by C. M. Boers
“Fine!” Frustrated, he dropped his books on his desk with a thud.
Several classmates jumped at the noise and gave Eli dirty looks for the abrupt disturbance. He didn’t make eye contact with any of them. In fact, it seemed as if he didn’t notice them looking at him at all. A blush of embarrassment crept up on my cheeks.
We walked into the hall off to the side. I tried to be discreet as possible in such a public hallway. He turned around and looked at me expectantly.
I didn't know where to start without making things worse than they already were. My rehearsed lines went out the window the moment he saw me with Pete. They didn’t matter since he already knew; now I just had to convince him that it was okay.
“I know that me being friends with Pete is a problem for you. I don't know what or who to believe. I am new here. I don't know you or Pete very well at all. It's hard for me to just take what someone says to heart without seeing for myself. I understand your concern but—”
He cut me off.
“My concern? You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. No, I don't have proof, but if you aren’t willing to believe me then I don’t know why I even bothered!”
He stormed off before I could get another word in. It was not exactly how I wanted the conversation to go. I decided to write him a note with my phone number and invite him over after school that day. If he wouldn’t come over then maybe he would at least call me; I could still tell him how I felt.
As I walked into class I noticed that Eli was still sitting in the seat next to mine. I hadn't seen Bailey come in, but she was sitting right behind my seat just as she had the day before. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk, but I also didn’t want Bailey to think that I had something against her. I wanted so badly for us to be fast friends, so I would have to put my best foot forward.
“Hi Bailey,” I said as I sat down.
“Hey Abby!”
The bell rang. The phrase saved by the bell rang in my head.
Mrs. Mosebee was busy assigning an essay that would be due in two weeks. The topic was about the career of your choice, and I wasn't looking forward to writing it. Writing took a lot of time, thought, and organization, all of which wasn't my idea of fun. She left borrowed career books from the counseling office at the front of the room so that we had something to reference. I picked the law book and started writing down some crucial facts—the amount of time in school it took to get your degree, information about the bar exams, and the different types of specialties that could be chosen.
After I thought I had what I would need for my essay, I pulled a new sheet of paper to write Eli.
Eli,
I know that you are mad at me. I really would like to explain. Whether you agree or not I feel that I owe you that much, but you have to let me. Will you come over after school today so we can talk? If you don't want to come over, then at least call me 555-9236. I will be walking home today so I might be a little late.
Abby
I got up to bring the law book back to the front of the room, and on the way back to my seat I slipped the note onto Eli's desk. It was pretty coy, especially for me. I saw him read the note and slip it into his pocket. Better than throwing it in the trash, I thought. Progress, one baby step at a time.
I wondered what he would decide to do, but I hoped he would come over. It was something I knew would take up my thoughts for the better part of the day.
I finished working on the outline for my lawyer essay just as the bell rang. Gathering up my things, I quickly shoved them into my backpack and headed out of class. I had hoped Eli was waiting for me outside the room, but he wasn't. I tried not to let my disappointment get to me, but it didn’t seem like a good sign. Bailey, on the other hand, was waiting for me as expected. My mind had been so preoccupied that I forgot to ask her if she minded that Pete was going to join us for lunch.
“Hey Bailey, you don't mind that I invited Pete Denali to have lunch with us, do you? I figured it would be nice to have a group to eat with.” We began walking to our third hour.
“I don't mind, the more the merrier as far as I am concerned, and it doesn’t hurt that he's cute!” She giggled, and I couldn’t disagree with her.
Eli didn't move away from me in science, but he refused to even look in my direction. I hated seeing how angry he was, knowing it was entirely my fault. I felt terrible.
After science, we met Pete near the cafeteria where he and I had met the day before. He was smiling his bright beautiful smile. It was enough to make you go weak at the knees.
“Oh my,” Bailey whispered in my ear.
I giggled. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only one he had that effect on.
The three of us walked into the cafeteria together and bought our lunch one right after the other. Today they were serving burgers with fries, which was fine by me. I filled my bun with ketchup, mustard, pickles and tomato before sitting down with the others.
I didn't see Eli anywhere, but I had guessed he wouldn’t want to see me eating lunch with Pete. I would have happily included him if he had been willing, but that was going to take some convincing.
Lunch went quickly with Pete sitting by my side. A few of Pete’s friends joined us that I hadn’t met before, and before I knew it I was seated within a large group. There were three boys and two girls: Austen, Zach, Mason, Breanne and Alexis. They all seemed really nice as far as I could tell.
There were a few different conversations going on at our table. I couldn’t follow all of them so I appointed myself to hang on the ones that Pete was involved in. Pete was engrossed in a discussion about football with the boys since they were all on the football team together. They were talking about drills or something that they were doing at practice that day. None of it made sense to me.
From what I gathered about the group, Zach and Breanne were dating, and Mason and Alexis liked each other but there wasn’t anything concrete there yet. They both seemed too shy to do anything about it.
