The Closet Has a Sliding Glass Door

Chapter 2

If this day could be called anything, Eli would call it productive. Super productive at that.

He finished all of his homework before the school day was even over. He made a lot of progress on the new project that the AV club was working on. There was even enough free time where he could get around to cleaning out his locker. Finally, the back of his locker was visible again.

It was incredibly easy to get work done because Eli hadn't talked to his friends all day.

They aren't ignoring him or anything like that, quite the opposite actually. Klitz had been trying to flag him down every time they passed each other. Eli had to duck into different crowds and hallways a few times to avoid getting caught. Being the shortest member of the tripod has its perks sometimes.

Eli turned his phone back on for a moment at lunch, where he ate his food alone in the AV room, and was met with eight missed calls from Klitz and two from Matt. He shut his phone back off quickly after that.

Klitz was probably pissed off that Eli ditched him yesterday without warning. It's a little over dramatic to call him that many times just to complain at him.

Eli didn't have time to worry about what his friends were doing. He isn't avoiding them on purpose. He just had work he wanted to get done. And he did get them done. He's very proud of himself.

He had no other reason to not want to speak to Klitz. Or look at Klitz... or think about Klitz.

His hand gripped the pencil harder and he willed himself to relax it again. He also stilled his rapidly tapping foot now that he just noticed it had been moving.

A glance at the clock above the chalkboard showed that there were ten more minutes until the bell rings. Eli is in his last class for the day, human anatomy and physiology. That was great, but that also meant he was in a class that he shared with both Matt and Klitz.

He could practically feel Klitz's eyes boring into the back of his head. Eli showed up to class seconds before it was scheduled to start. That way, Klitz had less time to try to bother him.

As expected, the moment Eli sat down, Klitz leaned over his desk and asked, "Eli, what's wrong?"

He sounded annoyed, but also a little anxious at the same time. Of course he had to almost-whisper Eli's name right behind his ear. Eli closed his eyes at that and shivered involuntarily. He didn't answer the question; he didn't acknowledge that anything was said to him at all.

A second after that, their teacher walked in and he heard Klitz sit back down in his seat.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eli could see Matt glancing over to him occasionally from his left. Luckily, it's Matt who sits directly next to him and not Klitz.

Not that it matters, Eli just doesn't feel like looking at Klitz today.

Something poked his thigh and Eli flinched in his seat. Looking down, he saw Matt's hand holding a folded ripped piece of notebook paper. Cursing under his breath, Eli took the note from his hand and unfolded it in his lap.

"Are you mad at Klitz?" The note read in Matt's neat handwriting.

Eli rolled his eyes and brought his pencil down to write a quick reply.

"Nah"

He reached over and placed the note into Matt's open hand. A second passed and then he heard Matt sigh. What? Was that not the answer Matt wanted? Would he prefer Eli to be mad at Klitz?

The note was tapped against his thigh again. Eli grabbed it without making a big deal this time.

Underneath his reply was, "Klitz thinks you're mad at him."