Work in Progress

Chapter 52: New Year

*ELI'S POV*

I breathe out a sigh as I feel the warmth of the sun creeping through the curtains and onto my face, blinding my eyes. Sitting up, I rub the red spots from my eyes that the light caused and get out of bed. I stretch my body slowly, keeping attention to the muscles I know will hurt. Afterwards, I walk slowly to the bathroom to freshen myself and hopefully calm my breathing. I feel the warm water run down from the top of my head, down my shoulders, onto my abdomen, and down my legs until it reaches my feet. Even though the wound on my stomach has fully healed, my skin there is still extra sensitive. It's like the water droplets are little red ants tickling me but also biting here and there. I step out of the shower as I feel the sensation starting to get to my head. So much for calming my breath.

I dry myself and put on a plain white shirt, a hoodie, dark jeans, and the shoes Aunt Tessa got me. I stare at them for a while remembering our conversation about it. It doesn't matter whether it's a car or motorcycle. I could still lose control. At least with my bike... no matter how hard I push, I won't go faster than I can take. I shake these thoughts away and step in front of the mirror to fix my hair. It was longer than what I had at the start of last school year. The sides were still shaved but I had a bit of a fringe that reached the top of my eyes. My eyes. They look darker than what I remember.

I shake my thoughts away again and head to the kitchen. Aunt Tessa is there, already finished prepping me some lugaw. I complain that it's too heavy to eat for breakfast but she scolds me and says I need some rice and lean meat to recover. I eat it silently and thank her for packing me another bowl and some fruits for lunch.

7:30. Just enough time to get to school at the pace I'll be going. Honestly, I can't believe I'm still standing. Sure I'm fully healed... physically. But this time, I don't have the comfort of anonymity. By now, the whole town has heard about the incident at the abandoned building. They still don't know the extent of my involvement with Evan (my Aunt made sure to keep that under wraps) but I'm sure people's imagination is as colorful as mine. I only hope that they'll behave so I can behave. I hate to admit it but I really should care about my actions more than I think I should.

7:50. Ok, just enough time to get to class. The hallway is almost empty except for a few latecomers. I don't pay them much attention. I pause outside the door to my first class. I let out a sigh, brace myself for what's on the other side and open the door.

A/N: Since this is the beginning of the end, I tried to mirror Chapter 1. Hope y'all liked it.