Chapter 4

"Babe?" Elijah sad sadly while leaning his head on the door.

"Yes?" She said sitting on the floor with her head leaned on the wall.

"Open the door." Violet stood up, unlocked the door, and faced him with a frown.

"I'm sorry." He said and took step towards her. She nodded and dropped her head on his chest.

"I'm tired."

"I know, babe." He carried her bridal style back downstairs and laid her on the second couch.

"Wow, Eli finally got a girlfriend." James said walking in the room. Evelyn was sitting beside Lucas on the third couch. All four couches sat in a square with a see-through of a table in the middle.

"I'm not his girlfriend." Violet mumbled rubbing her head with her eyes closed.

"Yet." Elijah said smugly and lifted Violet's legs up. He sat down and put her legs on his lap. Violet was too tired to yell at him.

Evelyn chuckled while scrolling through her phone. "She doesn't seem like your type." She said with an American accent. All of the people who know Evelyn were always stunned by how she can easily switch accents.

"Sure." Elijah said and shrugged.

"I hate you." Violet said and sat up. She put her feet on the ground and looked around confused. "Where are we?" She asked looking back at Elijah.

"My house." James answered, he was now sitting with Evelyn and Lucas. The latter has been watching Violet closely the whole time.

Violet looked over at him. He just shrugged at her and looked back at his phone.

"Oh. Well, I'm Violet. But you can just call me Vi."

"I thought you said your friends call you Vi?" Elijah said looking at her confused and amused.

"Exactly. Which is why I said they can call me Vi. Why did you bring me here?" Violet asked now looking at Elijah.

"I mean, you did tell your mom that would sleep at a friend's house for a couple of days. This is a friend's house." He answered and shrugged.

Violet groaned and threw her head back on the couch.

"Cheer up, darling. This place isn't half bad." Evelyn said with her Scottish accent back.

"I guess." Violet said and sighed. She then looked around frantically, "Where's my purse?"

"In the car." Elijah answered.

"Go get it." Violet demanded. The others looked at Elijah excitedly waiting for him to yell at her for making demands. But they were utterly surprised when he got up and left the house.

"Wow! He must really like you!" Evelyn said surprised with her American accent.

Violet giggled and shook her head no.

"He doesn't like me. Nobody does. People just love the idea of me. That's why I'm popular at school."

"You don't ken Elijah, darling. He's the complete opposite of ye. He didn't use to smile, laugh, or show any emotion until he met ya. You really made a big impact on the lad. By the way, I'm Evelyn, that's Lucas, and that is James." Evelyn said with accents mixed while pointing at each person. Violet glanced over and saw Lucas watching her amused.

She looked back at the door when she heard it opening. They both smiled at each other as he handed her the purse.

"Well, that was gross." A voice said emerging from the dark hallway.

"Hey, Logan." Lucas said finally tearing his eyes off of Violet.

"Hey, guys. What happened to Noah and who is that?" He said and looked at Violet curiously at the end.

"I'm Violet. Elijah's," Elijah cut her off again.

"Girlfriend."

Logan looked between them surprised. "Friend. I'm Elijah's friend. You can call me Vi." Violet said and handed him a friendly smile, which he returned.

"Hey, Evelyn." Logan said seductively while walking over to her. She glanced at him with a glare before looking back at her phone. Logan chuckled and sat down with them. "What happened to Noah?" He said looking at Noah amused.

"Elijah took us a to the club and we both got drunk." Violet said and shot Elijah a glare.

Logan chuckled, "Elijah, why do you take your girls to a club before bringing them here?"

Elijah just shrugged and continued to be on his phone. Violet looked at Logan curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Elijah gave Logan a warning look to shut up. But, Logan just ignored him and answered.

"Eli always brings the girls he wants to sleep with to clubs then here."

Violet looked at Elijah angrily. Elijah gave her an apologetic smile, but she dismissed it. "You're a pig." Violet said and walked out of the room.

