Elle watched Nero hold up his hand, stopping his crew.
“Ba-Elle, listen; letting them sit here will make sure no one will ever say or do anything to you and Chloe again. They won’t hurt you. I promise.” He made sure to hold her eyes, letting her know he was telling the truth. “They won’t touch Chloe, either. I give you my word.”
Elle looked at Chloe. She knew she was running out of room to protect her friend in this Hell. This semester had started out terribly, and it was only the first week. Elle knew she needed help, and if anyone in this school could protect Chloe, it was Nero and his crew. Sorry, Chloe.
Elle sat down beside Chloe. “You better not be lying to me, Nero.”
Elle knew he had heard her; he nodded, not only for her, but for his crew to come over.
Elle whispered to Chloe, “It’s going to be okay. I haven’t let anyone in here hurt you, have I?” And she hadn’t. Elle did whatever it took to make sure no one laid a finger on her. Yes, that meant Elle got the short end of the stick in here, but Chloe got the shortest end of the shittiest stick outside of here.
Elle gave Chloe a smile when she finally answered, shaking her head no.
Elle could see the signal Nero gave the young blond one to sit beside Chloe. That tugged at her heart a little. He was a good choice because he was practically a kid and had never had any part in their bullying.
Nero took his seat on the other side of Elle and draped his arm on the back of her chair as Amo and Vincent took the other two remaining seats across from them.
“This is my little brother, Leo.” Leo flashed his shiny, white teeth.
Jesus, he is a miniature Nero.
“Leo, this is Chloe.” He nodded toward Chloe.
“Hey, Chloe.” Leo held his hand out.
Elle quickly took his hand. “Sorry, she’s germaphobic. I’m Elle.”
Elle watched the four guys stare at her and Chloe. The situation was already awkward, and that had just made it a lot more so.
“That’s freaking genius, Nero. Why haven’t we thought of that after all the gross hands we’ve had to shake?” Leo laughed at his own joke, the guys all joining in, and Elle couldn’t help herself from laughing with them. Even Chloe chuckled.
Elle automatically liked Leo. It was something you couldn’t help; he was completely adorable with his long, dirty-blond hair and deep-blue eyes. He knew how to handle himself even at a young age, and Elle knew he had gotten it from his older brother.
Surprisingly, Elle thought lunch was going well. Nero, Amo, and Vincent talked mostly to themselves the whole time while Elle asked Leo questions about how he liked high school so far. Leo, being easy to talk to, had Chloe chiming in, as well. It was a nice lunch. They’d never had any company besides themselves. They, of course, never minded it, but it was a nice change. It was time to head back to class before they knew it.
Elle and Chloe got up first to take their trays to the trash, but Nero stopped Elle. He grabbed her tray and took it from her while Amo came up and grabbed Chloe’s tray. Chloe, however, didn’t let it go; she kept her hands on the tray, holding it tight. Amo held on tighter and slowly pulled it closer to him, freeing it from her hands.
“I-I can throw away my own trash.” Chloe kept her eyes down to the floor; no way she would look a big guy like Amo in the face.
Elle tried hard not to laugh at little Chloe fighting for her tray against Amo.
“Yeah, so what’s your point?” Amo was asking a rhetorical question because he knew Chloe wasn’t going to be able to answer it. He went to the trash can with Nero and tossed it in.
“Catch you later, girls.” Elle and Chloe smiled at Leo as he went off to his class. He is way too cute.
“What class are you in?” Nero asked Elle.
“Spanish, why?”
“Because we’re gonna walk you to class.” Amo started walking out front and Nero took Elle’s arm to start walking. Chloe walked right behind Elle like she did as usual. Nero stopped and turned around. “What are you doing, Chloe?”
“Um, walking?”
“Why the hell are you walking on Elle’s ass?”
“This is how I always walk.” Chloe’s face was confused as to why it mattered.
“Jesus Christ.” Nero ran his hand through his hair while Amo and Vincent shook their heads. “Chloe, walk beside Elle.”
When Chloe took a hesitant step forward and stood next to Elle, Elle gave her a reassuring smile and nodded for her to start. It took a minute for her to comfortably walk beside Elle because it was hard for her to look at something other than Elle’s back.
It even felt slightly awkward for Elle. She had grown used to Chloe being right at her back. It was also hard for her to let go and trust Nero on his word. Yet, here she was, walking beside her best friend on her right and Nero on her left while Amo and Vincent rounded out the front and back.