I know exactly what it looked like to have Regan come over last night. Technically it wasn't even my idea. She called and asked if she could drop off a few of my things I left there. We talked for a while, but that was about it. Nothing happened—although I'd bet anything Elliot thinks it did. Serves her right.

I sat up waiting for Elliot to turn the light off in her bedroom, but she never did. She either didn't sleep or she wasn't really in there. I can't be sure so I'm currently waiting to ambush her run this morning.

If I'm being honest, I might have gone too far yesterday. I guess it has a lot to do with Ollie's influence on her. She doesn't act like most girls, but I'm starting to think her tough exterior has its cracks. No matter what she does to try and hurt me I still want her. There's something between us I can't really explain. It's real and honest and we don't need to play games in order to prove we should be together. I know we should—I just don't know how.

I'm beginning to wonder if she's even going to run today when I spot her slip out of the side door. Her long ponytail is hanging out of a baseball cap and she's actually fully dressed in a hoodie and track pants. It's still sexy even if she isn't trying to be.

Her eyes flare in annoyance when I jog over to meet her.

"Oliver coming with you today?"

"No."

"Can I come with you?"

She laughs once as she bends to stretch her leg. "Don't you have company to entertain?"

I shake my head. "She wasn't here for me—it's not like you think." I shove my hands in my pockets, suddenly feeling nervous. The anger coming off of her is radiating in waves so intense I'm half afraid she'll burn me.

Elliot continues to ignore me and stands up straight to put her earbuds in. "Like I said, I don't think about you at all. So, why would I care?"

She turns to walk away from me, and I pull the strings from her ears. "That's not true and you know it."

For a moment I think she's going to respond but then she takes off running down the driveway. I follow her of course.

We make it almost an entire mile and she still hasn't attempted to put her earbuds back in or say anything to me at all.

"Can we talk about this?" I ask as I keep stride with her.

She glances over at me quickly and then back to the road.

I sigh. "Okay, fine. I'll talk." I take a breath. "I'm sorry."

She lets out a huff but doesn't slow her pace, so I continue. "This isn't fun for me, Elliot. We don't need to keep hurting each other."

It feels like she's running faster because my chest keeps getting tighter. "Say something," I demand.

"What you did last night—was bullshit," she spits out.

"What I did? What about what you've been doing with Dylan?"

She rolls her eyes and it makes me want to scream. "Nothing even happened between me and Regan. I had to watch you make out with that guy for over an hour in the fucking hot tub."

She laughs once. "I didn't make you watch. You chose to do that all on your own."

"It was right outside my window, Elliot. Like I had a fucking choice."

"It's my house." She makes a quick turn up another hill and then continues. "I can do whatever I want."

She's such a brat. "So it's okay for you to hurt me, but when I do it right back then I'm the bad guy?"

I get no response this time, and I'm starting to get a cramp in my side. "Can you please just stop for a minute so we can talk about this? I can't keep running at this pace and have a conversation with you."

Elliot smirks. "Maybe you should work on your stamina."

I have a pretty good comeback ready when she begins to pull ahead of me. Breathing hard, I come to a stop and plant my hands on my hips and watch her disappear around the corner. I'm almost positive if I don't quit chasing her, she may never stop running.

***

We're almost through the entire class period and Elliot hasn't looked at me once. I know this because I've been looking at her almost the whole time. If I was going to be a dick, I could have called on her and made her talk to me, but I decide to leave her alone for a minute.

When the bell rings, I watch her shuffle her things together to make a quick escape. I'm not sure what comes over me, but I move to stand in front of her. "Elliot, could I see you for a moment?" I use my teacher voice, and I can tell she wants to roll her eyes.

"All right," she says.

I wait until the few remaining students exit the room before I try to talk to her. She beats me to it. "Hunter, I don't have time for this right now. I have a test to get to."

She attempts to step around me, and I place my hand gently on her elbow. "Just give me a minute, okay?"

I see the tension in her stance as she nervously readjusts her bag over her shoulder and nods.

"Did I upset you yesterday?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Which part of yesterday are you referring to? The part where you manipulated me into thinking you actually wanted me or the part where you shoved your ex-girlfriend in my face?"

