One Girl All Boys School

Disconnected | 6 |

Zoe's POV

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Hold up. Hold up.

I shook my head in confusion.

"I'm sorry can you say that again, I think I misheard you."

"Sorry, I guess I should give you some context, this may seem a bit confusing. But I need you to be my fake girlfriend for my parents." He said as he was looking down at the ground.

My heart was pumping out of my chest, I began to massage my temples, "Oh my gosh, dude you cannot scare me like that."

I took a deep breath.

"I'm confused, why do you need a fake girlfriend?" I asked as I looked at him with concerning eyes.

He finally looked at me in my eyes, "Shit, this was a mistake. I'm so sorry to even ask you this. You must think I'm a jerk."

He started to get up to leave, but I grabbed his arm before he could.

"Wait, stop." I stood up and looked at him firmly, "Look, whatever happened you can tell me. I know that you are asking for a favor is for a reason. I just need to know what is going on."

He sighed then we both sat down again.

"I had lunch with my family earlier and the thing is... my family is not your average family."

"Okay, neither is mine."

"No, you don't understand. My name Elliot Ryder, isn't my real name."

My eyes widen in shock, this is the first time I'm ever hearing of this. What is going on right now? Just who is he then?

"Wait, what is your real name then?"

"Douglas Peterson Jr."

Douglas!? Junior!?

Slowly I felt my mouth curl up, trying so so hard not to laugh, but I couldn't resist!

"No way! You're real name is Douglas? Hahaha!" I laughed, "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to be mean, but Douglas!?"

Soon after, Elliot too started to laugh.

He's finally smiling. He was so worried before, I'm happy to see that he is laughing.

"Hahah, yeah. I, 1000% do NOT identify with that name whatsoever. My name is legally changed to Elliot Ryder now, but yeah. I was named after my real father."

"Your real father?" I asked, "I'm confused. Isn't your dad Leonard Ryder?"

"Yes and no. He's my adoptive father. My mom is my real mom, Kathleen Ryder."

"Elliot, please tell me what's going on. If I'm going to help you, you have to allow for me to understand why you need my help." I placed my hand on his.

He took a deep breath.

Elliot's POV | Flashback | TW: Domestic Violence

Around when I just turned 6 years old, I remember it was the middle of the night. I saw my own mother on the floor of her bedroom, bleeding out on the ground.

"Douglas... please stop." My mom said, barely taking a breath.

My biological father had beaten her for 10 minutes straight for not getting him another beer after he had already drank 5.

I was screaming and crying trying to get him away from her, but he also beat me for trying to save her. Once he finally stopped, I crawled next to her to make sure that she was okay.