Beast Beloved

Chapter Five

Kaylen helped Eli get all his homework finished. It wasn't one to one, and he was sitting with a girl he recognised from his art class. Jillian. She was failing Chemistry and Physics. Eli was only doing Chemistry, and he hadn't done a test here yet, but he was certain his grade would be worse than hers. There was a sense of comradery when they were both equally terrible at the homework.

Kaylen had made Eli do a small maths worksheet. "This is beyond being behind because of moving school."

"I was never a great student" Eli admitted. He spent most of school days messing around with his friends, or getting dragged into trouble, or behaving like a zombie. The teachers never bothered with him and that suited him fine. His mom never cared about his school reports, and there's no way Jackson gave a damn about poor grades.

Kaylen just gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'll see you on Thursday, and if you need any help during the week just let me know."

"Thanks" Eli finished packing up his books. They were the last ones to leave the classroom.

"I'll catch you later" Kaylen waved him off and trotted over to the other seniors heading down the hall. They had to write up a report of how the tutoring went after it finished.

Eli made his way outside, spotting Sinclair's SUV sitting in the handicapped parking spot next to the door. "You know-"

"I know" She cut him off as he climbed into the passenger seat. "I saw you coming out the door as I was pulling up. Anyway, my parents own a diner and they're looking for wash-up staff. You ever do that kind of work before?"

"I haven't had a part time job before" Eli answered honestly. Lying wouldn't really do him any good.

"That's fine, it's washing dishes not rocket science." Sinclair waved off his worries, "I'll introduce you to them, and they'll sort you out"

Eli couldn't help but be touched. She said it in a dismissive manner, but she was doing a lot for him. "Thank you"

"It's fine" Sinclair cast a glance over him, "I've taken a liking to you"

"Oh" Eli tried not to smile, "I've taken quite a liking to you too"

"Don't be so gay" Sinclair muttered.

Eli could only blink at her. "I think me liking you is the literal opposite of being gay. Unless there's something you're not telling me?"

She gave him a deadpan look. "Answer the question"

"There was a question?"

"Are you gay?"

Eli, again, was taken off guard. "Yeah."

"Okay, good" Sinclair nodded to herself. "I didn't want to say anything in case you weren't. I mean I think the whole school assumes your gay because of the Cameron thing, but I didn't want to start passing remarks if it wasn't true."

"Oh, so you're going to start passing remarks about it now?" Eli asked sarcastically, when she flashed him another annoyed look he relaxed. "It's fine, I've never been 'in the closet' before."

"Have you gone out with a guy before?"

"No" Eli leaned back in the passenger seat, "Anyone I ever liked were either straight or not interested."

"Not interested?" Sinclair raised an eyebrow, "You're cute though"

"That's a girls way of looking at it." Eli groaned, "Think of your ideal guy. He's tall, dashing attractive and yadda yadda yadda. Well, that's the same for most guys."