The Graduation List

13 - A School Day

Anna

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Eli ❤️: I'll be at your house in 10 minutes

A: okay!

I finish off my makeup for the day before going back to my bedroom to shove all the things I need for lecture into my backpack. I grab my coat before leaving the bedroom, making my way to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. As I grab a bagel to take with me to school a car horn sounds, "tell us how it goes" Gwen says as I slide on my shoes and leave the house, I give her a thumbs up before shutting the front door. I skip down the walkway to Eli's Jeep, once I climb into the passenger seat I lean over the gear stick pressing a kiss to his cheek, "morning!" he smiles at me, "good morning beautiful" I buckle up and sit back eating my bagel as he drives towards campus. 

When the two of us are outside of the lecture hall a few minutes before class I'm biting my lip nervously. "Anna it's going to be fine" I peer up at the hockey player who is smiling down at me, "I know, but I can't help but be nervous" he brings his hand up to my cheek, his thumb moving along my cheekbone, "I love you" I smile and he lowers his head pressing his lips to mine. Once he pulls away I feel calmer as he interlaces our fingers walking into the lecture hall. In the room I squeeze his hand when the two girls look at us with judgemental looks, Eli tugs me down to the row where they're sitting. When we're close enough to them, I curl my hands around Eli's arm, "my girlfriend told me that you guys have been calling her inappropriate names" the two girls' eyes widen at his statement, "no of course not" one of them exclaims, I tighten my grip on Eli while biting my lip, "the fact that she has seen you talking about her tells me otherwise" one of them looks at me with a glare, "and that glare you directed at her proves my point" she loses the glare as she looks up at Eli pleadingly, "it's true they have been talking about her" I peer over at the voice to see a guy watching us, "thank you" I mouth at him, he nods with a smile, "now that that's cleared up, don't talk about her ever again, don't underestimate the power of an athlete at this school" the two girls nod simultaneously with wide eyes showing fear.   

I tug Eli down to my usual seat in the class, he sits next to me before taking my hand in his, bringing it up kissing my knuckles gently. "What powers do you have as an athlete at this school?" I ask he chuckles, "oh none, but they don't know that" I giggle as I lean my head on his shoulder, "I love you, thank you for doing that" he kisses my temple, "i've always got your back darling" I grin as I peer up at him. 

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"I'll text you after your game" he nods and I lean over the gear stick pressing a quick kiss to his lips, he brings a hand to the back of my head keeping our lips locked for longer. I giggle into the kiss making Eli pull away, "I can't help it" I blush and he kisses my cheek one last time before I grab my backpack and get out of the Jeep. When I unlock the front door I turn slightly and wave as he backs out of the driveway. When I step into the house my friend crowd around me, "did he slap them?" Sierra asks, "did he teach them a lesson?" Emily interjects, I look at them with wide eyes, "no...he confronted them and I think he terrified them before telling them never to talk about me again" Sierra pouts, "that's so anticlimactic" I shrug, "physically harming them, would first of all be savage, and second of all get him kicked off of the team, no point causing all of that trouble" Gwen links her arm with mine before pulling me to the living room, "all that matters is that it's over" I nod as we proceed to sit on the couch. 

After spending the majority of the afternoon relaxing all of us go back to our rooms. I make myself comfortable at my desk as I turn on my laptop to do some school work that is coming due. My earbuds are in my ears as I block out by surroundings knowing that I will need to stay completely focused when doing homework. Hours pass and I find myself finished with several assignments as my phone alarm goes off to remind me to watch Eli's game. I automatically save the documents I was working on and open up a new internet window to find the live stream of the game. When I have the right screen open I take the laptop to my bed before throwing my jersey on over my tank top and bike shorts. I flop onto my bed getting comfy as the puck drops on the live stream. 

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Mid way through the second period I sit up when I see Eli down on the ice not getting up. I hold my breath as I watch the trainer make his way over to him. When Eli gets up, the trainer unclips the cage on his helmet as they go back to the bench. The blood trailing down my boyfriend's face makes me gasp before I grab my phone opening up Twitter to see if anyone has said anything about what happened. After a few minutes of constantly refreshing my feed a tweet pops up saying that Eli got hit above the eye with a stick and would be getting stitches. I breathe a sigh of relief as I relax into my pillows, thankful that it's not as bad as it could've been. As the period winds down I decide to go make something to eat while intermission happens. 

I get back to my room later with a bowl of popcorn and some coffee as I get ready for the last period of the game. As i'm shifting around the players start to skate back onto the ice, my eyes automatically find Eli, the camera zooms in on his face and I cringe at the stitches that sit above his eyebrow. He's smiling at something his teammate says making me grin knowing that he's not too seriously hurt if he's still goofing around. My eyes watch the last period intently following the puck as the players skate around each other. Before I know it the game is over with Wisconsin winning 3-1, I shut the internet browser and close my laptop as I let out a yawn. I slide out of bed to place the computer back onto my desk before going back under the covers staying in my jersey as I fall asleep with thoughts of Eli floating around mind.