Nero(20)

Chapter Eight

Like a Disney Movie



Elle had lost all concentration at school with everything going on. Her life felt like the twilight zone to her now. Plus, she still had no idea how to handle the whole murder thing. She needed to find out about this boss and see if she could get in the clear.

Then there was Cassandra.

‘Well, she was suspended. Do you know why?’ Elle knew why. It was all because of her in the lunchroom. Cassandra was going to pay her back, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Forget the boss killing her, Cassandra was going to make sure she was six-feet under the moment her feet stepped back into school.

Elle cringed at an old memory from freshman year.



Cassandra and her two blonde friends stood over her in the locker room. “We heard what happened to your father. Good thing he paid your tuition before the school year started.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, how the hell is he supposed to make enough money in a wheelchair? I know he lost his job. Such a shame that your first year will be your last year at Legacy Prep High.”

Their sadistic laughs ran through her ears. She wasn’t going to listen to her talk about her father that way, though. “Yeah, and it’s such a shame you feel the need to stuff your bra. Can’t you at least stuff them evenly?” Elle knew she had gotten her with that one.

She started to walk off, done with the conversation, when Elle felt Cassandra jump her from behind, making her hit her head on a bench. Cassandra quickly sat on top of her back.

Elle pushed back the throbbing pain in her head. She had to get up.

Elle tried to push off the ground.

“Help me hold her down!”

The other two girls joined in and pinned her arms to the ground.

“Chloe, give them to me,” Cassandra called.

She saw a girl appear from behind a set of lockers through a veil of blood that was draining down her forehead and into her eyes. She remembered seeing her the first day of school and thinking she was gorgeous with her black hair that had a slight wave at the ends and her unusual eyes. She had never thought it was possible for someone to have gray eyes. She stood out among the other girls in her class because she was very short and already had a womanly figure for her age. Elle could tell the girl was uncomfortable, that she hadn’t agreed to what was going on.

“Chloe, give them to me.”

Chloe pulled a pair of scissors out from behind her back.

“You don’t want to be like her, do you?” Cassandra asked.

Chloe shook her head, holding the scissors out, and Cassandra snatched them away.

“Now, bitch, think again next time you turn your back on me.” Cassandra grabbed Elle’s ponytail and began cutting it off. Elle could only cry with each snip. There was no one around to help her, and she was helpless with three girls holding her down.

When Cassandra was done, she waved Elle’s now-chopped-off ponytail in front of her face. “A girl like you doesn’t need long, pretty hair like this anyway.”

Cassandra finally got off Elle and so did her friends before they started walking out of the locker room. Elle continued to cry as she sat up and scrunched her legs in front of her, holding them tightly.

Elle looked up and saw the pretty girl standing there; her eyes were glossy like she was on the verge of tears. She whispered, “Sorry,” before she ran out of the locker room behind Cassandra.

Elle learned a valuable lesson that day as she cried, bloody and alone in the locker room. She learned to never drop your guard.



The bell brought Elle out of her dark memory. The past is the past and lesson learned.

She decided she was going to walk Chloe to her class as usual and Nero was just going to have to get over it. Elle and Chloe got up to head to their next classes, but Elle stepped into the hallway only to be dragged sideways.

“What did I tell you?”

“You told me, but I decided not to listen.” As Elle gave him a smirk and took a step toward Chloe’s next classroom, Nero grabbed her hand and locked his fingers between hers.

“Do you honestly think I should let you walk Chloe to class and then let you walk all the way by yourself to Art? I’m sure Sebastian is dying to get his hands on you, alone. But how about when they get smart and realize you don’t give a shit what they do to you and they go for Chloe? Cassandra is only suspended, but she will be back, Elle. And until then, Sebastian will do her dirty work and so will Stephanie and Stacy.”

“Yeah, you would know about Cassandra and Stephanie; you all are so close. Oh, wait, I forgot Stacy, too.”

His saying their names had brought the memories back of him being with all three over the past few days.

“That is a separate conversation we can talk about later. Right now, I’m asking you, do you want to get Chloe hurt? Because you know I’m right.”