Powerless

Eliza was in the cafeteria, looking around the room frantically. Without even realizing it her foot kept tapping on the floor repeatedly to the point Trish started to snap her fingers in front of her face, “Hey, little Miss Jumpy! Why are you acting like this?”

“Tyler hasn’t sent a single text at all this morning,” she said, looking down at her phone.

Trish shook her head, “I’m sure he’s just sleeping in or something. Stop worrying so much, it’s not like he got crushed by a bus or something.”

“Who got crushed by a bus?” a new voice asked as he set his tray down next to Trish.

“Eliza’s boy toy didn’t make it in today. She’s having withdrawal symptoms,” Trish said, scooting over next to her new boyfriend.

James put a buff arm over his girlfriend’s slender shoulders, “Oh yeah? I’m sure he’s fine. It may be rare for him to miss a day, but I’m sure he has a reason to miss.”

Eliza nodded, James had a point. He knew his best friend well too. She was glad he was there to reassure her. She stood up from her seat, “I’m going to go to my locker. I’ll see you two last period.”

“See you!” they both yelled after her as she dumped her tray and left the cafeteria.

There were few students roaming the hall, especially couples hiding away in a corner to make-out. Eliza ignored it all and walked straight to her locker. She started getting some stuff out when something brushed her hair. She flattened it down and continued on, but it happened again. “What the-“ she turned around.

Eliza almost dropped her books upon seeing Tyler, “Tyler! You’re here! Where were you? I was worried.”

He was in a nicely fitted shirt and jeans. His black hair stuck up in all direction and his bright green eyes looked quite wide, almost shocked. “Uh, hi! What’s up? I would have texted you, but I didn’t have my phone this morning.”

He was by her side, taking some of her heaviest books. Eliza smiled up at him, “Oh yeah? Did something happen?”

He shrugged, “Mom had an emergency meeting to go to this morning and Dad had some business to take care of. They left me to taking care of the monkey until the babysitter came.”

‘The monkey’ he was referring to was his little sister, Dakota. She was barely two years old and she was Tyler’s little shadow. She loved her older brother do death, which was cute to Eliza. Even so, Dakota didn’t like Eliza that much, for obvious reasons. His parents on the other hand – they approved of her, and she often caught them in conversations about Eliza being the future bride of Tyler.

They walked to their next class together. It was a literature class, and lunch wouldn’t end until another ten minutes so they were in there by themselves. Eliza pulled herself up onto one of the desk and Tyler stood in front of her. They talked for a bit and each minute he drew near until the moment came and he kissed her. Slowly at first, but soon turned into something more passionate and hungry. He grabbed her hand and tugged her off the desk, “Since nobody knows I’m even back yet, we should totally skip next period.”

How tempting it was for Eliza. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s done it, and each time it was this very period after lunch. Tyler and Eliza were on top of the school and so they rarely got into trouble. It was so rare that they’d skip, the teachers wouldn’t even notice they were gone. Sometimes, students would just say Eliza has gone to the nurse for female reasons, and Tyler has gone to help out his couch for whatever excuse fit his football reputation.

Eliza and Tyler made their way outside into the cool fall air at the back of the school. It was always isolated, except for a few students to come back here and mess around after late hours and whatnot. This was more Eliza and Tyler’s spot than anything, since few students knew about the place. Eliza could hear the bell ring in a distance, and the two of them smiled. They sat down on the metal railing, looking at the woods that was about one hundred feet away from them. “You know, I don’t say this often, but I’m so sick of school.”

“You too, huh?” Eliza said, resting her head against his shoulder, breathing in his musky scent.

“I can’t wait until we graduate. If I had a choice, I’d totally skip out on college.”

Eliza’s face scrunched up in confusion, she raised her head, looking at Tyler, “Skip out? I thought you wanted to go.”

He shrugged, swinging one of his feet in front of him, “It’s more of a family expectation. My father has his doctorate in medicine while Mom has hers in law. Even my grandparents went to college. I don’t know, it seems like they expect me to go, whether I want to or not.”

Eliza swung her feet back and forth, “Well, if you had the choice, what would you do?”

Tyler sighed, shaking his head, grinning some, “It’s really stupid and naïve. You’d laugh.”
Eliza poked his side, “Tell me, I promise I won’t laugh.”

Tyler grinned as he took in her hand, his hand surprisingly warm, “I want to something out of the norm. Something… adventurous. I want to experience the risks the world has to offer and…”

“And what?” Eliza asked, looking into his eyes.

His green eyes widen with anticipation and excitement. He took both of her hands into his own and brought them close to his chest, “I want to do all of this with you, Eliza. Everything, I want everything to do with you.”

Eliza stared at Tyler in shock. His smile was genuine, calm, and his eyes held an emotion that Eliza has never seen before. No, she has, but not toward her. It was the very look she’s seen Steve give to Missy everything she caught them alone together. Eliza felt her heart melt. She was so lucky to have Tyler. He was the sweetest boy she knew in the world. He bent down to kiss her, as if sealing a secret deal that only their hearts knew about.

Eliza knew she was falling for this boy.