Hidden | Completed

4| Trust

"I feel like I'm going to explode," Eliana groaned as she flopped face-first on my bed.

I laughed and said, "Nobody told you to have a third helping. That was all you." I flopped down on my back next to her, turning my head to face her.

She pulled her face out of the bed sheets and glared at me. "Your mom made you your own lasagna and you ate the entire thing, plus what was left of the one that was shared between me and your parents. How do you not have a stomachache?"

"High metabolism," I answered simply, patting my stomach. "Now, are we going to do homework or play twenty questions?"

"Homework," she answered as she got up to grab her backpack.

I grabbed mine from the side of the bed and started pulling out what we were going to work on.

"Alright, we'll start with math since that's what you need help with," I said once Eliana had sat down and pulled out her things.

We opened our textbooks to the page that had the homework we were assigned. I opened my notebook to a blank page and started copying down the first problem.

"What are you having trouble with exactly?" I asked her.

"Synthetic division. I don't understand it at all. I can do the long division just fine, though," she told me, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm gonna bomb the quiz on Friday."

"You won't bomb it," I said to her. "I'll make sure you don't. Now, pay attention. I'll show you how to do it."

I carefully explained how to solve the problem while she listened intently and followed along. I have her do the next problem by herself and she does it effortlessly.

"This is so much easier now that you've explained it to me." She smiled at me, and I could see the pride shining in her golden eyes. "You're a total lifesaver."

"I know I am," I replied smugly.

Eliana rolled her eyes at me and giggled.

We finished up math and moved on to our other homework. The two of us worked quietly and would occasionally break the silence to make simple small talk. That's how I learned that Eliana was born in Florence, Italy before her family moved to the Bronx in New York when she was only ten years old, which explained her accent. It was the perfect mixture of rich Italian and rough sounding from the time she spent in New York. We managed to finish everything by 9:00.

"I've never been done with homework before midnight," Eliana admitted as she put her things away. "I should do homework with you more often."

"Oh, so this is going to be an everyday thing?" I asked jokingly, lifting an eyebrow and smirking at her.

Her calm demeanor faltered, and her cheeks flushed pink. "I-no. It doesn't have to be. I was just kidding."

I chuckled at her reaction. "Relax. If you wanna make this an everyday thing then I don't mind."

"Are you sure? I don't want to annoy you with my presence."

"I'm sure. I guess I'm sorta warming up to you."

It was true. I was honestly surprised at how easily I was warming up to her. It was only just yesterday that I was treating her like she was the scum of the earth. I had to be careful. I didn't fully trust her yet. I was trying, but it was hard. Eliana genuinely seemed like a good person, though.

Don't trust her.

"Did you say something?" I asked Eliana.

She shook her head. "Did you hear something?"