Eli Anderson

1.

      I've always believed heroes won. Now I'm sure. It just depends on which side you're on.

     My name is Elliot Anderson, but I prefer to be called Eli. What I'm about to say might sound crazy, but it all happened.

     If you've ever seen me, you might think I'm just some average kid walking by. But really, theres more to me than you'd think. For one, I have Attention-Deficient/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). But, that's not all. I also have what you might call, superpowers. Yeah, that stuff you find in comic books. Nobody knows except my best friend, Ian. Not even my mom--or my sister, Payton. She's not the easiest person to hide things from. She likes to get in everybody's business, so I have to lie a lot. She's getting more and more suspicious but, we'll get to that later. 

     I'm not what you would call a popular kid at school. I'm more of a loser, to be honest and I really don't care. It's less dramatic--most of the time. Payton's more of the popular one in the family. That's probably the only reason people know me. She's two years older than me, and definitely acts like it. 

     I'm in 7th grade, and my sister is starting high school. Luckily for me, that's all in the same building so I still see her in the halls, where she and her friends can make fun of me as they walk by. It's great. She also has these wonderful nicknames for me because apparently Eli isn't mean enough. How cool is that?

"Eli! Come on, you're going to be late!" Payton yelled from the front door.

"Okay! Hold on I'm coming!" I responded from the kitchen. I ran through the house to the front door and slipped my shoes on.

"Can you go any faster? Nadia's already at school, waiting for me."

"I'm going as fast as i can. But, I can go slower if you want."

"Ugh. You're so frustrating. I'm going to wait in the car," She said as she closed the door behind her.

     So much for going fast. I didn't even eat breakfast. Why do we even have to be there so early? I locked the door behind me and climbed in the car.

"Eli, I know it's early, okay? But I needed to talk to you. Alone," She said as I closed the door.

"Why?" I said, unsure of myself.

     She took a deep breath. "You've been acting--strange lately. And, I wanted to know what your problem was."

     Uh, what?

"Is everything okay at school? Did someone say something?" She kept asking questions.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Can we go now?" I wanted to get out of that car.

     She studied me for what felt like forever. I was trying to hide how nervous i was but it apparently wasn't working.

"You're lying," She said at last.

"What? No I'm not," I replied, though I wouldn't believe me either. I wasn't good at lying. "Why are you asking anyway? You never ask this stuff."

"I was just wondering, okay? Don't think you're so special."

     There it is. The insults again. I sat back and looked out the window. She kept looking over at me. 

     We finally got to school, which felt like it took ages. I opened the door and got out. I saw Ian waiting for me by the flagpole, like usual. I started to walk to him but then my sister stood in front of me.

"Look, Eli, I don't mean to bother you, okay? You're just fun to annoy." She explained, but it didn't really come out as nice as is probably should have.

"Well I'm glad you have so much fun annoying me. Can I go now?" I was getting a bit annoyed now. I walked past her and to Ian so we could go inside. 

"Hey, you're early today!" He said as I walked up.

"Yeah, my sister wanted to be here really early for some reason," I replied.

"Ah. Well, at least you're here, right?" He said with a smile. "Can we go inside now? It's getting kind of cold all of the sudden," He said as he looked at me. He was telling me something. But what was he trying to say?

"Yeah, sure."

     We walked in and fortunately my sister and her friends were in there! Wow, what's she going to say today? Something about earlier? I can't wait.

     One of her friends, the one she talked about earlier, Nadia, was with her. And guess what? They were walking up to me. Great.

     "Hey, Eli," She said. "Long time no see."

     "Yeah," I guess that sounded rude. I wasn't really trying to make it sound that way. I was just sick of them coming over.

     "He's just tired," Ian said. He looked at my sister. "He woke up really early."

     "Aww. Maybe he should go take a nap," Nadia said. Something was off, and I wasn't the only one who noticed. She looked back at me. "Maybe Payton could read you a bedtime story!" She laughed.

     I was getting really annoyed now, but I forced myself to take a deep breath and think about the situation. I can't freak out. That's what she wants. I'll just have to pretend like I don't care.

     "Okay." Ian looked at me, surprised by my response. "If that's really what she's dying to do." Nadia was surprised. She seemed to get a bit angry but put on a smile again. Payton looked kind of nervous like Nadia was going to say something really bad. 

     "What about it, Payton? You want to read him one?" She asked.

     "Sure!" She said with fake enthusiasm. She pulled me aside.

     "Eli, look. be careful, okay? Nadia's dangerous," She said. 

     Dangerous?. Really?. "What do you mean dangerous? It's not like she has superpowers or anything," I said.

     She did her fake laugh. "Right. Of course not. That stuff isn't real."

     I guess I gave her a look like "well actually they are!" because she looked at me weird.

     "Well, um, we should probably get to class now, right?" She said at last.

     "Yeah," I started to walk away, but then she grabbed my hand.

     "Promise you'll be careful around her?"

     "Okay," I sighed. "Promise."