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Warning: Contains Boy's Love and vulgar language.

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Chapter 4: And the rain will fall


Things had become abnormal.

Even after a day had passed, Elliot still felt a little out of it. When teachers would drone on and on about past European rulers, scientific theory, or math equations, Elliot would end up staring blankly on ahead. People would tap him on the shoulder to get his attention for whatever reason, but when said reason was finished with, his mind swiftly fell be back into a far-off world. All day he would drift indecisively between two realities: the one that existed outside of him and the one that existed only within.

Sometimes, when he zoned out, he didn’t think about anything. Sometimes he did. It wasn’t long before Elliot found himself wondering about his parents, musing over what they were doing at that moment and when they would inevitably come back home. They’d been gone for an awfully long time. Two weeks maybe? It was just that the longer they were gone from home, the closer their arrival would be...

The clicking tap of a pencil dropping onto the tile floor broke him from his thoughts. Elliot blinked in surprise and glanced down. The pencil rolled obtrusively across the classroom floor and up against his foot. He bent down without a second thought and picked it up.

“Thanks, Elliot,” Jacqueline mouthed to him. He shrugged and silently acknowledging her thanks, then sat up properly in his seat and stared down at the textbook he was supposed to write notes from. He felt Jacqueline’s soft eyes linger on him before returning back to her own studies. Soon afterwards Elliot felt himself slip away again, like a leaf at the will of a river.

Since when did life seem so…dull?

“Elliot?”

Shaken from his thoughts again, he looked up at Jacqueline, who stood beside his desk, her backpack slung over her shoulder. “Class is over, Elliot.”

“Oh.” Elliot rose lethargically from his seat and began to pack up his things. “I didn’t hear the bell.”

Jacqueline leaned back against her desk and watched him. When Elliot was done and was ready to leave, she followed him out the door, smiling. “My Halloween party is coming up soon.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Are you’re coming?”

Elliot absent-mindedly shouldered on his backpack before it could slip off his shoulder. “Yeah.”

They walked for a few moments in silence, Elliot slightly ahead of the two, his mind disconnected from his body and floating in a dreamland. Another gentle tap on his shoulder pulled him down into reality. Elliot’s mouth formed a displeased pout. “What?”

Jacqueline seemed almost hesitant to ask, but after Elliot urged her to just spit it out, she said in a concerned voice, “Are you all right? You’ve been acting strange all day.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Jacqueline sped up her pace so that she could keep up with him. Her mouth was a tense line and her misty gray-blue eyes filled with anything but consolation. “Are you sure? You look almost perturbed.”

Elliot stopped and turned to face Jacqueline, his usual frown already making its infamous appearance. “Jacqueline. Don’t even start. It's nothing, okay?”

Jacqueline seemed to almost recoil at the abrupt harsh tone in his voice. She dropped her head, her eyes fastening themselves to the floor. “So something is up,” she said in a tiny voice.

Elliot shook his head, sighing loudly with fluster. "Jacqueline..."

“I’m sorry.” She looked up and smiled. “I was just worried, but I’ll leave you alone.” She lowered her head again and began to walk away. “See you later, then.” She went on ahead and turned at a corner, disappearing completely from sight.

Once the situation had fully been realized, Elliot glared right where Jacqueline disappeared, angrier more with himself rather than with his friend. She had only meant well, yet he had gone and acted like a total douchebag towards her.

“Damnit!” he hissed under his breath. His right hand balled into an angry fist, but Elliot silenced his anger before the urge to punch a dent into a nearby locker became too tempting. He broke off into a quick march to his next class, brushing roughly past anyone who stood too close to his straight and furious path. I can’t seem to do anything right anymore...

After practically storming through the hallways, Elliot arrived to his next class. He plopped down in his seat, his backpack plunking down with a heavy thud onto the floor beside his desk. He wasn’t even halfway through the day yet, and already he wanted to explode at something or someone, all thanks to the more than pleasant conversation that had been exchanged just a few minutes ago between Jacqueline and him.

The second bell rang, signaling for the next period to start. Elliot muttered a few greetings to the people who walked past him to get to their seats while their teacher strode into the room with the day’s lessons. Jacqueline entered the room and, while passing by him, muttered a small greeting to Elliot, then retreated to her seat just a few desks behind him. Elliot inwardly groaned and prepared himself for a long and blurred hour of existence.

