by Ellis Marie
“Elle? You coming?”
I snap out of my pity party and realise that Tom and Kristie are standing outside the car watching me; our school building bustling with activity behind them. I quickly grab my things and jump out the car, shooting them a forced smile as I swallow down the nerves building in my chest.
“Sorry. Was daydreaming,” I lie, hiking my strap over my shoulder as the material rubs against my denim jacket.
A soft and gentle hand wraps around my own, squeezing it lightly as our fingers entangle and my heartbeat calms a little at the comfort.
“You’re going to be fine,” Kristie states as Tom loops his arm around my free one. “We’re all behind you and Matt wouldn’t dare come near you with Trent around. If he does, I’m sure Tom can just throw up on his feet.”
She squeezes my arm again with a laugh. While Tom mirrors it, he does slap Kristie’s arm in response to her comment. The two of them attempt to ease my worries with a loop of encouraging words. I nod with them, trying to make them believe me, but I can’t help the nagging fear that nestles its way into the back of my mind.
Is Trent always going to be around?
The thought is swirling in my head as we make our way to our lockers, our chatter floating around us and joining in with the chorus of students all eager for the weekend. We say our goodbyes to each other briefly as we all go to collect our things. My heart races when I spot a figure standing by my locker, their eyes finding my own as they wave. I smile softly back when I realise who it is.
“There you are! I’ve been waiting to see you,” Cam gushes as he wraps his arms around me and I sink into them, burying my face into his fleeced jumper. “How are you? How was last night? Is everything okay?”
I chuckle and pull back from his embrace, holding onto his arms as I try to calm him down. “Everything’s fine, Cam.” I laugh. “Honest. I’m good. A little nervous but I’ve never felt better.”
It’s not just Matt that I’m nervous to see.
Cam sighs and pulls me into him again, pressing a kiss to my forehead as the tension leaves his body. I jab his ribs in response, making him pull away.
“Hey!”
“Why weren’t you at the party last night?” I scold, pretending to be annoyed. “You better have a good excuse.”
His eyes widen like a deer caught in the headlights as he scratches the back of his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows.
What has him so on edge?
“Ah, you know.” He winces. “I just didn’t want to go out before school, I sleep in most of the time as it is.”
The fake chuckle that leaves his throat is followed by a look of worry.
“Did anything happen last night? I really don’t trust those guys.”
I furrow my eyebrows. “What? Trent and Cole?” I question, my confusion clear. “Why would you not trust them?”
Cam’s eyes darken, and a scowl coats his lips as he finally looks down at me. I’m shocked at the look he is giving me; Cam is usually so laid back.
“I thought you said you didn’t really know them?”
Now it’s my turn to be the one caught out, and a blush coats my cheeks as I think about just how well I was starting to know Trent . . . and his lips.
“Elle, they’re not good guys. You can’t trust them,” he states without explanation as he grabs onto my arms and forces me to look at him. “Please just trust me on this.”
“But why?” I argue, my heart beginning to beat heavily in my chest. “What is it that you have against them?”
“I don’t have anything against them,” Cam groans in frustration, the lines on his forehead deepening. “I just . . . I just know things, alright? Things I can’t tell you, but you have to believe me.”
“Cam,” I say softly, wrapping my hand around the necklace hanging from my neck. “What’s going on?”
He mutters something under his breath as he looks about anxiously, running his tongue along his lip as though he’s trying to decide what to say. I reach my empty hand out to him and touch his chest, trying to pull his attention to me. It works a lot quicker than I expect as his head snaps back to me, but his eyes aren’t looking at my face but at my chest instead.
The blush on my face lights up as he holds onto me again, his gaze unwavering.
“Cam, what are you—”
“Where did you get that necklace?”
I glance down at the deep purple crystal hanging between my cleavage and wrap my fingers around it tighter, almost scared that he’s going to rip it away from me. “I found it.” I shrug. “It was in my back garden.”
“Take it off.”
I pop my mouth open at Cam’s demand, and I take a step away from him as anger begins to seep into my blood. “Excuse me?”
Cam grits his teeth and moves closer to me, hunching his shoulders up while his body shakes. “You need to take it off. Now.”
I laugh in astonishment, narrowing my eyes into a glare.
“Just because Matt no longer tells me what to do, doesn’t mean I need someone new to pick up the role, Cameron,” I hiss. “What the hell has gotten into you?”
“Look, Elle, you’ll thank me later. Just take it off,” he insists, reaching his hand out but I bat it away, much to his annoyance.
“Elle, just give it to me—”
“No.”
He glares at me. “Elle, you have to trust me. Just take it off.”
I slap his hand again. “I said no, Cam.”
He sighs and grips his hair in frustration. “Look, you don’t know what it is just—”
“It’s a necklace and I said no.”
“But you don’t understand what it—”
I hold up my hand and take a definite step backwards from him with hurt evident in my features.
“I’m going to class. When you decide to act normal, then you can talk to me, but until then, stay away from me.” I shove past him, knocking my shoulder against his as I do. I duck my head down, trying not to let anyone see the tears building up in my eyes as I push through the crowds and head to class.
