Goal:

Once we were finally back to the hotel, I was ready to wipe all my make-up off and crawl straight into bed. But Theo was having none of it. The pretty girl was still at the desk and her eyes lit up when Theo ran over to her, dragging me in his wake. I hated it. He hadn't spoken to me all evening but wanted my help.

"Come on Isla, smile. Act like you're me." Theo muttered through gritted teeth and slung his arm over my shoulder as the lady spoke. I tried to take in everything she said but couldn't. I wasn't fluent, I only knew the basics - enough to pass my exams.

"Uhm. She said her name is Sara and she works here and-"

"Isla." A deep voice interrupted my mumbling and I turned to see Elliot there, hands in his pockets and head down as his trainer clad feet scuffed the floor. I almost scoffed at the irony of him approaching me but decided not to be smug as he was an excuse to stop acting as google translate. You would think that in a school like ours the boys would be educated enough to know another language – or at least to pay for a translator.

"Sorry I've got to go." I mumbled, my eyes never leaving Elliot's handsome frame. I slowly walked over to him, my heart beating harder with every step I took. I was mad at him, so mad at him, but the closer I got; the less I cared.

"Come with me." He mumbled and stalked towards the lift that took us to our floor. I followed silently and once I got there, he pressed the button on the wall and the doors opened. He let me go first into the lift and as I passed him, I felt sick with nerves. What was he going to say?

The doors shut behind us and we stood side by side, both silent and staring at the doors. The lift was old, and slow. And although we were on the top floor, it took double the time it should have. But stood beside a silent Elliot, that time felt even longer.

"What did you want?" I asked him. I didn't look at him. I kept my eyes on my painted toes, the anticipation in my chest was going to give me a heart attack. He was silent for a few more moments, his body tense beside mine.

"I shouldn't have spoken to you the way I did earlier." He muttered and I felt my chest sigh with relief. I wasn't sure what I thought he was going to say, but I was glad it was that. I stayed silent. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to act like I was still mad. I was still slightly annoyed, but I wasn't mad. I was more annoyed about the fact I couldn't stay mad at him, than at his actions. "I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that." He finished and I saw him look over at me. I turned to face him, a blank expression on my face but as I did, the lift pinged, and the doors opened. I went to walk out but Elliot was quicker than I was and ran his hands over all the buttons. I managed not to smile at his childish actions. I looked up at him, surprising myself with how long I had held the blank expression on my face.

"You're right, I didn't deserve that." I said bluntly and I saw him sigh. He did look guilty. "I also didn't deserve the way you've been treating me. You didn't listen to me, Elliot." I said, a pleading tone in my voice. I wasn't sure how much longer I could deal with not talking to him for, with tonnes of unanswered questions and tonnes of undealt with feelings. He looked back down at his feet and nodded. His eyes shut briefly, and he looked back up at me.

"I know." He mumbled and took a step forward. I took one back. This continued until my back hit the wall of the lift. The doors pinged and flew open, and we both paused until they shut again. Elliot continued forward until his body was brushing against mine, his head looking down at me. "I'm sorry." He whispered and I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The heat from his body was making mine tingle and the butterflies in my stomach were flying around like crazy. My mouth went dry and the hairs on my arms stood up. "I was wrong in what I said. I shouldn't have asked you to stay away from me." He mumbled. He raised his right arm up to lean against my head and leant in slightly closer. My breath hitched in my throat and his head dipped closer to mine. We were millimetres apart. One jolt and our lips could touch.

"You shouldn't have." I whispered and he clenched his eyes shut briefly before opening them again and staring at me. His eyes trailed my body and I felt self-conscious in his presence.

"I can't stay away from you." He whispered. He pressed his forehead against my own and I almost gasped. "Especially when you look like this." He rasped, a croak in his voice, almost like a grovelling need. My breath sped up and I was dying for his lips to touch mine.

They didn't.

