Perfectly Average

Chapter 3

Elijah

He was seriously annoyed that he had completely missed out on enjoying the movie he'd been so eager to see. First, that kid had snuck in and sat right beside him talking non-stop for the first half hour of the movie. Eli had tried ignoring him, and then shushing him and had even growled "Please be quiet," all to no avail. The rambling didn't stop for even a second, right up until Lucas Taylor, a stunningly gorgeous, confident, and ridiculously popular senior from Elijah's school had shown up to interrupt.

He stood in the aisle, interrupting the movie at a really intense action part, full of confidence that his reason for being there warranted the disturbance. He had been right, of course a missing kid was important, his guardians must have been frantic, but what Eli could comprehend was that cool calm expression that said that even after calling for hundreds of eyes to all focus on him, he was unshaken. All that attention didn't bother him at all, but then he had tried to talk to Elijah right there in the midst of the staring eyes.

Eli had panicked and dragged Lucas and the kid out of the theater. There, he had calmed a bit, but he could swear dozens of eyes were still watching them. He had tried to retreat back to the theater and hide in the darkness, but it was no use. He could still feel their eyes on him and the panic consumed him. He completely missed the rest of the movie, head down, resting on the back of the empty seat in front of him as he desperately tried to moderate his breathing.

And now it seemed that everyone he passed by was spouting some spoilers from the movie. "I can't believe the bad guy was actually the main character's brother."

"Can you believe he killed their sister?"

"I can't believe he ended up taking his own life after making the hero chase him through the whole movie."

Now Eli saw no point in watching the movie and it all made him want to tear his hair out. He couldn't even tell everyone to shut up and stop with the spoilers, because he couldn't stand the idea of drawing their eyes to him on purpose. Instead, he just stared at the ground and made his way to his locker. His path was blocked by a body. He waited for that body to finish whatever it was doing there and move on, but it didn't budge.

Against his better judgement, he lifted his eyes. They traveled over name brand sneakers, sleek form fitting jeans, and a stylish button up over a tight fitting white t shirt. A silver chain stood out against the tanned neckline, a prominent chin and cheek bones seemed to guide the gaze to the pouty red lips between them. Embarrassing as it was, he actually recognized the lips, and the knowledge of who it was standing in front of the locker made him want to turn around and run away, but he forced himself to lift his gaze past the shock of silky black hair that had fallen forward to lay in stark contrast to the golden skin of his cheek, up to hazel eyes that looked gold in apparently any light. Those golden eyes were watching him intently. He stiffened at the unwanted attention.

'Keep it polite and succinct and send him away quickly,' he told himself.

"Can I help you?" he asked, quite proud that his voice hadn't even wavered.

"Hey Elijah, or do you prefer Eli? I think I'll call you Eli, it's shorter and easier to remember, you don't mind right?"

Elijah was trying to wrap his head around Lucas Taylor knowing his name. He hadn't told him at the theater he knew that for a fact.

"Anyway, fancy seeing you hear. When we met at the theater I had no idea you were a student at my school."

'That was the point,' Elijah thought. He glanced away wondering how many people were watching them, he could feel their eyes. Did he really need the stuff in his locker or could he get away with just bolting.