Of course, that was what would’ve happened until there was a deafening screech of shoes sliding against the waxed floor. A familiar freckled boy appeared at the doorway of the classroom from seemingly out of nowhere, huffing and panting as if he had been sprinting. The entire classroom went quiet. Elliot stared at the doorway, his mouth agape until he caught himself. Just a few seats beside him, Elliot could hear somebody whisper to another about a certain club president and his now famous club.

The teacher cleared his throat before crossing his arms in what supposedly was a stern manner. “Can I help you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cameron replied, looking around the classroom with investigative eyes. “Is Elliot here? I don’t know his last name…um, blond hair, kinda frowns a lot. You know who I mean? It’s kind of important.”

The whispering behind Elliot got even louder and bolder. Elliot felt the corner of his mouth twitch. Who does he think he is? I don’t frown that much!

“Yes, he is.” The teacher pointed a finger off to the far left corner of the classroom, where Elliot sat by a large window. Cameron followed the teacher’s gesture till he had spotted him. “Make it quick, please,” The teacher added before telling the class to settle down and to get out their books.

“Yes sir!” Cameron darted past the teacher in a sort of half-jog. Elliot watched the freckled boy draw nearer until he was at his desk, his face a little flushed and his chest still heaving. A few heads around them turned, watching the scene with shameless anticipation. Elliot shut them out, ignoring the pathetic whispering and the way their burning eyes watched them hungrily.

“What do you want?” Elliot demanded once Cameron was at his side.

"Can we talk? Just for a minute or two.”

“…Why?”

Cameron shook his head in an exasperated fashion and brushed aside a few loose strands of hair out of his flushed face. “Elliot, I don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t want to stand here all day and argue with you. Could you just come outside with me? Please?”

Elliot eyed the students sitting around or near them. When he looked back into Cameron’s urgent and pleading eyes, he mumbled an inaudible curse and abruptly got up from his seat, completely interrupting the students flabbergasted expressions. He brushed past Cameron and strode out of the room, fully aware of every eye in the room watch him just leave the classroom with Cameron following close behind.

Once they stepped out through the door, Elliot turned around and crossed his arms. Without giving Cameron a real chance to speak, he asked in a commanding tone, “What’s so damn important that you had to go out of your way to find out what class I had?”

Cameron didn't respond right away. After struggling for words, he finally said, “It’s…it’s about the club.”

“Oh?” Elliot felt his lips unfurl into a smirk. “Decided to give up after all?”

Cameron’s eyes widened at the suggestion. “No!” he caught himself and lowered his voice. “I mean, no. I’m not.”

Elliot’s smirk disappeared, but his voice still retained its condescending tone, something he noticed bothered the other boy immensely. “So what’s the problem then? Is the pressure getting to you already?”

Cameron fell quiet. His mouth opened occasionally, as if he were about to say something, but every time he caught himself and would remain mute.

“C’mon,” Elliot growled impatiently. “I don’t have all day to stand here, staring at you. What is it?”

“Would…would it be possible for you to stay after school today?” Cameron asked at long last, smiling slightly. However it wasn’t his usual smile. It seemed a little offbeat, somehow. His tone sounded weird as well, Elliot noticed. Cameron didn’t sound as confident as he usually did. When Elliot raised an eyebrow and withheld any verbal response, Cameron continued in a long, hurried stream of words. “Because, well, there were some ideas I really wanted to go over, but I was really sick yesterday ,and I have to stay in at lunch today to do a test I missed, and—”

“Hold it, hold it.” Elliot held up his hands, halting Cameron’s long and drawn out words. “You want me to stay after school to go over some ideas for your club?”

Cameron nodded with wide, hopeful eyes.

“And it’s after school because you have to do a test you missed yesterday, due to your being sick?” Elliot added in disbelief.

Cameron nodded again. “So…is that okay? It’ll be quick, I swear! I just wanted to get your approval first before going ahead and doing things.”

“My approval?” Elliot nearly laughed at the absurdity of that statement. His arrogant smirk reappeared, and while Cameron was slightly taller then him, Elliot still looked down on him. “Since when has that stopped you before?”

