Yes, I managed to get another chapter out in less than a month. Hurray! I hope you guys like it. :)
2.
"I think Imogen likes you," Julia tells him as she lays sprawled upon his bed.
Eli turned to look down at her as he looped a belt through his jeans, buckling it and then pulling the pants up a little. "How can you tell?" Eli asked her.
"She's always so eager to please you and help you. It's kind of cute." Julia smirked to herself as she placed her hands on her cheeks and kicked her feet around in the air.
"I've known her for about three weeks, Jules," Eli pointed out. "I hardly think that's enough time to develop a crush."
Julia rolled her eyes. "Well you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you? You aren't a girl."
Eli sat down on the edge of his bed. "All right then, tell me, how long did it take for you to like me in that way?"
Julia put a finger to her chin, thinking about it. "I would say…half way through our relationship." She smirked at him playfully.
"Oh, ha ha. You're hysterical."
"Anyway, back to the topic of her liking you! You're leading her on by doing this, you know," Julia pointed out, reverting the subject back.
Eli rose an eyebrow. "I'm going out to get pizza with her and Adam, because apparently we're 'friends.' How is that leading her on?"
Julia opened her mouth to reply, then closed it with a frown. "Well, just make sure you treat her in only a friendly manner. You and me both know that you tend to act more flirtatious with girl friends."
Eli's eyebrow rose higher. "I do? And how many girl friends have I had again?"
"Just me," Julia replied, sticking out her tongue at him.
"Exactly. Therefore, your point is invalid." Eli grabbed his leather jacket off of his door and pulled it on. The weather had already grown cold out, even though they were still in September. It just proved how cold Canada really was.
Julia jumped up from the bed, giving a little bounce. Eli kept in a chuckle and opened his bedroom door. They made their way down the stairs and out to his hearse, going through their usual routine of filing into it. He found the pizzeria they were supposed to be meeting at easily, and he parked out front of it. He and Julia climbed out of the hearse, and Eli ignored the odd stares he was getting as he walked into the pizza place, holding open the door for Julia.
As he scoped the room for Adam and Imogen, he heard Julia grumble, "Great. She's here."
Confused, Eli followed her stare to where the Clare Edwards girl was sitting with a stocky looking boy, both of them laughing, her blue eyes sparkling. The boy placed a hand on hers, and her cheeks automatically flushed with color. The sight sparked an annoyance in Eli, and he didn't know why he grew infuriated by the sight of them.
"Goldsworthy!" a sing-songy voice called.
Eli turned around in the direction of the voice and saw Imogen standing up slightly in her seat, waving at him while Adam hid his face in embarrassment. Eli smirked and made his way over to them, Julia trailing after him.
Imogen sat back down beside Adam and cast a glance at the boy. "Oh, you need to stop. You know that's not even remotely embarrassing considering everything else I've done," she teased.
"Touché," Adam muttered, and his hands fell back onto the table.
Eli chuckled at them. "Looks like you guys ordered without me," he remarked, gesturing to the cheese and sausage pizza in the middle of the table.
"Sorry, dude. We were starved." Adam gave him a sheepish grin as he reached for a slice of pizza.
"Be glad we didn't start eating without you. Adam would have eaten the entire pie before you got here." Imogen's tone was dead serious, but there was a playful glint in her eyes.
"What, this scrawny guy?" Eli commented incredulously, and Adam shot him a mock glare before taking a large bite out of his pizza slice.
"You'd be surprised how much he can eat in one sitting," Imogen told him with a nod, taking a small bite out of her piece of pizza.
Eli laughed and grabbed himself a slice, eating it in silence as Imogen and Adam continued to share small playful banter. He glanced at Julia, curious to see if she would take a slice for herself, though he knew she never ate; at least, not around him.
Julia had been watching him the whole time, staring at him with unblinking brown eyes. There was a strange look in her eyes, a shadow of something Eli didn't recognize, and her body seemed slightly tense. They held each other's gazes for awhile, Julia's stiff body not moving.
Eli frowned a little at her, and he brought his voice down as low as he could. "Is there something wrong?"
Julia shook her head a little, her untidy black hair quivering a little when she did so. Eli could tell she was lying, but he didn't want to question her more in front of Adam and Imogen.
Eli turned his head back to look at his friends to find that they had gone quiet now and were watching him curiously, Adam chewing on his second slice of pizza.
