24 Please Explain!

Olivia ended her call with her father and was making her way towards the main doors of the Academy. It was a bright, sunny day today and it did not change the moods of the students that were inside the school.

Olivia quickly got used to the fact that people were constantly talking bad about her and it didn't help that she missed a week of school. Olivia purposely avoided the school forum as she knew there was going to be some nasty news about what had happened when she fainted and at that moment she didn't need the negativity.

As she walked threw the doors of her home room class. She was surprised to see that Eli was with Blair and Autumn, scrubbing the graffiti from their seating area. "Olivia good morning!" Autumn shouted as she waved a dirty rag in the air. Eli and Blair quickly turned around and placed the rags into the bucket. The students in her class were frantically whispering as Eli walked up towards her.

Eli placed a hand along the side of her face and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. As he gazed into her eyes, he gave her a small "Hi". Olivia was stunned and could only mutter a small "Hi" in return. Eli moved his hand away from her face and ran his fingers through her hair and gently brought the ends on her hair towards him.

"I'll see you at lunch right?" he sincerely asked. "Ya" was all she could say as she looked at his smiling face. Eli's eyes twinkled with delight and he brought the locks of her hair to his lips before he said "Great. I'll come pick you up." and walked out of the room leaving a very red faced Olivia behind.

....

It was the end of the day and Olivia felt exhausted. River's bully seemed to have gotten worse while others were suddenly being friendly with her. Autumn and Blair had dragged her to their favorite cafe and sat in the sun room, staring at her with curiosity. "Hun" Autumn began "You know I wouldn't pry unless it was absolutely necessary but... what the hell was 'that' about today?"

Olivia gave a dishearten look to her friends and gave a sigh "That's what I want to know." Eli kept his word and picked the girls up for lunch. He walked them to where the guys were sitting, outside under the shade of a tree. She took the seat next to Porter so that Blair and Autumn could sit with their boyfriends and Eli sat next to her.

When she brought out her packed lunch, Porter made a stupid comment on how she always brought a lunch and offered to buy her one instead. While Eli told her that her food looked delicious as always. Eli asked for a bite and once again leaned in close and had his mouth opened but before she could feed him some lunch Porter grabbed her hand and turned the fork towards his direction and ate the food.

Sparks flew between the young men and the two boys found every excuse possible to come visit Olivia. "I always knew you were lovable but I didn't think your lovableness could capture men's hearts at a drop of a dime." Blair joked as she poked Olivia's cheek. Olivia pretended to try and bite Blair's finger, gave her a small raspberry and smiled sinisterly.

"So Blair... Your mom says you were crying tears of joy when you introduced your boyfriend to her." Olivia asked coyly, as she stirred her straw within her drink. Blair coughed and gave her a cold glare, so Olivia continued "Pray tell, did miss Blair have her first kiss at my birthday party?" Blair turned red and spat "I don't kiss and tell!"

Olivia and Autumn looked at each other and started to laugh. "Blair honey you may not kiss and tell but your face screams 'Hell Ya!' in several different languages!" Autumn howled with laughter. This was what Olivia needed to feel re-energized.

As she wiped the tears from her eyes she coughed and looked at her friends. "Guys... how did you know when you are in love?"

Both girls froze in place and turned their gazes towards Olivia. Autumn straightened up her posture and gave Olivia a serious look, she dusted off the dirt from her skirt and said "Hun, everyone feels love in many different ways." as Autumn looked at Olivia's confused face she continued "For me, I wasn't sure when I started to fall in love with Rodan, heck for all I know I'm just infatuated but what I do know is I miss his smiling face when he's not around, I get butterflies in my stomach just when a part of him grazes me and my heart starts to races when I look at him or even think about him!"

Olivia was starting to get the picture and she looked at Blair "What about you?". Blair sat in the chair deep in thought and finally came to a conclusion "When I saw his smiling face as he held different puppies at the store... I don't know everything suddenly started to look like it was shinning. When we weren't together the world lost it's shine and sparkle and I... don't think... I mean I felt... lost. Like I was missing a part of me. It's just like Autumn said I don't know if this is love or what but I want to see Marek everyday and if I don't see that stupid smile of his I feel lonely."

Olivia nodded at their answers and sat back into her chair processing there words. It was silent between them and Blair couldn't take it anymore and asked "Olivia are you in love?" Olivia looked up at her friends and with a sad smile she answered "My dad says he's in love with Ms. Masama and he doesn't know when he will propose...."

Autumn dropped her bubble tea onto her lap and Blair quickly grabbed the cup before it made a bigger mess on her uniform. "No!" she shouted and everyone in the room turned to look at them. Blair gave her apologizes on behalf of her friend and rushed the girls out of the room.

Once they were on the street Blair looked at sullen faced Autumn and an equally confused Olivia. "Autumn we have no say in Mr. Steel's choice in women and we can't stop him from feeling what he feels..." Blair started but Autumn puffed up her cheeks and was absolutely pissed "No! She is awful and is not right to be Olivia's mother!" she shouted.

Blair and Olivia had never known Autumn to be this way and it was a first for them, they had didn't know what to do. "I like Ms. Masama and I love talking to the twins, how can this be bad?" Olivia asked. Autumn was ready to breakdown into tears as she said "No! No! No! Anyone is better then that witch!" Olivia was concerned and asked her "Did she do something to you?" Autumn just shook her head and looked at her friend "No she hasn't but I know deep down she's a witch."

....

Olivia got herself ready for bed and thought back on Autumn's words. How could Ms. Masama be an awful person but then again she did have that strange cold chill run down her back when Ms. Masama was speaking with Eli.

Olivia rubbed her arms trying to bring the warmth back into her body. She knew her friend was not someone that could easily hate another for no reason but this was bad. She thought maybe she should talk to her father and keep her own guard up around Ms. Masama until she could determine herself who she really was deep down inside. With that thought Olivia closed her eyes and fell asleep.