“Well, last time you didn’t seem too happy. Especially afterwards.”

“No shit.” His sneer increased with haughtiness. This kid was just asking for it. “Can you guess why?”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I was just joking around last time. I’m sorry if I offended you in some way because I didn’t mean to. I just wanted you to loosen up a bit.” Cameron scratched the back of his neck and averted his eyes off to a wall nearby. “But none of that really matters now. Could you just come after school to the clubroom? It’ll take no more than five minutes, tops. I won’t even force you to take part in the next two activities if you do--that's a pretty sweet deal, right? Coming and talking about it will count as participating. You won’t get in trouble and everyone will be happy. Deal?”

Elliot opened his mouth to respond, then stopped and began to seriously consider the proposal. It didn’t seem unfair... He weighed the pros and cons of wasting a few minutes after school in comparison to having to do some sort of foul-hardy and eccentric stunt during lunch-hour.

“Fine,” Elliot finally consented. He held out his hand and motioned for the others consent.

The hand that had been scratching Cameron’s neck anxiously fell. Cameron stared in bewilderment at Elliot and his offered hand. “R-Really? You agree?”

Elliot narrowed his eyes until they were half-slits. “Don’t go making a huge thing out of this.” He kept his hand outstretched, waiting for the other to stop being an idiot and to shake it. Cameron gazed down at Elliot’s hand for a moment before earnestly smiling and accepting it—with enthusiasm, naturally.

When their quick and mutual handshake was over, Cameron said something about his classroom being on the other side of the school and that he had to go. He bid Elliot good-bye and broke into a half-run down the hallway. Elliot snorted and watched the teenager fly down the hallway as quickly—and quietly—as he could manage. The kid sure could run fast. Elliot turned and walked back into his classroom with the same manner he had walked out of the room with just a few minutes ago. The teacher went on talking and discussing the class’s lesson without stopping when Elliot strode right past him. When he sat down at his desk, he felt someone from behind tap him on the shoulder. People who sat near Elliot leaned in as close as they could the same smoldering question without making a huge spectacle of it. Elliot waved a hand and motioned for them to never mind, and after a few minutes they reluctantly did as he wished.

Elliot rested his chin on the palm of his hand and stared out the window as the lesson went on. He watched as a few massive gray clouds float on by, barely leaving any space open for the blue sky to peak through. Elliot turned his attention to the board up front and silently began to anticipate the rest of the day.


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After the bell rang for the end of the period and the beginning of their lunch break, Elliot was almost hesitant about going to the Student Council room knowing that Jacqueline would be there. She had mumbled a quick good-bye to him on her way out of third period. Knowing her and their earlier argument, Elliot knew that she was no doubt a little troubled by it. With that thought in mind, Elliot stepped through the doors of the Student Council room and made his way straight to his desk.

After he’d sat down in his chair and began to log into the computer at his desk, Elliot noticed Jacqueline out of the corner of his eyes, glancing over at him every few minutes or so with a not so subtle expression of immense guilt. He pretended not to notice when she slowly, but uneasily, rose from her desk and quietly approached his desk. She stood there for a minute, just watching him, waiting for an opportunity to talk. Elliot looked over the Student Council’s weekly budget, searching for any mistakes, but quickly found that with Jacqueline standing there with an air of sorrowful submission, he just couldn’t concentrate.

“Elliot?”

“Yeah?” he answered without looking at her. He inwardly flinched at the sharp tone of his voice. He didn’t like how cold and casual he sounded.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean to anger you earlier. Can you forgive me?”

Elliot swallowed a thick lump in his throat, then finally turned away from the computer screen and faced his friend. “Yeah.” He opened up his arms and allowed Jacqueline to lean down into a friendly embrace. “Yeah, of course I do.” He inhaled deeply and prepared himself for what he was about to say. “And…well, I didn’t mean to get angry at you.”

She pulled out of the hug. “Elliot? Did you just apologize?” Jacqueline gasped with an air of absolute amazement. “Elliot, you never apologize. For anything!”