I caught wind of Breanne, Alexis and Bailey discussing the upcoming Homecoming dance that was happening in three weeks. Breanne was going with Zach, while Alexis wanted Mason to ask her. I was guessing she would get her wish.
I liked going to dances, though it was pretty uncommon for me to actually go with a date. I couldn’t deny, at least not to myself, that I wanted Pete to ask me. Who knew if he would or not and even if he didn’t, I planned to go anyway. I didn’t care about being a third wheel, because dances were always fun regardless of whether you had a date or not.
Once lunch was over, I said goodbye to Bailey and Pete walked me to my class.
“What did you think of my friends?” he asked as we walked.
“They were really nice.”
I truly could see myself becoming friends with them. Their endless banter at lunch reminded me of my friends back in California, which just made me miss them even more. I couldn’t help but feel like I wanted to be back in my home state.
“Oh yeah? I'm glad. I had hoped you would like them. I have been friends with them for a long time.”
As we arrived at the door of my class, we came to a halt.
“Well, I should get to class,” he said slowly.
“Yeah, me too, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for walking me.”
He winked before he turned to walk away. Before I walked into class, I watched him until I could no longer see him in the crowded hallway.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but I hit the nail on the head when I thought I wouldn't like swimming at school. Thankfully, my bathing suit was a one-piece. I would have been twice as uncomfortable in front of the class in a two-piece. I am quite modest about my appearance, more-so than most girls my age. Flaunting what I have isn’t something I enjoy, that’s for sure.
After changing into my clothes after swimming, I checked the mirror to see how I looked. Just as I had thought: terrible. My makeup had turned the area under my eyes black, making me look like a raccoon, and my hair was
matted from the water. I took a few minutes to clean my face and tame my mane before I headed home.
As I began to walk home, I wondered why I had even tried to make myself look presentable—it didn’t take long for me to be drenched in sweat. But I wasn’t even out of the parking lot before a car pulled up behind me and honked. Expecting to see Eli, I turned around with a friendly smile. I was surprised when I saw that it was Pete, and then immediately I felt some relief that I took the extra few minutes to make myself look presentable,
He was driving a newer silver Honda. Its chrome rims stood out as they rolled along, and the rumble of the exhaust was loud. It wasn’t as nice as Eli’s car; that much was obvious. But it was still decent.
“Hey Abby, I didn’t know you were walking home, let me give you a ride. It’s sweltering out here,” he called out his window.
“That would be great, thanks,” I answered graciously.
The charcoal gray interior of the car was clean and smelled good. The lights for the different gauges above the steering wheel glowed bright neon blue. It must be a guy thing to want your dashboard to glow different colors.
I was happy not to be walking home in 100-degree weather, but I was already in Pete’s car when it crossed my mind that Eli might be waiting for me when I got home. It was far too late to change my mind now. If he was waiting for me, I couldn’t imagine him wanting to talk to me after pulling up with Pete.
Pete was attractive, and I suddenly transformed into a frog that couldn’t utter a word. Apparently neither could Pete, so we sat in silence. Thankfully, it wasn’t awkward; it was actually a comfortable silence. I’d take a comfortable silence over an awkward conversation about the weather any day.
We pulled onto my street, and I looked around quickly to see if Eli’s car was waiting. It was. I silently cursed myself for having been so stupid. Getting a ride from Pete had been a bad idea when I knew I had invited Eli over. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, I didn’t want to walk in the heat. Oh well, Eli would just have to understand.
“My house is the one right there with the car in front.” I pointed towards Eli’s car.
“Who’s car is that?” he asked.
I wondered if he was admiring the beauty of it. I knew I did every time.
“It’s Eli’s. He goes to school with us.”
Pete stopped in front of the driveway.
“Are you guys’ friends or something?” he asked.
“Yeah, sort of,” I answered.
“How come he didn’t give you a ride home if he was going to come over anyway?” He seemed almost perturbed.
“He told me he was staying after school, but it must not have taken as long as he thought it would and he didn't know where to find me.” The lies were coming out easier and easier each time. It was becoming a really bad habit.
“Oh,” he responded, seemingly unconvinced.
“Well, thanks for the ride. I guess I will see you tomorrow.”
“You’re welcome. Are you walking to school tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. It depends on my mom’s work schedule.”
I opened the door and stepped out.
I walked slowly over to Eli’s car and looked in the window. He looked mad; worse than he had earlier in the day. His hands kept gripping and relaxing on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white each time. He wouldn’t even look at me as I peered into the car.
Finally, he got out and looked at me from over the car.
“This isn’t exactly what I expected when I came over here. Why did you ask me to come here? To show me that you don’t care about anything I told you? Is getting a ride home from him some kind of payback? If so, I’m not sure what I did to deserve it.”
“Come inside; I want to talk. I’m sorry you're upset. I didn’t plan on getting a ride with him. He saw me walking and offered me a ride.”
“Does it really matter? Either way you still rode with him. If you wanted a ride home I would have preferred you got a ride with me, even if I am mad at you.”
