The Thing About Timing (The Becoming of Elliott Goode)

Chapter 41

The next few days at the coven went surprisingly smooth, which was a drastic improvement from the past couple of weeks. John Henry had seemed to settle down and actually handle things, which meant Cordelia and the rest of the council weren't so stressed, outside of the usual things. The hardest part of returning actually was figuring out how to handle the whole Elenor situation. The girl of course was told about the mess she made and punished for it, even if she didn't remember, but the council had decided to keep the details of her return under wraps, which left a lot of questions among the other girls. They all knew something was up, but they couldn't figure out what.

The decision to keep everything quiet was mostly for Elliott's protection. After all, if it came out it would definitely make the other girls think she was the next supreme, which made her a target. Not only that, but word had already gotten around about Cordelia and Elliott's constant fighting previously, and the supreme didn't want to encourage the girls to try anything else in order to prove themselves. In order to ward of suspicion, Elliott wasn't immediately allowed to return to classes, instead she worked on them by herself, then she would slowly be allowed to return. It ended up working out in her favor anyways, David was finishing up rehab and the excess free time meant she could continue her old pattern of staying with him during the day.

One Saturday Elliott was sitting in the library, working on homework when Cordelia appeared in the doorway, the girl looking up to meet her gaze. "What's up?" She asked, Cordelia biting her lip.

"Can you help me with something?" Cordelia asked, "In my room?"

"Uh, yea, sure. Right now?" Elliott asked, confused as to why her mother was acting so strange. She seemed almost...embarrassed? Cordelia nodded and Elliott stood, closing her book and walking out of the room and into the supreme's, standing by the door before the older witch came in and shut it behind her, leaning on the door. "Why are you being so weird?"

"Misty asked me to go out with her tonight." Cordelia blurted, an unsure look crossing her features.

"You mean like on a date?" Elliott asked, the woman nodding, "And you said yes?" Cordelia threw her a look, which just made Elliott grin, "And now you're panicking about it?"

"Yes." Cordelia stated, going to open her bedroom window, "I need your help."

"Mama, you are an adult. I doubt you need to climb out the window in order to bail on her. You can just say no. Also there is no way you can scale that wall in heels, you'll die." Elliott joked, getting another glare from her mother.

"I don't know what to wear." Cordelia finally said, huffing then sitting on the bed, resembling a bratty teenager, which just made Elliott smile, "Wait, what do you know about scaling walls?"

"Enough to know it's something you should never do." Elliott teased, "Why are you asking me? Wouldn't Madison be better equipped to help you? Or literally anyone else who doesn't live in t-shirts?"

"Because not everyone knows yet." Cordelia said.

"They know, Mama. Literally everyone knows." Elliott said sarcastically.

"How do they know?" Cordelia asked, stunned.

"You aren't exactly quiet about it." Elliott laughed, then let out a sigh, "Ok, where are you going?"

"I don't know. She said it was a surprise." Cordelia admitted.

"And you didn't ask how dressed up you should be?" Elliott asked, chuckling.

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "No, I didn't. Sorry, it's been a while since I've been on a date."

"Three months to be exact. Except I don't know if that counts since I ruined it." Elliott said sarcastically.