I swallow back the anger I feel from her insistence on never taking responsibility for her own actions. I lower my voice even further. "I'm talking about what happened in my classroom."

A bitter smile crosses her face. "That was the only part of yesterday I actually liked."

She tries to step around me, and I block her path. "I meant what I said this morning. We don't have to keep doing this."

She laughs. "If you really wanted this to end, you wouldn't have acted like a complete asshole yesterday."

I run my hand through my hair. "What do you want me to do, Elliot? I'm trying to throw the flag here."

Her eyes cast downward for a moment before she answers. "It's too late for that." She pushes past me before I have a chance to stop her just as my next class begins to trickle in.

If I'm going to get her to stop, it looks like I'll have to take it up another notch.

***

I sit on the bleachers after school and watch Oliver yell at his team like an asshole. He loves attention even more than Elliot does, especially when he gets to act like a dick.

"That was pathetic," he calls through his hands. "Run it again!"

A series of grunts echoes over from the girls running laps on the track, and I fight a smile. Oliver walks over to me throwing his hands up. "Geez, these girls think they can just phone it in today or what?" He looks at the time on his stopwatch again and groans.

He takes a seat next to me and I laugh. "Don't you think you're being a little hard on them?"

He scoffs. "No, they love it. Girls respond best to aggression." He winks at me, and I laugh.

"If you say so."

It doesn't go unnoticed that Elliot isn't on the field. I'm about to ask him where she is when she comes jogging around the corner still pulling her hair into a ponytail.

Oliver stands. "Whoa, whoa!" he calls to her. "Do you just make your own rules now? Practice started twenty minutes ago."

Elliot shoots him a look as she begins to stretch. "I had a committee meeting. It was mandatory."

"I don't give a shit, Elle. You've been late all week. Now go run hurdles." He points to the track, and she narrows her eyes at him.

"You're joking?" she says with a huff.

"Nope. You want to be late, I'm going to treat you like everyone else." He blows his whistle at her, and I almost laugh again. "Get moving!"

She flips him off before reluctantly heading toward the track. I catch her glare in my direction for a moment, obviously not thrilled I'm here.

Oliver shakes his head as he sits down again. "I don't know what's with her lately. She's always been difficult, but never like this."

I have a few guesses.

"I don't know, man."

My eyes drift back to the field where she takes her mark. Elliot takes off and makes it look fairly effortless until she trips on one of the hurdles. It goes three more before she stumbles again.

"What was that?" Oliver calls to her as he stalks back down the bleachers. "Get your head out of your ass."

She plants her hands on her hips as she breathes in and out harshly. "I'm sorry," she pants.

"Don't give me sorry, do it right. Run it again and if you trip over one more hurdle, I'll make you run sprints until you puke."

Now this kind of treatment would typically make most girls cry, but not Elliot. She gets a determined look on her face before heading back to the start. This time she doesn't miss a beat and breezes down the track.

Oliver claps his hands together. "That's what I'm talking about." He walks over and puts his hand on her shoulder. "See, now was that so hard?"

She shrugs him off. "Why are you being such a prick today?"

He lowers his voice, pulling her off to the side of the track. "Elle, what the fuck? You never fall."

I watch her eyes squeeze shut for a moment, and I can tell she's trying not to cry now. Oliver's face falls immediately. "Jesus, Elle. What's going on?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing."

"You're such a shitty liar. Now, tell me." He shifts right out of his dickhead coach persona into protective brother mode. "Is someone messing with you? You know I'll fucking kill them if they are."

Her eyes drift to me for a moment, and I swallow hard. The last thing I want is for Oliver to find out about this and murder me for it.

It goes another couple of beats before she finally answers. "No."

He lets out a frustrated sigh and pulls her into his side, hugging her against him. "Just go home today, alright? Relax or something and we can pick this up tomorrow."

Surprisingly she doesn't argue and walks slowly back to the locker room. The fact that her behavior has caught the attention of Oliver now has me worried. Even though I pushed her into this, I can't stand to sit back and watch her fall.