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──EPISODE TEN

"HEY, ROBBY, WAIT UP!" Élodie called out as she saw Robby entering the school building alone.

She slung her bag fully over her shoulder, jogging over to the boy who turned to smile at her.

"Hey," he looked shy, loosening up a little as Élodie pulled him into hug, "Welcome to hell on earth!" she teased with a toothy grin.

"Thanks," he chuckled, "Real reassuring."

They'd not seen each other since she had shuffled out of his father's house the morning after the party, nor had they really spoken much.

Élodie had narrowly avoided Johnny Lawrence but as soon as she left his home she met the raised eyebrow of Marjorie Marshall through her window.

After an hour long conversation about the shit-storm going on in her life right now, Élodie left her grandmother's house somehow even more confused than ever, and she was nervous talking to Robby because she too didn't really know how she felt anymore.

"My uh, my dad dropped me here," Robby smiled, a low huff of a chuckle passing from his lips, "He's trying, which is nice? I guess."

Élodie smiled warmly across at him, "He does love you, Robby. I know things haven't been great but... He cares. I'm glad you're giving him a chance."

Robby said nothing, but smiled.

"It's so weird that I knew him before we dated and didn't know he was your dad," Élodie shrugged, "But he talked about you a lot... Said he missed you and that we'd get on well. Little did he know, huh," she nudged his side with a laugh, before falling silent and realising that she'd awkwardly made reference to their relationship.

"Yeah," Robby smiled, licking his lips and pushing back a stray piece of his hair as he fought the desire to discuss that topic further.

"C'mon, new kid," Élodie linked arms with him, "I'll show you around, yeah?"

———

"Good morning, students and faculty, welcome to a brand-new year at West Valley High," Élodie had just sat down in class, aware of the glaring eyes of Eli and Miguel as she scoffed at the announcement, "I hope you all had a wonderful summer and are ready to dive back into the school year!"

She fought the desire to look at the boys sat adjacent to her, but couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Dude, you kissed Sam?" Eli didn't sound annoyed, nor did he sound disappointed in him. He sounded proud, and the thought made Élodie's chest hurt.

"Yeah," Miguel didn't look best pleased with himself, but Élodie felt her heart warm a little at the fact that Miguel and Sam could happen again — blissfully unaware of his attachment to Tory.

"Nice," Hawk smirked, to which Miguel shot him a glare, "No, not nice. I shouldn't have done that to Tory."

Hawk shrugged, "Why limit yourself to one chick? I'm planning on having a full rotation by the time we get to midterms," his eyes snapped up to Élodie again as if taunting her, knowing that she was listening, "Élodie sure had no problem doing that."

Miguel furrowed his brows, seemingly unsure of how to respond, but before he could, a presence at their side beat him to it.

"Hey, man. Just wanted to say, I wet the bed till I was 13..." a boy Élodie recognised from one of her classes smiled over at Eli, who's face twisted immediately in anger as the boy continued, "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Hawk growled up at the boy from his seat, furious, "Get the hell out of my face!"

Élodie hated feeling her heart plummet at the sight of her ex-boyfriend's expression — an amalgamation of unbridled rage and sheer embarrassment.

The tannoy announcement continued, boring the students until a sudden shuffle and a squeak of the mic set the events to come into motion.

"Samantha LaRusso. I know what you did and now you're gonna pay for it. I'm coming for you, bitch!"

Startled, Élodie had gone flying out of the classroom to find Sam, in desperate hopes that she could stop whatever fight was about to go on.

Much to her dismay, by the time she located the girl, she was too late — a crowd had formed around Tory and Sam, who were circling the hallway glaring at each other.

Élodie shoved through the crowd, finding Robby at her side now.

"I saw what you did at the party," Élodie pieced everything fully together now as Tory snarled at the girl across from her, "At least Élodie didn't set out to be a bitch. You on the other hand... just are one. You kissed Miguel."

Élodie couldn't help the glance she took at Robby, to see just how he'd react as Sam fumbled over her response.

"Tory, stop," Élodie cried out, "You don't have to fight, you can just— just talk about it."

"As if you've ever 'just talked about' things while you've been leading two boys on and going on secret dates with another one," she scoffed, raising her fists towards Sam in dismissal of Élodie's pleading, "Don't think everyone doesn't know that you kissed him too. Back off, Élodie."

Élodie went to speak, but her heart leapt and she knew it was probably pointless.

