*Edited*
I was exhausted when I woke up the next morning. I was relieved that it was Saturday otherwise I didn't know how I'd be able to go to school like this. The smell of bacon wafting up to my room had me dashing out of my room and down the stairs faster than I thought possible. I spun into the kitchen to find my parents already in there. My mom was standing at the stove, cooking the sizzling bacon and my dad was reading the newspaper, like usual, at the table.
"Good morning, honey. How was homecoming?" My mother asked, wiping her hands on her apron that had bright red apples all over it.
I threw my messy hair up in a bun. "It was awesome," I said. My dad folded the newspaper in front of him and shoved his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose, saying, "Our neighbor dropped off your shoes this morning. You should go over and thank him."
"Oh, I'll thank Uriah after-"
"It was Elijah," Mom said, cutting me off while placing a plate full of bacon on the table in front of me. I twisted to look at her and raised my eyebrows.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked. Honestly, I had a hard time believing that Elijah actually went to find my shoes and then bring them over. I'd expected Uriah to do it, not his evil brother.
My mother nodded. "Why do you ask like that?"
"No reason," I shrugged. She gave me a weird look, but continued making breakfast. When I was done, I excused myself to go take a shower and get ready. When I was all set, I found myself standing on the porch of the Reed family with a plate of bacon that my mom had insisted I take. I felt like an idiot. Nevertheless, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.
No one answered, so I knocked again. Again, no answer. I set the plate down on the porch and shoved my face right up against the window on their front door. When I saw someone coming, I leaped back and grabbed the plate. I had to juggle it for a few heart stopping moments before I got a good hold on it. The door whooshed open to display a very tired looking Elijah who was missing a shirt per usual, I might add.
"What are you doing here so early?" He asked, groggily wiping his eyes.
"Uh, it's like eleven in the morn-"
"Exactly."
My hair was blown back from the force Elijah had used to slam the door on me. Why was he always slamming his door on me?
I knocked again. Elijah's hand snaked out, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me in his house. I tripped over the small step and sprawled out on his floor, spilling the plate of bacon all over his entranceway floor.
"Great. You just made me drop perfectly good bacon all over the-"
"Why are you here?" Elijah demanded, angrily. I climbed up to my feet, dusted my hands off on my clothes, and tucked my fly away hairs behind my ears.
"Is Uriah-"
"He's not home," he curtly interrupted me as he collapsed on the nearest couch in the living room.
I left the bacon on his floor and joined him in the living room. I walked right up to him to find his eyes closed.
He looked so much younger and nicer with his eyes shut. "Quit staring, Vanessa," he mumbled. I crossed my arms over my chest and said, "I wasn't."
It sounded lame even to my own ears. I sat down on the love seat couch next to Elijah's.
"Listen, I came over to thank whoever dropped my shoes off this morning. My mom said it was you, but I don't believe her so I came over to check with Uriah. Where is he anyway?" I asked, looking around the barren room that had little decorations and a few picture frames on the mantel of the fireplace.
Elijah moved his arms behind his head so he was resting on them. I tried not to stare as his abs rippled with the movement.
"Don't worry about it," was all he said. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine. Were you the one to bring my shoes?"
He didn't answer.
"Ugh, why are you so difficult?" I sighed, annoyed.
"Why are you so annoying?" He countered, opening one eye.
I threw my hands up in the air. "Alright, I'm done here. If you were the one to find my shoes, then that plate of bacon was for you. I'll be leaving now," I said as I stood up.
"Uriah's visiting his mother," Elijah said, stopping me in my tracks. I turned back around and asked, "His mother? You guys have different mothers?"
Elijah sat up and pointed at a picture. I walked over to the fireplace and picked it up as he started talking.
"Uriah isn't my biological brother. My father, who you met that night at your house, adopted him. His real father left him alone with his young mother when he was just a baby. He doesn't remember that man, and he doesn't want to. His mom died of cancer when he was eight years old, leaving him an orphan."
I stared in shock at the picture of a boy with long, brown waves laughing with a brilliant smile. He was holding the hand of a beautiful woman with matching hair and the same brown eyes as him. She looked down at him with pure love.
I picked my head up to look at Elijah. He flicked his head at the picture I was holding and said, "That's Uriah and his mother before she passed. That's the only picture he has of her."
I felt tears prickle my eyes as I gently sat the picture back down.
"Wow, I had no idea. I feel so bad for him," I said full of remorse for the young boy who had lost both of his parents.
"Don't. He's moved on from it now. He went to visit his mother at her grave today since it was her birthday. She would've been only thirty-seven," Elijah said, gauging my reaction.
I took a seat back on the couch I had been sitting on and bunched my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them.
"It's such a coincidence that Uriah's name sounds similar to your name and your father's name," I remarked, recalling that Elijah's father's name was Zachariah.