“Hey now,” he warned. “I never said that I was ‘sorry’. I just said that I never meant to get angry at you.” It didn’t matter how serious he came across as he expressed the true message of what he had said, though. Jacqueline’s smile just grew and grew, and the sparkle in her eyes seemed to convey that either way, she was pleased. Elliot shook his head with vague frustration. There was no trying to convince Jacqueline now. “Look, whatever. Let’s just put this ugliness behind us, okay? I hate fights.”

“Yeah,” Jacqueline replied with an earnest look of agreement. “Me, too.”

“So, go grab your stuff and come over here,” Elliot replied after turning back to his computer. “We can hang out for a bit.”

“Sure,” Jacqueline agreed, then left Elliot’s side for less then a second. She came back with her lunch and her book bag, pulled up a nearby chair, and sat up comfortably beside Elliot. Within minutes, they were already chatting and talking just as if the ugliness of that morning had never occurred. Jacqueline talked about her day—conveniently leaving out their horrid fight that morning—and jumped to the strange and amusing parts of her day. Elliot briefly mentioned what Cameron had asked him to do when he’d paid their class a visit. Jacqueline pointed out that, naturally, something like that made for quite a piece of gossip. Elliot could only agree with her.

“It weird’s me out a little.” Elliot suddenly paused after that thought. “I mean, how did he even find out what my classroom was?”

“He must’ve asked someone,” Jacqueline mused. “He might have asked someone, or a couple of people. That’s the most plausible answer.”

“That’s what I thought,” Elliot said, eating the last bit of his lunch. “But it still feels…weird. This whole day has been weird.”

“I know what you mean,” Jacqueline sighed, as if exasperated by the mere thought. She took a small sip of her beverage, then continued the thought. “Things feel a little off, but I’m not sure what it is, exactly.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure what it is eith—” Without warning a high-pitched ring interrupted Elliot. They became dead quiet when whatever had made the sound fell silent before proceeding to ring again a few seconds later. They stared at each other, the word clueless practically written all over their faces until the jingle repeated itself over again. Jacqueline opened up her book bag and pulled out her cell phone, which was the cause of the obtrusive music. “Oh. It’s my mom,” She explained after checking the caller ID when Elliot gave her a questioning look. She flipped her cell phone open and held it up to her ear. “Hello? Yes, I’m at school. Why? Oh…really?” Her tone darkened. “Right now? No, my car is in the shop, remember? I know…but—yes, I know. I’ll try. Bye.”

The whole time Elliot had sat quietly watching Jacqueline. Quite a few malleable emotions had flashed across her feminine features, each one swiftly changing when the conversation her tone changed. By the end of the surprise phone call, she looked less than thrilled. Elliot raised an eyebrow at Jacqueline, who looked like she was in a whole other world. I wonder what happened?

“I’m sorry my cell phone interrupted you,” Jacqueline apologized, tossing some white-blonde curls that had fallen over her face back over her tiny shoulder when she leaned over and put her cell phone back into her bag. “Apparently my younger brother has gotten himself suspended again. Got into some fight with another kid from school. Might have even broken his nose. Mom can’t leave work until at least five and my dad is still out of the state on business, so she wants me to go pick him up from school and look after him at home so he doesn’t do anything reckless.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Jacqueline’s hand lightly touched her forehead and a crease appeared between her eyebrows, as if she were concentrating on something extremely mind-boggling. “The only problem is that my car is still in the shop and I have no way there right now. You know how far away my house and the school is from here.”

“Yeah.” She lived a good ten or so miles away; out further from their town and more along the calm and prosperous countryside where there were much more trees than buildings.

“What am I going to do?” she moaned in defeat. “It’s too far away to walk. I couldn’t possibly walk that far and be there quick enough to get him.”

Elliot frowned. He knew that Jacqueline was in a bit of a bind with no real way to solve the problem. He didn’t remember much of her younger brother, but from what she had told him in past conversations, he wasn’t really one for caring about consequences or authority. Elliot didn’t hate the young boy and he knew that Jacqueline didn’t, either. And as he watched her eyes water with worry and concern at yet another crisis directly involving her brother, he decided instantaneously that he had to do something about it. And I will do something about it, he thought. Jacqueline needs help, so I’ll help her.

Without warning, Elliot shot up from his chair and shoved his hand deep into a pocket of his pants. Jacqueline jumped at the sudden movement and stared up at him with startled eyes. “Elliot? What’re you doing?”

