Ten
Eli
"Thanks," I said to the cashier as I grabbed the bag of items off the counter.
I then left the gas station with a bag in each of my hands. Emerson forced me to the store to get her some candy because apparently, I was her errand boy. Luckily, the gas station was only a five-minute walk from my house, and there was something there that I wanted to buy for myself.
The bottles inside of the bag clanked against each other as I walked. When I was passing by the ice machine in front of the building, my eyes fell on the one person that I never wanted to see yet kept seeing more of.
"Alright, now I'm totally convinced you're stalking me," I deadpanned.
"What are you doing here?" Javier asked, standing in front of me with his arms crossed to his chest.
Beside him was his girlfriend, Diane. She stood next to him with her hands on her hips, staring at me with her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. No clue what her problem was.
I looked between the both of them, bored. "Getting snacks."
"Oh, same," said Javier
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between the three of us. I didn't know why I was still standing there, I had nothing that I wanted to say to Javier or his girlfriend. I should have walked off the moment the conversation ceased.
"What's in the bag?" Diane asked skeptically. Though, I believe she already knew the answer because of how intensely she was staring at it.
I tried to discreetly shield the bag behind my back. "Snacks.”
Diane’s lip curled. "That doesn’t look like only snacks."
Was she actually serious? I was not the very first teenager in the world to purchase alcohol, and I was definitely not the last. Besides, I didn’t need the girl's judgmental looks. I got enough of that from other people.
I could have denied it and reiterated that it was only snacks. The bag wasn’t see-through, so she was making assumptions based on the noises coming from said bag. However, I couldn’t find it in myself to care enough to correct her. She should have taken it upon herself to stop being so nosy.
Diane continued, "It's illegal and wrong for you to have that. Honestly, I would have thought you of all people wouldn't partake in such activities. You're really smart, Elias, so how could you drink that…let alone buy it?"
My brows furrowed. "Sorry, when?"
Her judgmental expression morphed into a confused stare. She interlocked hands with her boyfriend. "When what?"
"Did I ask? For your opinion, I mean."
Diane’s jaw dropped before she scoffed. She then turned to her boyfriend, probably hoping he would back her up. Javier, however, looked like he was stifling a laugh. When he caught wind of his girlfriend’s jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed, he straightened up.
"Don’t succumb to bad habits like everyone else," Diane said softly, but the disgust was still radiating in her tone. "Let’s go, Javier."
I never had any strong dislike for Diane at first. Though, as the days went on, my tolerance for her was steadily decreasing.
She was sticking her nose in places that it did not belong, and it drove me crazy.
Maybe my slight dislike for her was why I wanted to puke in my mouth every time I had to see her and Javier together.
***
"—and then he screamed at me to leave because apparently kissing a guy and then telling him that you fucked his best friend isn't the best way to secure a new relationship."
It was a few days later. I yawned out of boredom as I attempted to listen to my classmate, Gertrude, ramble about the past few days of her life.
My AP Government teacher had just changed the seating arrangements, and I got stuck next to the certified yapper of our class.
Gertrude made me dread going to the class each day because apparently she had never shut her mouth a day in her life.
Every day, without fail, she would talk my ear off.
Then, she would take my silence as confirmation that she could continue with her stupid stories.
So, Gertrude was currently doing what she did best: rambling about stupid shit. Our teacher had finished lecturing, so she gave us the rest of the class period to do her assigned work. I had finished most of it, but I could not get through the rest because of Gertrude's talking.
In the past I had both kindly and not so kindly asked her to hush. She wasn’t easily offended, so me snapping at her never deterred her from talking to me. She continued because me being pissed off had no real effect on her. Even when it did, she got over it quickly.
I yawned again, my mind wandering elsewhere. Literally anything was better than this conversation.
"—and then he said that you were gay." When she finished her sentence, she had to take a sip from her water bottle. Her mouth was dry from the storytelling.
My heart sank and my eyes widened. Gertrude stared at me intently as I struggled to find the proper words to say.
"Who said I'm gay?" I asked defensively.
Gertrude leaned back in her chair and giggled. "I know, I just wanted to gain your attention since you aren’t listening to me."
Damn, she nearly gave me a heart attack. I had never felt the need to hide my sexuality, but I was not overtly open about it either.
There were close-minded people that lived in town who would become disgusted the second the found out someone they knew was not straight. I did not go around broadcasting it because I did not feel like dealing with the difficulties that came along with people like that knowing.
Though, the main reason I kept it to myself out of fear of my siblings’ reactions. Should I have worried what they thought? Not at all, but that did not stop me from caring.
Gertrude normally didn’t mind that I wasn’t fully listening to her stories. Maybe I was doing a worse job at pretending to care than I normally did. It did not matter because now I was pissed that Gertrude had startled me like that. I didn’t care about the words that were coming out of my mouth.
"Sorry," I apologized half-heartedly. "You talk so damn much it’s hard to care.”
Gertrude’s face didn’t falter at all, she just shrugged.
After the words simmered in the air I began to feel a heavy weight in my chest. I felt bad for my harsh words even though they were completely true. I despised that feeling, because going through life was so much easier when you weren’t worried about other people's emotions.
Curse empathy and feeling guiltily.
My nostrils flared as I exhaled. Softly, I said, “Sorry, I’ve been snappy all day."
Gerturde’s eyes light up. "I totally get it, Eli. Don’t worry."
Her understanding made me smile. It also got me thinking, maybe if I took the time to listen to her, I could find out she was a decent person.
Constantly having to deal with people who want nothing to do with you takes a toll on a person.
It made me feel like there was no one that could possibly like me for me, so I shut every new person out.
