Eli
"Eli, can I talk to you for a second?"
Mr Malik stops me as I'm about to head out of class. The rest of the students flood through the door, leaving the few strays that are still packing up their things. And Riley Malik.
She's talking to her dad, so I wait patiently for my turn and try to not eavesdrop, but I pick up parts of their conversation.
"I'm picking your mum up from the airport after work, do you want to come?"
"I'm going over to Madison's."
"To do what?"
"Homework, dad."
"Will you be home for dinner?"
"I don't know."
"Riley-"
"I have to go to my next class." Riley turns around and looks right at me, a little startled that I'm right behind her listening. She holds her gaze for a second too long before heading out of the room.
"Sorry about that," Mr Malik says. "Eli. How are you?"
"I'm good, Sir. Can I ask what this is about?"
"Relax, you're not in trouble." He searches around for some papers on his desk and hands me some. "I graded your writing. Eli, your poem was fantastic. You have a real talent."
"Oh." I glance down at my work and see the scribbled A+ written up the top. "Thank you."
He looks at me for a while, as if waiting for me to continue talking. He soon realises that I'm not. "What was your inspiration, if you don't mind me asking?"
"For the poem?"
He nods.
I shrug, lifting my backpack strap over my shoulder more. "I-I don't know. Just life, I guess."
Mr Malik studies me. "I was a lot like you when I was younger." He opens up his desk drawer and hands me a book. I read the cover. The Outsiders.
"What is this?"
"I want you to read it. Tell me what you think."
"Is this some kind of extra-curricular thing?" I ask.
"If you want it to be."
I turn over the book and read the blurb on the back.
"It's one of my favourite books," Mr Malik explains. "I think you'll really like it. If you can write me a report on it the extra grades will look really good on your college application."
"I don't know if I'm going to college," I state.
Mr Malik smiles at me. "Just read it."
I shove it in my bag. "Okay. Thanks, Sir."
"Have a good one, Eli."
I leave the classroom and merge into the hallway, heading for my locker. I open up my bag and take out the book Mr Malik gave me before putting it in my locker.
"What kind of flowers do you think Jordan would like?"
I roll my eyes at the sudden company. "I don't know, Carl."
"See, I was thinking daisies, but Nick said those were weeds and Nick would know. He's given a lot of girls flowers in his lifetime," my best friend says as he leans against the locker beside me.
I shut my locker and turn towards him. "Why don't you just ask her?"
"Nick says I shouldn't have to ask, I should already know. Speaking of." Carl's eyes fly upwards and I follow his gaze to see my other best friend Nick coming down the hall, Lisa Hunting by his side. Nick was on the football team which meant girls naturally flocked to him, and to us by association.
Nick spots us and says something to Lisa and she walks off after giving us all a wave. We wave back. He approaches us with handshakes. "'Sup fellas."
By pure fate, Nick, Carl and I all had the same free period. Most days it was before lunch too, so we often left school and wouldn't come back until after lunch. Or, if we didn't like the class after lunch, we'd skip that and stay out longer.
"Nick, you've gotta help me with these flowers, man," Carl says.
"What's happening between you and Lisa?" I ask.
Nick points at Carl. "Sunflowers. They're unique unlike roses and cheaper." He points at me. "She's flirting, but I'm not that interested."
"Not interested in Lisa Hunting?" I ask. "You'd be the first."
"I told you, man, I'm focusing on football right now. I'm not looking to date anyone."
"Where do you get sunflowers from?" Carl asks.
"Jesus, Carl, do you know anything?"
"Is that a stab at me being black?"
"Literally where did I make that a race thing?"
"It's always a race thing with you whites."
I look across the hall and see Riley talking to Johnson Parker. He was friends with Nick's brother and was a total idiot, like Nick's brother. I watch their interaction and try and block out Nick and Carl's squabble to listen.
"Hey, did you forget to call me?" Riley laughs.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry," Johnson replies.
"Did you want to hang out sometime?"
"Uh, I'm actually pretty busy."
I watch as Johnson walks away from Riley and joins up with his friends. I try and see what emotion she's feeling, but she's hard to read. She pulls out her phone and walks off down the hall.
"Yo, Eli." Nick breaks me out of my trance. "Montoya's?"
I look back at them and nod. "Carl's driving."
------
Montoya's was an Italian restaurant in the middle of town that had become our frequent lunch spot over time. The food was cheap and the people knew us, so we often got free drinks or old desserts. We always sat in the same booth as it was always miraculously available.
Anna the waitress comes over to take our orders and we roll off our usual. She eyes the bunch of sunflowers sitting next to Carl.
"For my girlfriend," he explains.
She just nods before walking off.
"Did you really have to bring them in?" I ask him. "It looks like I'm on a date with you both."
"Wouldn't you be so lucky," Nick says.
I look down at the worn wooden table. There's a small A + N carved into the surface. I wonder who it belonged to, and if they were still together.
"The lady said to keep them in the sun," Carl explains. "I parked under shade."
"Why are you stressing so much, man?" I ask.
"I really care about her," he says. "I don't want to screw this one up."
"Jordan is crazy about you," Nick says. "You need to stop worrying."
"Thanks, man."
"Hey, Eli, I saw Bec at that party I went to on Saturday?" Nick gives me his usual worried look whenever Bec's name is brought up.
I shrug. "What about it?"
"I talked to her," he said. "She's changed."
"I know," I say, beginning to play with the salt and pepper shakers.
"She doesn't seem happy."
"Why do I care?"
"It's okay to still care about her, man," Carl says.
"Well I don't?" I look at them. "She cheated on me. That's it."
Nick and Carl just look at each other and then silently agree to drop it.
"You know your English teacher?" Nick says, changing the subject. "He showed up to the party. Caught Riley on Johnson's lap, it was the most awkward thing. Everyone felt so bad for her."
I piece together the conversations I heard today with Riley and Johnson and Riley and her dad and they begin to make sense. "Really?" Is all I say.
I didn't know Riley very well, but everyone knew of her. We had shared a few classes together over the years, but I never talked to her for more than a few minutes at a time. I didn't really have much of an opinion about her.
Carl grimaces. "Everyone's talking about it. Luke told me in Science this morning."
I shrug. "At least her dad cares about her."
"Maybe a bit too much," Nick says.
"Is that really a bad thing?" I ask.
Before they can answer, Anna returns to our table. "I'm really sorry, Carl, but we're out of avocado."
Carl just looks her dead in the eye. "Is it because I'm black?"