Unknown

8

"Hey! Wake up!" I hear a voice whispering harshly. I feel their breath on my face, thankful it doesn't stink. I keep my eyes shut and try to stay asleep. I feel a hand touch my shoulder gently before shoving me really hard. I open my eyes to see Eli just inches across from my face. I flinch a little. "Wake up. I don't want to go downstairs alone, and you can't ditch school again." He says, face unchanging.

"You scared me. What time is it?" I say, not bothering to whisper. "It's 6:30. School starts at 8:30, but I figured you needed time to get dressed and walk to school." He says, standing straight up. "I need to go to my house to take a shower and get dressed too." He says quietly as he stands by the door. "Okay, I'm gonna take a quick shower, it won't take more than five minutes, okay?" I say as I throw the covers off of me.

I quickly walk down the hall to the bathroom and lock the door. I get undressed and run the water. 

As I step in, I remember what happened to my mother. I guess we have to start planning the funeral. I put my head against the shower wall as I let the water wash over me. Why me? My eyes quickly flick to the razor blades on the counter before I look away again.

**As I step out of the shower, I start to dry myself off and reach for my clothes. I look at the shelf where I always put my clothes and they're not there. I curse under my breath as I realize I forgot to grab some.

I wrap the towel around my waist and quickly walk out of the bathroom and down the hallway. As I enter my room Eli turns to look at me. "Why don't you have any clothes on?" He says casually. "I forgot them," I say as I open the top drawer on my dresser and put on a black long sleeve shirt. "It's gonna start getting warmer this week." He comments. "Yeah. Can you leave the room?" I say, looking at him.

"Why?" He tilts his head. Then the realization hits him. "Oh. Okay, yeah sorry." He chuckles as he stands from my bed and walks out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I hurry and put on some underwear and jeans. "You done yet? I still need to go home and get changed." He says from the hall. I open the door, rubbing some more water out of my hair before I throw the towel in the basket. I slip some black tennis shoes on.

"Yeah, let's go," I say, walking past him as I grab my backpack and I slip my phone in my pocket. We hurry down the stairs, and I see Cali in the kitchen with a sad face. I don't stop as I walk out the front door. She probably doesn't want to talk to me anyway.

We make a right in the direction of his house and we walk for about three minutes. He turns into a yard and makes his way to the front door. As he's about to open the door, he stops and turns to me. "My dad's at work and my mom is probably making breakfast, if she offers something, just accept it so we can be out of here fast. I'm going to take a shower and get dressed then we'll leave." He says. When he finishes, he opens the door and we walk inside. 

"Eli?" I hear a woman's voice from the kitchen. "Yeah, it's me. I'm just getting some stuff and then I'm off to school. I have a friend with me." He calls back. A woman with strawberry blonde hair appears and looks me up and down. She glances at Eli before she approaches me, arms open.

She embraces me with a big smile. "I'm so glad to meet you! Eli doesn't really bring home friends anymore!" She says as she pulls away from me. She smells like cinnamon rolls. I smile at her as best I can. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Kei." I say as I take her hand in mine. "You can call me Mrs. Holt." She smiles as she pats my hand. "I'm going to get dressed, please don't say anything weird," Eli says as he walks up some stairs. His house is a lot smaller, but it's nice.

Lots of floral paintings, and it smells like vanilla. "Would you like a muffin?" She says brightly. I remember Eli's words and smile again. "Yes, that would be great," I say as she leads me to the kitchen. She sits me down in a chair and goes to some muffins sitting on the counter. "I just baked these, so they're fresh." She says as she hands it to me. "Thank you," I say politely.

I take a bite, and the muffin is wonderful. "So, who are your parents?" She asks as she sits down beside me. "My mom's name is Erin and My dad's name is Trevor," I say as I swallow. "Do you have any siblings?" She asks. Is she interrogating me? "I have a little sister named Cali," I say as I take another bite.

