She missed him.

She missed the guy he used to be.

Elijah used to be sweet. He used to put effort. He used to make her feel special and loved.

And now, all he does is hurt her. And make her feel like shit. Like she's the one that's not good enough.

But she's trying to make it work. She knows the reason behind his anger was that his dad being laid off which puts a ton of pressure on him to get a full ride scholarship to college. But Jackson's appearance did not make things any easier.

Elijah was now second string quarterback.

He still has grades to keep up. He still needs to out-perform the guy that replaced him. His girlfriend may or may not have feelings for the guy that replaced him.

But all that was gonna change today.

During lunch there was excited chatter going on in the courtyard, making Aaliyah and Carolina wonder what was going on. All eyes were now on her as she walked through the crowds of people, confusing her. "What....is happening? What did I️ do?" She whispers over to her best friend.

Carolina simply shrugs until her eyes catch the huge neon green banner hanging between two poles. "Uh, Liyah," she called out, making her turn around and gasped.

Homecoming? In huge letters on a neon green banner, and standing in front of it was Elijah, with flowers and a bear. "Wanna go to homecoming with me?" He asked her, making everyone excited. Students started whipping out their phones, filming and pushing her to say yes.

Of course she should say yes. He's her boyfriend. She gives him a sweet smile and walks over to him, taking the bear and flowers and pressing a kiss on his lips before pulling him in for a hug. Everyone cheers around them.

Except one person.

Behind Elijah, Jackson stands a few feet away, leaning on one of the poles that supported his large school and watched the whole show in disapproving silence. Aaliyah meets his eyes with a slight frown before getting swept up in Elijah's arms. She turned back around to face everyone else. Carolina encourages them to take photos in front of the homecoming proposal as she plants a fake smile and poses next to him. Once the photos were done being taken, she quickly turns around to look for him again.

He wasn't there anymore.

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Aaliyah looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.

"Oh my gosh, you are looking like such a bad bitch!" Carolina hugs her from behind, gleaming. Aaliyah offers her a small smile.

"Thanks Lina," She turns to face her now. Her best friend was wearing a tight, red, one sleeved dress and she was wearing it well. "You look cute yourself," she giggled. Her phone started buzzing and she picked it up, seeing it was Elijah. She slid her finger across the screen and answered the phone. "Hey babe," she said.

"I'm outside," he announced before hanging up the phone. She glared at her phone before remembering Carolina was in the room with her and quickly tried to cover up her expression by picking up her purse. But it was too late, she already saw the look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Carolina asked, sounding suspicious.

"Nothing. Just Elijah saying he was here," she told her. "Let's go."

They made their way outside to where his car was. Carolina complained that a real man would've met her at the door and Aaliyah simply rolled her eyes at her best friend. She was Latina and her parents were old-schooled, so of course she thought that. She opened the front door and sat in the front while Carolina mad her way to the back seat. "Hey-"

"What the hell are you wearing?" He asked, referring to her strapless LBD. She looked down before looking up at him, confused.

"What do you mean what am I️ wearing? A dress Elijah," she replied to him with the same energy. He glared back at her with a fierce intensity that made her nervous.

"You should've asked me if that's as okay," he told her, making her scoff. She quickly looked over at Carolina who she could tell, wanted so badly to tell him off but knew it also wasn't her place to get in between a couple arguing. "Now your boobs hanging out-"

"It's. Fine." She gritted her teeth. "Just drive. We're gonna be late," she ordered him.

Elijah rolled her eyes and moved the transmission to drive. There was an awkward silence the rest of the drive and when the got to the venue where their homecoming was being held, it was like Carolina couldn't get away from them fast enough. He reached out to take her hand went she snatched it away from him and barreled forward, leaving him behind as well.

Inside the building, Aaliyah could just tell everyone inside was having a blast. The football team were the stars of the night since they won their game against their rival school by one point with Derek Bennett throwing a Hail Mary that was caught by Jackson. All in all, everyone was having a good time. The music was good and the people were dressed even better.

Everyone looked over at Aaliyah and Elijah was they walked in, looking like the perfect couple everyone perceived them to be. Elijah had a sash over his suit that said "Mr. Spartan" since he was running for homecoming king. The other guy running against him was Derek Bennett and Lloyd Singleton.

