“I...just wanted to thank you for what you did today. You were alone – you could have been hurt.” When he shrugged it off as if it didn’t matter to him, I pressed on. “Despite what it looks like, I don’t make a habit of going to quiet places alone. I had received a note in class to go to that particular lab to discuss getting back onto the cheerleading team.”
When he tensed, I knew I had been stupid to believe it. It was a hastily scribbled note, after all. “I now know it was just a trick to lure me there.”
His eyebrows knitted together and he asked the question that had bothered me all afternoon. “Hank wrote you a note?”
So I wasn’t the only one who thought it didn’t seem conceivable. I understood it was a premeditated attack but even though I didn’t know Hank at all, it just seemed off. “I was hoping you could take a look at it.”
I showed him the crumpled note in my hand. Concern etched his features as he examined it. “I don’t know his handwriting but I just don’t see that buffoon bothering with something like this. I wonder if someone put him up to it.”
He looked up at me briefly before pocketing the note. “I’ll keep this and ask around. In the meantime, do your best to stick around people at school. Hank may be suspended but his cronies are still at school.”
My pulse shot up at that. I had already begun to feel better knowing Hank was going to be absent for at least a week, as the principal had told me today. “Okay,” I replied shakily, feeling goosebumps dot my skin.
He surprised me by reaching over and touching my arm. His skin was warm and reassuring, and I was grateful for it. “Ella. It’ll be ok. Don’t worry.” His dark brown eyes were big and sincere, and I realized my fear must have shown.
“Thanks,” I whispered. He didn’t know how much his reassurance meant to me. Despite his contradictory actions, I wasn’t about to forget that he had already saved me twice now. The guy was an enigma, but for some reason, I trusted him. Something told me he was, deep down, one of the good guys. He just had a bone to pick.
He gave me a small smile before closing the door.
When I went back to my room, I opened up his Instagram account, which I hadn’t checked in a while. No new posts, but the one with the chessboard was gone.
***
The next day I did as Cole told me to. Jules was more than happy to walk around with me since I was now getting a lot of attention for being the girl who got Hank suspended. No one bothered to ask me how I was feeling or if he had managed to lay his hands on me – people were simply happy to believe all the rumors going around.
“I heard Cole came and kicked his ass when he saw Hank groping you!” Despite the sympathetic look Jules was going for, it was obvious she wanted to know my version of the story – and more likely than not so that she could put it in the school paper. I wondered if it had a gossip section the way my old school paper did. I could already see the headlines: “Unfortunate New Girl Gets A Handsy Welcome From The School Bully”.
I shook my head. “He didn’t get to touch me. Cole managed to stop him before he did.”
Her head tilted to the side. “How’d he know to find you? That lab is pretty out of the way, isn’t it?” I had asked the same question myself, but simply put it down to him being in the right place at the right time. Whatever it was, I felt lucky. Someone was watching over me, and that was a reassuring thing to know. I had kept the fact that I had received a note to myself, so that the only people who knew would be myself, Cole, and the sender. I didn’t want to add more fire to the rumors.
“Ella! Girl, are you alright? I heard what had happened!” Shelly, one of the friendlier faces on the cheerleading team, squeezed my arm as she walked by. Monica stood next to her, looking at me with a neutral expression.
I was secretly pleased with her concern. “I’m fine, nothing happened. Cole was there to help me.”
“Funny, isn’t it, though?” Monica asked. “That he was there just at the right time?”
Shelly turned towards her and put a hand over her mouth. “What are you thinking, Monica? Do you think Cole has something to do with it?”
“Well,” Monica said, flipping her glossy chestnut hair, “it is too much of a coincidence, isn’t it?” She looked at me up and down and laughed. “Everyone knows he wants you out of here. What better way than to scare you?” She turned on her heel, triumphant, and Jules stared at her sashaying form, looking thoughtful. I couldn’t say I didn’t do the same.
Her words followed me throughout the day. I had to admit – Cole would benefit from the incident. But so would Monica. Now that she had pointed it out to me, it made me see that she probably didn’t like all the attention I was getting. Getting rid of me once and for all would help. Maybe it was her who had sent the note. I had found it under my thick Biology textbook as I was packing my stuff up after Biology, which the handful of people at school I knew also attended, i.e. most of the cheerleading team, the jocks including Cole and Hans, Hank and one of his cronies whose face I recognized but whose name I didn’t know. It could’ve been any of them.
“Hey, did
