Chapter 7

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Finley's P.O.V

I was sitting on the bench in the courtyard at school when my world was rudely interrupted by a force otherwise known as Eli.

He plopped down next to me, making my books shift and almost fall before he caught them and he set them carefully. "Almost could have been bad," he joked.

I shook my head, laughing at him a little. "W-Why are you h-here?" I was getting better at talking to Eli, I just stuttered in the beginning and after about ten minute I was fine.

"Just eatin' lunch with my new best friend," Eli said and bumped me with his knee.

I tensed at his touch but didn't say anything. I simply continued eating my sandwich, which was actually quite good. Eli chomped on some chips that he got from a vending machine and watched me. My eyes flicked up to glance at him before I looked back down at my food. We kept doing this until I was slowly running out of food and Eli broke the silence.

"If I may, Fin, why were you on your roof last night?"

I instantly glanced up at him, concerned that he even saw me up there. "H-How did you k-know I was up t-there?"

"I was driving by and happened to glance out the window and I saw you lying on your roof," Eli explained.

Oh, yeah, just let me explain that I'm depressed and I need pills but I don't take them and my family thinks that I do but I'm really actually lying to their faces and if I tell them I'm not better and sad all the time, they're going to die internally and my mother will cry and make me feel guilty and I'll make a promise that I can't keep, I thought but all I said was "Oh."

We were simply staring at each other before Eli spoke. "So are you going to tell me or..." he said expectantly.

"I l-like the view," I half-lied, not willing to tell him that I was really just kind of depressed. Besides, I did like the view.

"Uh-huh," Eli nodded slowly, clearly not believing me, but letting the matter drop. "So did you have a lot of homework last night?"

I shrugged. "N-Not really. I d-don't get a lot of h-homework to begin w-with, and if I d-do have it, I d-do it b-before I get home."

"Oh," Eli said and glanced down and fiddled with his fingers.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I fiddled with my fingers whenever I was nervous or had something to hide. "W-why do you a-ask?"

"I just had a lot," Eli glanced up at me. "And honestly I didn't have a clue how to do half of it."

"Oh," I said, feeling slightly foolish. It's not like I had issues with my work, I actually thought it was rather easy. "D-Did you do it t-though?"

"Yeah," Eli answered. "Even though most of it is wrong."

"Oh," I said again, not knowing what to say. In my defense, I didn't know what to say in these situations. I basically lived in my room.

Eli laughed, making me feel like an even bigger idiot. "Fin, that was my way of asking you to tutor me."

"Oh," I said yet again, feeling completely stupid.

I'm such an idiot, I thought. This is why I stay on my roof, where I can't embarrass myself.

"So will you?" Eli asked, looking earnestly at me.

I didn't want to say yes, as I'm a horrible teacher, but something about Eli's begging face made me change my mind. "A-Alright."

"Yes!" Eli cheered. "Thanks Fin!" He leaned over and pecked my cheek before running off.

He really needs to stop doing that, I thought. That's the second time and both times he's left me speechless.

The bell rang and I sighed before gathering my things and heading for my classroom. When I got there, the popular kids were already lounging in the back so I picked a seat in the middle, where I sat to blend into the crowd. It worked fairly well. As I glanced around at the posters to waste time before the bell rang, the seats filled in and my teacher tapped away at his keyboard, probably sending off emails at a rapid speed. The bell rang and he immediately stood up, starting class. His name was Mr. Parker, and I honestly loved him. He never called on me, and he liked to pick on the kids that seriously didn't pay attention to a thing he said, and he could sound angry while having the time of his life, and he taught with such enthusiasm that it was contagious.

"Alright class, today we're going to be talking about the civil war. Now, I know you learned about it in 8th grade, but it was vital to American history so we're going to start talking about it today," Mr. Parker said.

I sat up straighter and clicked my pen, ready to take notes, as I absolutely loved the civil war. I mean, it wasn't something that was enjoyable, but I loved learning facts and trying to imagine what it was like. Mr. Parker was giving a brief summary on the war, pausing to ask easy questions to students and then he paused by my desk.

"Ms. Collins, who was the general for the north that finally won the war for Abraham Lincoln?" he asked, eyes twinkling at me.