Do I just give out a signal to people that I want to be pushed around or something? Do I just give the aura of a person who needs to be controlled? Am I doing something wrong?
Cam has never acted like that towards me before, but the second that Matt is gone, he suddenly thinks he has some say over what I do when he’s the one who keeps lying to me about what he’s been up to recently.
I know my friend. He never has a bad word to say about anyone, let alone have the audacity to try and tell me what to do. He has never, in a million years, spoken to me like that and the lies that he keeps producing are beginning to wear thin.
I don’t like this new Cam. I want my old friend back.
My eyes drift to the amulet and I bite my lip as I study it.
What is so special about it anyway?
***
“Everything okay?” A squeak of shock escapes my lips as I jump at the sound of a voice behind me, and the book I’m holding falls to the floor, clattering with a bang.
Every person in the library turns and stares at me, including the librarian who gives me a flat glare. I shoot her an apologetic smile as I wave before hiding back behind the bookshelf.
As I turn back around, I’m met with the same book almost hitting my face. When I take it, it reveals a wall of muscle behind it, chuckling softly.
“Mi vida, you certainly know how to make me smile without even trying.”
I blush at the term of endearment and put the book back on the shelf. I turn my back to the gorgeous man watching me, not wanting him to see the small smile fighting its way into my lips.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on people,” I chastise, trying to concentrate on finding the book I’m looking for, but it’s as if all my senses are tuned into him and only him, making it virtually impossible to focus.
A context analysis of The Crucible. A context analysis of The Crucible.
The floorboards creak
behind me and warmth coats my back as Trent moves in closer to me, his body not touching me, but his breath dusts itself over my neck and shoulder.
A context analysis of The—
“Maybe you should pay better attention, mo chuisle.” He chuckles but it’s barely a whisper, and my fingers tighten around the spine of the book that my hand hovers over. “You never know when I might be coming to find you.”
My mind works in overtime, trying to come up with some sort of response, but as his fingers softly trail themselves on my lower abdomen, I lose all ability to think and have to hold on to the shelf to steady myself. I flutter my eyelids shut as his lips glide over the exposed skin, sweeping my hair out of the way with his fingertips.
“I-I was concentrating,” I manage to stutter out, praising myself when it only shakes a little noticeably. He lets out a murmur of agreement, pulling my back into his chest softly.
“I know you were. I’ve been watching you for a little while,” he admits, and instead of being creeped out like I probably should be, I can’t help but just worry if I looked alright the whole time and blush at his interest in me. “Are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you?”
I turn around to face him, twisting my body in the small space I have. I immediately regret it as I realise that I’m caged in, unable to move anywhere without touching him.
“N-nothing’s wrong,” I stutter slightly, trying to calm my heart rate down as my hands rest on his chest. I thank god for the dark-coloured material stretched across it.
He watches me for a moment, slowly lifting his hand as if not to startle me. My heart warms at his thoughtfulness as it comes to the front of my face. His fingertips gently stroke the skin between my eyebrows as fire ignites under his touch.
“Do you know that when you’re thinking about something that annoys or worries you, you get a crease right here?” He touches the skin softly. A shiver racks its way through my entire being, making my toes wriggle in anticipation.
I bite my lip and look down, not wanting him to see that he’s right, but he catches my chin carefully and slowly raises it back up so that I have no choice but to stare right into his shining eyes as they engulf with concern.
“Mi vida, has someone done something to you? I made sure that he wasn’t at school today, but if he’s managed somehow to get to you, then—”
“No!” I interrupt loudly and immediately regret it as a chorus of hushes echo around us. I wince again and drag us further by the shelves. “No, it’s got nothing to do with Matt,” I explain, ignoring the fact that he’s somehow managed to get him to stay away, and his shoulders lower in response, like a lion losing their hunt.
“Then what has you so worried?”
For a moment, I almost lie again. I almost let ‘nothing’ slip past my lips like a breath and move on from the subject, but the tip of his finger is softly drawing circles on my hand and the comfort in his eyes makes me tell him the truth.
“People are lying to me and I don’t know why.”
His finger stills and his body freezes, the frown on his face disappearing and a shocked one replacing it in the blink of an eye.
“W-what do you mean?” he mumbles. I almost gasp at the stutter in his voice, he sounds so unsure.
I sigh and shrug my shoulders, my mind playing over Cameron’s stern face and the way he’s turned into someone new so easily. Everything in my life seems to be flipping upside down, and it’s hard to really grasp how much things are changing day by day.
“Just people I thought that I knew are acting strange and I’m not really sure what it is that I’m doing to make them that way, or if it’s not even me, but something else going on that I don’t know about.”
How are you meant to say that you just get the feeling that people are keeping things from you even if you have no idea why?
Explaining it to someone makes it seem even more confusing. I lift my head to look at Trent, waiting for him to provide some sort of answer to it all or at least a helping hand, but he looks like he is completely dead brained. He isn’t even looking at me. Instead, they’re trained over my head as if he’s purposely trying not to let me see them.
