**edited 14/01/2021**

Elle's POV

Wednesday 3rd October 2018

         I stood frozen for what felt like hours, playing his words in my mind over and over again. 

"I put up with you, we all do."

"I don't need shit from you, Elena."

"I could never be friends with a stuck up princess like you."

 I couldn't lie, his words stung. I didn't realise people perceived me as stuck-up without knowing a thing about me because I was far from it. I didn't realise the whole group put up with me because Delilah made them. I didn't realise he hated me as much as he did.

 When I could finally get the courage to move again, I turned around and began walking away from the dorms because I sure as hell was not going there. I was not going to risk bumping into him on the way. I didn't know where I was headed or when I would go back to the dorms but all I knew was that he had hurt me.

 I wiped the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, walking back in the direction of the cafe. I was also definitely not going back in there to be mocked by Nina for crying, I needed just to find somewhere to hide out.

 "Elle?" A soft voice came from the left of me, I looked over to see Kit sat on a bench outside of the cafe. I wanted to ignore him and continue walking after remembering what Ace had said but he stood up and walked over to me. "Hey, what's the matter?" He asked seriously, placing his hand on my shoulder.

 "He's a real fucking asshole, you know that right?" I said through my sobs, wiping my cheeks once again. 

 "Ace? What did he do?" Kit asked.

 "I don't want to get into it here, I don't need to be mocked any more by Nina for being pathetic," I scoffed, looking down at the floor to avoid his gaze. 

 "Then come with me, we can go to my dorm," he offered reassuringly. 

 "You live in the dorms?" I asked and he nodded.

 "The block next to yours. If we run into Ace I'll knock him out, I promise," he smirked and I found myself laughing through the tears, agreeing to follow him with a nod. "Good, come on then," he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me back down the road.

 When we got close to the dorms my heart hammered at the thought of Ace walking out and seeing me crying. I didn't need to give him more of an ego-boost. However we turned on the path and went into the block next to mine, taking the elevator to the second floor where Kit led me off and to the first door in. 

 He unlocked the door and pushed it open. "Excuse the mess, last year I had a roommate to tell me not to be such a slob," Kit laughed as I walked in and took in the look of his room. He had his own private room which meant he had a double bed in the corner of the room and a lot more space than I had. 

 "It's fine," I shrugged it off. His room wasn't that messy, just some clothes strewn on the floor that he hastily grabbed when he saw me look at them. 

 "So what did my asshole of a best friend do?" Kit asked, throwing himself down onto the spinny chair that was in front of his desk. I walked further in and sat down on his bed, placing my coffee on his bedside table. 

 I shrugged. "He can be really nice to me one day and then the next he acts like I just murdered his cat."

 Kit snorted and nodded. "Sounds like Ace," he grinned.

 "Well I am not used to his mood swings obviously. He told me we weren't friends and that all of you just put up with me because I hang around with Delilah," I sighed, shaking my head.

 Kit shook his head also, rolling his eyes at my words. "Who called you over today, Elle? Was it Delilah?" He asked and I thought about it, realising he was the one that had called me over. "Exactly, I did. We like you hanging out with us or we would tell you."

 "I guess," I said as I fiddled with my nails, feeling rather awkward about the situation.

 "Ignore Ace, he's an asshole who says shit to try and get to people," Kit admitted. "Now, fancy watching something?"

 "As long as it's not friends," I groaned and Kit cracked into a wide smile.

 "Deal," he laughed and got up, turning on his TV that was on his desk. He walked over to me and forced me to move over so he could sit with me.

. . .

 An hour and a bit later Kit and I were still lounging around on his bed watching Orange is the New Black on Netflix, I hid my face at all of the rude sexual parts and Kit laughed at me, mocking me by recreating sexual noises in my direction. "Stop, stop! That's enough!" I whined as he continued the noises close to my ear.

 "You're hilarious," he chuckled and then focused back on the screen. 

 We were watching for around five minutes more when Kit's phone rang and he paused the show. "Give me a second, it's Ace," he said and I rolled my eyes. "Sorry, if I don't get it he'll be pissed."

 "It's fine," I shrugged it off with a smile.

 Kit picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "What's up mate?" He answered casually. "Calm down, what's wrong?" There was yelling on the other side of the line and Kit rubbed his eyes. "Stop shouting, fuck! She's here with me... Yes she's fine... No she's not dead... No I haven't hurt her you dick... She will probably come back to the dorms when you fuck off," he said smugly which didn't seem to go down well as I started hearing shouting again.

 Kit turned to me and twirled his finger mouthing the word 'psychopath'. I covered my mouth to stop the laugh from coming out and he smiled back, not really listening to Ace rant on the other end of the line. "Okay Ace well there's no need to worry any more because you know she's here and safe, tell Delilah to calm down too because I can almost see that vein on her neck popping out. I'll bring her home now," he promised and the line went quiet. "Okay see you in a bit," he ended and then hung up the phone.

 "What the heck was that?" I asked. 

 Kit shrugged. "Beats me. You didn't turn up at the dorms a few minutes after Ace and so he thought he'd hang around to see if you'd just gone back to Delilah, but then she has just turned up home without you. They freaked out," he explained.

 "See! I don't get that. If he hated me then why does he care where I am and what I do?" I rolled my eyes. "He's so infuriating."

 Kit nodded. "It takes a while for him to let people in but we can all tell he doesn't hate you. He's just being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole," he explained as he handed me my coat which I happily took. "We should probably get you back before he murders me."

 I nodded and got up, we collected my things together and then walked the two minute trip between the dorm blocks. It was only a short trip and so soon enough I was pushing open my dorm room door. Kit and I walked in to find Delilah and Ace waiting on her bed. "See? Didn't kill her!" Kit announced as we walked in.

 Delilah jumped off of her bed and ran over to me, throwing her arms around me. "I got home and Ace told me you hadn't come back and got all freaked out and it made me all nervous. I'm so glad you're okay," she beamed. 

 "I'm fine. Thank you for caring so much about me," I smiled at Delilah before shooting Ace a cold look. He did not look impressed.

 "Anyway, I'll leave you guys to it," Kit said awkwardly from behind us.

 I turned around and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," I whispered into his ear and he happily returned the hug.

 "No problem, don't take shit from him," he whispered back and I chuckled, nodding as he let me go. "See you fuckers later!" He shouted, walking out of the dorm with a big wave.