Forget Me || Derek Hale.

three.

Eli.

"Dude, seriously, knock it off!"

Eli shoved his best friend's arm, rolling his eyes and walking away towards his locker. Connor, his best friend since Kindergarten, only laughed in response, quickly catching up to Eli and draping his arm around his shoulders. Eli shook him off and opened his locker, shoving his books into whatever available space was available. He could almost picture his mother's face if she ever saw the haphazard state in which he left the home of all his school books.

"I'm telling you, man." Connor shrugged, leaning against his own locker beside Eli's. "It's foolproof."

"To my mom, maybe." Eli sighed. "But my dad will see straight through it."

"You can't convince your dad that you're sick?" Connor raised a brow, his tone flat.

"You know my dad as well as I do. He knows when he's being lied to." Eli said, slamming the locker door closed.

"Well, then I guess your only other option is to face up to parent teacher night." Connor offered a fake sympathetic look and clapped a hand on Eli's shoulder. "It was nice knowing you, pal."

Eli rolled his eyes again and shrugged Connor's hand off. "Yeah, thanks."

The two of them turned towards the exit, heading for the bus that would take them home. Connor lived two doors down from Eli, which was great during the holidays as it meant Eli had someone to hang out with. Both of their parents got along great, and they'd attended all the same schools. He'd never say it to him, but Connor was like the brother he never had. Their friendship started when Eli caught some other kids being mean to Connor because of his dark skin. So, Eli, having been raised to treat everyone as equals regardless of their appearance, stood up for Connor. They'd been inseparable ever since.

"Hey, Hale?" A voice suddenly called from behind him.

Eli turned and released a long sigh when he found himself face to face with Logan Brittle, the very same boy he'd got into a fight with the previous week. He'd promised his mother he wouldn't get in any more fights, but he certainly wasn't going to back down from the idiot jock.

"What?"

"Tell your mom I'm looking forward to seeing that fine ass tomorrow night." Logan grinned maliciously.

Eli rolled his eyes and turned to walk away. "At least my mom will be there." He yelled over his shoulder.

A chorus of 'oohh's' echoed through the hall as Eli and Connor pushed the doors open. Almost everyone knew that Logan's mom had up and left him when he was a young kid. Eli felt sorry for him, but there was only so much pity he could feel for a jerk like Brittle. His mom taking off was no excuse to make everyone else's life miserable.

As they walked towards the bus, Connor barked out a laugh and clapped a hand against Eli's back.

"Oh, man. Did you see Brittle's face?"

"He's a jerk." Eli shrugged.

"Yeah, a jerk who's gonna make your life hell now." Connor smirked. "Ten bucks says he gets his brute of a dad involved."

Eli scoffed and followed his friend onto the bus. "Let him. My dad's been looking for an excuse to punch Mr. Brittle out for ages. If he gets involved, my mom might actually let Dad do it."

Connor laughed again as they dropped into their seats. "Please let me be there for that!"

Eli chuckled and shook his head. Having spent so much time around the Hale house, Connor had practically grown up with Eli's parents. They'd looked after him, fed him, cared for him when he fell off his bike, had him overnight when his parents went away, and had hosted many, many of his and Eli's sleepovers. In fact, Connor had even referred to Charlie and Derek as his bonus parents once.