"Babe." Elijah said and ran after her.

"Leave me alone, Elijah." She said and opened the front door.

The others were trying to poke their head to see them, but they ended up collapsing on the floor and laughing hysterically.

He grabbed her arm and shut the door. He turned around and made her face him. "I didn't try and use you, Vi. I just thought you needed to loosen up, so I thought the club will help."

"I don't need to loosen up, Eli. I wear a fake smile for a reason. I'm not going to stop, and going to a club isn't going to stop me. But, thank you."

"For what?"

"For caring enough to want me to stop. It's nice to know. Now take me home and I'll see you at my school tomorrow."

He nodded and opened the door. Elijah drove her home and kissed her on the cheek before leaving.

The next morning, Violet put on a ribbed tank top and floral belted shorts. She put on her yellow stilettoes to match. After grabbing her bag, she made her way to the kitchen.

"Hey, mom and dad. Hey, Stella." Violet said and sat with them at the table. Julia just sighed at her outfit, she knew there was no point in telling her to change. Her father didn't even spare her outfit a glance.

"Je croyais que tu retail chez Amara?" Julia asked curiously. That was French for 'I thought you were staying at Amara's?' Julia doesn't speak fluent French, like her husband. But, she does know a lot of the language.

Violet kicked herself to come up with a lie.

"Her father had a meeting at the house and I didn't want to disturb him."

"Oh." Her mother responded. She nodded and they continued to eat breakfast.

"Ok. I'll be in school." Violet said after getting a text that Elijah was there to pick her up.

"Have fun, princess." Stellan said and shot Violet a smile, she returned it and left the house. Elijah was already waiting for her, on his phone.

"Hey, Vi." He said when he heard her open the door.

"You know, Eli. I have two cars. I don't need you to drive me to school." Violet said and buckled her seatbelt.

"I know. It's fun."

"Sure."

Elijah grinned at her and drove them to her school. He parked the car and they walked in with his arm on her shoulder.

"Omg! Vi! Did you hear what happened?!" Some random girl said shocked as she ran up to Violet.

"No. What happened?" Violet said and flashed her million-dollar smile causing Elijah to sigh.

"Caleb and Ramiro totally fought yesterday!"

Violet took a step back and her smile went away.

"Who won?"

"Ramiro obviously!"

Elijah looked down at Violet worriedly as her body started to quiver in sadness. The girl frowned at her response and left annoyed when Elijah wrapped his arms around her.

Violet buried her face in the chest and tried to settle herself. Caleb has been her friend since early middle school. Violet doesn't even want to know how it happened or how Caleb looks. She doesn't think she can bear it.

"It's ok, babe." Elijah said running his fingers through her hair. She nodded and pushed off of him. He watched her in disapproval when she sighed, wiped her face, rolled her shoulders back...

And smiled.

"No, Violet." Elijah said in a warning tone. She looked over at him with a smile, but by his expression, she knew he wasn't buying it.

"I'm fine, Eli. Let's put my bag away and check up on Caleb, ok?" She said gleefully. Violet took a couple of steps to continue walking, but Elijah grabbed her arm stopping her. She looked at him with a curious smile.

"Stop it." Elijah said softly.

Her smile went away and she gave him a warning look. "I can't stop or my life will be ruined. I like my life happy and successful. So if I have to fake a fucking smile to get that life, I'll do it." Violet sneered. Elijah nodded and released her arm. She sighed and put her smile back on. "Walk me to my locker." She whispered.

He put the arm back on her shoulder and they walked to her locker with others following them.

"Who's Ramiro?" Elijah asked leaned against the locker beside Violet's. He was watching her get what she needed.

"Someone very, very, very, terrible. I guess you could say he's the leader of a rebellion... against me. Not everyone is fully loved. I do have people who hate me. He's at the top of the list." Violet said sadly and shut her locker.

"Oh, do you think he beat-up Caleb because of you?" Elijah asked putting his arm back around her. They started to walk to the nurse's office to see if Caleb was there.

