down. 'And it's… well, I guess it's pretty important.'

Gary tilted his head curiously. 'Important? Sounds boring.'

'It's not. Trust me.'

He lay back on the bed, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the ceiling. 'You're not going to tell me that you really did used to be a guy, are you? Because I think I would have noticed.'

Elliott rolled her eyes impatient. 'Can't you be serious for five minutes?'

He shrugged. 'Don't know. I haven't tried for that long. I think I can last about three minutes…'

'Gary, this is important. Really. I think I might be-'

'Let me tell you what I think first,' Gary replied, rolling on his side and propping his head up to look at her. 'I think you just wanted to see me, so you made up an excuse to come up here.' He grinned. 'Is that right? I'm right, aren't I?'

Elliott felt a pang of irritation. 'That's not it at all.'

'Don't think I don't know what you're feeling,' he went on. 'You like me. You like me a lot. But at the same time you can't stand the sight of me. Which means that you hate yourself for liking me. You hate me, and yet you keep getting yourself involved in my business. You can't make up your mind whether to beat the crap out of me or hop back into bed, right? If you want you can go ahead and do both.' He grinned and winked.

Disgusted, Elliott pushed away from the desk. 'Forget it.' She muttered, and headed for the door.

'Aren't you going to tell me your important news?'

She glanced back to him and decided that no, she wasn't. For starters, she hadn't even taken the test yet so it could be a whole load of fuss about nothing. Even if it turned out she was pregnant, did she really want him to get involved? Did she really think he would want to get involved?

'It wouldn't interest you.' She said, and pulled open the door.

'The offer still stands, Elliott,' he called to her as she started to leave. 'We can do this together.'

She hesitated. 'I don't think so.' She said. 'See you, Gary.'

'Bye, Elle.'

She didn't look back, and quietly closed the door behind her.