I sigh. “It’s stupid, I know. I guess I’m just used to my friends being open with me and—”
“Maybe the people are doing it because they care about you and you don’t need to know,” he states, catching me off guard. His words are blunt, and his voice is low. “Maybe you should just let them protect you and keep you out of it.”
I frown and huff, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Why would they need to protect me from anything?” I ask incredulously, not understanding him at all, but he gives nothing away and still refuses to look at me. He just takes a step back, straightening up to his full height.
“Just be happy people care about you enough to protect you, not many people have that,” he answers quietly, his gaze still well above my head and the frown on his face returns.
I reach out and grab his arm, dragging his attention back to me in an effort to try and comfort him in some way and understand what’s going through his head, but it’s as if he doesn’t even feel it.
“Trent, what’s going on?” I ask almost desperately. Finally, his eyes look into mine and the swirling emotions going through them are like a hailstorm—dark and heavy.
The silence around us is almost deafening as I hold my breath and wait for him to answer, the soft sounds of pages turning the only noise around us. I don’t know if it’s been two seconds or two minutes before he clears his throat and removes his arm from my grip.
“I should get back to studying,” he answers and places a kiss on my forehead. He moves in the direction of the door and my heart only has time to jump once before he’s out of my reach again.
“But wha—”
“You don’t have to worry about Matt,” he interrupts, glancing around the library. “But still, get home safe, mo chuisle.”
He doesn’t wait for a response before leaving the library. Everyone’s gazes follow him as his large frame ducks out of the room and the door slams behind him, my own included. I struggle to comprehend exactly what has just happened in the few minutes that we’ve come into contact—which seems to be the outcome of every interaction I have with Trent at this point.
What are people protecting me from? What has him so startled at my worries? And what exactly did he mean when he said I don’t have to worry about Matt?
I storm through the school halls, my mind whirling with thoughts that I can’t all put together. With every passing moment, I just get more and more frustrated about it until my body feels so tense that I think it might shatter into pieces.
I spot Kristie a few steps away, who’s just coming out of an empty classroom. I quickly grab her and drag her back in, her shocked exclamations silencing when she sees it’s me. I close the door behind us before spinning around to face her. She looks at the tension shaking through my bones and raises her eyebrows.
“Everything okay?” she asks sarcastically. I sigh, dropping my head into my hands and curling my fingers into my hair. “Elle?”
“You would tell me if everyone was keeping something from me, right?” I ask her. She looks taken aback.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if all our friends and, I don’t know, hypothetical best friends and crushes were all acting weird, you’d tell me if you knew why, right?”
She frowns and crosses her arms. “I’m actually insulted that you’d even have to ask that,” she states. “Of course I’d tell you.”
I groan and sit down on one of the chairs, the hope I had of Kristie being able to tell me something vanishing at her words. She quickly sits beside me, taking my hand.
“Elle, what’s wrong?”
I sigh. “That’s the issue, I don’t know.” She furrows her eyebrows. “Cam is being so strange to me, about Trent and about being friends with him and he got so angry earlier. He’s never snapped at me like that. I don�
��t know if I’ve done something or if something is going on with them or what, but I just can’t figure it out and no one will tell me anything.”
Kristie’s lips almost tilt into a smirk as she shakes her head softly.
“You’re so clueless, aren’t you?” She chuckles. The confusion only grows as well as my panic.
Does she know something? Is she lying?
“Have you ever thought that maybe Cam is just jealous of Trent?”
“Jealous?” I half-laugh and my body relaxes a little. “Why on earth would he be jealous of Trent?”
Kristie looks at me as though I’m an idiot. I shove her slightly, snapping her out of her stare.
“Okay, well, maybe,” she starts, rolling her eyes. “It’s because Trent is becoming a part of your life and Cam doesn’t like it because he’s protective?”
I frown and shake my head, my mind flashing back to his grip on my arms, the fierceness in his eyes earlier, and the demanding tone of his voice.
“No, Kristie. This was different,” I explain. “This wasn’t a ‘men are bad, you’re going to get hurt’ brotherly love kind of speech. He grabbed me and looked like he was terrified of me going near Trent. I’ve never seen him like that—even with Matt.”
Kristie’s silence worries me, and now, she seems to be worried too with her lip between her teeth. “Do they know each other?” she asks finally. I shrug.
“I don’t think so? Cam asked is name on the first day that he was back, and Trent’s never mentioned him to me, but Cam’s adamant that I can’t trust Trent and it’s like he’s dangerous or something.”
My voice shakes as I even begin to think about the possibility of Trent being like Matt or, by Cam’s reaction, even worse.
It’s not possible, is it?
“Didn’t you say that Trent’s friends were asking about him at that party? Like where he’d been and such?” Kristie asks. I think it through as I try to piece together all the things that have happened. “Wait, Elle . . .”
Kristie’s voice sends shivers down my spine. I look at her in panic, my breath caught in my throat as I watch her, almost able to visibly see the clogs turning in her head as she swallows loudly.