Instead, his left hand gently touched my bare thigh, and the doors pinged opened and then shut but I wasn't concentrating on them. I was concentrating on his fingers trailing my leg, up my bare thigh to the end of my skirt. He toyed with the hem and I grew hot with his touch. He moved his head to rest on his right arm, his breath fanning against my neck once again. It was so much contact in such a short space of time I felt like I was going to faint.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, hating how raspy my voice sounded. His hand suddenly gripped my thigh and I shut my eyes, tilting my head back slightly.

"Something I-"

The doors pinged, and as they began to open there were voices. I quickly pushed Elliot away from me and pulled my skirt down as a few of the boys from the third year climbed in. They looked between Elliot and I suspiciously before they continued with their conversation. I blushed as Elliot looked at me from the other side of the lift.

What were we doing?

He smirked slightly and my stomach churned. Whilst I was basking in his attention, I wasn't there to be picked up and dropped again when he was in a mood. We needed to talk. And soon. Before something happened that we would both regret.

Once the lift finally reached our floor, I followed the third years out and prayed Elliot was following me.

He was.

I led him to my room and unlocked the door, neither of us said anything as we both looked around and waited for everyone in the corridor to disappear. Once they had, I grabbed Elliot by his muscly arm and pulled him into my room. If we were going to talk it needed to be uninterrupted.

I slipped my shoes off and Elliot did the same before we both sat on opposite ends of my bed.

"Why did you bring me here?" He asked and I sighed.

"Because we need to talk." I mumbled and he paused before he nodded and looked down at his lap. I took his silence as a que to continue. "We can't keep doing this." I said, my voice quiet and shy, my eyes avoiding his.

"Doing what exactly Isla?" He asked and I gulped. He knew exactly what.

"You know what." I mumbled and he shook his head.

"I want you to tell me." He said, his voice deep and full of need. I hesitated for a moment before I shook my head.

"No, Elliot. I'm not going to tell you. You know what I mean." I said firmly and he was quiet, shocked. "I'm not here to talk about that, I'm here because we can't keep doing that without talking about what happened."

I was shocked at how confident I sounded.

It took at least a minute before Elliot nodded.

"Ok."

He looked pained, like it was paining him to re-visit the problem. But we couldn't continue without sorting it. Even to just be friends.

"You didn't listen to me that night." I began, "You were so angry and shocked that you didn't take in anything said. You said I wouldn't understand, and everyone keeps saying the same thing, but I don't get why. Nothing happened between me and Theo, I don't like him. I never have and I never will. And even if it did, we aren't together and therefore you shouldn't care." I explained. I was hoping that his silence meant he was listening. The more I spoke the more hurt he looked but I didn't get why. "When I asked people about why you were so mad, they said it was something only you could tell me."

I leant forward to grab his attention and his eyes met mine.

"Tell me." I pleaded and Elliot sighed. He rubbed his face, like he was stressed.

"I don't want to tell you Isla." He whispered; his voice sounded broken.

"But why?" I asked. I was so frustrated with him. He was so vague about everything and it was driving me crazy.

"Because I'm scared it will ruin everything!" He exclaimed suddenly, his voice rose, and I jumped back. I wasn't sure what to say to that.

"I..." I mumbled. It was hard to know what to say when I didn't know what the problem was.

"I know." He whispered. He crawled up the bed until he was leaning against my pillows, shoulder to shoulder with me. He rested his head on my shoulder and I resisted the urge to run my fingers through his hair. We weren't going out, I needed to stop acting like we were. "You know my necklace?" He asked, his voice quiet and weak, vulnerable.

"Yeah?" I asked and subconsciously played with my own, hidden underneath the golden one I had put on.