Something about his confidence made me actually open my mouth. "U-Ulysses S. G-Grant."

"Very good!" Mr. Parker continued his speech and walked around, completely ignoring the fact that one of his silent students had finally spoken.

A big smile spread across my face and I was feeling quite proud of myself until I heard the whispers from the back of the class, from the populars.

"God, the mute spoke."

"And she stuttered, aww how cute." That one was sarcastic.

"She should just stick to being mute. Stuttering isn't attractive."

I slid down in my chair and tried to blend in with the plastic. So much for speaking.

...

Shutting my locker, I sighed as I sifted through my pockets, searching for my Ipod. Finding it, I quickly put in my earbuds and played my music, putting the volume up loud enough to drown out the world. Bobbing my head to the music, I made my way towards the front of the building, groaning when I remembered that my car was in the shop, still dead. Hiking my backpack over my shoulders, I set off to walk home. I was about a block away from my school when I noticed a car following me. I picked up my pace and so the car increased its speed. I played a game with it, speeding up and slowing down, and the car mirrored my actions. I took an earbud out and turned, ready to take off through the houses, but I recognized the driver.

"E-Eli?"

The car stopped and Eli got out, smiling sheepishly at me. "Hey Fin."

"W-Why were you following me?" I questioned, slipping a hand into my pocket and pausing my music.

"Well, I saw you walking home, and I was going to offer you a ride, but I tried calling your name but you didn't hear me, and I even honked the horn but you still didn't hear me, or-" Eli paused, as if struck by a sudden thought. "Wait, you weren't ignoring me, where you?"

Eli's face morphed into an expression of hurt and surprise, and even though I had done absolutely nothing wrong, I felt a twinge of guilt. "No, I-I wasn't ignoring y-you, I just h-had my music u-up really l-loud," I held up my Ipod as proof and Eli visibly relaxed.

"Okay, 'cause for a second I really thought you were ignoring me," he said.

"You're h-hard to ignore," I said shyly, looking down at my Ipod. I glanced up, seeing Eli's large smile, which gave me confidence to keep my head up.

"So do you want a ride?" Eli asked. I nodded and Eli gestured to his car. "C'mon!"

I slowly got in the car as Eli held the door open for me then shut it, bounding over to the other side. As he buckled in his seat belt, he turned on his radio and to my surprise it wasn't any of the regular crap that was on nowadays, it was Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings.

I started bouncing slightly in my seat to the music, as I loved this song. Eli chuckled next to me and I immediately stopped, feeling myself blush.

"You don't have to stop, it was cute," Eli said.

I could feel my face get redder, and I settled for mouthing the words as the song played. Soon we pulled into my driveway and I kind of sat awkwardly in the seat while Eli rushed around to open the door for me.

"Here ya go," Eli said. "Home safe and sound."

I smiled in return. "Thank you for the ride."

"So, is it a bad time to ask you to tutor me, like, right now?" Eli asked, kicking at the gravel.

I frowned. "N-Now?"

"Yeah, if that's alright," Eli looked bashful. "I mean, I just have a lot of math homework, and I don't understand a thing my teacher says so..."

My heart softened at his request. "S-Sure, if you want."

Eli perked up. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Eli chanted dancing around in excitement.

I shook my head and led him into my house, cautiously looking around for my parents. I mean, they probably wouldn't mind that I was tutoring someone, even if it was a boy, I was only worried about how they would feel about me inviting said boy into their house without asking and with being alone with him. Luke's car was gone, so I knew we were safe from him, but I wasn't so sure about my parents. We made it to my room, Eli glancing around my house and looking at all the pictures of me with my family.

I opened my bedroom door and said, "Welcome to my room."

___________________________________________________________

Tada! Saturday update! So, my sister literally had a panic attack last night at like 1:00am, and she called for me to help her, and I was like what do I do I don't know what to do Eli help me! So yeah, I honestly thought of this book and was like, okay, what would Finley do? She's better now :) and the book I'm recommeding to you guys this update is And It All Started With An Apple by @TaintedRain again, because I love her work, and I got my first banner, yay! It's made by @StarCrossedThoughts, isn't it pretty? By the way, the banner's in the external link if you want to see it. Anyway, hope you like it, Bye!

Love ya!

-T A Y L O R

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