Eli Goldsworthy Moving On

Eli Goldsworthy Moving On ~9~

“Cause I’m the reason everything goes wrong! I told you, you don’t have to deal with me being trouble.” Serena grabbed Eli’s hand and started up the stairs. “I’m not an obstacle in your perfect life anymore,” she said, loud enough for him to hear.

“Come home tonight or I’m calling the police,” Mr. Arnold threatened, but the tiredness in his voice made the threat sound more like a plea. Eli watched Serena’s face show masked sorrow as she sat on a bench near the front of the office.

“Serena,” Eli began, Serena’s heartbroken look caused Eli to say something different then what he had planned. “Let’s skip.”

*

Eli sat at a table where he and Claire had shared their first kiss while shooting Romeo and Juliet for class; Serena sat across from Eli, he placed his hand on top of her’s.

“What’s going on, Serena?” Eli asked, his green eyes were intense on her’s.

“Ever since my stepmother’s death, my father and my brother can’t look at me without disappointment clear on their faces. I can’t stand it anymore. I didn’t mean to start the fire, I didn’t even know she was home. I was mad and I lost control of the fire and . . .”

“Calm down, let’s start from the beginning,” Eli said, slowly.

“At my old school, I was known as the loner type, people didn’t bully me much cause Kendall practically had every wrapped around his finger. Everyone wanted to please him, so no one bothered me. Until this new boy came . . .”

“Did he do something to you?” Eli asked, digging into Serena’s hand. She pulled away, looking at the fresh cuts on her brown skin. “Serena, I’m so sorry.”

“His name is Henry," she said, ignoring the cuts. "He just bothered me and pressured me to date him. He made me uncomfortable, so one day I karate chopped him in the neck. He didn’t like that, so he slapped me and I punched him. Later, my brother dropped by quickly and Henry was with him. He acted like nothing happened and flirted with me.”

Serena watched Eli’s face go hard, his hand ball into a fist. “What did you do?”

“I told Kendall and he thought I was doing it for attention, they all thought me being emo was a beg for attention. When they left, I got out the matches. I used to have a problem, I was like addicted to fire, but I stopped playing with the matches and stuff . . . but they made me so mad. I lighted a piece of paper on fire, but it dropped and touched the rug and my stepmother was working in the basement, she was an artist. . . .”

Eli came around the table and engulfed Serena in a hug. She didn’t cry or sob or anything, she sat there frozen in his arms.

After about ten minutes, Serena looked up at Eli. “My father’s probably still home, I should go talk to him and you should get to class. I don’t wanna get you in trouble.”

“I’ll drop by after school.”

Pulling out a piece of paper from her messenger bag, Serena wrote on it. “Here’s my address.” Serena took Eli’s face in her hand, kissing him like she’d never let go. “Bye.”

*

Eli didn’t pay attention in any class and dreaded every second he spent in detention. He was worried about Serena and was anxious to finally get to her. The teacher barely said detention was over before he sprinted out of there.

It took an hour for Eli to find her house, but was surprised when he did see it. Serena’s house was HUGE . . . to say the least. It took up an entire lot and more. It was a three story brick house, towering over the smaller houses on the block. Eli stared.

Serena ran out of the house, practically running him down. She was fighting back tears, using her blue bangs to cover her face. “Serena? Serena, what’s wrong? Did you talk to your dad?”

“Irony’s a bitch,” Serena mumbled into his shoulder.

“What?”

“Kendall invited Henry over . . . for an indefinite amount of time. He got kicked out of our old school. Eli . . . he’s coming this weekend.”