It was a lonely feeling. However, part of my problem was that I wasn’t open to giving people a chance.
At the end of the day, not everyone was out to get me.
"Besides," Gertrude continued as she scooted her chair closer to the desk, "I know you aren't gay. That would be weird and… gross.”
My lips parted in surprise. Well, damn.
Before I could respond, the intercom turned on inside of our classroom.
It was our principal over the mic, and she called asking for me to come to her office.
The class immediately went ‘ ooo ’ in unison like we were a bunch of first graders.
We all knew that I of all people were not being called because I did something wrong.
Without a second thought, I stood up and left the classroom.
I was trying to figure out what the principal could possibly want from me.
I had already been disciplined for leaving school in the middle of the day—the day I lost the election.
So, that was not it. Could it be because of Emerson or Easton?
Did one of them say or do something, so now I had to be the one to fix the situation?
I rounded the corner and saw the office up ahead. Opening the door, I found our school principal sitting at her desk, her elbows resting on the table with her hands clasped together. I internally groaned when I recognized the person sitting in the chair in front of the principal's desk.
Javier and I locked eyes the moment I entered the room. He didn't smile or frown at me, he just stared. I was the one to break eye contact. How was it that wherever I went, Javier was there too?
"Hello, Mrs. Montgomery," I greeted. I pulled out the chair beside Javier and took my seat. My leg began to bounce up and down from nerves as soon as I tried to relax.
Principal Montgomery smiled. "Good afternoon, how have you been, Elias?"
Whenever a conversation starts with "how have you been?” it usually doesn’t end well.
"Fine," I said quickly but politely.
The principal clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Alright, on to why I've called you both here today. You two are the top of the class, as I am sure you are both aware of."
Javier nodded and I followed along. Our principal continued, "This is the first year that our county has decided to participate in our annual academic competition. The official name is Thinkfast: Valedictus Duo’s.
Basically, they ask each high school in our county to take its top two senior students and enter them in the competition.
They will have you compete together in the various subjects against the other schools' top two senior students. "
"I'm in," Javier agreed without a second thought.
"I haven't even finished explaining, yet you've already agreed. See, this is why you’re at the top," Mrs. Montgomery said with an encouraging pat on his shoulder.
Her gaze fell to me, waiting to see if I would have the same enthusiasm that my rival did.
"I have a packet with all of the details about what will happen.
You are not required to enter, but I would really love it if you did, Elias. "
It surpassingly seemed like something fun.
I loved competitions, and this was one that I had a good shot at winning, or at least I felt like I did.
Plus, if I won, it could make up for the embarrassing loss of class president.
It would show everyone that I was good at something.
If I could win Thinkfast: Valedictus Duo’s on top of becoming valedictorian, that would be a dream come true to me.
However, working with Javier made me want to explode. No doubt we would clash too often because of our differing personalities. I did not take well to people trying to boss me around, we would only end up hating each other more.
Mrs. Montgomery continued, "It will look good on your college transcript even if you don't win. If you do win, it'll look even better. Also, Elias, wouldn't it be cool for our school to have its first ever Thinkfast win?"
It would be awesome to say that I was the one to win our school’s first competition. Mrs. Montgomery sure did know how to be convincing, that was for sure. Unfortunately for her I was a very indecisive person.
"Can I think about it?" I asked slowly.
My principal sighed, obviously not liking my answer. Regardless, she kept her composure. She unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it in her mouth.
"Okay, kid," she said between chews. She then opened and began to rummage through one of her drawers.
She pulled out two permission slips and handed one to each of us.
"You've got two days to decide, and you'll need a signature from one of your parents. Read over the packet before making your decision. If you say no, we can’t enter the competition because it has to be the two current top students. "
I nodded before grabbing the packet and permission slip. I thanked my principal before I quickly left the office, and Javier followed behind me. There were only two minutes left before the bell would ring, so there was no point in going back.
I leaned against some random kids’ locker and inhaled slowly with my eyes shut. I heard rustling next to me, it was Javier.
"I can't believe you didn't jump at the opportunity," Javier said with clear astonishment. I heard what I assumed to be his backpack drop onto the ground.
"Why would I?" I asked dully.
"You seem to love competition."
"I do." I opened my eyes and looked directly at him.
"So let's win.” Javier punched me lightly in the shoulder, his eyes glistening with determination. "Together."
Both of our backs were pressed against the lockers, but we were looking over our shoulders to see each other. He was only a few inches away from me, so close that if I moved I would be touching him.
I sighed. "I work better alone."
"So do I, but we have to do it together to do it at all."
"I don't know that I want to."
There was a pause in conversation. Neither of us said a word as we stood beside each other.
Normally I would glare at him while he smirked at me, but not this time.
This time we were looking at each other differently.
It was a look that I couldn't explain, and for once, I did not dislike the atmosphere between us.
Then our fingers brushed against one another, and my heart did a somersault.
It was accidental. Our hands were already close, so when he moved, they collided.
However, he didn’t retract his hand and I didn’t retract mine.
We weren’t holding hands, the backs of our fingers were simply resting against each other’s.
It was such a small interaction, yet it felt like so much more.
A small part of me wanted to hold his hand fully; it was the irrational and impulsive side of me.
But that thought disappeared when the bell rang. Javier swiftly dug both of his hands into his pockets and straightened his back. I did the same. It was like we were two kids caught sticking their hands into the cookie jar.
It made me feel…tingly?
"Like Mrs. Montgomery said," Javier muttered as he picked up his backpack off the ground. He kept his eyes on the ground as he turned away from me. "Just think about it."
And just like that, he became another blur in the sea of students in the hallway.