She trained herself not to look at him, and eventually he got the memo and didn’t come near her anymore. What’s more, she no longer felt his stares at the back of her head. Nero didn’t have to follow her any longer; no one even talked to her besides Chloe.
When she heard about Sebastian being in critical condition and having the whole right side of his face burned off, she had pieced it all together. She realized no one had gotten a fucking cold. Nero had kept his promise of watching everyone who had ever hurt her scream in pain. Unfortunately, the latter—of her screaming his name—had also come true.
Elle couldn’t believe how she hadn’t seen how terrible they all were. They clearly all killed for a living. She made sure she and Chloe stayed away from all of them, including Maria.
Ultimately, Elle did feel bad for not talking to Maria, though. She couldn’t help who her family was, yet Elle knew if she and Maria stayed friends, that gave an opportunity for Nero.
Elle had wished the past few months would fly by, but unfortunately, they were the slowest of her entire life. The graduating senior activities only made it that much slower and that much more irritating. She had to listen to all the chattering about who was taking who to prom. Yes, she had heard several girls ask Nero, and yes, she and Chloe hadn’t attended. It wasn’t like they would have gone if she and Nero were still together. Chloe wouldn’t have been able to handle it, and Elle would have never gone without her. Then there was this other thing of her being absolutely miserable at school for the past four years.
Elle was closer than ever to leaving; only two more weeks stood in front of her freedom. She and Chloe both were going to attend Stanford in the fall, and they could finally move on with their lives.
Brring.
Elle didn’t even realize English class had started, and now it was already over. She picked up her satchel and headed for the door.
“Elle, could I speak to you?” she heard Mr. Evans speak behind her at his desk.
Elle nodded for Chloe to go on to class then she turned around and went to Mr. Evans’ desk.
“Yes?”
She noticed a worried look in his eye.
“I have finished grading the final essays, and I would like you to take a look at yours early.”
“Okay.” The final essay was actually a redo of the first one he had assigned to the class, a five-hundred-word essay on who you love the most. This time, he had asked for it to be a five-to-seven-page paper. Basically, he wanted us to see our own growth and how our feelings could possibly change toward a person.
Mr. Evans held a huge packet of paper in his hands. “I would like to say I’m sorry about your father. That must have been hard. I can tell you really love him.”
Elle held out her hand. “Thank you.”
Mr. Evans placed the big stack of paper in her hands. She hadn’t remembered it being so long.
“You know, sometimes I accidentally staple students’ papers together.” He let go of the papers. “You can read it in here. I’ll need it back. I don’t want the students to think I’m playing favorites by letting you see your grade first.”
Elle stared at Mr. Evans before she turned to take a seat.
After she saw a big red “A” at the top, Elle flipped through the pages until she got to a paper she clearly hadn’t written with Nero’s name at the top of the paper. She quickly shut her eyes.
Elle took a deep breath and made sure her off switch was shut tight before she opened her eyes and started reading.
Nero’s paper began of him talking about his mother, of how much he had loved her and still did. He talked about how he had never been the same after her death. Elle stopped reading at the next sentence.
She bit her lip, and then she started reading once more.
At the beginning of the semester, when you asked who I loved the most, an image of my mother popped in my head. When you asked me who I loved the most for the second time, it wasn’t an image of my mother. Instead, it was replaced by an image of a strawberry blonde with big, blue eyes.
It took me a long time to figure out the exact moment I fell in love with her, partly because I denied that I did until it was too late.
I fucked up so badly and did so many things wrong, to the point of no return, so I let her go. The selfless part inside of me wants to say I did the right thing, and the selfish part of me thinks I made the biggest mistake of my life. I guess the selfless side won out because, every time I look at her and see what I did, I realize I don’t deserve her.
I was never supposed to fall in love with her, but that was the best mistake of my life. I will always love her; I have ever since I purposely bumped into her in the hallway.
Elle stared at the big red “A+” at the bottom of the paper. She closed her eyes and held the switch down perfectly in her mind. After a moment, Elle was able to open her eyes.
She stood and went back to Mr. Evans, putting the paper on his desk. Then, Elle went to walk away.
“You know, I stand in front of the classroom every day, and all I see is you with your nose in your books and your papers.”
Elle turned around. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”