Elijah ran a hand through his dark hair as he said, "That's because when my father adopted Uriah, he legally changed his name. Uriah's real name was Devin Foster Junior, after his father. The eight year old boy said to my father, 'I'm not proud of my name.' So, my father changed it for him."
I was silent for a few moments. I stood up abruptly and raised my finger in the air.
"Thanks for telling me that. You may eat that bacon if you want," I said, pointing at the entranceway where I had spilled it, "It's really good, I strongly recommend it."
Elijah made a face as I headed over to the door.
"By the way..." He drawled. I stiffened at the doorway.
"Yes?"
"I haven't forgotten about your little stunt last night with the lipstick, or your box prank with the silly string."
"Okay, and?" I asked, nervously.
"That's all I wanted to say." Elijah laid back down on the couch and I left his house, thinking about everything he had just told me about Uriah. It made sense that Uriah was adopted. He didn't look anything like Mr. Reed or his son.
Then I thought about Elijah's final words to me as I left his house. I prayed that he wasn't plotting his revenge on me. Knowing him, he already had his plan set in stone. I groaned as I entered my house.
"Did Elijah enjoy the bacon?" My mom asked from the kitchen.
Considering the fact that it was still on the floor at his house, Elijah didn't enjoy the bacon. I wasn't about to tell my mother that, though, so all I said was, "Yes, Mom."
Then I headed up to my room to watch YouTube videos and movies on Netflix for the rest of the day until it was time for me to go to sleep.
**********
The rest of the weekend passed in a blur and the next thing I knew, it was Monday morning. I sluggishly crawled out of bed and slapped on the first pair of clothes that I saw in my closet, not bothering to see if I matched.
My parents gave me strange looks when I walked into the kitchen to grab something quick to eat. They looked at each other and shrugged, knowing not to comment on my clothing on a Monday morning. I had on a neon yellow hoodie that I had gotten on vacation with a pair of red skinny jeans and converse. Talk about freak show, am I right?
I took an apple out of the fruit basket, chomping on it as I left for school. I pulled in the student parking lot and took the first available spot I saw. I had to shove my way through the throngs of students clogging the hallways to get to my locker. I spun the dial on my locker and pulled the door wide open so I could easily grab my books.
As soon as I opened the door, dozens and dozens of pictures came floating out, scattering all over the floor around my feet. I stepped back in surprise, dropping my backpack on the ground. I reached down and picked up one of the photos, holding it to my face.
A picture of a shirtless boy was smirking back at me with his daring green eyes full of arrogance. I crumpled the picture of Elijah in my hand and felt my face redden in embarrassment.
I heard students around me make demeaning comments about me as they laughed at the photos covering the floor in front of my locker. They said things such as, "Someone has an obsession," or "The poor new kid has a stalker and her name is Veronica Fray."
My face darkened even more under their harsh scrutiny. I bent over, scooping as many of the pictures in my arms as I could and shoved them deep in my backpack. I couldn't imagine what Uriah would say if he saw this.
Elijah was going to pay. And he would pay, big time. I yanked my backpack off the ground, storming off to math class where I knew my victim would be.
I strode into the classroom more pissed off than I remembered being in a while. It felt like my blood was boiling and there was no one else better to release my anger on than Elijah Reed.
I stalked right up to his desk, dumping my backpack on top of his desk. I reached my hand inside, grabbed a handful of his basically naked pictures, and shoved them in his face.
He lazily raised an eyebrow, roaming his eyes over my wacky outfit, and asked innocently, "How the hell did you get all those pictures of me? You look like a clown in those clothes. Oh God, I have a psychotic fan girl."
Bianca and Christi snickered. "You don't stand a chance with Elijah. Keep dreaming, psycho," Bianca spat. Christi nodded in agreement. All I wanted to do was smack those stupid smiles off their fake faces.
I held up a picture of Elijah and pointed at it. "Trust me, he does not appear in my dreams, but if we're talking about nightmares then that's a different story."
A flash went off, temporarily blinding me. I blinked a few times to clear my vision and saw Christi grinning down at her phone while Bianca smirked evilly.
"Now all of Instagram will know what a psychotic fan girl you really are," Christi said as she tapped a button on her screen.
I looked at her, then at the picture I was holding, and back at Christi again. I realized my mistake too late. She had just posted a picture of me on her Instagram holding a picture of a shirtless Elijah for basically the entire school to see. I was mortified.
"You better think twice about messing with me next time," Elijah said with a huge smirk on his face. His green eyes sparkled deviously.
I tore the picture in a million pieces and sprinkled it all over his desk. I placed my hands on the remains and leaned right into his face.
"No, Elijah. You should've thought twice before you messed with me because this fan girl has got something even better up her sleeves," I said, rolling up my sleeves.
Elijah's gaze dropped to my bare forearms and I flicked my wrists up, flipping him the middle finger on both hands. At that moment, I felt like a freaking boss. Bianca, Christi, and Elijah all stared at me with identical expressions of shock.
Then Elijah's face melted into his infamous smirk and he said, "Try me, clown girl."