Broken Sunlights

Chapter Five

The sunlight spiraled into the window; Eli felt cold. She opened her eyes to see that her blanket was on the floor. She got up, got dressed and headed downstairs for some breakfast.

"Good morning," Miles said with a smile.

"Good morning." She said as she ate some cereal.

She continued to eat until the bus came, and then she put her bowl in the sink.

The smell of rotten eggs lingered in the air when Eli walked out of the bus. The state governor must be cleaning the sewers again.

Eli covered her mouth and nose with her sweatshirt while she walked into the building. Letting it fall back into place when the door swung shut, the sounds of students talking overlapped each other while she walked to class.

~
The bell rang for first-class and Eli was nervous to see Neal in her English class.

Walking into the classroom, she went directly to the back and started to write down the schedule for the upcoming weeks. She felt a tap on her shoulder and glanced over to see Neal.

Eli looked away quickly, her cheeks already crimson.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Neal asks.

Before Eli could answer, class started. The teacher that gave Neal the grimacing looks the other day kept a close eye on him.

When the teacher turned around, he scooted closer to Eli. He stopped when the teacher turned around glaring at him, before turning back to the whiteboard.

Neal did it a couple more times until he was close enough to whisper to Eli without having to lean towards her, and gain glaring looks.

"Why do you get nervous around me?" Neal whispers.

"Because I think you're cute." She whispered back.

They both didn't hear footsteps walking over to their station, didn't know that the teacher was standing there until they tapped their ruler on their desk.

Neal and Eli's necks craned to see the teacher glaring at them. They're ruler pointed towards the door.

"Office. Now." The teacher said.

~
Eli and Neal gathered their things, pushing in their chairs before walking out of the classroom.

Neal thought that they could take their sweet time walking to the office, there was no rush.

"That teacher is a jerk," Neal said. "They always have a reason to throw me out."

"Yeah, that's rude," Eli said.

Neal walked ahead of her before he turned around; walked backward and smiled at Eli.

"You think I'm cute?" Neal asks.

"Yeah, I do," Eli admits.

"That's why your face gets all crimson when you see me," Neal said.

"No." Eli lies. "It doesn't."

Eli tried hiding her face with her sweatshirt, practically almost dropping her stuff in the process. Neal laughed; the sound of his laughter was odd to Eli. It sounded calming to her like she heard it a million times, but this is the first time she heard it.

"Yes. It does." Neal said. "But I have a girlfriend. She doesn't go here."

"Well, we can still be friends," Eli said.

The bell rang for the second class, and they still haven't made their way to the office.

~
Instead of going to the office, Eli and Neal went their separate ways. Both going to their next classes.

"Elena." The teacher said as they saw Eli walk into the room. "So nice of you to join us, are you going to listen to me and follow along in the lecture?"

"Yes," Eli said.

The teacher nodded and let her go on. Eli trudged towards the back of the room, sitting down, and getting out the book.

Sometimes Eli felt lost like she wasn't supposed to be in the school. As the lecture went on, everyone followed along but Eli was stuck in her world. She thought of the car accident, the one that killed her brother, and how she felt like she should have been dead with him.

She got up, the chair clashing the floor gaining everyone's attention.

"Elena? Can you please sit down?" The teacher asks.

Eli stood there, taking short breaths in through her nose and out her mouth. The class she was in, was history. She hates listening to the ongoing lectures about how Abraham Lincoln started the Civil war but never got to see the end. It's the same ending, repeatedly.

It was a couple of minutes before Eli decided to gather her stuff and leave the classroom. She could hear the teacher's voice calling her name. But they didn't come after her.

~
Eli continued to walk, she didn't gather her backpack or signed out. She just walked out of the school and down the sidewalks.

It was hot out, the sun shone down beating on the back of her black sweatshirt. Black attracts heat. Just like Ice cream is more attracted to cold temperatures because otherwise, it would be a pool of dairy and toppings.

No one was home when Eli came home. She locked the door behind her and sat her stuff on the counter.

She went upstairs, into the bathroom where she stripped down and started a bath. Once the tub was filled, she got in and sat there.

It seemed like she sat there for hours because when she got out everyone was home. She got dressed and went downstairs where Kassidy and Scott were in the kitchen.

"Hey, Eli," Kassidy said. "How was school?"

Eli thought about it for a moment, she could lie to them and say she had a good day, or she could say that she walked out of school. Both of which sounded bad.

"It wasn't that bad, I learned that Abraham Lincoln got shot by John Wilkes Booth." She said.

Part of what Eli said was the truth, and the other part was a lie.

Scott gestured to Eli to sit down on the barstool that sat in front of the island counter. She did so and watched Scott peel an orange.

"The school called." Kassidy started. "You walked out of school?"

Scott looked up from peeling his orange, "Is everything okay at school?" He asks.

"Yeah," Eli lies. "Everything is swell."

"Ok, well can you please don't walk out again," Kassidy said.

Eli nodded, she excuses herself to her room and stayed in there for the rest of the night, looking up articles upon articles about the accident.

What if she didn't decide to go on that trip? Would her brother still be alive? Would Eli get to say goodbye to her mother?

All these questions that Eli couldn't answer because she didn't know the answer to them.