𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘜𝘉𝘓𝘌. Eli Moskowitz

seven

"WHAT'S wrong, Violet? Did something happen yesterday?" Judy asked her daughter, who was absently poking at her cereal.

"No. Well— not to me," the girl sighed glancing worriedly out the window in the direction of Miguel's apartment. "Some guys at school beat up Miguel yesterday. He said that he's fine, but he thinks his mom isn't gonna let him do karate anymore."

Judy pressed her lips together. "Well . . . how about I talk to Carmen at work today?"

"You know Miguel's mom?"

"Of course! I see her around the hospital all the time. She's very kind, we talk all the time about you two," Judy paused, a sly smile coming on her face. "Speaking of you two, is there anything. . . ?"

Violet cringed, "Ew, mom, no!"

"Why 'ew'? Miguel seems like a very sweet boy."

"No, not like that. He's nice, but he's like . . . a brother to me," Violet shuddered at the thought of ever dating him. "Plus, I kind of like someone else anyway," she continued, barely loud enough for her mom to hear.

"Oh!" Judy gasped excitedly. "Finally! Who is it? Is he cute? Is he nice? What's his name?"

"Mom!" Violet swatted her mom away. "Calm down. His, um, his name is Eli. And yes, he's very cute and he's very nice."

"Ooh!" Judy checked the time and cursed, grabbing her purse off the table. "Honey, tell me more tomorrow, alright? I need to get to work and talk to Carmen about this karate thing."

With a swift goodbye and kiss on her daughter's head, Judy was out the door and headed to work. Violet's wide smile fell when she read the text she'd just received.

Miguel Diaz
Apparently there's no more dojo
Sensei just broke the news

It was study hall, and the group of four were currently doing their work in the library. Eli and Violet were sat very closely together, working on their Algebra 2 homework from earlier that day.

"So that's it?" Demetri broke the silence. "No more karate?"

Miguel sighed, "I guess so."

"It's probably for the best. It was starting to boost your confidence."

Violet and Eli looked up, confused.

"Isn't that . . . good?" the girl asked.

"No," Demetri said obviously. "What has confidence ever gotten anybody except for a black eye and their backpack thrown in the trash?"

"Well, I thought it was kind of cool how you stood up to Kyler," Eli admitted.

"Are you insane?" Demetri gaped at his friends. "Okay, what is the best superpower anyone could have?"

"Super strength." "Telepathy."

"Wrong. Invisibility," Demetri said, pointing his pen at the pair. "A distant second would be super speed to run away fast."

"Run away from who?"

Violet clenched her jaw. It was Kyler and Brucks.

"Whom," Brucks corrected. "It's the object of a preposition. Remember English class—"

"We were just leaving," Violet cut in.

"Hey, where you going?" Kyler asked, roughly grabbing Eli by the neck. Violet's glare intensified. "Look at this freak. What kind of girl would ever kiss this shit?"

I would, Violet thought, but instead she said, "Just get your nasty ass hands off him!"

Kyler shoved Eli aside and stalked towards the smaller girl, "What was that? You want a beat down, too, Roni? 'Cause I can give you one. Wouldn't be the first time."

Violet stayed silent, but stuck her ground.

"That's what I thought. Ugly bitch," Kyler muttered as he shoved her backwards. The others followed her out. Demetri, though, wasn't as lucky. Kyler yanked his backpack off his back. "You don't want this shit."

Demetri groaned, "No, come on, not the trash! I just threw a . . ." he trailed off as his clean backpack dropped into the trash can. ". . . yogurt in there."

"Now it's double dip," Kyler and Brucks laughed.

Demetri grumpily trudged towards his friends, who were patiently waiting around the corner for him.

Violet was the first to catch sight of him, and cringed when she saw the yogurt-covered backpack.

"Jesus," she muttered. "You need help cleaning it?"

"No, it's fine," he sighed. "Just wait for me, alright?"

"Wait, I'll come, too," Miguel got up from the floor. "I need to, uh, pee."

Violet had been scrolling through Instagram while waiting for Demetri and Miguel to return. Meanwhile, Eli was nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Violet immediately turned to him.

"What?"

"Er, thank you, for um, for sticking up for me back there. You didn't have to."

"Of course I did! I couldn't let them talk to you like that . . . Especially if it's not true."

Now Eli was confused, "What do you mean?"

Violet paused, trying to think of what to say without completely giving herself away, "I mean, none of what Kyler said is true. You know that, right?" Eli stayed silent. So, she continued feeling somewhat bold, "You're not a freak. And . . . and any girl would be lucky to kiss you."

"Do you mean that?" Eli whispered back with reddened cheeks.

"Yeah," she replied meaningfully.

Eli's face burned redder, "I-it's not true, either."

At Violet's confused look, he hurried to clarify what he meant.

"You're not ugly. At all. A-at least, not to me."

By now, both of their faces were bright red. They slowly moved closer, almost touching—

"Well, I got most of the yogurt out, but— Hey, what's up with you guys?"

Violet and Eli were avoiding each other's eye. Eli glared at Demetri, and he realized that he must've walked in on something. Miguel rolled his eyes, smirking at Violet.

"Whoops."