Elijah Brooks's life is turned upside down when his best friend Will Byers goes missing one night. Teaming up with an unlikely group of friends, Eli finds himself transforming from a quiet bookworm to a courageous adventurer willing to do anything f...
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IF IT HAD BEEN UP TO HIM, Eli would've never returned from school and faced the embarrassment and the stinging remarks from his apathetic classmates. But his even more unemotional father had given him a nasty lecture about education's importance, and now Eli was standing with his head subtly dipped into the safety of his locker.
He was afraid of the pitiful looks he would receive from teachers, or the bullies that would shove him down and call him those disgusting words. The same words he'd been labeled as before, and the same words he witnessed Will be called when they first met. He hated all of those insults, the ugly slough of words that strung together to perform a not-so-colorful sentence.
Eve had already shuffled herself off to class, and Rene was on the other side of the school for first period. In hindsight, Eli was alone and had to walk the halls that morning by himself, vulnerable to whatever targets his best friend's death had painted on him. But instead of being angry or resentful, Eli refused to blame Will and instead himself. Besides the self-hatred, it didn't help that Eli was already in a terrible mood.
"Hey, if it isn't our pencil boy," a piggish sneer sounded from the outside of Eli's locker. "Whatcha doing in there, hoping to find your dead little faggot friend?"
Troy sauntered confidently over to Eli, throwing an arm onto the locker next to the hiding boy. His amber eyes were coated with malice, and his lips were turned into an unattractive smirk that made his entire face look lopsided. "You know, he's probably in Hell now. Burning from being a little queer."
"What do you want, Troy?" Eli finally poked his head outside of his small, metallic escape. His voice was shaky, but the anger resounded clearly. The bully was alone, his slightly taller minion nowhere to be seen.
"I just want to know how you're fweeling," Troy mocked, puckering his bottom lip out and batting his eyes jokingly. "How's the little fairy without his fairy boyfriend?"
Eli was seething in fury already, and he felt too mentally exhausted to allow himself to stand there and listen to Troy's nonstop trigger of homophobic words. "My friend just died, you could have a little respect," his fingers wrapped firmly around the locker door, slamming it shut with a metallic clang. "I gotta get to class."
"Oh, wow, he speaks!" Troy chuckled lightly, striding behind the simmering Brooks boy in a jester-like manner. "Tell me, faggot, what are you gonna do without your little boy toy around now?"
"I said show some respect!" Eli raised his voice slightly, wheeling around and straining his muscles as he attempted to throw the most evil glare at Troy. His hands were encircled tightly around the straps of his backpack, his knuckles beginning to quiver furiously white.
