Chapter One

Date Night

It was interesting to see Eli Goldsworthy in a place outside of school. Usually he was very sarcastic and seemed to have a hatred for anything establishment. But at this cute diner, he was charming, and relaxed. He ordered a burger, and I ordered a veggie burger, and a big box of fries to share. "I like it when girls don't strive to be sticks. It's kind of disgusting," he said when we were ordering. I went to find a seat, and he was going to pick it up and bring it over.

I checked myself out in a mirror from my purse. Eli didn't call this a date…but we were alone, at a restaurant, sharing food, and afterward, we were sure to go do something else. He said he didn't like overly thin girls…or did he say he didn't like girls who tried to be thin? I couldn't stop fretting. I felt like my life had begun right at this moment, although I was only hanging out (or dating?) with the most adorable boy I've ever met. He was very natural-looking. I hate when guys are all muscular and tan, especially because guys like that are usually very obnoxious. Eli was pale, kind of short, and gangly. I mean, he wasn't a stick, but he wasn't a freak.

I wondered if he thought I was cute. I had tried my hardest to look the part, with new makeup, straightened hair and my favorite outfit. Maybe he liked gothic girls- after all, he drove a funeral car and wore all black. I'm not gothic at all. I wear Aeropostale and the color orange, without a smidge of black. I'm also not very skinny. My body has been described as curvy but that really means fat!

With all my worrying, I didn't notice Eli slide in with our food. His eyes are what caught my attention when I saw him on the first day of school in Spanish class. They were very green and looked remorseful. I don't mean to sound cheesy, but I wish I could look into them without it being awkward. The second thing that could my attention was when he called my teacher a dumbass.

Our dinner felt like it had been copied from a movie. There was accidental hand touching when we reached for the fries at the same time, knees touching under the table, and even an awkward silence. He made me smile so hard that I'd blush, and he would tease me for being so red. When we finished, he even ordered one shake for us to finish with two straws. "I don't care if you are getting this night straight out of a book. I'm in love! I mean, with the date. The date idea. Where we went," I nervously said, biting my lip at my stupidity.

He smirked and my stomach rumbled. I wasn't hungry, though. "I know what you mean," he laughed, "I'm having a lot of fun. You're way cooler than the douchebags who go to our school. It seems like everyone there is...fake."

"Oh, not everyone there is fake! In fact, just the other day, I heard that Jennie's boobs are actually real," I quipped. I knew it would make him laugh, and when he did, I was forced to bite my lip again, but this time to keep myself from squealing. "Seriously, though. I'm not that real. There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"Are you Hannah Montana?"

"No, I'm not Hannah Montana, but that's SO close," I said, using my hands to highlight the point. I was trying to make him smirk, but instead, he replied with his own sarcasm.

"You're secretly a badass. Or a murderer! You seem the type," he gasped, pretending he had me figured out. He probably had already. I wasn't very complex and he was very smart. He took a sip of the shake as I tried to figure out something to say.

"We're guessing about me right now, not you," I said, with a flirty tone. He looked up at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Oh, is that so? Come on, tell me! I won't tell! You can trust me," he challenged, but he didn't need to convince me to trust him. I think I had already fallen in love with him, and I'd only known him for a few months.

"Well, for one, I love to edit pictures from things I'm obsessed with, which I bet you didn't know," I said, "It's really not something I share with anyone."

"Like who? Justin Bieber?"

I nervously laughed. "No, things like clouds and television shows and Munro Chambers," I said, taking my turn on sipping the strawberry milkshake, thinking shallowly about clouds.

"Ah, I see. People have always told me I looked like Munro Chambers," he joked. I didn't really see the resemblance, but he said it like he was kidding.

"Your turn, Eli, tell me one of your deep secrets. Have you ever killed anybody? Maybe you're a vampire. That would explain your neck 'tattoo'," I giggled, sipping from the shake again. He also dove to the straw, so I got to enjoy a few seconds of looking into his eyes without it being creepy. They were just so striking. They weren't exactly bright green. In fact, from a distance, they looked grayish, even kind of brown. But up close, they were amazing. It's hard to describe, because they're so mesmerizing that you get distracted and forget the words.

"You know what? I like you," Eli said. I blushed and ducked my head down in fear of being humiliated. "So I'm going to tell you real stuff about me. For example, my mom is dead. She overdosed on heroin, when I was 10," he shared. I felt a tear creeping out from my eye, which totally sucked because my mascara wasn't waterproof.

"My father is between a workaholic and a bum. It's hard to describe because I try my hardest to stay away from him. His temper is huge," Eli explained. I hadn't known this about him at all.

He bit his lip and turned to me. "You owe me, tell me something now about you."

I didn't want to tell him about my fights with my friends, the hours in front of the mirror or anything. I hadn't told anyone. So I sipped the shake and interjected, "Not to change the serious subject, but this shake is so damn good!"

He silently sighed and nodded before taking a sip. "Yeah, we should really get going." As we left, he held open the door for me.

"And they say chivalry is dead," I giggled, but he didn't laugh. Had I upset him? When we got to Morty, I breathed in the smell of death and asked him, "Where do we go now?"

He smirked, but not a cheerful one. This one looked…upset. "Um, I have to go somewhere. Listen, I'll just drop you off and we can talk at school on Monday, okay?"

My heart had been soaring but it dropped. He didn't have to go somewhere thirty minutes ago. I choked on my anger, and when we got to my house, I simply said, "Goodbye." He didn't even respond. I ran inside and watched him drive off through the blinds before pulling out my phone. One tear splashed on the screen.

"hey eli wats wrong?"

"nothing. I have to go somewhere. Please don't text me, damnit."

I slid into the kitchen and grabbed three veggie sausages, a block of fresco cheese and 20 chips. I ran to my room and stuffed them into my mouth before falling asleep.