Dear Ell

Chapter 1

With the sound of his alarm buzzing his brain, Tom groaned. Digging around, he tried to grasp the thin rectangular device, sighing while his black eyes refused to open more than a squint. "Shut up.." He mumbled into his stuffed bear, huffing and cuddling back into a ball, playing the dangerous game of simply 'resting his eyes for a moment'. Finally, he dragged himself to sit up, feeling his mind fog over once more with the urge to sleep as one of his cold hands slipped over his features. "Good morning no one.." He dryly joked, though his buddy Matt was in the shower. He moved in with him after his mother rolled into a lake, and though Matt was the killer of his father, he and his parents were willing to take Tom in a few years ago, and he was always grateful to the ginger for this. They made space for him in the attic, so he had his own room, sharing with the holiday decorations as his dusty roommates in the corner.

Coming down the attic ladder, he knocked on the bathroom door. "Hurry up, I'm not being late to school because you needed to do 'one more thing'!" He reminded, hearing a small laugh muffled in the zipping water. "Whatever, eat some breakfast today, Mom thinks it will help you stop being so grumpy!" Matt teased, making the brunet sigh, heading down the rug padded steps and into the cold kitchen, tip toeing on his bare feet for a few moments. "Eating breakfast will make me less grumpy, huh? Sure." He mocked slightly, taking an apple up into his room, changing into an emoji tank and jeans, embarrassed of the small splotches of acne showing on his shoulders and face, but it was better than last year, sophomore year. He looked like he was having an allergic reaction to life, sheepishly walking around in huge sweaters with installed turtle necks to hide the majority of his face, but as it was growing warmer outside, he promised Matt's mother he would be more outgoing, starting with his appearance to state who he was, joining clubs. As if anyone really cared, it was high school, they were all mostly worried about their own persona and education.

He debated as he stared at his jackets, scared to go fully bare armed. It was only the first few months of school, he didn't need to go so bold. Deciding it was the correct choice, Tom grabbed a navy blue zipper jacket, leaving it unzipped to show his new shirt. Tying up his checkered shoes, he climbed the wooden ladder once more, checking the time as he saw Matt come out in a white towel. "Really man, you didn't even bring in your clothes?" Tom sighed, Matt shrugging a bit defensively. "I was tired, besides, I have time!" He stated. "15 minutes Matthew, 15 minutes till the bus." Tom said as he shook his head, biting into the sour green apple. Causing a gasp from the ginger who he saw vanish into his bedroom and slam the door. Now it was his turn to chuckle at his friends acts, sitting on the couch to swipe through the TV channels and kill time, setting a timer for when it was time to leave. He heard faint clattering in Matt's room with small strings of child safe curses, surprised that even at their age his friend still preferred not to curse. Matt always explained it made him feel less mature, even though those were words that you no longer got in trouble for saying once older, aka, more mature. "Tom, have you seen my backpack?" Matt called, swinging open his door in a bit of panic, revealing the tornado of a room he called comfortable. Though Tom lived in an attic, he couldn't judge. "Nah man, last I saw that thing was on the ride home yesterday when Tord threw it at me." He scoffed, looking back from Matt to the TV screen, seeing a few annoying fingerprint marks and smudges. Matt simply whined in response, looking helplessly around the living room, small kitchen, and back to his room.

"I had it to do my homework last night! We both did it together!"

"I said I don't know man, so I don't know why you are whining to me, I didn't even see it at the table. On the bus and that was the last of it."

"Well could you at least help me instead of uselessly flicking through channels, jeez!"

"Alright, alright, don't bunch up your boxers."