All About Him

Chapter 10: Eli's War

That day in History, I was miserable. I was having a hard time filling out some of the study guide because I didn't have some of the notes. That wasn't what made me miserable, though. Eli was helping me every time he noticed I was stuck and didn't have anything to work with. What he meant by "this means war", was that he would do everything he could to make it impossible for me to hate him. I folded my arms across my chest after he was done helping me for the thirtieth time. I was going to hate him, I just knew it. 

"If you need help tonight, you can call me," Eli said and took my paper before I could react. He scribbled his phone number in the corner in pen. He had the worst handwriting. Now, all I had to do was cross it out and sccribble all over it with another pen. He handed me back the paper. 

As soon as the study guide hit the desk, I was rummaging through my backpack for a pen. The one time I desperately needed a pen, I didn't have one. I sat against the back of my seat and started coloring over it with my pencil. It would have to do until I got home. 

"I hate you," I grumbled. 

"No, you don't," Eli smiled. "No one does and you proved it." 

I was silent. I hated him for making it impossible to hate him! No, no it wasn't impossible. It was just very hard. Stupid-Boy just didn't know when to shut up. 

"You know you like me," he taunted. "You kissed me. I had no part in it." I wanted to punch that adorable smirk off that beautiful face. Someone like him didn't deserve to be so handsome. His brown, shaggy hair looked so soft and fluffy. It also had a healthy shine, not greasy, though. It definitely wasn't greasy. How his hair swiped right acros the top of his left blue jewel of an eye... No! Stupid-Girl for starting to like Stupid-Boy! 

"You're admiring me, aren't you?" Eli smiled wider. 

"No..." I lied. "I was just thinking about how... how stupid your hair looks today. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. It fits you." 

Eli's eyebrows rose in amusement and he absent-mindedly stroked his hair, "So you're saying I'm stupid?" 

"Yes," I said and looked at the teacher. He was talking about the French and Indian Revolution. That was more important. I took out a pencil to take some notes. 

"Do you really think I'm stupid?" 

The war started because the English colonies needed to expand from overpopulation. The French had the land to the west which was the only way they could go. Nice, nice... 

"If you think I'm stupid, I can prove you wrong." 

The French had more land than the English, but way less people. Hm, that might be on the test. I'd better write it down. 

"You took Algebra II last year, right? I bet you don't remember the Quadratic Formula." 

The English won! That does make sense. After all, we do speak mostly English in North America. Now isn't that interesting? That explains a lot. 

"I can help you in this class, you know. I got a 110% on the Natives in North America test. I got all of the extra credit questions right." 

Uh oh, they ran into some problems. Parliament wanted to tax them! Why? They didn't even vote for the people in Parliament. This is some good information. I could write an essay on how excited I am to learn about this stuff. Wooo! Go History! 

"And..." 

"Eli! I'm trying to concentrate!" I said too loudly. The teacher didn't hear what I said, but he'd heard my voice. Being Mr. Garricks, he didn't need any other excuse.