MY BEST FRIEND ELI ⁂ E.M.

CHAPTER SIX

The four friends sat around a table at the library during their study, the last period of the day. Demetri and Miguel sat across from Flossie, and Eli sat next to her on the end.

They all were writing in notebooks, except for the girl who watched Eli solve equations in one and then copy them onto a different page. He was doing her algebra homework for her.

Flossie was never good at algebra, and after countless nights of Eli trying to tutor her they both had given up and the boy opted for just doing the work for her instead.

She felt bad but he insisted it was okay, and that he would rather do a little bit of extra work then let her fail. Flossie remembered how her cheeks flushed when he said that, and her heart fluttered.

Demetri surveyed Miguel's beat up face— rings of bruising and a bandaid covered cut on his forehead.

"Hey Miguel," Flossie started hesitantly, picking at the fringe of a paper. "I'm really sorry about Kyler and those guys," she said sheepishly.

The girl and her friends felt bad that they left him to get beaten up by those goons. But on the other hand, they weren't sure what they were supposed to do.

"It's okay, Flossie," he said, putting his pen down.

Flossie nodded, then peered over Eli's shoulder to look at the work he was doing. She knew they were quadratic functions but she didn't have any clue what it meant or how to solve them.

He glanced back at her, smiling a little bit, but hid it quickly by turning his head to the paper. "I swear you're like a super genius or something," she whispered to him. His grin grew a little but alas didn't say anything.

"So, that's it? No more Karate?" Demetri asked Miguel who stopped attempting his work.

Miguel gave a sad look, "I guess so," he muttered in a disappointed tone.

"It's probably for the best," Demetri opinionated. This made all three of them look at him. "It was starting to boost your confidence."

Flossie scoffed at this. "If your jealous that Miguel stood up to Kyler and you couldn't, just say that," she shot at Demetri who returned a nasty look.

"Isn't boosting my confidence a good thing?" Miguel questioned confused, to which Flossie nodded at him.

"It is," she concurred. "Think about where all confident people end up: Rockstars, Hollywood, the Playboy mansion-"

Demetri quickly cut her off. "No," he said to her. "What has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpack thrown in the trash?"

Flossie glared at the boy, and the other two internally groaned knowing that one of their bickering's was bound to happen. "Oh, I don't know, Demetri," Flossie said sarcastically. "Tell me, what has running away from your problems gotten you?"

Demetri leaned in now, determined to win this argument. "So I guess you're gonna go stand up to Yasmine, right? Why don't you go right up to her and tell her to stop picking on you then?" He questioned. "Give me a break, know-it-all" Demetri muttered under his breath.

"Give me a reason I shouldn't set you on fire," she shot back.

Eli grew uncomfortable, he always had to mediate their arguments before they escalated. He was glad Miguel was there too now, so Demetri would stop feeling bad when Eli took Flossie's side every time.

"Well, I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler," he muttered under his breath to Miguel. The girl sat back proudly, smirking to herself.

Demetri didn't like this though, he expected it, but he didn't like it. "Are you insane?" He questioned Eli. "Let me ask you. What is the best superpower anyone could have?"

"Super strength," Miguel said instantaneously, like he didn't need to put much thought into the question.

He didn't approve of the answer, however, and Demetri shook his head. "Wrong," he decided. "Invisibility. A distant second would be super speed to run away fast."

Just as Flossie was about to protest again, Kyler and Brucks came up behind them and scared her still.

"Run away from who?" Kyler asked, placing a strong hand on Eli's shoulder that made him cringe.

Flossie balled her fist up, observing the boys carefully and surveying the potential danger they were in. "Whom," Brucks corrected.

When Kyler shot him a confused look, the boy clarified. "It's the object of a preposition. Remember English class..."

The four took this as their cue to leave. Flossie took all of Eli's books and shoved them hurriedly into her bag so he wouldn't have to.

"And we were just leaving."

Eli grabbed his bag now too, but Kyler cut them off, tightening his grip on the boy. "Hey where are you going?" He asked, spinning Eli around. "Oh, look at this freak."

Flossie felt like steam could have been coming out of her ears, she was so enraged. She wanted to say something to Kyler, but she knew he wouldn't fight her and instead her friends would suffer.

"Oh," Brucks said, now also looking at Eli. "Oh shit!"

"What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?" Kyler asked sadistically and Flossie felt her chest collapse.

She looked at Eli's helpless face, and before she could stop herself the words littered out of her mouth. "Kyler, just leave him alone," she muttered, crossing her arms across her chest.

He looked to her surprised, and Eli widened his eyes at his best friend. He couldn't believe she was standing up for him again, knowing the last time she did, she got harassing texts all week. "What's that, freak?" He questioned.

"I said," Flossie stepped up to him. "Go blow your dad some more, you singlet wearing asshole."

Demetri groaned as the two jocks moved in on the girl now, but Miguel jumped to her rescue. "Kyler, leave them alone," he stated, sternly.

"What Rhea'? You haven't had enough?" He threatened and Flossie was able to slip away from the two.

The four made a break for it, "yeah, get out of here," they called out to them, but not before they got ahold of Demetri's bag.

"No, come on. Not the trash!" He begged as his backpack hung over it. "I just..." the bag was dropped in, "threw a yogurt in there," he muttered, disdained.

"Now it's double dip."

Demetri retreated his bag and ran out after his friends that were waiting on the other side of the hallway for him. "Thanks a lot, Flossie," he grumbled meanly. "You just had to say something."

Flossie didn't reply, just looked toward Eli who looked like he was almost in tears. She grabbed his arm comfortingly and led him away from the group, not wanting to deal with Demetri's comments.

"You wanna come over?" She asked him quietly, as they headed down the hall to wait outside for his mom.

He shook his head, grabbing the straps of his bag tightly. "No," he whispered. "I just wanna go home."

Flossie nodded understandingly, unzipping her backpack and taking out Eli's books. "Here," she said handing them to him. "I'll text you later?"

Eli nodded, confused. "You don't want a ride?" He questioned quietly.

Shaking her head, she zipped her backpack back up and threw both straps over her shoulders. "No, it's okay," she lied. "I forgot I had something I needed to do."

Eli didn't seem convinced but let her go regardless.

The boy couldn't stop replaying Kyler's words in his head, over and over like a broken cassette. And then he couldn't stop thinking about what Flossie said, how she once again stuck her neck out to defend him.

He was sick of it— sick of being teased, sick of his best friend feeling like she needed to defend him, and sick of being such a wimp that he couldn't tell her how he truly felt.

Eli needed to do something. He didn't know what, but he needed to do something.