My Brother.

chapter 11: still Tuesday

I give my brother begging eyes as I ask him"please don't tell mum".
We're standing outside our home after a long tedious day at school, during lunch Jessie and Ryan revealed their concerns around my eating to my brother and he seems to think I have some sort of problem,they're overreacting! I just wish people would leave it be! "Ellie,if your not eating enough and your doing the running practice,the school musical...your going to exhaust yourself,what if you pass out?like when you fell and hit your head. That was scary."he hesitates as he ends his sentence and I furrow my brow at him "that was scary? It was your fault eli" I glare at him before entering the house and putting up my coat and bag by the stairs. My dad is sat on the coach with his head in his hands, has he been crying? I approach him and he look up as I shadow over him "oh,ellie" trying to smile he asks "how was your day?".
I shake my head "Dad are you okay?" He nods and then my brother walks into the room looking between us both before leaning against the wall opposite my dad "What's wrong?" He asks, my dad shrugs and points towards up stairs "oh it's nothing, just got into an argument with your mother" I caress my hands awkwardly as Eli asks "what did she do now?"rolling his eyes disrespectfully, I glare at him then my dad responds "it's not her fault, today's the day Clara mum died" Dad looks at me "your mum and Claras mum,Marie, were good friends, so we had an argument over something stupid but your mum's on edge so it's not her fault" he looks directly at Eli as he emphasises the last line. I nod and rub my dad's back before running up the stairs to comfort my mum. As I walk into her and my dad's room it smells strongly of wine,red specially,she's very lucky she hasn't spilled any on the cream carpet, I look around the square room until I see a huge lump under the covers of the bed and hear whimpering cries,mum. "Hey mum,are you okay?" I tug at her duvet and she smiles and hugs me immediately once I uncover her. We speak about Clara's mum and it seems to cheer her up, I would offer mum to come with me over to Clara's to try and comfort clara and her family but mum seems too drunk and I feel it wouldn't be respectful to bring her over like this.

After I come back from Clara's and share with my mum how she is, we all sit around the table for dinner and as me and Eli help lay the table out I keep catching him glancing at me,I just glare back and then after we finished laying the table whilst mum and dad are making up after there argument earlier Eli looks around before marching over to me and grabbing my wrists tugging me over to the living room. "What!?" I push him away from me once we're in the living room and he's loosened his grip. He looks over to the dining area and then at me "I won't say anything about what Jessie and Ryan told me at lunch today,and what I've noticed myself" he looks over my body as if it's evident I've been eating alot less "I won't say anything but only if you start eating, I will notice if you don't" I shrug at his suggestion, "okay" I roll my eyes as I start to walk away and then he reaches his hand infront of my waist to stop me, "im serious Ellie, you have to eat with us and eat enough, or I will tell mum and dad" he looks deep into my eyes as I respond as he tries to make it clear he is serious. I just glare at him before noding.

We both walk into the kitchen and sit opposite each other at the table, dinner is already on the plated,vegetables,potatoes and the left-over vegan food mum brought a few weeks ago.
Eli is glancing over to me every few minutes making me feel uncomfortable and dad notices it too as he gives us both a questioning look,mum is oblivious as she looks through photos of her passed friend in her phone making 'awe' and 'ohh' sounds every so often as she swipes.
" What's up with you two?" Dad chuckles as he look between the pair of us, Eli look on edge as he answers but he can't feel as on edge as me as I worry he might say something about my eating,something which I just don't want brought to attention or to worry with my parents with. He stares at me cautiously as his lip trembles to think of an answer, "well I'm just a bit worried-" Eli keeps looking over to me from across the table as he is responding to my dad and I shake my head with frustration at every slow word coming out his mouth. I shove a roast potatoe visciously in my mouth before Eli can finish his sentence and chewing with annoyance in his direction, I hope he will see im eating and change what he's about to say. I throw Eli a look of disgust as I feel disgusted at myself for how I'm eating, like a pig. "Just a bit worried about Ellie...doing better than me in the marathon" he shyly and awkwardly nods with a loud laugh trying to convince my dad.
We both look over to my dad and he just nods and starts asking my mum about the electric bill. I shake my head and roll my eyes at Eli from across the table before frustratingly pushing away my plate and storming out the kitchen towards my room hearing my dad yell my name but deciding to ignore it. My stomach hurts and I feel like my skin is burning and itching for me to throw up what I've eaten, I wish I didn't feel this way,I wish I could just eat like a normal person does.