Let's go down! This elevator only goes up to ten.
He's not around; he's always looking at men.
Eli noticed that something was off with Clare—she was extremely giddy when she was with her friend. The dark skinned girl seemed to come off as "slutty" to Eli, but if it was a friend of Clare's, then she couldn't be so bad.
But once Eli came closer to the table, Clare's perfected smile was nowhere to be seen. Only irritation.
"Hi." She said, her voice monotone. Her friend looked up at her, an eyebrow raised and a smirk to match.
"Who's this, Clare-bear?" Her friend almost said in a mocking tone, and he saw Clare roll her eyes.
"This is my annoying English partner."
Eli smiled at the friend. "Eli is what I go by." He stated, and the girl took his hand.
"Alli. Alli Bhandari."
Eli smirked, looking back at the empty seat. "Care if I sit?" He asked, and he could've sworn that Alli almost swooned.
"Not at all." She said in a musky tone, making Clare groan.
"Alli." She whined in a quiet tone, looking at her best friend. Alli gave her a glance, shutting her up.
Eli sat down, wringing his hands from underneath the table. It was extremely awkward to be with two girls—one who flirted 100% of the time while the other drowned herself in silence. "Are you both sophomores?" He asked, and Alli nodded.
"We are." She amusingly stated, smiling at Clare. Clare was watching the two talk to each other, not caring to become part of the conversation.
"Hmm." He pressed. "What are your hobbies?"
"Well mine-"
"No." Eli cut Alli off. "I'm sorry, but I was directing my question to Clare." Alli looked slightly stunned, but crossed her arms as she waited for Clare to answer.
"Music." She stated, grooming her nails. Eli rolled his eyes.
"What about music?"
Clare wasn't going to say anything, so Alli nudged her arm. Clare looked agitated by now. "I like singing and playing the piano." She loudly stated, annoyed. "If that's all you want to know, then I'll be leaving."
Eli didn't understand her sudden outburst. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere important." She snapped, but her eyes turned sympathetic before she picked her bag up and left. She didn't mean to be mean—it was her family's fault.
Her family just had to be so screwed up.
"What's her problem?" He asked rhetorically, not thinking Alli would hear. Alli chuckled.
"What's not her problem?" She asked, and Eli looked at her in shock.
"Aren't you her friend?"
Alli nodded. "Why?"
Eli shrugged. "It just seemed like the way you talked about her was like you guys are close enemies. What's up?"
Alli looked down at the table. "It's Clare." She stated.
"No, duh." Eli replied. "Really, though, unless it's none of my business."
"It's fine Eli." She grinned while she said his name. Her smiled faded though as she was brought back to the memories of her and Clare, an emotion of pure disgust placed on her complexion. "It all happened last year." She started off, looking into his emerald eyes.
"Clare's mom died last year, and her father moved on. Got married to a "skank" who has three kids. Clare never accepted them, even though they're really nice. Then one day during the summer, we were at a party. She had found another boy in our grade, and they were really pulling it off. The next day she was… different. She wouldn't talk to anyone." Alli looked off into the distance. "She told me that it was nothing, but I didn't think it was. But now I guess it's just family issues."
"Huh," Eli dully states, leaning back into his chair.
To The End
Screw school,Clare thought, walking out of the doors of the unguarded high school. She was so fed up with Alli ever since everything went downhill. Couldn't Alli get a hint at times? Clare thought not.
She opened the rusted, metal gate and made her way inside the area. The gate closed with a loud pitch scream, one that had become familiar.
Clare trudged her way up the hill and to the one grave that she wanted to see. "You," she stated ruefully, sitting down in front of the stone. "You made my life a living hell."
Of course, the stone wouldn't respond to her, but quite frankly she didn't care. She knew that he was listening, wherever he was. "Everyone is looking at me like I'm the one to blame!" Clare threw her hands up in the air, her voice becoming weak. "You are the reason that I can't be happy anymore!" She screeched throwing her hands back down to the ground.
"I hate you so much, I can't even believe it."
The wind outside had picked up, but Clare was unfazed by it. "I wrote about all of this," she muttered, looking down at the brown grass surrounding the stone. "Like my therapist told me to. But I... I lost it. It's gone. Someone has it in their hands, and if they read it, then I'm done. Jenna," she spat, thinking about before. "Probably will see it in no time, and know that I have something to do with this."
She looked at the stone again, reading the words that were displayed neatly unto it.
"But I wasn't even a part of this," she whispered. "I was just caught in the crossfire."
Five more reviews (17 total) and we get closer to seeing whose grave Clare is talking to.
PREVIEW:
Eli didn't understand why they didn't like her coming, especially since he hadn't been invited either, but then he saw it.