by Tim Mettey
**
Cora still insisted that I should ride different buses to and from school. She said she wanted to make sure that the media didn’t find out where we lived, but I had a feeling it had more to do with the pair of killers, which we were supposed to talk about but never did.
Another small wrinkle that came up after my impromptu meeting with the press was the amount of mail being sent to the school. I didn’t think about how many letters would flood the school for me. Every day there were thousands. Cora did her best to keep up with them; she tried to answer as many as possible. Superintendent Spears made sure to tell me how much the letters were costing the school. He threatened to make us pay a handling fee, even though just a couple of days before he had been willing to lock down the school with extra staff, security, and police on my behalf. I guess the cost of that was fine, but not extra mail. I told him to call Cora and take it up with her, which he, of course, never did.
My celebrity status had died down at school. People still wanted to say hi, but it was nothing compared to that first day when the media showed up. Eric was still my biggest fan and campaign manager. Oliver had disappeared. After the fight between the two of us, he vanished into thin air. He was better at hiding than I was.
Elle and I were still eating under the stairs by her request.
“Elle, will you go out on a real date with me?”
“Was our first date not a real one?”
“Well, I don’t count that one as a date, because I spent the whole time worrying instead of concentrating on you as much as you deserve. This next one will be free of any stress. So how about tonight?”
“Sounds good, but could I meet you somewhere else besides my house?”
“Elle, is everything okay?”
“Everything is great . . . it’s my dad.”
“Oh, your dad. I bet he’s not my biggest fan right now.”
She was looking down at a run in the carpet that she was helping along.
“Elle, say no more. I don’t need to know.”
“No secrets, Nicholas.” I was hoping that she would keep this secret. I didn’t want to hear how much her dad hated me. “My dad just isn’t sure if I should be spending so much time with someone who has so many secrets.” She hesitated, then looked up and smiled. “But don’t worry about him. I can make up my own mind about who I go out with.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. Her soft warm touch filled me with reassurance.
“So where do you want me to meet you for our first official date?” she asked, still holding my hands.
I pulled away so I could regain some composure. “Meet me at 8:30 at Hunters Green Golf Course.”
“Where?”
“Hunters Green Golf Course. Do you know where that is?”
“I do, but this is going to be a date, right?”
“Yes, Elle, one you won’t forget.”
