ILLUSION, ELI HALE

two | playground photography

2025

After their eye-opening evening inside of Roscoe, Nadia did indeed partake in some soul-searching. She stopped being so rude to Gerald, and began to do her own homework rather than terrorizing the poor boy. She stopped talking to her group of friends who were known as the "Bitches of BHMS" the popular police — something she found out after distancing herself from them. 

Now, those actions came with repercussions, of course. Nadia's friend group went from five and dwindled down to one. By the summer before high school, it was common for her to spend most of her days alone in her room or helping out at the shop. It felt nice that she was attempting to do better, but it did suck.

The first day of ninth grade was an experience, to say the least. New classes with the same people she'd known since Kindergarten. Somehow over the three months outside of school, her old friend group got better at being bitchy toward everyone. When current HBIC, Madison Hayes, Nadia's successor, and former best friend, glared at her when she took a seat at lunch by herself, it hurt greatly.

Nadia sighed to herself as she picked at the green leaves in her salad. Last year, she would have laughed her ass off at someone who didn't have any friends to sit with at lunch. Now, the situation was reversed and she was the loser who was alone. How pathetic.

"Nadia Porter is sitting alone at lunch? I should take a video. Send it to everyone on Social Media, hmm?" As Nadia focused her attention on her phone, with which she was pretending to pay attention to in an attempt to not face the fact that she was empty, a familiar voice appeared in front of her. "Please tell me you're not going to become that girl who eats her food in the bathroom."

A small smile appeared on her face as she put her phone on the table and looked up at the boy. "Shut up, Eli."

Over the summer, his hair had grown even longer and those big brown eyes complimented his golden skin tone. He'd gotten tanner, probably as a result of practicing lacrosse with teammates over the summer so they could make the team in Spring. He held his backpack in one arm, and a tray with a slice of pizza and some fries on it.

"May I join you?" He questioned, already knowing the answer.

"All these seats are taken," Nadia responded promptly with a slight frown, gesturing to all the empty seats surrounding her. "Sorry about your luck. I'd suggest trying again tomorrow."

"Hospitable as usual, Nadi," Eli said with a smile filling his features. He threw his backpack on the row of seats beside him and sat across from her. "Madison make fun of your outfit yet?"

"Not verbally, but I'm sure it's coming." Nadia stole a fry off of Eli's tray and sneaked him a sickly sweet smile before popping it into her mouth. "Which makes absolutely no sense. I made her. I'm the one who made flared leggings popular in this town. Now she's walking around like those cheap pieces of fabric don't pool around her feet. She looks silly." She paused, scanning his reaction. "Too much?"

Eli shrugged. "Just enough. I'll allow it."

If it weren't for Eli Hale, Nadia would have begged her mother and Nathan to send her off to boarding school. He was the sole reason why she continued going to this hell hole. Literally. Just the day before, Nathan had told her about the stories of people dying in this school years ago. It took Nadia twenty minutes to get out of her bed today because of fear that she could be next.

Since losing her posse, Eli had been the sole replacement, and Nadia wasn't complaining. This past year, Eli has been one of the most genuine, smiley, goofiest friends she'd ever had. They completed each other perfectly. He was the sunshine to her grumpiness. She was the pessimist to his optimism. They were opposites, but it worked.