"How lovely. Eli is an only child." She smiles. "Oh, I didn't know that," I say. "So how long have you known Eli?" She asks. "Um, well I'm new, so only about a day," I say awkwardly. I finish the muffin and hope she doesn't offer anything else. Eating in the morning makes me feel sick.

"Oh, where are you from?" She asks. "I'm from West Crip." I smile. "Oh! I hear they have amazing chocolate there!" She says excitedly. "Yeah, you could say that I guess. It depends on the store you go to." I chuckle a little. "Mom, have you seen that light blue shirt of mine?" Eli says as he comes down the stairs.

I turn and see him in black jeans with a chain on them, shirtless. I feel my face get really warm. He has a six-pack, and he's really muscular. I turn my face away and Mrs. Holt eyes me. "Yes. Let me go get it. I think I saw it in the laundry room." She says as she stands and walks to a different room.

Eli walks over to me. "Sorry if she asked anything weird." He says. I avoid eye contact. "Hey, your face is really red." He says, leaning down closer. "No, it's not. I'm just not used to a lot of things, okay?" I say kind of awkwardly. 'What the heck?' I think.

I can feel him smirking. "So, you don't get out much, do you?" He asks. "No," I reply. "I don't like people that much," I say, feeling my face start to cool down. He plops down in the seat his mother was sitting in. "But you like me, right?" He says in an oh-so-innocent tone. I look at him. He smirks. "Are you gay?" He asks.

The question catches me off guard. "What?" I ask as I blink in confusion. "You heard me. I mean, you always blush whenever I get really close to you, or if I hug you, and you're blushing cause I have my shirt off." He says matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes. "You gonna answer?" He says, leaning his head down to look me in the eyes. I look up. "Here you go, sweetheart." His mom says as she enters the room with a shirt in her hand. "Thank you, mom." He says as he takes it and puts it on. "I haven't thought about it. That's dumb." I say, knowing only Eli will understand.

He smirks at me. "We're going to get going, mom." He says as he stands and grabs a muffin. I stand and follow him to the door and he puts his shoes on and grabs the backpack that he brought from my house. "Bye, mom! I'll be back after school." He calls over his shoulder. We walk out the door and a realization hits me.

"What about you?" I ask. "Huh?" He says, biting the muffin. "Are you gay?" I ask skeptically and he stops and turns to face me. "You're always getting really close to me, and hugging me and stuff," I say, turning his words against him. He stares at me for a second. He starts laughing.

"You're weird." He says as he bites the muffin again. I roll my eyes. "Your mom is a lovely person," I say as we start walking again. "Yeah, she's kind of protective of me. But she's a really nice woman. Don't lie to her though, cause she always knows the truth." He chuckles. Kind of like my mom.

**20 minutes later, I realize we're walking up the steps to the school. "You seemed zoned out." He says as he opens the door for me again. "Kei!" I hear someone call. I look over and see Johnis. "Where were you? And did you hear the news?" He says as he grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "What news?" I ask. I gave up on getting rid of him. You can't get rid of people like this.

"You know Howard, right? They found him dead in his room this morning." He says kind of loudly. I don't react as I already knew this. I push the thought out of my mind. I don't need Eli to know. "Anything else?" I say in an unamused tone. I secretly wish he'll bring up the death of my mom.

"Your eyes are puffy." He says, and a few people turn and look at us. "I'm going to class," Eli says and walks off. 

"Were you crying?" He asks, ignoring Eli. "Why would I be crying? My eyes are just puffy cause I have allergies." I say, tugging on my shirt sleeve. "Are you sure? You can tell me. We're friends, right?" He says in a more hushed tone. I nod. His face brightens a little. "Really? We're friends? That's awesome. You should like, give me your number since we're friends." He says excitedly. I hold my hand out for his phone and he gladly gives it to me.

I put my number in his phone quickly. "We're gonna be late," I say, walking in the direction of my classroom.