Eli was held back after class, much to his dismay. Mainly because the teacher wanted to talk to him about getting a tutor, an idea he hated but he couldn't really say no. He said he'd find one, and left the class in search for a place to sit.
As soon as Becky saw Damian waiting at her locker, he face fell. She glared at him. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she opened her locker.
"You know what. Making sure you don't have a stash."
"What do you take me for?"
Damian spotted money in Becky's locker. "That better be for lunch, Bec."
Eli really only had one other friend at the school, a boy name Kyle. They had been close friends for a while and he was glad he wasn't along. He spotted his friend and headed over, smiling.
"So what if it isn't, Damian?"
"I worry about you. You can't keep overdosing. It's dangerous."
"Oh, fuck that. Can't you just leave me alone?"
"No. I'm your big brother. I want to look out for you."
"I don't need looking out for."
Eli sat, giving Kyle a side hug which was happily returned. The two engaged in conversation, immediately talking about a new type artwork by a local artist they both enjoyed.
"You know for a fact that you do, Bec."
"If anyone needs protecting, it's you. What will Easthallow do when they find out about your powers? About Eli?"
"How did you find out about him?"
"Oh, please. I'm not an idiot. I know my brother."
"How's your day been so far?" Kyle asked, digging into a mandarin.
"Fine, I guess, apparently I need to find a tutor since I'm failing english again."
"I thought you were doing better?"
"Nope.." Eli sighed.
"You can't tell anyone."
"I wasn't going to, Damian."
"I don't know with you, Bec. I never do."
"Ugh, fine. I'm going to lunch. Piss off."
Eli fell silent, drawing pictures on the metal table with a white board marker discarded on the floor. Kyle went back to eating his fruit and scrolling through his phone.
Damian watched as his sister walked off, then headed to the cafeteria. He was always given money for lunch, his parents not caring enough to buy school snacks. So he was going to buy some food.
Eli looked up and saw Damien. He quickly told Kyle where he was going and got a hummer response as he walked over and stood next to him.
"Hi there," Damian smiled, grabbing food. "I was talking to Becky just before. She has money in her locker, but I'm pretty sure it's not for lunch. I think she's gonna get drugs again. I'm worried she'll overdose. Wouldn't be the first time."
Eli smiled softly back, fiddling with the ends of his sweater, "I'm sorry… I hope she doesn't, she deserves way better then that."
Damian sighed. "Yeah, but she won't let you tell her that. God, sometimes I wish she'd been brought up better. Maybe if I was older or she was younger I could have actually done something to help. But by the time I was old enough to tell her not to do it, it was too late."
Eli wanted to hug him, but new that in public it was too risky. He sighed, "Yeah… you can't change the past, though. All you can hope for is to change the future and hopefully give her a better life."
"But it's too late to do that now." Damian grabbed his tray and began to walk towards an empty table. He liked to sit alone: it gave him time to think things over in his head. And he had a lot of things in his head.
Eli was going to follow him, was but he restrained himself and he let him go. He walked back to Kyle.
As Damian sat down, thoughts were already arranging themselves. He picked up his sandwich and began to eat, wanting to be left alone.
"Hey Damy boy!" He heard, and looked up to see Natalia Russel. God, he hated her.
It wasn’t just Damien that hated her, Eli did as well though he didn’t mention anything but he looked over when he saw Natalia call out to him.
"Hi, Nat," Damian replied, his voice full of disinterest. She scooched in right next to him, making him move over a little "There's literally a whole table you could sit at."
"I wanna sit next to you."
Eli couldn't help but feel jealous, after all that was his boyfriend even though they couldn't act like a couple.
"And I want you to sit next to me? I've told you so many times that I'm not interested in you, Natalia."
"That can't me from trying, can it?"
"I wish it would."
It took everything in him to stop from going over there and shoving her off him. Honestly it made him want to throw up.
"Oh, don't be like that Damian," Natalia sighed, twisting her hair around her finger.
"Why don't you leave me alone? I know you just want to get in my parents. Just because my dad is the Mayor and your dad is also high up doesn't mean we have to be a couple."
He wanted to look away, but he couldn't, which was probably very obvious by now.