E L I J A H
Elijah was at ease today. At present, he was standing in the basketball court waiting for his turn to try out. Only six of them had shown up from his batch which probably meant all of them would make it, because as of now, there were just four members on the team.
The big question was who among them would make it to the opening five. All his batch mates were pretty good, he'd seen them all try out and was honestly impressed. He was the last one in line and was surprisingly calm.
Coach Amy Lee had a weird way of selecting the players.
The seniors would have to play a '3 v 2' with the juniors being placed on the team with two members.
It was now his turn, and he was on Mason's team. The boy's hands were wrapped in thick, white gauze and bandages, with only his fingers showing. But he still played incredibly well.
He started dribbling the ball from the rival end and once he reached mid-court, threw the ball over to Elijah who was blocked by Velarde, the Captain. Velarde turned toward his right but Elijah quickly ducked under his outstretched arm and in no time, he had snagged the ball from the Captain's higher arm and slid around him, running as fast as he could toward the basket. He slowed down. Jackson was huge, and in front of him and now he had to think fast. He jerked his head toward Mason, gesturing for him to go left because of which Jackson slightly moved left. He shot forward like a bullet, faking left and then driving right, passing the ball around Blake and grabbing it as he ran past him, taking an easy layup and threw it into the basket.
He whirled around, high-fiving Mason who looked impressed.
"Good game, what's-your-face." Jackson grinned, slapping him on the back.
Coach Amy Lee blew her whistle and clapped her hands.
"Okay, Kingston will be in the opening five for the first match of the season. Matthias, Kingston and Nawaz will alternate this year. We'll have practice every other day. Weekends, nope. But when we have a match approaching, practice everyday. Make sure you don't get detention because it's inexcusable. Now move your butts outta here." She barked out, voice extremely loud for such a small woman.
Elijah slapped his forehead and began sprinting toward the music room. He had completely forgotten about detention.
Arius was going to kill him.
He was panting by the time he had climbed up the stairs and was currently trying to gather himself before he went in to Mr.Grouch.
"Oh hey. Look at what day it is today! Monday, I totally forgot. Haha." He said, forcing out the most unconvincing laugh.
"Oh hey. You got it wrong; it's go-fuck-yourself day." Arius said, feigning a look of complete happiness.
If Elijah couldn't hear, he would've thought Arius was offering him cookies or something.
"Chill out man. No need to be such a bitch. I had try outs for basketball."
Arius's face darkened and a wave of sadness went through his eyes. Elijah would've certainly missed it if he wasn't such a cheeseball, staring into his eyes because it made him feel all giddy inside. He simply turned around and continued wiping down the French horn that was resting on the piano bench.
"What's your problem? Why do you hate me so much?" Elijah pressed.
"I fucking don't know. Maybe you could help by not talking to me. Now leave me the fuck alone, alright?"
For some reason, Elijah just found this amusing and just let out a bark of laughter that had Arius glaring daggers at him and mumbling something about "ignoramus imbeciles" under his breath.
"Looks like you took my advice about your crumbling vocabulary huh? Ignoramus? Never heard that one before." Elijah smirked, making his way toward the bench and sitting down on the part of it that was unoccupied.
"Of course you wouldn't have. Leave me alone Kingston, before I choke you and throw you out of the damn window."
"Oh I'm so scared. Mommy save me." Elijah deadpanned, rolling his eyes.
"Will your arm allow you to do that though?" Elijah asked, immediately regretting the question as Arius all but shut his eyes and the next thing he knew, he was flying backward due to Arius's metal fist colliding with his stomach.
"No, but it'll allow me to do that to your face if you say shit like that to me again."
Fuck. That hurt.
"What the fuck man? I was just asking."
Arius rolled his eyes and continued working on the horn.
"Fine, be that way. But one day you'll be begging to talk to me Arius Johnson, mark my words." He said and got up, looking for something to clean.
"I'd rather shoot my brains out."
"We'll see."
The rest of detention passed in silence until his phone was vibrating in his shorts.
He didn't remember saving "Sexy Tizzy" as a contact and rolled his eyes, grinning fondly.
He put the call on speaker and continued to brush the window sill he was dusting off.
"Hey Tirzah, what did you want?"
"Babe, tutoring? Remember?"
"Shit! Can you come over to Ryder's and mine tonight? I can't make it. Detention."
"Wait, how long have you been here? Detention? I'd think Jake was the kind to get into detention."