Eli rose his eyebrows. "What?" he asked, voice tinged with annoyance.
Imogen looked down at the pizza in her hands, and Adam simply looked away as he took another bite out of his own slice.
A nervous feeling bubbled in Eli's stomach, and he finished off his slice of pizza, then sipping at a glass of soda in hopes of settling his stomach.
Adam cleared his throat, looking back at Eli. "So. Anybody catch your interest at Degrassi?" He wore an enthusiastic grin, and Eli was surprised by how easily Adam had forgotten about his odd behavior.
Imogen's face flushed a little, and she sipped awkwardly at her glass of pop, her eyes shifting back and forth from her cup to her plate. She seemed embarrassed by the question for some reason, even though it wasn't directed at her, and Adam looked smug about being able to make her feel the way she did.
Eli shrugged, though he knew that he really wasn't looking for a relationship, and therefore paid no attention to the girls at school. "Not really," he answered truthfully.
"Oh…Are none of them 'your type'?" Adam asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"What makes you think I have a type?" Eli responded.
"I don't know. It could be the broodiness and the black clothes that make me believe you wouldn't be into girls such as…" Adam looked around the pizzeria. "…Clare Edwards."
Imogen's slightly red face paled, and out of the corner of his eye, Eli noticed Julia's jaw lock. He didn't understand why they reacted the way they did; Clare was just a girl that kept getting mentioned. She didn't mean anything to any of them, as far as he knew.
Eli let his eyes fall on the girl they were speaking of. He assessed her happiness, the way her curls bounced when she laughed, and how her white teeth seemed to flash when she smiled. He noted the way she was staring at the plaid clad boy, and his lip curled a little.
"No, she's probably not somebody I would be interested in," Eli replied, turning back to Adam. "And it seems that guys like me aren't her type either."
"Yes, it seems Clare Edwards is into douche bag jocks, such as Jake Martin and K.C. Guthrie," Imogen piped up, back to her usual, informative self.
Eli tilted his head to the side questioningly, and Imogen explained, "K.C. is a basketball and football loving bad boy. He knocked up Jenna Middleton, the perky blonde on Power Squad. He and Clare dated before that happened, though. And the guy she's with right now, Jake, is the resident player. He's the outdoorsy type, and I bet he could be an excellent footballer if he was just a bit more into actual sports. Though I'm sure he considers banging all of those girls a sport -"
"Imo!" Adam exclaimed, cutting her off.
Imogen shrugged. "I'm just saying."
A bemused expression crossed Eli's face. "Why is Saint Clare going out with a guy like that?" he questioned, using the nickname Imogen tended to use for the girl.
"She's probably one of those dirty Christian girls that is desperate to lose her virginity, but nobody will take it from her," Julia muttered. "So she went to the player who will fuck everybody and anybody."
Eli shot her a look, and she shrugged uncaringly.
"I think she wouldn't know a good guy even if he was standing right in front of her," Adam commented.
"Feeling bitter?" Imogen teased.
"What are you talking about? Am not!" Adam snapped.
Imogen smirked and looked at Eli. "He had a bit of a crush on her last year, but he's been too shy to talk to her, and she doesn't even know he exists."
Eli gave him a pitying look. "Aw, poor Adam. Sorry, bro."
Adam scowled. "She's not really that great anyway."
"Yeah. She's a high class whore looking to get fucked by every guy at the school," Julia remarked.
Eli's hands gripped the table tightly, and he stood up. Adam and Imogen looked at him strangely, and Julia stared at her nails, picking at her cuticles.
"I don't feel too good. I'll be back in a second," Eli explained to his friends before forcing Julia to get out of the booth so he could get out as well. He gestured for Julia to follow him and made his way over to the bathroom. He pushed open the door, holding it open and waiting for Julia to go in.
Julia wrinkled her nose. "Uh, I'm not going in there with you."
Eli sighed in exasperation and let the door close. He turned to face her, and he stared at her for awhile. She rose her eyebrows at him, folding her arms over chest.
"What?" she asked, irritated.
"What is your problem?" Eli demanded.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Julia answered dryly.
"Why are you judging that girl if you don't even know her?"
"Why are you defending her if you don't even know her?" Julia retorted.
"Because what you're saying is completely uncalled for and basically slander," Eli informed her.
"Well, it's not like anybody can hear me but you," she sneered.