"I hope not. I don't want to be responsible for something like that."

"I understand. I still wanna know why," Violet looked up at Elijah confused on why he stopped. When she saw how shocked he was, she followed his gaze and gasped.

"Caleb!" She yelled and dropped everything. She ran past all of the kids with there phone recording and pulled Ramiro off of Caleb with a newfound strength.

Ramiro froze and looked at his fist shocked. But Violet wasn't worried about that. She was worried about the fact that her best friend was sprawled on the ground, still, and not breathing, with blood covering most of his face.

"Caleb?" She said softly. Violet started to shake his shoulders, but he wouldn't move. She fought back the tears and turned to Ramiro.

"Why?"

Before he could respond, police, paramedics, teachers, and the sad excuse of a principal came running there. They took Ramiro away and pushed Violet away from Caleb, knocking her on the ground.

Violet felt hands on her waist helping her up. She didn't bother looking at who it was, many people there would help her up. Her eyes were focused on Caleb. Or at least... the body Caleb was in.

Not being able to watch anymore, Violet pushed through the crowd and ran out of school. When she got out, she didn't know where to go. So, she just started walking around the school.

Violet felt someone grab her arm and twist her around. When she looked up, she saw the person she's been dying to see.

"Mom." She whimpered.

"Come here, Vi. You're principal told me what happened." Julia said and brought Violet in her embrace. A great tremor overtook her, as she cried in her mother's arms like she always wanted to. "I'm sorry about Caleb. The principal called me." Julia said rubbing Violet's back.

"Je Suis fatiguée, Maman. Ramène-Moi à la Maison, il te plaît." Violet said after the sobs stopped. That was French for 'I'm tired, mom. Take me home, please. '

Julia nodded and walked them to her car, leaving Violet's car in the school parking lot. Violet was quiet the whole ride back home. As soon as they got to their house, Violet went straight up to her room, despite her mother's calls to come back.

Violet leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor next to her door. A tear formed in her eye but she blinked it away and focusses on her unsteady breathing.

Her focus was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She softly smiled when she saw Elijah's name pop up.

"Hello?" Violet said and stood up.

"Hey, Violet. Where are you? You kind of disappeared from school."

"My mom came and drove me home." Violet said. She was looking in her vanity desk for makeup remover wipes.

"Do you want me to come there?"

"You don't have to if you don't want," Before she could finish, her door was being knocked on. "Hang on, Eli." Violet said and made her way to her door.

"Eli?" Violet said confused when she saw Elijah standing at her doorway. He shrugged and walked into her room.

"I was planning on coming over anyway." He laid on Violet's bed and waved her stuffed elephant around in amusement. Violet climbed on the bed and snatched the elephant away from him.

"Don't bully, Mr. Monocle." Violet said patting the elephant's head.

"Mr. Monocle?" Elijah said in disbelief.

"Yeah, look," She climbed to the side bed and pulled out a monocle from her nightstand and put it on the elephant's eye.

Elijah let out a hearty laugh, "You are a kid in a teenage body!"

"Shut up!" She yelled and threw a pillow at him. He caught it and threw it back it her. When Violet was going to throw it back, Elijah grabbed her wrist and pulled her on top of him.

Violet giggled while she set herself free. He eventually let her go and they grinned at each other.

Violet got off the bed. "I'm gonna go get some food and we can watch a movie." Violet said and left the room.

While Violet was gone, Elijah got off of her bed and walked around. He laughed at some pictures he saw of her when she was a kid on her dresser.

He went to her closet and started going through it out of curiosity, he gasped when he heard in a meow. He looked down and saw an orange striped cat practically glaring at him.

"Hi?" Elijah said nervously. The cat just hissed in response.

"Wow, I knew you were a stalker but I didn't know you that much of stalker." Violet said leaning on the closet doorway with her arms crossed. "Come here, Archie." Archie meowed and walked over to Violet.