The Cellar

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning, Derek smiled and gave me one of his head jerks when he came into homeroom. I raised my hand in a small salute back, earning me a glare from wavy-haired girl. Natalie, I should say. That was her name. I wanted to go up to her and tell her to stop giving me dirty looks, that she had nothing to worry about, but my real-life self wasn’t nearly as brave as the self in my head.

I fidgeted my way through all my classes, willing the minutes to go by faster. As soon as I heard the whistle signaling the end of P.E., I ran back to the locker room and threw on my clothes. I was already halfway across the field, heading toward home, when I heard the bell marking the end of the school day. At the house, I went upstairs to check how I looked in the mirror. My face was red and shiny from the run home. I splashed it with some cold water, patted it dry, and dug a compact out of the drawer to put on some powder. I added some lip gloss and was in the middle of smoothing a few of the wilder pieces of my hair when I stopped. What was I doing? Getting ready for a date?

I checked my watch. It was just a few minutes after three. I went downstairs, barely registering the closed door to the library, and grabbed my usual glass of iced tea.

“Elias?” I called softly when I was halfway down the cellar stairs. I turned on the overhead light. I was alone. I shrugged and sat down in my chair. There was still plenty of time for him to show. I tried to think of what I’d say to him if and when he did, but my mind went blank. It was still hard to believe that yesterday had been real and that it could be happening again in a matter of minutes.

Half an hour went by, and just as I was debating whether or not to give up, I heard a faint scuffling noise, and then Elias was at the bottom of the stairs. I stood up, and we stared at each other in silence for several seconds. This is really happening.

“Hello, miss. I mean, Julia,” he said finally.

“Hi, Elias.” I was so happy to see him again, I couldn’t stop a huge smile from taking over my face. He smiled in return, somewhat shyly, and gestured toward me.

“Please, sit down.”

“Okay.” I lowered myself back onto my chair and saw him perch against something and set his lantern on the ground. I had to strain my eyes, but I could see the faint outline of a crate underneath him. “You know, I can almost see what you’re leaning against.” His eyes narrowed as he studied me.

“Yes, I can see a bit of the chair you’re sitting on. It’s much fainter than you are. But at least you’re not floating,” he added, his mouth turning up at the corner. I laughed.

“Well, that’s good.” I smoothed a hand over my hair, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

“I’m sorry I was late. I’m afraid I can’t stay for very long either. I have a pile of chores waiting and my mother will notice if I’m gone for too long.”

“That’s all right.” There was another silence as I struggled to think of what to say. The problem was that I wanted to ask him everything at once. I decided to start with what he’d said. “Do you live with just your mother?”