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Chapter 2

Elijah

Elijah loved to be in the center of attention. For this reason, he became the infamous class clown in his school. Cracking jokes, making people laugh until they couldn't breathe, cheering up someone who wasn't having the best day. Add that to his popularity, and it was the best feeling in the world. Other boys may envy him for being so popular with the ladies, but he was too much of a joy to be around for them to hold a grudge. Elijah knew all this, and he lived for it.

"... and then I was like, bitch, you thought!" Elijah put one hand on his hip and waved his index finger in the air to emphasize his point. His friends, sitting around him on their desks in a circle all laughed at his antics.

"I swear Eli, if you weren't dating Jenny, I'd think you were gay!" Fiona said, sipping on her glass of iced tea in her hand.

Elijah dramatically placed his hand over his heart, his face in shock.

"Why, little old me? I never!" He said in a feminine voice, and flipped his nonexistent long hair over his shoulder.

Fiona snorted, and iced tea flew out of her nose, causing everyone to guffaw at her expense. Her face turned beet red from embarrassment and she flipped Elijah off while she tried to brush the drink off her shirt.

Suddenly, the laughter quieted down and his group of friends slowly turned toward the front of the classroom. Elijah hadn't noticed before, but the entire class had gone silent, thick with a powerful tension. He turned his head to where people were looking and found a girl in the front. Staring straight at him, with brown eyes that looked almost black, and black hair pulled back so tight that her face almost looked strained. She slowly curved her lips into a smile before turning to face Mr. Hendrickson, the Science teacher, who had gotten up to introduce the new girl to the class.

"Students, this is Rose Winston. She's starting at our school today, so please be kind to her and show her around on her first day. Please, sit anywhere you like Rose." Mr. Hendrickson waved his hand to the seats, inviting her to the few empty seats that the class had.

The new girl, Rose, made her way towards the back of the class and sat down. Near Elijah and his group of people.

"Stalker much?" Jack leaned into his ear to whisper, a grin on his face. Elijah pushed him away, the smile back on his face.

"Shut up! Is it so wrong to be fascinated by a beautiful young lady?"

"It is when you already have a 'beautiful young lady' as a girlfriend," Fiona butted in, determined to get back at him for the little stunt earlier. She raised an eyebrow at him, knowing full well that she was right.

Elijah opened his mouth in protest when Mr. Hendrickson's voice interrupted them.

"I would like to get to the lesson Mr. Young, unless you think you have something better to say in my class?" The stiff instructor stood at the front of class with his hands behind his back, looking expectantly at Elijah's friend group. The class erupted in laughter.

The blonde's pale ears quickly turned red in embarrassment, but he lifted his hand up in a fake salute and slid down into his seat.

"No, sir! I will now be quiet, sir!" Everyone giggled, and the teacher curtly turned around to start his lesson, not bothering to reply to his student's normal antics. The class fell silent as the students took out their notebooks, ready to take boring notes on boring Quantum Physics, just like any other day.

But today was not like any other day. Elijah's eyes quickly fell away from the whiteboard and landed on the new girl. She was sitting up straight in her seat and her eyes were trained to the front, absorbing every movement that passed across her vision. Her left hand scribbled words down into her pristine notebook- newly bought it seems. Geez, he thought, someone's dressed to impress.

He imagined that, if a tornado came  destroying this room at this very moment, this Rose would still be in her seat, taking notes diligently like the good student she was. That thought made him snicker to himself. Maybe she would be fun to be friends with. And be friends with her he would, for if Elijah Samuel Young could not become friends with everyone in the class, then he might as well throw away his proverbial comedian badge.

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RING RING

The school bell rang with such force that it jolted Elijah up from his dozing off on his desk with his eyes half closed. He snorted, shot up off the wood, and wiped the drool threatening to land on his arm. Waving off his friends to go on ahead of him, he walked over casually to Rose, who was slowly putting her stuff away into her bag. He cleared his throat lightly to get her attention, and once her eyes turned from her bag to the boy, he gave her the friendliest toothy grin he could muster and waved cheerfully.

"Hi there! It's nice to finally meet you. My name is Elijah, but you can call me Eli for short. That's what all my friends call me." Hoping that she would understand the subtle hint, he held his hand out in front of him for a handshake.

She stared at the outstretched hand as if it was a foreign object imposing into her space, then looked up at said 'Eli' before standing up with her bag around her shoulders. Elijah's eyes widened when he realized she was taller than he had first imagined her to be. Granted, she wasn't taller than him, but she was a lot taller than any average high school girl. He was 6'1", and she looked to be 6' even, give or take an inch.

Rose turned away from him and smoothly glided out of the classroom, her heeled boots clacking on the tile behind her, not sparing a second glance back at the boy. Not giving up on his newfound "target", Elijah smirked and raced after her, quickly grabbing his stuff that he had left behind at his desk.

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Elijah was exhausted. He had raced after Rose as soon as he was able to, but the new girl was nowhere to be found. No matter how many times he had had to push people out of the way, he simply couldn't find where she had gone off to. It was as if she had disappeared from underneath his nose. The school bell rang from overhead, signaling that he had one minute to get to his next class, and Elijah immediately forgot what he had been thinking to re-orient himself into reality.

Looking around, he found that he had stopped at the top of a set of stairs, the burn in his legs reminding him why he had stopped in the first place; those damned constructs made by the devil to deter fat people. He leaned his hands on his knees in order to prepare his out-of-shape self for a speed walk down to his next class, determined not to be late. Just as he was about to get up and move, a giggle sounded behind him.

"Eli? What on earth are you doing here? You're going to be late for your next class." Recognizing his girlfriend's voice, Elijah quickly turned around and grinned.

Jenny!