The Day Before

I was about to get up when I heard Eli say sit. I was still sitting, but that didn’t stop me from flinching. I heard him sigh from behind me and I slowly turned my head towards him. He walked over to Charlotte’s chair and hovered over it, glaring at me. I looked the other way, trying to find something that caught my eye. I slowly turned my gaze to him, when he started to talk.

“I still don’t trust you.” Eli said venomously, narrowing his eyes at me. Then, I snapped my head in his direction.

My eyes widened in shock, “What?” I said in disbelief.

With a raised eyebrow he shrugged his shoulders. “I made it quite clear, if you didn’t hear, that just means you’re too distracted to comprehend.” he said through a calming façade.

I looked down at the table, admiring it’s gray colors.

“Fine, but I don’t know what I did wrong.” I mumbled miserably. I honestly didn’t know what Eli had against me, but I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. I looked and sounded like a little kid taking a scolding from his mother.

Eli pulled back, like he didn’t expect me to say anything. With a serious expression, I tried to stay calm and keep on talking, “Maybe you should learn a thing or two about your friends, Eli. They have no problem with me staying here and I didn’t have a gun.” I said, emphasizing the last part while giving him a pointed look. I was glad I stayed so calm and didn’t stutter or flinch away. But, if we wanted to survive whatever was going on outside, we needed to trust in each other. I slowly got up and brushed past him, heading to Aeropostale.



When I opened the door to Aeropostale, the first thing I noticed was the clothes strewn everywhere. There were ripped up teal polo shirts and furry jackets. I only knew one culprit who could’ve down it.

“Dash!” I called out.

He was recently in the process of chewing on a bathing suit.

“Oh, no. Bad boy!” I yelled out loud, trying to pry the bathing suit away from his jaws. He growled and made a game out of it, me against him. “Dash, I don’t want...to…play…Tug-O-War!” I pleaded through gritted teeth. The material made a ripping sound and I stumbled back. Dash pranced away with his other half, clearly disgruntled that I wasn’t actually playing.

“Dash…” I groaned out. I threw my half of bathing suit to the ground and was about to clean up the mess when somebody came inside. Dash, who was happily chewing away with what was left of the bathing suit, started growling and giving low barks. I looked at who he could possibly be growling at, when I saw the smiling face of Benji. He gave me a half smile and a raised an eyebrow at the mess.

“I-I-I’m usually cleaner.” I stuttered out, trying to protect what was left of my dignity, while throwing the furry jackets to a corner.

“Whatever you say,” he said through a smile, picking up the ripped up teal shirts. Between two pinched fingers he studied it, “I was just gonna tell you that Ruth is out of the shower, so it’s your turn.” he said in absentmindedly, still studying the shirt and all the damage it went through.

“Oh, well, alright.” I said, scanning the clothing racks for anything that I could wear for the day. “Thanks.” I said hurriedly, darting my eyes around the place for anything else I was missing.

He nodded his head and threw the remaining teal shirts on top of the furry jackets. “Well, I’ll leave you be.” And he waved goodbye closing the glass door on his way out.

“Bye,” I waved belatedly.

I took the bottom piece from a swimsuit and dashed out, making the clothes into a bundle so I could hold it in one arm. While I was making it into a bundle, my feet slipped from under me making me airborne for a second or so. I closed my eyes and was ready for the impact to the ground, but somebody had caught my back and steadied me on the ground.

My heart was pounding in my head and chest, I opened my mouth and turned around to see Benji smiling at me. “You’re such a klutz.” he said, shaking his head. I blushed and stuttered a ‘Thank you’.

I looked at the ground, the silence was so awkward that it killed me a little. “W-well, I better get going…” I said, pointing over to the direction of the Food Court. He looked at me and I took a step back.

“Yeah, I guess.” and he walked away.

Why are all the guys acting so weird? I told myself as I got out of the shower. It was a basic-looking thing actually. The whole room was a cream color and it smelled like Sweet and sour orange chicken. There was no shower curtain, so it felt odd taking a shower. The water was extremely cold, there was a mirror on the floor and a ripped up towel. I picked up the towel and covered myself trying to put on the bathing suit bottom. Once I got dressed, I got out of the shower room, only to find Eli leaning on the wall with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

He opened his closed eyelids and his eyes darted in my direction. I had the clothes that I wore from before in hands, so I couldn’t wave or anything. He looked pretty pissed, though, so I started to walk away.

“Wait, Violet.” I heard Eli mumble.

I turned my head and looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“I thought a lot about what you said…” he trailed off. His eyes looking frantically around the hallway. He sighed and kept on going. “And, well you’re right…” I nodded my head, a small smile forming on lips. I never saw the distressed side of Eli. All I saw was hate and annoyance, so I kind of felt special. “I-I…I’m…” he trailed off. He took a deep breath and tried again.

“I’m--”

“Eli! The crack on the window! It got bigger!” Cove said excitingly, cutting off Eli in the beginning of his sentence.

Eli looked at me then at Cove and then at me again. “Let’s go, then!” I said, pushing him towards Cove.

I quickly pulled back when I noticed that I was pushing him, “O-oh, I’m so sorry! I really didn’t mean to--” he grabbed my wrist and gently pulled me along, I was facing his back so I couldn’t see his face. “Let’s go.” he muttered, still holding my wrist. I was still curious about what he wanted to tell me though.