MY BEST FRIEND ELI ⁂ E.M.

CHAPTER FOUR

The three friends waved to Eli's mom as she drove away. They were finally at the dance, and they felt as awkward as they looked.

Flossie looked at the picture on her phone of the three of them, smiling a bit. "Well, this is it," she stated, slipping the phone into the back pocket of her jeans. "We're supposed to have the time of our lives."

Demetri scoffed at this. "Yeah, right, more like a night sent from the fiery depths of hell," he joked making his way towards the gym doors.

Eli shrugged at the girl, and she shrugged back.

"Maybe it would be better if we had dates. I still can't believe you didn't let me ask Ms. Grimes," Demetri joked as they walked in.

They were hit with the flashing lights and sounds of loud music, already dreading the experience. "Demetri she's a teacher. You can't take a teacher to the dance," Flossie complained, finding a corner to stand in.

"Why not?" He asked accusingly. "She's always leaving sexy comments on my papers. "See me," "nice job," "good effort"? A guys gotta take what he can get."

Eli and Flossie laughed at this, posting themselves on the outskirts of the room. "Hey, there's Miguel," Flossie pointed out as he approached the group.

"Oh, skeleton. Classic. Nice," Demetri said, nodding towards him.

Miguel nodded back. "Thanks. I like your sorcerer costume," he commented. Flossie muttered under her breath, oh here we go.

"Sorcerer? Please," Demetri bragged. "I'm a necromancer."

Miguel didn't seem to understand though, and the girl was basically cringing at the interaction. She leaned into Eli, pretending to gag herself in embarrassment.

"Geek," she coughed out lightly, so only her friend could here. Eli smiled at this, hiding his laughter behind his mask.

"What?" Miguel still questioned confused.

Demetri crossed his arms sassily, "didn't you see "The Amulet"?" He questioned harshly.

Miguel ignored him, turning to Eli. "So are you a regular doctor or..." he asked, afraid to be wrong again.

Eli glanced at Flossie, silently humored. "Plastic surgeon," Eli smirked. "I fix lips," he let out.

Flossie grinned at this, happy he liked the costume she picked out for him. "Nice," Miguel claimed, finally turning to Flossie. "And you're chloride?"

The girl rolled her eyes, a bit embarrassed about how the costume looked without the other person. "Yeah I am," she said honestly. "Aisha is supposed to be sodium but she's not here yet."

Miguel nodded, "table salt. Cool," he said, turning away from her. Flossie gave Eli a sheepish look, like she knew Miguel didn't really think it was cool, but Eli gave her a thumbs up, making her smile grow once again.

"Hey I think I see Aisha. I'll be back!" Flossie said, crossing the floor.

The three watched her leave, shimmying through the crowd and dodging dancing elbows. "Why didn't you do a couples costume?" Miguel asked Eli.

Eli widened his eyes at the boy, and shook his head in shock. "Wh-what do you mean?" He asked nervously.

Miguel just shrugged, "I don't know, if I had a girlfriend I would want her to do a matching costume with me, not her friend," he stated simply.

Demetri almost laughed at this, and Eli only shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Oh, no, Miguel," he started sarcastically. "Eli and Flossie aren't dating. Maybe they would be, if Eli would just-"