He took a few steps around the car and headed up to the house. I was relieved that he was still willing to come inside, but I wasn’t exactly pleased with his dad-like approach with Pete. I decided to brush it off instead of dwelling on it.
I unlocked the door and stepped into the cool air, making room for Eli to follow behind. Thank goodness for air conditioning—I had broken a sweat just by walking from the car.
“I didn’t plan it. You haven’t exactly been reachable anyway. You wouldn’t talk to me.” I reiterated, and motioned for the living room, “I’ll meet you in there.”
I set my backpack in the kitchen, grabbed two sodas, and went into the living room. I handed Eli one and sat down next to him on the couch.
“I realize my being friends with Pete is not what you want, but it is something I want. I don’t see any danger, yet. I want to see if I can figure out what happened. But in the mean time I would like to be friends with him. I was hoping that you would be willing to help me.”
“Help you?”
“Well, I sort of thought I could get information from Pete and we could figure it out together.”
“I don't want you to get close to him just to figure out what happened back then. Just leave it be. The past is the past.”
“Well what about that guys’ family? They must be wondering where he went and probably want closure if that is what happened. I am hoping that it isn't though.”
“I’ll think about it, but even if I agree, there will be conditions. For example, you should not be alone with him.”
He almost seemed convinced to help. I was fine with not being alone with him. I had to admit that until I knew the truth myself, being alone with him didn’t seem all that appealing. I would never admit that to Eli though. I was hoping that Eli would change his bad attitude towards Pete if he were around him enough. He would get to know him better and we could all be friends. That was my overall goal—but first, I wanted to know the truth.
CHAPTER Three
The next day, Mom yet again couldn’t bring me to school, but Eli found me walking just as he had day before. His cheerful demeanor was back in place, and instantly I could tell he wasn’t mad anymore. It was as if his bad attitude had been a dream.
“So, I’ve been thinking about what you said about Pete yesterday.” He paused. “I don’t know that this is something we should be getting involved in, but I don’t see there being a way to talk you out of it, is there?”
“Nope.” I smiled smugly, feeling triumphant because I knew he was coming around.
“Exactly what I thought. I don’t want you to do it alone either. I really have no other choice but to help you.”
He was going along with my plan, and I couldn’t have been happier.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me! Thanks Eli.”
I saw him smile, although I don’t think that he intended me to see it. Just as quickly it crossed his face it was gone again.
“Remember though, I said I had my conditions if I agreed.”
“Yes, I do,” I said, almost dreading what his conditions were. I had no idea what he might say.
“My first condition, as I told you yesterday, is that I don’t want you to be alone with Pete, meaning no more rides home from school, lunches will be without him or with me tagging along, etc…”
“I am fine with that one, though it will be hard because he is in my first hour and walks me to second hour every day.”
He thought for a second. “I guess I am ok with you walking to second hour with him, but I will be waiting outside of our second hour for you.”
“Sounds fair enough, I guess.”
I was probably more than accommodating to his conditions than I would usually be, because he agreed to do what I wanted. I wasn’t about to make it harder for him; at least not on purpose. “What else?”
“I will be driving you to and from school every day.”
“Driving me to and from school?” I looked at h
im with my face scrunched up.
“Well, I don’t want to chance Pete seeing you walking alone and offering you a ride again.”
“I can’t complain about that, though it seems like you’re going to be going through a lot of trouble.”
I had to admit—it sure would be nice to not worry about getting to and from school every day with my mom’s hectic and unpredictable schedule. She might even be excited because Eli was a boy, and of course she would think there was more to it than just friendship.
“I won't risk your safety, and it is sort of my fault that you’re even in this mess in the first place. I just couldn’t let you be around him and not know what he is capable of.”
“It’s not your fault. I would be involved with him regardless, you just showed me not let my guard down. It’s an if he is capable of it, that’s what we're trying to find out. Innocent until proven guilty right?” I reminded him. “Anything else?”
“That’s all I could come up with for now.”
Once we were at school Eli walked me to my first class. I guessed it was just the start of his terms. While it was nice to have the company, I wondered if I would get tired of having someone around all the time. For the time being though, I liked it. Eli was pretty awesome to have around. He never seemed to run out of things to talk about. I hadn’t thought about it before now, but I had gotten pretty lonely before school started. I was used to having someone around me a lot when I lived in California. Living with both of my parents meant that there was usually someone else home any time I was. Now with my mom’s work schedule she wasn’t around as much, so I was home alone a lot more than I ever had been.
The first half of the day went by quickly. We were assigned homework in math, we worked on our essays in English, and in science we prepared for an experiment with different sources of power like batteries. I looked forward to doing projects in science. It beat sitting in your seat listening to a lecture that never seemed to make sense until you could actually do it anyway. To top it off, Eli was my lab partner. He made me laugh as we worked.
Lunch was pretty crowded after adding Eli to the mix. Pete seemed surprised that he would be joining us for lunch. I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or bad thing yet—but I had a hunch.