"Well, the reason my grandma gave it to me was because of her." He began. I was already confused. Her? "I met her when I was ten and I thought she was the most perfect thing ever. We were friends for years and I got the guts to ask her out when we were thirteen. We had been together ever since." He paused for a minute and my heart jumped as I realised where this story was going. I placed my hand on his chest and he grabbed it with his own. "Last year, I had trials for the academy. She came to those trials. She didn't want me to go, but it was something I had to do for myself and I knew she was only coming because I asked her to. One of the trials was a game against that team we played a few weeks ago. You know-"

"The one with that guy that you shouted at." I remembered and he nodded. It was all beginning to make sense now.

"Yeah. Well, we beat them, 5 nil or something, but when I came out of the changing rooms she was gone. I couldn't find her. I was so worried-" His voice choked, and I squeezed his hand harder. "Our school was not the type of place she would fit in. If I didn't fit in, she wouldn't. She hated people like Honey, like you, like us."

I was touched that he said us, but I knew it wasn't the time to mention it. I thought he hated being at our school and being associated with rich kids, but maybe he didn't.

"Anyway. I, uh, I searched and searched for her, and I ended up in the oppositions changing rooms, watching him undressing her." He muttered, his voice had turned bitter, and suddenly his hatred for the boy made sense.

"Elliot..." I mumbled and he shut his eyes.

"I ended it right there and then. It was only a few months ago I found out it wasn't a one-time thing. She had been seeing him for months." He took a deep breath. "Everyone knew, but no one told me. It really... Uh...It really ruined my trust in a lot of people. And I felt lost for a long time... I was debating not accepting my place at the Academy until my grandma sat me down, she gave me the necklace and she said to me 'if you do one thing before I go, it's accept the place at that academy and give yourself a start that none of us could have given you'. So, I accepted the place, moved in and left my old life behind. I really screwed my mum and dad over by leaving but selfishly, it was one of the best decisions of my life." Elliot smiled to himself and I smiled at the sight. It sounded like he had come along way, but it still didn't make sense. The argument in the restaurant made sense, but not ours.

"I'm sorry she did that to you. That's disgusting. But I don't get what that has to do with me." I muttered and he nodded his head. He looked up at me and smiled before he sat up properly.

"After all of that, the boys in the team obviously knew what happened, and they took me to parties, and did everything and found every girl they could to try and help me get over her." Elliot continued and I couldn't help the jealously that rose in my belly. "None of it worked." He said firmly. He caught my eye and stared at me. The intense blue in his eyes shone with a new emotion that I couldn't place. "I didn't think I would ever get over her. I thought I loved her." He said, almost a questioning tone in his voice.

"And?" I asked, I bit my lip, nervous for what he would say.

"Then you came along." He whispered, and a small smile played on his lips.

My heart fluttered, my stomach churned, and I felt faint with his words. My mouth was dry, and I didn't think I could say anything.

"That's why when I saw you and Theo together, heard the words come from your mouth, I freaked out. I thought it was happening again. That doesn't make my actions ok, but that's why." He finished; his voice quiet again. I was in awe. How could I respond to that in a way which wasn't me admitting my feelings for him?

He scooted closer and gently wrapped his arm around my shoulder. He rested his head atop mine and sighed.

"I'm really sorry Isla." He whispered. I shut my eyes and nodded.

"I know. It's ok. I'm sorry too."

We sat like that for a little while longer, neither of us saying anything, both just basking in our thoughts. I was glad we had spoken, and what he had said made my heart yearn for him and flutter at his words. I wasn't sure what they meant exactly; all I knew was I liked the sound of them.

And that was the most important thing.

Not long later there was a knock at my door. Elliot jumped up to answer it and it was Theo, wondering when he was coming to bed. Elliot told him he would be along in a moment and once he was gone he turned to face me.

"I best be going." He muttered and I nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. And Isla?" He asked. He opened the door but turned around to ask me.

"Yeah?" I asked, a small smile on both of our lips.

"If you weren't telling Theo you liked him, who were you talking about?" He asked. I felt my cheeks heat up and I stuttered slightly before I sighed.

"Goodnight Elliot." I said firmly and he laughed before he opened the door fully.

"Goodnight Isla."