The next day, Eli showed up late again.
"He-" I began to say.
"Okay, I am not making a robot." Was the first thing he said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Im sorry, but it's stupid."
My jaw almost dropped. "How?"
"Why do we even have to make a robot? Is there completely nothing else we can do it on?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Exactly."
And so we spent about the next ten minutes arguing and then finally settling on an idea. It was no where near as good as my original one, but I guess I couldn't do anything else if Eli wouldn't agree.
"Okay, I think we should do the research for this first, then do all the practical work, then focus on presentation." I said.
"Alright." He replied.
"So," I said sadly, "I guess we'll have to forget about the timetable." Eli let out a snort of laughter. I continued, ignoring him, "And we should meet at the library for the research. Sunday afternoon?"
"Yeah, okay." He sighed.
We both left the cafe and Eli got into his car.
"He's such a jerk!" I complained to Clare, back at my house.
"He only said he didn't like your robot idea."'Clare laughed.
"No, he called it stupid! He didn't have to say that, I'm the one who's been compromising and negotiating this whole time and... Urgh!" I said, flopping onto the bed.
"And what?" Said Clare, lying down on her stomach.
"I don't know. I know he's been through a lot and everything, and I'm trying to be really nice about it, I just wish he could see that and do the same."
"Uh-huh." Said Clare, sighing.
I looked at Clare. She was right. He did just not like my robot idea. Why was I getting so worked up over it? Whatever the reason is, it has to stop.
I was sat in the library on Sunday afternoon. Of course, waiting for Eli. I thought of how disasterous our arrangement would be this time. Just have patience, I thought.
Finally he showed up, with nothing more than a grunt for 'hello'. His attitude stunk, but I decided I was going to rise above it. We both grabbed a few books and sat near a computer. We were in utter silence as I scribbled notes down from the internet while he did the same with the books. My stomach began to rumble, really loudly. Eli just looked at me with a raised-eyebrow expression. Great, I felt sick this morning so I thought it would be a good idea to skip breakfast and now I felt almost famished. There was a cafe right next to the library.
"Hey, can we grab something to eat?" I asked politely. He looked at me as if I was crazy.
"We came to study, Alli." He muttered. My stomach rumbled again. "Look, why don't you get something to eat. Quickly though. The sooner this ends, the better." He sighed. Ouch.
I bought a sandwich, and to be nice I thought I'd get Eli a cup of coffee, since we were both working pretty hard. Then I practically ran back to the library.
"I don't want it." He said, not even lifting his head from the textbook. I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream and then chuck the hot coffee all over his face. Instead, I breathed heavily for a few seconds and then went to the bin and threw it away.
We were basically almost done, and I felt like I was almost in tears, when Clare called my phone. I let out a sigh of relief. A talk with a friend was just what I needed. All I had left to do anyway was finsh the last two notes I was jotting down and then pack everything away.
"Hey Clare." I said, smiling down the phone.
"Hey Alli. Is it going okay? Your voice sounds a little shaky." She laughed, but there was still a hint of concern in her voice. I looked over at Eli. He was totally listening in.
"Um, I'll tell you about it later, okay?" I replied, a little more quietly this time.
"Oh..." She said, understanding what I meant, "Okay, call me back later then. Bye." And we both hung up.
"You know what, Alli?" Said Eli, so suddenly I jumped a little.
"...What?" I asked nervously. Judging by his facial expression, it wasn't going to be anything good.
"You're the one who was so obsessed with getting a good grade for science. I was the one who decided to be the bigger person and go along with it. I've been working so hard to day. And when I do... When I do, you slack off. You go for a fucking coffee break!" He managed to whisper that last bit, "And the you have the nerve to bitch about me to your friend." He said the last bit with disgust, as if he hardly knew who Clare even was.
"You've got it all wrong, Eli," I said, my eyes filling with tears, but thankfully not quite making their way past my water-line, "and you heard what I was saying on the phone! How on Earth was I bitching about you?" I sounded more like I was pleading him than angry.
"Oh yes, you're saving that for "later", aren't you?" He said, bitterly.
There was a brief pause. Partly because Eli was starting to scare me, and partly because I felt guilty that he was right. But then I got angry.
"You know what, Eli? You just do this project by yourself, and I'll do a different one. Next lesson I'll tell the teacher that we're not working together anymore." I tossed him the notes I took and then stormed out of the library.