Eli could no longer bear keeping his secret to himself. There was only one person in the world he could be frank and open to, and as soon as he was alone in his room with Jacob, he quickly told him everything that had passed between him and Faith Diaz.
Jacob was surprised by the manner Faith had declared her feelings, but perhaps not as shocked at the idea as Eli would have thought. He seemed more stunned by the fact that Eli had rejected her.
"Poor girl," he said. "She's probably not used to being turned down."
"Yeah, I feel sorry for her too," said Eli. "But she couldn't have been really serious about it. She'll get over it soon enough. Do you think I was wrong?"
"Wrong? No, of course not."
"And was I wrong for taking Genesis' side over hers?"
"No – why should you be?"
"Listen to this." He then told him all about the email, or at least, the parts about Genesis. Jacob was incredulous that such a sweet looking woman could be so manipulative and deceitful. True, he had defended Faith before, but did not want to defend her by offending another woman.
"There must be a mistake. A misunderstanding. I'm sure they both think they were acting rightly, somehow…"
"No, Jacob. It won't work. Look, either way, one of them is lying. Choose whichever one, but you can only pick one. For me, I'm going to have to believe Diaz."
"I guess you're right," he said. "Poor Faith. You must have felt so sorry for what you said after you read that."
"No, no, there's no need for that," said Eli. "I think you can feel sorry for her enough for the both of us. You're sympathy, I'm sure, will quite appease karma, and I can get back to living my life with ironic detachment."
"It's hard to believe, though. She looked so decent, honest, kind…"
"You got that right," said Eli. "God was very funny when he formed those two. One got all the goodness, and the other got all the appearance of it."
"I never exactly thought Faith's, er, appearance to be lacking, to tell the truth…"
"Yeah. I thought I was being so witty by not liking her. It's a real ego boost, insulting the person in the limelight. It seemed it would be a crime to not insult someone who's rich and famous, and you feel so clever while you're doing it. Nobody ever cares if you say a hundred things which aren't true while being rude. As long as you get one real bad point, people will laugh along with you."
"That doesn't sound ironically detached enough. Are my sympathy levels fading?"
"It's the truth. I've been feeble and hopeless and ridiculous."
"You just made a mistake. Everyone does."
"It was my own bias against Faith that made me dislike her. I never took the time to think anything through. I wanted to believe that I could understand her just by looking at her, and I took anything I could get to support my stereotyping. I can't trust myself anymore. Tell me. Do you think I should tell our friends about Genesis? Should I let them know she's been lying?"
"It would be a very awkward thing to do."
"To say the least. I don't think we should. Faith wrote to me in confidence. I really don't think she wants her private life spread out in public. Why would anyone even believe me? Everyone else has already assumed Faith is wrong just because of who she is. Sooner or later, Genesis will leave. It really doesn't matter. I'm staying quiet about it."
"Yes, it would be terrible for us to ruin her reputation with her friends. Maybe she's sorry for how she's acted and trying to make up for it. It wouldn't be fair to take that away from her as she's trying to establish her new life."
Eli had to smile at how silly his brother was. He was relieved of having gotten two secrets off his chest, but he didn't dare mention the third, to tell him that Chloe had really loved him, and only her friend's interference had stopped her from staying. How could he tell him that? Unless, somehow, Chloe choose to come back to him, Jacob was better off thinking Chloe had never really cared for him.
As the weeks went on, Michael and Kevin kept bringing up the subject of the trip to their parents, hardly daring to mention it outright, sure they would never be allowed. Finally, just the week before the break, Michael had the luck of speaking with Sofia's mother, who said she's be going along on the trip, and since they had room for one more person to fill their party, invited Michael (and Michael only) to go along.
For the first time in his life, Kevin stepped away from the shadow of his younger brother. It wasn't fair. Why should Michael get invited and not him? He (Kevin) was older, he was more responsible, he worked harder and deserved a trip. Michael always got everything he wanted, just because he was louder, and cooler and always forced everyone's attention on him!
The week before the trip, Michael came home with his report card. He left it lying on the counter. Since mom and dad weren't home, Eli picked it up.
"Is this a joke?" he asked, after reading it, then marching with it to the living room, blocking Michael's view of the television.
"Leave me alone, Eli."
"What kind of grades are these? Honestly! This is pathetic. You have no excuse for this at all."
"I'm stupid, alright. Leave me alone."
"Don't give me that crap. You don't have to be a genius to pass high school! You could be getting decent marks if you ever freaking did any work at all. You don't even have a part-time job to distract you from school. Seriously. Do you think you'll ever get into a good college with grades like this?"
