PetrA

Chapter fifty-eight: Cody

The mood in the auto camper after Ellie and Joachim's little encounter had gone to the gutter. Ellie avoided Joachim the best she could, she didn't acknowledge him at all. It was as if he didn't exist. Cody was glad he was sitting up front with Stella as he were teaching her to drive, because the others were fighting. Gemma had slipped away from them and joined Stella and Cody up front. "Jeez you would think they'd killed a kitten." She muttered. "What's going on?" Stella asked. "I'm not sure really, but I think it had something to do with Joachim shoving Gordon out of his seat, and Ellie kind of blew up." Gemma shook her head. "Joachim likes Ellie." Stella said suddenly after a while. Ellie was still yelling at Joachim. "What?" Gemma asked looking at Stella. "Joachim likes her, he likes Ellie." Cody didn't say a word as Stella had already told him once before, and when he actually thought about it, it did make sense. Joachim would always look at Ellie when she wasn't looking, which was 99% of the time. "Back up one moment there." Gemma said. "Are you sure? I mean they're like cat and dog." Stella laughed. "I'm serious. Don't pretend you can't see the look on his face when Ellie exploded in his face a couple of days ago. It was like she had ripped his heart out." Stella said.

Behind them, something crashed and a roar tore the air. "KIM NO!" Cody whipped around to see Ellie and Henrik trying to pull Joachim and Kim apart. Lewis and Anthony had wisely gotten out of the way, Gordon was sitting in his bed watching with huge eyes, and Bob... well he was howling in a corner yelling at them to stop. "Kim please, calm down." Ellie said her arms around his waist as she struggled to keep him back. "He. Hit. You." He growled trying to get free. "Don't you think I know?" Ellie asked. "Kim, don't." Joachim had stopped struggling against Henrik's hold and glared at Ellie and Kim. His left eye swollen and his lip bleeding. Ellie put herself in front of Kim and looked up at him. Cody didn't hear what Ellie said to him, but he noticed that he stopped fighting against her. Joachim looked furious as he went to the lower bunk bed and snapped the curtain shut.

The tension inside the auto camper was mounting higher after the incident. Joachim ignored Ellie completely, as did Ellie towards him. Henrik was trying to figure out what was going on with him, but he had no luck, as Joachim would snap at him so in the end he gave up. Cody had returned to driving and Stella sat at the table playing a card game with Gordon, Kim and Ellie. "I have no idea what's going on with him." Henrik said joining Cody and Gemma at the front. Gemma looked up at him frowning. "I don't know what's going on with those two. Ellie seemed to sort of accept Joachim when we travelled without you guys, but now..." Henrik shook his head. "It's worse than ever. I knew that Ellie never liked him, not even at school. You could tell from the looks she was giving him, but this is insane. They can hardly look at each other without starting a fight." Gemma looked out at the road in front of them. Thinking about what Stella had said earlier, however, before Gemma opened her mouth Cody blurted. "He likes her." Henrik choked and started coughing. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "Since when?" Cody shrugged. "He never expressed any kind of feelings towards her, like ahem Kim did." Henrik glanced over his shoulder, but it seemed like no one was listening. "A lot of the boys at school liked her, but Joachim never..." Henrik trailed off and suddenly slapped his forehead. "Oh fucking hell." He muttered.

"What?"Gemma asked narrowing her eyes. "I just remembered that Joachim once told usduring a German class that he liked somebody in the class, but not who. Iassumed that it might've been Cecilia, but Ellie?No wonder he didn't want to talk about it." Henrik said groaning. "That idiot."Gemma scoffed, "Do you need any more proof that he's an idiot?" Henrik gave hera look. "I know he's not the brightest and may do things in ways otherswouldn't but... oh forget it." He said as he noticed Gemma and Cody's looks.