A lot of people were hoping Jackson himself would run as well, he would've made a great candidate, but when asked, he refused. No one understood why he didn't want that kind of attention but to Aaliyah, she kind of admired his humbleness.

As Carolina left to go say hi to a few other classmates and friends, Aaliyah stood next to Elijah as he met up with his football buddies, giving out handshakes and compliments. She smiled to a few of them and said hello to a couple football girlfriends as well. "I'm gonna go get us soda-"

"Nah, I'm good," he waved her off before getting into a conversation with Lloyd. They were betting on between the two of them, who would win the homecoming king title. Aaliyah simply sighed and went over to the bar, saying hi to a couple people in her way over. "One sprite," she asked the bartender.

"Make that two," Jackson's voice said from behind her. She turns around to face him, and takes in his appearance.

His hair was slicked back, his face was clean shaven, and he wore a dress shirt that fit snugly with the sleeves rolled up, alongside dress pants with a designer belt and dress shoes. Not bad.

He leaned in closer to her, making her freeze in place as she was unsure about what he was doing. Was he gonna kiss her? What should she do? It's not like she hasn't thought about this but also, Elijah was here-

But all her thoughts came crashing down to a halt when she realized he just leaned in to reach for the soda behind her. "You look lovely Aaliyah," was all he said before walking off, leaving her alone.

Aaliyah frowned and grabbed her soda, making her way back to Elijah, only to find out that he wasn't where she left him. She tapped Lloyd's shoulder and he turned around with a joyful smirk on his face. "What's up Liyah baby," he greeted.

"Where's my boyfriend?" She asked him, sounding serious.

Lloyd simply laughed like something was funny. "He went with the twins to get some to drink, if you know what I️ mean," he winked before turning his attention back to his date who was grinding all up on him.

Aaliyah lets out an annoyed huff and walks off to find her boyfriend, who according to Lloyd, ran off with the twins Jayden and Jayla. She was surprised those bitches even came to homecoming considering they could barely make it to school. Aaliyah's seen then on Snapchat drink late on Tuesday nights and party all weekend long. How the hell were they even allowed to attend?

Aaliyah finally found her boyfriend, laughing and dancing with Jayla (Or was it Jayden?) drinking out of the same plastic cup she was holding in her hand but knowing it didn't contain the same thing she was drinking. Elijah was smiling more and laughing more and it's the most she's seen him happy in a really long time.

"Glad you're having so much fun," her voice was filled with so much venom. She then threw her drink at him, some of it getting on the twin too. "What the fuck?!" Elijah yelled at her.

"And now we're both embarrassed," she said before tossing the cup on to the floor and walking out of the venue. She had enough of his foolery and she was going home. She pulled out her phone to get an Uber when her arm was roughly grabbed and she saw she was getting dragged outside by her very angry boyfriend. "Let go of me!" She yelled as he ignored her and took her outside. "Elijah!"

"What the fuck was that Aaliyah?" He roared, making her stumble back a bit from him. Uh-oh. He used her full now. Now she knows he's pissed.

But she was mad first.

"We came here together!" She reminded him. "I️ turn my back for one second and you run off, getting drunk and dancing with another girl!" She yelled at him.

Elijah rolled his eyes, and she could just tell he was too drunk to deal with this. "Oh. So it's cool for you to run off with that white boy, but if I️ do it, it's not?"

Aaliyah's eyes widen in complete disbelief. "That's different and you know it-"

"Shut up," he barked at her. "Don't tell me anything, I️ don't wanna hear nothing from your hypocrite ass," he waved his arm at her.

Aaliyah was fed up now. "I️ am not your dog! And I am so tired of your shit!" She hissed. "I️ tried to be patient and understand that your behavior, is because of your dad losing his job, your mom walking out of you and all this stress you're under to do good in school and football. But I️ am tired!" She raised her voice at him. "And I️ can't do this anymore-"

"Are you breaking up with me?" He asked in disbelief. And before she could say anything, he punched her right in the face.

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Hello.

This got too long. So I️ am going to break it up into two parts. Maybe three. Enjoy.