"Don't feed my that b.s. Eli. You aren't my dad, and we both know I'm never getting into any college. I'm not like James, alright, I'm never getting a scholarship, and I know there's no damn way there will be any money left for Bennett boy number five's education."
"You can't just give up on yourself. You're only problem is that you're lazy and spoiled! All you think about is chasing after girls, going out, having fun all the time. You never think about anything serious, you never do anything around the house, you never think about anyone besides yourself. You don't think about your future! Do you ever think at all?"
"Shut up Eli. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
"You're too old for temper tantrums to still work. You may have everyone else in this family wrapped around your finger but not me. And now you want to go on some stupid road trip when you haven't done anything to deserve it."
"Just shut up and get away from me! I don't deserve a trip? I never get anything around here, Eli. I have to scrimp and save every cent on my allowance just to buy the ugliest shoes at the store! I don't have anything my friends have. I don't have nice clothes. I don't a cell phone. I don't have mp3 player, or my own computer. I have nothing that isn't lend-me-downs or that I have to share. So yeah, I want a trip. I want a chance to get the hell out of this neighbourhood for once in my life!"
"Think of your future, not just having fun right now!"
"I don't have a future! Don't you get that. I'm going to graduate high school, and get some lame crap minimum-wage job somewhere, and I'll be fine, cause I'm going to get away from this family. You blame me for thinking about having fun? When I have to spend my life in this house? What do you want from me? You want me to be some loser weirdo stuck behind a computer all his life, like James? Or you want me to be like Kevin, who just moans and whines about how he gets no attention instead of doing something about it? Or should I be like Jacob, who's spent half a year miserable over some stupid broad who didn't like him? Should I be like mom and dad, always working all the time and never having enough time for the army of children they decided to have? Or maybe I should be like you, who never even talks to me except to make fun of me, or get on my back about some stupid bad grades that nobody's even going to remember in ten years? You blame me that I like to go out and get away from this place instead of studying? I hate you all, and I'll be so glad when I'm out of here for good! And right now, I wish I storm out and run into my room, but I can't even do that, because I don't have my own room. James is in there, and he'll complain I'm making too much noise, and Jake and Kev are in the kitchen, and if I go there they'll just take your side. So how about you just shut up and let me watch some T.V. in the only room I can get some peace!"
"I know you don't mean anything of this. You just turn into the world's biggest brat whenever anything doesn't go your way! You're almost hopeless, you know that, but you're my brother. I haven't given up hope yet."
Eli waited until his mother got back from work. He was sitting in the kitchen, waiting for the light in the front hall to turn on. Michael had finally given up and gone upstairs, along with Jacob and Kevin. As soon as Eli heard the rustling of keys, he ran to the door.
"Mom, we really need to talk."
"What is it dear? Is everything alright?"
"No. No it isn't. Michael got his report card today. He's barely making a D average, and that's mostly because Phys. Ed. is keeping him afloat."
"Oh that boy. I've lectured him a thousand times. But I guess there's not much left to do. Academics just isn't his strongpoint."
"Mom, how can you talk like that about your son? You always treat him special just because he's the baby in the family. Don't you see, he gets away with everything. He never gets disciplined, punished. He's almost an adult. If he goes out into the world this spoiled, he's going to get crushed by reality."
"Oh, you worry too much Eli."
"Mom, you should forbid him from going on that trip."
"Forbid him, dear? But he was already invited and accepted. I can't go back on my promise…"
"He doesn't deserve it. Don't you see. You have to take away something from him, something that really matters to him. You have to show that his ego is not all that matters in the world."
"It wouldn't be fair at all. You and Jacob both went away this year to other countries. Michael just wants to have a good time with his friends. It would be cruel to not let him."
"Cruel? You think that's what I'm trying to do. He's my brother! I want what's best for him. Think of it. He has no sense of responsibility, and you're letting him go off with a bunch of people we barely know, most of whom are over eighteen, hundreds of miles away."
"I spoke with Sofia's mother, she seemed most reasonable and I'm sure –"
"Michael doesn't even listen to us, you think he's going to listen to some random woman?"
"Eli," said his mother. "Do you think locking him up is going to make him more likely to cooperate? Do you think he'll listen to us more when he hates us, for taking away all his enjoyment from life and treating him like a criminal. This trip is a good chance for him. It will do him good to be out on his own, for a bit, without his family there to protect him. That will help him learn some responsibility, and being around some older kids, to see how they hold their lives together. If something goes wrong, he'll come back home appreciating his family more than ever. I know you're trying to help Eli, but I don't think you're old enough to really understand."
Eli was close to saying, You never thought me too young, when you've expected me and Jacob to practically raise your other children our whole lives! But he couldn't bring himself to say that to his mother, who he knew tried her best. So he let it go.