This is a long summary of a story I am planning to write. This is not beta-d so if something doesn't make sense that's why.
Define [insert business term here], this was half of all the homework that Eli had to do for Alexandria and Diana and he had the joy of doing it twice. After a while of doing this Eli got a sense of how each of his step-sisters would answer a question. For Alex he would just straight up copy and paste the definition, but for Diana he would give a half hearted summary of the definition. Luckily it was all typed because the last thing he needed was to try and copy their hand writing as well as their writing style. For multiple choice questions Diana would get most of them right and Alex would occasionally right, when these questions come up Eli had the joy and pleasure of having to know the right answer in order to know what the wrong answer is.
It was impossible to be doing all this without learning a great deal about business and even despite all this extra work Eli found he enjoyed the subject. He kept this to himself because knowing his step-family they would do the work themselves just to spite him. It would save him a lot of time and effort, but he would hate to deal his step-mother's temper at her daughters' terrible work. Eli had to do every assignment three times: the first for himself where he answered every multiple answer correctly, every short answer in great length, and essays cited, the second and third time he would do them it would be to do major adjustments so it would seem reasonable that his step-siblings completed them. Every week Eli would thank his lucky stars that he did all this work without his step-mother ever finding out, they might complain about him being simple minded but he knew better than them.
If Eli was being fair he thought that Diana would be the best fit to take over his father's, now his step-mother's, company. Of course, Diana was rude and dismissive and bound to dig herself into a hole, but she was guaranteed to smooth things over with a smile and polite small talk; she was also the master of discussing things she didn't know about and still manage to sound rather intelligent. Alexandria, on the other hand, was clumsy and tactless, but she knew this about herself and tried to make up for it by being marginally nicer than her sister. To Diana life was a chess board, to Alex those pieces needed cookies, and to Eli, well he just tried not to get used as a pawn too often. Which was rather to do when he could not say no to his step-sisters without having it blow up in his face, then he would still have to do whatever it was he said no to.
And if his step-mother ever found out that Alexandria and Diana were not doing their own work, he would be killed and buried in the back yard. It did surprise him that his step-mother was stilling assigning her daughters homework since the company had not been doing so well in recent years. Keeping the company running was becoming less and less of an option as the CEO's leadership skills were lacking in most areas and was most likely to completely fail without some serious intervention. Around the time she realized this was about the same time her obsession with Chris began, the fact it was not for herself made it a lot more bearable. Chris's mom ran the one of the companies that was offering to buy the frail remains of her company. One of many, but definitely the one that was offering the best deal since she had worked along side Eli's father for many years.
It was an unfortunate coincidence that Chris happened to also go to school with Eli, Alexandria, and Diana. Whether his step-mother's orders got skewed or if her daughters purposely altered them in their heads, but the instructions had started out as "be nice to him since his mom decides our well being," but were carried out as "seduce him into a relationship to make sure his mom gives us a good deal." Eli saw the outcome of that everyday, his step-sisters followed Chris around the halls laughing at everything he said even when there was no possible way it could be considered funny and tripping over themselves to to drop their books in attempts to solicit help from him.
Of course Chris was too polite to say anything to them, would help overtime they "dropped" their things, and would wait kindly for them to stop laughing to finish asking the teacher what the homework was. Over all Chris dealt with it all like a pro.
As much as Eli's step-sister's instructions had changed his had not, because no matter how many times his step-mother would repeat them "do not speak to him" never changed. So Eli avoided him, end of story. The only problem with his evasive tactic was that their school was really small, 300 students total and a grade of about 90, so it was harder than you would think. It was fortunate for Eli that he wasn't all that out going and managed to not talk to too many people. There had been a time that Eli was sure that his step-mother was going to kill him.
Chris and Eli had been paired up for a class project. He wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting, small grade and the fact that neither of her daughters were in the class. It was at this time that Eli's instructions did in fact change "do not talk to him" changed to "make sure he does not know you live here." This was simple enough to carry out, his step-family never came up in conversation.
Instead they talked about school, friends, and funny stories they had about different teachers. Eli hadn't been sure if this was Chris being nice or if he was genuinely interested in talking to him, but given the fact that Chris would sometimes find Eli and eat lunch with him so they could finish conversations it lead Eli to think that Chris was being a little more than polite. Pushing Chris away after the project had been completed hurt Eli more than he wanted to admit, he missed the conversation.
Eli wondered if Chris missed it too. Most of the time he didn't want to think about the answer, and besides he had other friends. Jacque and Gus were really great about putting up with his half told stories and jokes. Eli was glad for the distraction of , a website developed specifically for poems, prose, podcasts, and art, whether it was fan based or original. The website was a great release of stress for Eli, he would post as often as he could, updating stories he had been working on. Usually they're spiced up fairy tales or action stories. Sometimes he would even get fantail through the private messaging system, there was an option for instant messaging, but Eli didn't use it much. He had been on the site for a year, already gathering followers, most following for the way Eli messed with different fairy tales.
