Identity - Rewritten

Chapter Eight

September 2007

"No! Stop!" Eloise screams, gasping for air.

Junior pauses, grinning evilly at her. "You know what, I think I'm alright," the cheeky fifteen-year-old replies, tickling her once again. Eloise tries to squirm out of his grasp, tears leaking out of her eyes as she struggles for air between laughs.

"P-please!" Eloise giggles, her stomach burning from laughter. "I'll do anything!"

Junior pauses again. "Anything?" he asks, blue eyes glinting with mischief. Eloise nods, regaining her breath and clutching her stomach. "Okay."

Crawling away before he can change his mind, Eloise props herself against the wall, wrapping her arms around her still-burning stomach, dark hair half-falling out of its loose ponytail. Junior continues to grin at her, watching as the red in Eloise's face fades away. Once she's regained her breath, he makes his request.

"I want a break from studying," he says, gesturing to all the books on the floor.

Eloise makes a face. "But Junior, that was a break. And you're almost done–"

Junior groans dramatically before she can finish, flopping down on the floor. "I know I'm almost done, but my head feels like it's going to fall off. Can't we finish later?"

Eloise sits up straight, shaking her head and pulling one of the textbooks closer. "You know that if we do take a break, we'll never get back to this. We only have two pages left, and you have this quiz tomorrow!"

Her expression is firm, but Junior doesn't look interested.

Sighing, Eloise says, "Look, if you just finish this now, then I swear I won't bother you about school for the rest of the night. We can put off that math project until tomorrow."

Junior pauses, considering this for a moment.

"Thursday."

"It's due Friday," Eloise replies, with a frown.

"So? I won't get any new math on Thursday because of the project, we'll be watching a movie in science, and all the other classes give super light homework." Junior's sitting inches away now, looking at her with puppy dog eyes, and she gives in within seconds.

"Deal."

Junior cheers, and jumps up to do a few victory laps around the small room.

"Come sit down, you idiot," Eloise says affectionately as he passes her for the second time. "Two pages, remember?"

Junior groans, dropping down on the carpet next to her after his third lap. Eloise giggles, and pulls his science textbook closer. "Alright," she says slowly, scanning the page. "What's the difference between rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum?"

He purses his lips. "Only plant cells have them?" he asks.

Eloise shakes her head. "No, you're thinking of the organelles that make plant cells green through photosynthesis. Which are called..." She trails off, waiting for him to finish her thought.

Junior contemplates this for a moment, before smiling. "Oh, I know this one! Chloroplasts."

Eloise grins, Junior's elation contagious. "Right! And they convert what into what?" She moves the book out of the way so he can't see it.

Junior loses his smile. "They convert carbon dioxide and... something... into something else and oxygen. Right?"

Eloise rolls her eyes, showing him the book and running her finger under a particular sentence. "They convert carbon dioxide and solar energy into oxygen and energy-storage molecules, like ATP. A.k.a adenosine triphosphate."