Beast Beloved

Chapter Fourteen

The addition of half a dozen new students diverted the attention away from Cameron and Oliver's bruises. Sinclair was the only one who tried to question Cameron. After he ignored her she moved onto the topic of Evan. He was sitting at the next table over wedged between Laura and another new student, with a sour expression ingrained into his face.

Noah and Kaylen's table was joined by Wren and another girl. Even from across the room Eli could see that 'Wren' was focusing all his attention on Kaylen, and he had a feeling Noah didn't like it.

At their own table there wasn't anyone new, but Eli had tried to not end up beside Cameron. Avoiding sitting next to him wound up with him being directly opposite Cameron instead. That entailed a lot more accidental eye contact, and the unavoidable fact that he was constantly in his line of sight. Thankfully Noah was too preoccupied to pay attention.

Zack jabbed Cameron's ribs. "It's the guy from yesterday"

Eli's head jerked from Noah to Zack. He followed his gaze to the entrance of the cafeteria. Desmond was there, staring at him.

"Who from yesterday?" Sinclair perked up, looking between Desmond and Zack.

Cameron looked the invading presence up and down, and then raised an eyebrow in Eli's direction. It was a silent prompt, asking what he was going to do.

Eli stood up. He ducked his head to avoid all the gazes that turned to him, and rushed across the lunch hall. His speed probably drew more attention than if he'd casually walked across, but he couldn't make himself slow down. Not with Desmond waiting to cause trouble.

"Out" He hissed as soon as he was within earshot.

Desmond stepped back into the hallway.

"What are you doing here?" Eli demanded.

"I wanted to apologise." Desmond dodged his gaze. His hair was uncombed, his clothes were crumpled up and the faint bruising around his nose was a dead giveaway of the fight from yesterday. It was the first time Eli had seen him look even slightly haggard.

"You look terrible." Eli crossed his arms.

"I slept in my car last night." Desmond admitted quietly.

Eli waited for an angry outburst to overtake him, but he could summon up nothing more than annoyance. Even that annoyance fizzled out when he met Desmond's guilty look.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday." Desmond spoke softly, "It's so stressful at home right now, and I just snapped. It won't happen again."

"I hope not" Eli grumbled. "Are you willing to tell me why it's so stressful?"

Desmond looked uncertain, but spoke hesitantly. "You've heard about the animal attacks going on?"

"A bit" They moved to one of the benches in the hall. "I saw a post on Facebook – about how people all over the country are getting attacked by dogs. I don't see why that would worry Jackson."

"It's ... well it's..." Desmond took in a deep breath. "Yvette's missing."

Yvette was one of Jackson's crew. Eli had seen her around the house a lot, but they'd only talked a few times. All he knew was that she was in the year above him, and was friends with Desmond. She was also the friend 'Louis' had been with at the party. "Missing?"

"For a few days now" Desmond's expression darkened. "We've been looking everywhere, but there's no sign of her."

Eli didn't know what to say. 'That's terrible'? 'I hope you find her'?. Both were too impersonal when it was someone he knew. He decided to focus on how Desmond started the conversation. "Is there something that makes you think it was an animal?"