Elliot lips pulled back in an all-knowing smirk. He had it all planned out. “Just solving life’s little problems, one person at a time. Ah!” He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held his hand out to Jacqueline. A set of silver and jagged keys sat in his hand. “You,” he pointed at her as he emphasized the word, “are going to borrow my car for the day.”

Jacqueline blinked as she slowly processed the proposition. Her eyes widened even more and she leaned back in her seat with her hands held up in protest. “Oh, no! I couldn’t do that! What about you?”

“Pfft. I’ll be fine, Jackie. My house is just a few blocks away. I have legs, I’ll just walk.” He explained with his regular demeanor of self-assuredness. This plan was positively fool proof! “Besides, your house is much farther away. There is no way I’m letting you walk that far.”

“Elliot…” Jacqueline gazed at the keys and her hand hesitantly reached for them. She stopped and looked into Elliot’s eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t mind walking, really. Especially if it’d be less trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Elliot assured her, and before she could deny his idea again, he took her hand and dropped the keys into her palm. “Now go pack up your things and get ready to leave. You have a little brother to go look after, right?”

Jacqueline nodded, still a little reluctant, and hurried up to get her things together, but not without giving Elliot quick hug and a bashful “thank you” before dashing off to retrieve the last of her things. Elliot smiled the entire time, proud that he had solved another problem and made another’s day easier. Especially since that someone he had hurt earlier that day. It was really the least he could do, but he was pleased that he was able to do it anyway. He waved good-bye to her when she finally left the Student Council room, and settled down in his chair again with a calming sense of satisfaction.


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The final bell that ended the school day finally rang at exactly half past three. The hallways of their prestigious school filled with a few hundred students, all of them eager and ready to go home. Usually Elliot was part of that group, keen on getting home and relaxing after a long day of work. But today, which was of course an abnormal day, was different. That day Elliot took his time getting ready to leave his final class, and instead of walking down the usual hallway that he took to get to the parking lot where his car usually was, he instead headed down a different hallway with its own bleaker sense of familiarity. As he drew nearer to the club room, he noticed a pair of people standing in front of the door, chatting in calm and mellow voices. They became much more discernible as he got closer.

The female at Cameron’s side looked over the boy’s shoulder and sneered at the sight of Elliot. “Ah, so Pompous-pants made it after all,” she teased contemptuously.

“Nice to see you again, too,” Elliot greeted Alison, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The sneer disappeared, but Alison still stared down at him with a peculiar look that Elliot knew for a fact he didn’t like.

“Pompous pants?” Cameron looked over his shoulder and the look of incredulity disappeared, replaced with his trademarked goofy grin. “Oh, there you are, Elliot! We were wondering when you’d get here.”

Elliot crossed his arms and began to mentally count the minutes in his head before he would be able to leave. “You both have exactly five minutes. Countdown begins now.”

“Exactly?” Alison repeated. She was about to add more when Cameron raised his hand and motioned for her to keep quiet.

“Okay. I’ll get right to it then.” Cameron dropped his book bag to the ground and knelt down, explaining as he unzipped his bag and searched for something. “You know about the school’s football team right? It’s starting soon—the tryouts, the practices, all that jazz.”

Elliot cocked and eyebrow. He began to wonder where this was going, but having already experienced the club’s activities once before he was almost ready for whatever crazed idea Cameron had stuffed up his sleeve, or rather, shoved somewhere in his book bag. “Yes. Of course I do. I’m in charge of the Student Council’s budget, which of course includes the school’s clubs.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Elliot heard Cameron mutter and laugh softly. Cameron stood back up and pulled out a few sheets of paper in his hands. “Well, I have an idea concerning the tryouts. I wasn’t sure whether or not this would be accepted, since it does include another club…but I figured I might as well ask, right?” Cameron held them out to Elliot. “Well, this is my next idea.”

Elliot eyed Cameron sternly, then took the paper from hi, his expression immediately twisting into a grimace. He looked through each of the pages, one after the other, while Cameron watched him with keen and attentive eyes. After studying the last page, Elliot shook his head and sighed. “Are you serious?”