It was during the start of his summer that Eli found a reason to use the instant messenger. Paint for Blood was an artist that had quickly risen to popularity, and understandably so. His art work was amazing. His digital work looked like it had been down on canvas and his canvas work looked real; he had also posted pen and ink pieces, gifs, and other mediums of art. Eli was ready to hand over his soul after seeing only a hand full of Blood for Paint's pieces. Eli had sent in his fan mail and had gotten a polite response, and he definitely did not squeal like a little girl. It wasn't until after a few months later that Eli got some fan mail from Paint for Blood, this time he would admit to making an undignified noise before recollecting himself. It was a short message expressing love for what Eli had written and asking permission to create some last work for some of his favorite scenes.
There was absolutely no way Eli would ever deny them that. Eli's response was as collected as he could make it, saying thank you for the praise, of course you can make your wonderful last for whatever you like, and if any help is needed with unclear descriptions to just let him know. That was started their friendship. Blood for Paint responded immediately with thanks, further praise, and questions on inspiration, Eli was more than happy to assist. By the time they had finished talking several hours had passed. Paint for Blood had asked for Eli's name, but Eli politely asked to keep anonymous, his new friend respected that.
They did learn that they shared a time zone, a month after they found out they shared a state, not long after that they discovered they lived in the same city. It was immediately after that that Eli stopped their location guessing game. His step-mother was too well known in the city, and he wasn't quite sure how versed in corporations Paint for Blood was, but Eli was paranoid enough to know that anything could be too much. Much to Eli's relief the other guy seemed just as happy to keep further locations to himself.
This was how their relationship grew, Paint for Blood and he would work on several projects together, Eli would write stories for his art work, and Paint for Blood would make art for his stories. For a special treat to their developing fan base they had even collaborated on a short web comic, it had been a grueling process for both of them. There had been numerous all nighters filled with rejected concepts and loads of messaging , but they had both come out stronger for it.
As their "professional" relationship grew so did their personal relationship. Eli learned that Paint for Blood was an only child who's dad was an esteemed artist and mother was a business woman, he was looking forward to learning about business but also hoped to never give up art. During their get to know each other evening Paint for Blood also confided to Eli that he was demisexual and admitted that he was tired of girls fawning over him at school. He then proceeded to joke about how he had what most people dreamed of. With all of his faceless friend's honesty Eli couldn't help but to respond truthfully.
He spilled his life story about his parent's deaths, his terrible step-family, how he had to do all the work assigned to his step-sisters even though they were the ones who were going into business. Eli admitted that although the work was thrust upon him he did enjoy business, but could also see himself as a writer. At the end of all that Eli confided in Paint for Blood that he was gay, but in the closet to his step-family, who were rude enough already. He had been tearing up while typing it all out, but started sobbing as his online friend flooded him with nothing but loving words and threats to break their deal of anonymity in order to save him from where he was. In attempts to make Eli laugh Paint for Blood teased him about being Cinderfella, and Eli loved every word of it.
Once that was over their relationship went on just fine, they talked almost everyday , tossing around ideas, sending half finished projects to each other for feed back, and of course they were still learning new things about each other. They had accidentally found out that they went to the same school, the excitement of it was slightly diminished by the fact that Eli still didn't know who he was, but the fact that he existed was rather rewarding.
Eli was ecstatic when he convinced his friend to apply for the Senior Art Showcase, the application was open to all seniors city wide, but they only considered the best of the best. It was three nights displaying three different mediums at three different prestigious locations. Applications had to be submitted early into first semester so the participants would have enough time to create three new breath taking pieces. Paint for Blood wasn't sure that he was good enough to apply, but Eli pushed him until he finally submitted the paperwork. Eli then proceeded to write in all caps when Paint for Blood told him that he had been accepted. He also read aptly over everything Paint for Blood wanted to do and everything he had learned from the masters that came in teaching them how to improve. Every follower online went crazy as they obsessed over his improved art work, it made Eli feel guilty that he wasn't also improving. So he took up reading as much as he could and experimenting with different styles of writing.
As the months passed Eli was racking his brain for an excuse to give his step-mom for his need to go to the art show case, so far he had come up with him having a job that required him there or lying and saying he was going to a friend's house. It was by pure coincidence that Chris had was going to be displaying his art work. Once Eli's step-mother had found out she went crazy, she took her daughters shopping for new dresses, make-up, and shoes; Eli got a new button down shirt. His step-mother was requiring he go since eyebrows would be raised if the entire family did not attend, Eli didn't care so long as he got to go.
It was the third night of the art showcase that Eli found out it was Chris, that knowledge made his skin go cold. It was a shame because he was starting to like Chris, that made him feel even more guilty. When Chris found out about a month later after prom Eli had been expecting the worst, yelling, accusations, regret, he had prepared himself for that when Chris texted him to meet up. What Eli had not expected was for Chris to kiss him on sight. Though he can't say that he was disappointed about it. It even made up for the fact that his step-mom had pulled him out of school to avoid him going to prom. Chris lost it at that and called his own mom for help to fix the situation.
In the end Eli was able to graduate and when Chris's mom bought the company she found out that Eli's step-mom had been embezzling money. With the payout she had to make there was enough left over that Eli could pay for college.