Stress Relief

3: Spam

Elijah parked by the field as per his new routine. Getting out and grabbing his backpack from the back seat before routinely walking towards the building as if he's been doing so for months. He hasn't, but he finds the bleachers a surprisingly nice place to do school work. He had thought that he'd get distracted by all the boys, but their own effort to focus infected him and he was a lot more concentrated than he would be at home. After only two days of the same routine he's already dead set on going to the bleachers to work on school work from now on.

Although that meant he had to get up earlier, and leave later, he was willing to sacrifice some time to see his new friends. Plus this has been the most productive he has been in a while, and he'd be stupid to neglect the opportunity to finally get school work done in a shorter amount of time than three hours.

His bag hit the metal seats with a thunk and he sat down in the same spot he did before. The end of the first row, right next to where the doors of the athletics hall were. He pulled out his laptop and a journal and began to work. Briefly checking his grades, making sure they were fine, he began working on the things he didn't get done yesterday.

Taking a couple sips from his redbull when he started nodding off, the football team finally came out as he finished his third assignment. Why in God's name did he get up to see some people he had met only two days ago? He didn't have any other reason besides he wanted to. They gave off a nice vibe and he didn't feel like as much of a zombie when he got to see them. A few of them waved at him and he waved back. Looking back at his laptop, he thumbed the open zipper of his jacket trying to figure out what exactly accretion disks were, barely noticing someone come up to him

"Hey, Eli." He jumped a little when Chase spoke. Flushing at the overreaction. "Jumpy?"

"Shut it." He sighed, holding back a smile. Since the day Chase came up and said hi to him, he's come over to greet him every chance he saw him in the halls. It hasn't been long since then but he felt more and more relaxed around them all with each greeting and brief exchange. "So, how are you?"

"Good, good." He nodded, craning his neck to the side. "What are you working on?"

Elijah looked at his laptop and paused the video he had to watch. "Just something for Earth and Space science." Chase hummed, and looking back up he caught him trying to read what was on the screen. "So, did you want to chat or something before you actually had to go out there?" He hoped that didn't sound rude-he was pretty sure it did but he really hoped it didn't.

"Sure, I got time." Oh, he was originally asking if that was his intention-not if he wanted to. Which was fine, he could hold up a conversation with a tall, extremely handsome football player. Oh who was he kidding...

Chase sat down to his right, a curious smile that felt infectious. For a moment he was beginning to realize why girls liked him so much. Get it together, what is the matter with you?! "So, you play anything?"

The question snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked back at his assignment, "Oh, uh, no. Not really a sports guy."

There was a sudden silence, which urged him to turn his head to see Chase's mouth ajar in disbelief. "You're a football coach's son, and you don't play any sports? Not one?" The surprise in his face was expected, but the question itself made him a little uneasy.

Elijah laughed awkwardly. "Ironic isn't it?" He shrugged. "It's just not my thing I guess. Don't trust myself to really on luck. Plus the crowds seeing me fail would be enough to put me into an early grave.

Chase nodded, understanding, "Oh, yeah that'll do it, but it's not about luck," he pointed out, "It's about building a skill and keeping that perseverance to win. You only succeed in something when you make sure you can." It sounded like something out of a cheesy cartoon, but nonetheless his words were pretty convincing.