“Well, yeah,” Cameron answered in a confused voice. “Why do you keep asking that? I’m always serious!” Beside him Alison began to laugh, but quickly covered it up and disguised it as a few rough coughs. After giving her a studious look, Cameron turned back to Elliot. “Okay, maybe not always, but I am about this. Don’t you like it?”

“What do you think?”

Cameron shrugged. “No?”

Elliot smiled almost bitterly. “Remember who you’re talking to, Cameron. Yes, I think it’s a horrible idea. But,” he paused and re-evaluated the pages; “I see no problem with it. No immediate problems anyway. I don’t doubt that this will embarrass the hell out of the football manager, however.”

“Nonsense!” Cameron dismissed the last sentence with a wave of his hand. “They’ll love it! I’ll make sure of it.”

Elliot made a face. “Are you implying that a bunch of strangely dressed cheerleaders isn’t embarrassing?”

Cameron hastily shook his head and said, “Nope.”

“Oh. Great.” Elliot shook some of his dirty-blond hair out of his face. Just perfect. Just what the football team needs. Cheerleaders with freaky make-up, spikes everywhere, and blowing fire instead of dancing. Yes. Brilliant.

“Sorry to interrupt you guys, but it’s been five minutes,” Alison broke the silence and pointed to her wristwatch. “But you two can stand here all day and stare deeply into each others eyes if you want.” She proceeded to smile when Elliot glared at her for the last comment. “Just joking. Learn to laugh, Mr. Pompous pants. Anyway, I’m going home now.” She shrugged her book bag on her shoulder and began to tread on ahead. “Later.”

“Later, Alison,” Cameron responded and gave a small wave, seemingly unaffected by the girl’s odd comments while Elliot silently seethed at the horrendousness that Alison had deemed as humor. While Elliot did so, Cameron put his things away and put book bag back on. “Hey Elliot.”

“What?”

Cameron smiled and scratched the back of his neck. “Don’t take Alison so seriously. I know she doesn’t seem like it, but she likes to joke around a lot. Or at least, I think she’s joking. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything like that. That’s just how she is.”

“Hmpf.” Elliot shoved his hands into his pockets and began to walk away. “I’ll keep that in mind the next time she decides to be a smart-ass.”

He got no response to that, but he did hear Cameron jog to catch up with him. They walked a few feet, side by side, with nothing but the sound of their dress shoes clacking against the waxed floor. Elliot stared at the slightly taller boy, an eyebrow raised. Cameron didn’t seem to notice, so Elliot took the initiative. “Any reason why you’re following me?”

“Nah, I’m not stalking you. The parking lot is the same way,” Cameron explained. “So I figured I’d just walk with you.”

“Hmm. Right.”

They kept walking the same way with a sort of awkward silence, but every time Elliot thought of something to say to make Cameron go away or to somehow speed up time, he just couldn’t think of anything. Oh well. At least Cameron was being quiet. The only thing worse then an awkward silence is an awkward conversation.

“Look, Elliot. It’s raining.”

Elliot stopped walking and looked out the same window Cameron was currently gazing out of. Only one word came to mind now. “Fuck.” Okay, so maybe his plan from earlier wasn’t completely fool-proof…

Cameron glanced over at Elliot, who glared out the window with nothing short of hostility. He leaned in a bit with his head tilted a little to the side. “Is everything okay? You look really pissed off.”

“Yes, I’m pissed off,” Elliot spoke through gritted teeth. He didn’t regret lending Jacqueline his car earlier because she had really needed it, but he did regret not checking the weather earlier before making said decision so that he come up with a better plan. “Really pissed.”

Cameron studied Elliot’s burning eyes and looked back out the window. “Walking home today?”

“Unfortunately.”

“That sucks. It’s really raining hard today.”

“No shit,” Elliot muttered, wishing the freckled-boy would just shut up already. He was just making things worse by pointing out the bloody obvious. He didn’t even want to think of walking home in that sort of weather.

Cameron shook his head. “That’s a shame.” He turned and smiled at Elliot, as if a smile would solve all of his problems and maybe cure cancer all at the same time.

“What?” Elliot finally snapped. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Need a ride?”

Elliot blinked, completely shocked. “What?!”