Eli shifted his weight to his right leg uneasily. "I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do, Eli. Come on. Why do we play this game? We all know that only you can see me. And we know why that is."
"What are you talking about?" Eli snarled loudly. "You're talking crazy shit again."
"I'm talking crazy? I am not crazy, Eli. I'm dead," Julia told him bluntly, not flinching at his tone.
Pain flashed across Eli's face, and memories swarmed his thoughts, filling his vision. Tears stung in his eyes, and he shook his head. "Stop it, Jules. You're right here. You're with me."
"Excuse me?" a quiet voice called, and Eli whipped his head in surprise to look at this new voice as Julia let out a soft gasp. Eli blinked at the girl, and her blue eyes surveyed his face for a moment.
"I was just…I was coming to use the bathroom…and I heard you." Clare took a cautious step towards his frozen form. She leaned in a little closer to him, her blue orbs staring into his green ones. She automatically noticed the tiny tears at the corners of his eyes, and she frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine," Eli muttered, breaking their gazes and looking past her.
Julia was nowhere to be found again.
"Well, when I heard you, you sounded really upset. And you don't look very happy either," Clare remarked.
"I said I'm fine," Eli snapped, and the girl took a step back.
"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I just - you sounded really - I'm sorry for prying -"
"Stop apologizing," Eli growled, feeling annoyed. He held his forehead in one of his hands, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
"Who were you talking to?" Clare whispered after a minute. She didn't see anybody around, and she hadn't seen anybody come or go from the bathrooms either.
"None of your business. Why don't you stop pestering me and go back to your boyfriend?" Eli suggested.
Clare blushed, her cheeks turning a shade of pink. "J-Jake? Oh no, he's not my boyfriend. We're just friends…" She trailed off, biting her bottom lip a little to silence herself.
Eli snorted. "Yeah, right."
An indignant look crossed Clare's face, and her hands clenched into fists. "I wasn't lying," she told him.
Eli raised an eyebrow at her. "Whatever. Are you going to go use the bathroom now, like you intended on doing, or are you going to keep wasting my time?"
Clare's face flushed darker, a bit in anger and embarrassment. "Maybe if you moved, then I could get into the bathroom and stop 'wasting your time,'" Clare said dryly.
Eli scowled at her but sidestepped away from the door to the girls' bathroom, watching her through narrowed eyes as she scooted past him. He jumped when he felt her warm hand accidentally brush against his. A gasp escaped her lips, and she looked up at his face. Their gazes locked, and Eli shivered involuntarily. He didn't like the way she looked at him. He felt as if she was searching for something in him, trying to figure him out when he didn't want to be understood by anybody.
Eli let his face go impassive again, building back up the walls she had managed to break down in those brief seconds. Clare frowned at him again, and Eli was surprised to see the disappointment shining in her eyes. She held his gaze again for another second, hoping for a reaction or maybe a goodbye from him, but when nothing happened, she bit back a sigh and pushed open the door, retreating into the bathroom.
Eli shook his head, muttering incomprehensible words under his breath as he returned to his seat.
Imogen and Adam both looked up at him as he sat back down, watching him as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Hey, we thought you'd flushed yourself down the toilet or something. You okay?" Adam asked.
"Hm? Yeah, I'm fine," Eli assured him, nodding his head.
Imogen and Adam picked up the conversation they had begun while Eli was away again, and Eli stayed quiet, occasionally sipping at his drink. He couldn't focus on anything that they were saying. All he could hear in his head were Julia's cold words, and he flinched as they repeated again, louder and clearer.
Julia was normally bubbly and sweet. Her personality was similar to Imogen's, Eli had found. But Julia had brought out a different side of herself tonight, and it disturbed and worried him. The last thing he wanted was for Julia to hate him and leave him for good.
The panic bubbled up inside of his chest at the very thought that Julia could be gone forever now, his breathing picking up. He knew how things had ended the last time they had argued, and Eli couldn't imagine having to live through the torture of losing her again.
Suddenly, a pair of blue eyes were swimming across his vision, and a stuttering, soft voice played in his head. The feeling of somebody's warm skin brushing against his was the only thing he could feel, and he found his breathing evening out again.
Why was he thinking about that girl? She was annoying, and a goody-two shoes. Eli hated her, he hated everything about her.
So why was the thought of her canceling out his worries about Julia?