Her eyes flew to the other side of the crowd where she saw Hawk, his jaw clenched. She mouthed, "I'm sorry," across at him, but he looked down at the floor instead of responding.

And then chaos ensued.

Fists were thrown and dodged for what felt like an eternity as everyone watched on, gasps and cheers erupting from the surrounding students as they watched Tory quite clearly dominate the fight.

Robby interrupted with a shout as Sam had been cornered, pressed against a locker, Tory's chest heaving and falling in anger. Robby pleaded with them to stop fighting, only for Miguel to come flying over too and shove him to the ground.

"Guys! Stop!" Élodie choked out, panicking as she didn't want to see anyone get hurt.

Miguel and Robby burst into a fight, ignoring Élodie's desperation as they tumbled to the ground, and Élodie watched Hawk's face grow angry.

"Oh it's on!" he yelled out, knocking three boys around him to the ground and marching forward to get himself involved, just as Élodie almost knew that he would.

Time felt like it was going in slow motion as she watched everything go on, still begging everyone to stop even as her words fell on deaf ears.

Tory and Sam moved down to just inside the entrance of the school, as the boys continued their fight in the hallway, and Élodie wasn't sure what to do.

She wanted to help Sam, of course, but she also wanted to stop the boys from seriously hurting each other, especially when at least part of their hatred for each other involved her. And even more so, she cursed herself for how badly she wanted to know what Hawk was doing.

As that thought crossed her mind, she spotted him still beating the shit out of people, but Demetri and Mr Palmer appeared before him and his attention suddenly shifted.

At that moment Élodie knew she needed to interfere — Sam could keep herself safe, so could Robby and Miguel. Demetri, on the other hand, had no chance.

As Hawk's eyes fell upon Demetri, a smirk graced his face, and Élodie felt her heart drop as Demetri broke into a run to get away and Hawk sprinted straight after him.

She drew in a sharp breath, trying to quell the lingering threat of a panic attack as she too ran to follow the boys to do whatever she could to help.

———

"Demetri, I know you're in here. Figured you'd hide in the computer lab. You damn nerd," Hawk growled, but turned around in confusion when he heard the door reopen and close behind him.

"Eli—,"

"It's Hawk," he snapped, catching sight of Élodie as she paced towards him, "You don't get to call me Eli anymore."

"Eli," she reasserted, "Please don't hurt him. I'm begging you. So much of your anger is because of me and—and rightly so. But please don't take it out on him."

"What? So I should fight you instead?"

"You don't have to fight anyone," she shook her head, frowning at the boy as she realised he now did seem to only look at her with contempt, no longer even a hint of hope in his eyes, "Demetri isn't any match for your skills, it's not worth the trouble you'll get into, Eli."

"Good of you to pretend to care about me, princess," he snarled, "But save that for Robby. Shouldn't you be checking on him right now, not me?"

Élodie's gut told her the real reason she was here, not with Robby and Miguel, but she was still so conflicted she just gulped for a moment as she struggled to find her words.

"Eli please. I do care about you, you know I do and— and I miss you. So much. I was hurt watching you become something you're not, but I have too and I see that and I'm sorry," the tears that had been threatening to spill broke the dam now, scaling down her face without warning as Eli's face twisted into various expressions before returning to anger.

"Just— just go, Ellie. We can talk later," he shrugged, turning on his heel again and quickly pacing away, "Nerd... I'm coming for you."

Élodie felt her heart race even faster, and suddenly she feared she could no longer fight off the brewing panic attack.

She pressed her back against the wall for a moment, heaving in a deep breath and trying to recall everything she usually did to try to calm herself down.

But then she was reminded of everything that had overwhelmed her in the first place — and breathlessly darted back out into the main hallways of the school in a frenzy.

Nothing could have prepared Élodie for the sight she found when she returned to the front of the school.

She could barely process what was going on above all of the screaming, but the last thing she expected to see was Miguel unconscious at the bottom of the stairs surrounded by screams for an ambulance.

"Miguel? Miguel! Oh my God Miguel!"

Hawk looked up from where he was crouched at his best friend's side, his eyes catching Élodie's for just long enough to share a distressed glance before he looked back down.

And then just out of the corner of her eye she saw Robby.

The pained expression on his face as she watched him run off told her all that she needed to know.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE !
this was half the length of the last chapter and took literal years for me to post and for that i am SO SORRY !!!

it was half finished for ages and i just couldn't do it... but i'm already working on season three as we speak

thanks so much for your patience and for reading. <3