“I asked if you needed a ride?” Cameron repeated, still smiling gently at him. “I have a car, I could drop you off on my way home if you want.”

“Why on earth would you bother to ask me that?”

It was Cameron’s turn to look shocked, albeit he still had a gentle and friendly air about him. “Because it’s the nice thing to do?” he answered in a voice thick with confusion and astonishment.

“No, I mean…ugh. Never mind.” With one last glanced out the window at the black-gray sky and the pounding rain that splattered heavily against the glass, he made his decision. “Fine, I’ll take the damned ride.” He began to walk on ahead and paused only for a second for Cameron to catch up. “Anything’s better than getting drenched.”

Cameron looked almost as if he would start river dancing with joy at Elliot’s answer. His grin was so wide and joyful; it almost awed Elliot at how oddly happy he looked. “Awesome!”

“But don’t think that this changes anything!” Elliot snapped, attempting to obliterate Cameron’s joy, and failing. “This doesn’t mean a thing. Got that?”

“Sure,” Cameron replied, still smiling as goofily and as merrily as a second ago. “Whatever you say.”


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“Wow, nice place,” Cameron whistled as he pulled up into Elliot’s driveway. “Your parents must be loaded!”

“I guess.” To Elliot, it was just his house. Nothing more and nothing less. While it looked gorgeous and perfect on the outside, it was much too big and lonely on the inside.

Elliot picked up his bag and began to undo his seatbelt. He paused when he suddenly noticed that there were two other cars in the driveway. A moment ago he hadn’t really noticed them, because of how quick and heavy the rain was, practically falling in blurring sleets on the cars windows. When Elliot recognized each of them, he felt his heart skip a beat.

“Oh shit! I think I might’ve left something back at school!” Cameron randomly shouted, becoming wild with worry as he reached for his book bag and furiously began to unzip it. Elliot rolled his eyes, murmured a good-bye, and opened the car door. He had much more important things to think about. He stepped out into the harsh, unforgiving rain and hurried towards the front door.

When he swung the door open and stepped inside, he immediately wished that he hadn’t. Any doubts that he may have had about his parents really being home again was forgotten when he saw a flurry of blonde race past him, with incomprehensible yelling flying back and forth between the blonde woman who stood fuming in the living room and the male brunette who stood on the stairs.

Elliot froze at the door way, the heavy shushing of rain in the background competing with the obnoxious shouting of his parents in front of him. It was happening again. It was as if they didn’t even notice him standing there. The beautiful blonde that Elliot used to proudly call his mother shouted something ridiculously vulgar in a sharp and accusing voice before reaching for a nearby vase.

Elliot didn’t wait to see how this would all play out again. He knew how all of these things ended.  This was as predictable as anything else in his life was. Before more could be seen, Elliot slammed the front door behind him and sped back towards the car that was still parked in his driveway. He yanked the door open and slid quickly back into the seat beside Cameron, who looked up at him from his book bag.

“Oh, were you worried about me?” Cameron inquired with a puzzled, but also pleasant, expression. “Awww, there’s no need to worry, but thanks anyway. Turns out it I didn’t actually forget anything back at school, it was just in a differ—”

“Drive.”

Cameron sat up properly in his seat, concern etched on his face as his eyes glanced back and forth between Elliot and his house. “Elliot—”

“I said drive!” Elliot snapped, on the verge of yelling at the same person who had been kind enough to offer him a drive home in the first place. It sounded cruel, the way he had just shouted a demand like that at Cameron with absolutely no explanation, but he felt so angry and bitter...so hurt and vulnerable. Elliot knew that he had sounded and looked as angry as he felt, but he also knew that had had sounded  hurt, too. He had heard it...and so had Cameron.

Without so much as yelling at him to get out of his car, or even demanding an answer right away, the freckled boy respected Elliot’s immediate need for quiet. Cameron started up the ignition again and pulled out of the driveway slowly. The rain seemed to come down onto the earth harder now, seemingly relentless. Cameron pulled the car out onto the road, and the moment they stopped at a stop sign, Cameron turned towards Elliot. Elliot looked back, expecting anger and confusion, but instead receiving something he didn’t think he even deserved at that moment: empathy and kindness.

“So, where to Elliot?”


~+~+~+~+~+~+~


To Be Continued