"Oh you don't know half of what that idiot has gotten up to in his old school." He heard Ryder's voice in the background.
"What the fuck? Tell me more. Okay Elijah, I'll talk to you later."
He smiled and shook his head, putting his phone back into the pocket when he realised that Arius was staring at him with a look of disdain on his face.
"She's not my girlfriend, if you were wondering." He said sheepishly.
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
Sheesh, real smooth Elijah.
"Why are you fucking telling me? I couldn't care less."
"Uh. Now I don't know what to say."
"Then shut the fuck up."
"Gee Arius, always such a sweetheart." Elijah said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm getting out of here, you're too rude to me."
"You fucking came in literally ten minutes ago."
Elijah stood up and walked out of the room, shaking his head while laughing as Arius called out to him from inside the room.
"Arsehole, come back."
"Good night to you too dear." He yelled back, as he ran down the stairs.
"If you fucking call me that again, I'll kick your ass."
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"Okay so what happens to the log on the right hand side?"
"Same as the left, except you'll have to simplify it further with the one over x and everything, here let me show you."
Tirzah was sitting cross legged on the floor while Elijah sat with his legs stretched out. They were leaning on his bed and doing some math. Tirzah had taught him the exercises and given him five sums to work on by himself.
She was an extremely patient teacher, not once snapping at him when he made the silliest mistakes. As they practised, Ryder and Jake were in the middle of a heated debate regarding the most powerful avenger between Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange.
They were on Ryder's bed, occasionally standing up or making elaborate hand gestures to emphasise their points.
"So Chase and I made out on top of the tower, it was so romantic. He has the softest lips." Tirzah sighed dreamily, touching her lips with her fingers.
Elijah flicked her nose, wearing a disproving look on his face.
"Babe, chill. It's nothing to do with feelings. I really cannot be tied down by anybody."
"Tirzah, that's fucked up. Someone is going to get hurt in the middle of all this mess."
"Not if we've talked about it yeah?"
"I wouldn't know. Never dated anyone."
"The fuck? You're so hot!"
Elijah blushed at the honest compliment, laughing as he smacked her with his book.
"I'm very flattered, but yeah, I've never crushed on any girl so far."
"Well what's your type then?"
"I really don't know."
Grey-eyed boys.
"Well, then maybe girls aren't your type. Ever liked a boy?"
"What? no! I'm not fucking gay."
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing babe, calm the fuck down." Tirzah said, laughing.
She stood up, yawning.
"By the way guys, I made it to the basketball team." He said, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.
Tirzah squealed and wrapped him in a tight hug, clinging to him like a koala bear.
"Dude that's awesome."
"Couldn't care less about sports but yay Elijah." Ryder said, smiling at him, her face turning prettier than usual.
"Thank you! Thank you!" He exclaimed, curtseying dramatically.
"What about you Jake? What happened to soccer?"
"I don't know man, the coach said he'll have the list up in the locker rooms by tomorrow. Also, that Megan chick tried for the female soccer team."
"Such a shame there aren't enough girls in our batch who want to okay basketball." Tirzah mumbled, shaking her head.
"Jake, I'm going to go back to sleep. You coming?"
"Yeah, let's go." Jake said, standing up and bidding them goodbye.
Ryder and Elijah took turns brushing their teeth and were ready for bed when Ryder looked at him, wiggling her eyebrows.
"So, did you talk to him today?"
"Yeah, he punched me in the stomach with his metal arm."
"What the fuck? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good." He waved his arm dismissively, telling her why he had punched him.
"You literally asked for it Elijah. Dumbfuck." She laughed.
"You know, I managed to not feel as dreamy as I usually do around him. I didn't lose my composure for once."
"But why are you fighting it?"
"Ry, we'll never work out. Just the prospect of him even slightly liking me back is so unrealistic. I find out I'm gay, after all these years, what are the odds that the one guy I think is kind of attractive is gay too? I think I have this under control. These feelings will go away."
"I don't know Elijah. Just be careful."
"I will." He said as he pulled his covers upto his chin, saying good night to Ryder and turning off the lamp.
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A/N
This is a short chapter, yes I know. Who do y'all think is more powerful, Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange?
Homeboy is convinced he's going to get over his crush on grumpyboy.
This is the most weird-looking author's note I've written.
Anyway if y'all like what you read, do vote and comment.
Much love XD. Thank You!