Noah, once again, abandoned Eli within five minutes. He stuck around long enough to point him towards the main offices and then took off before anyone saw them together. By the time the principal, a strict-looking Mr Barns, had given Eli the speech about grades and attendance, and sorted out his class schedule, school had started.

Miss Davis, his year head, showed him his locker. They had full length ones in this school. Eli didn’t even have one in his last school. The old place didn’t have enough for the number of students it held, so they were given to the seniors only.

“If you have any trouble with anything I’m always available during office hours.” Miss Davis said as she walked him to his first class. “And there is a tutoring system set up if you have difficulties with your studies.”

“Thanks.” Eli answered without looking up from his schedule. “I’ll let you know if I need it.”

“Noah is an excellent student.”

Eli glanced up at her, but she didn’t elaborate. They stopped outside a door that read ‘Miss Davis’.

“I’m your new maths teacher.” She smiled at him. “If you’re anything like your brother we’ll get along just fine.”

She went into the room. Eli took in a deep breath then followed her. Everyone looked at him. He tried to spot a free desk without meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Everyone, this is Eli Wallace, and he’s starting here today. A lot of you know his brother Noah, in the year above you.” Miss Davis introduced, mentioning his brother again. “Sinclair, since you’re the year’s representative I’d like to show him around for the day and help him get his barings.”

“No problem.” Sinclair answered in a flat tone.

Eli looked at her and cringed. It was the girl from the other night. Cameron’s girlfriend. She stared at him head on, with an irritated expression and a glint in her eye that promised trouble.

“Eli, why don’t you take a seat next to her?” Miss Davis turned to the board, “Everyone turn to page 53, we’ll be continuing on from last Friday.”

Eli adjusted his bag strap and made his way to the desk where Sinclair waited. She tapped her fingers over her books, seeming to think it over, before finally moving them out of his way. As he sat down, she looked him up and down and then stared at his face. Her gaze was a lot heavier than anyone else’s in the room.

“In case you were wondering, I do recognise you.”

“I wasn’t in any doubt about that.” Eli pulled his copies out, placing them on the table. He didn’t have the guts to look at her head on, he could only study her out of the corner of his eye. He felt that she could see him doing it though and stopped.

“He’s got a thing for blondes.” Sinclair revealed, “Apparently a thing for dicks too.”

Across the room someone broke out in a sudden coughing fit.

“You know when you walked in—”

“Save it.” She dismissed him. “I’m not interested in any excuses for him. But, I would like to know one thing.”

Eli didn’t know if he wanted to ask or not, but he looked up from his blank notebook, waiting for her to continue. She wasn’t wearing the same irritated expression as before, but one that he couldn’t identify. Boredom? Interest? “Was he any good?”

“Any good?” Eli couldn’t help the heat that flooded his cheeks.

“I guess that’s a yes?”

“Nothing happened.”

She gave him an incredulous look and raised an eyebrow.

“Hardly anything happened.” Eli corrected himself defensively. She just gave him an ‘I don’t believe you’ look. “You’re weird.” What girlfriend reacts like this after her boyfriend cheats on her? Eli was expecting to be ignored, or maybe confronted, or yelled at. Ah, maybe she didn’t care?

“Because I’m not crying or moping over a boy?” Sinclair snorted, “He’s not worth it.”

Eli was tempted to point out he’d said the same thing about her last night. “Why were you going out with him in the first place then?”

“Why were you in bed with him?” Sinclair asked back, as though the reason was obvious.

“I was looking for somewhere—”

“Because he’s hot.” Sinclair cut across his answer.

“Eli, Sinclair.” Miss Davis was leaning across her desk and frowning in their direction. “pay attention.”

Sinclair inclined her head towards the front of the class room, and Eli scooted around so he was facing the whiteboard. Miss Davis continued the lesson, and Eli remembered why he was failing maths in his last school.

*

“What was the fight about?” Sinclair led Eli to a table in the middle of the cafeteria. Eli was still getting over the fact there was a cafeteria in the school, and students didn’t even have to pay for the food.

“What fight?” Eli played coy as he set down his tray.

Sinclair shot an unimpressed glare in his direction, and he decided not to bother with the act.

“I have no idea.” Eli shrugged, “About two minutes after you left Oliver comes in and just goes for him. I thought it had something to do with you.”

“Nope.” Sinclair pulled out a lunchbox from her bag. “You sure Oliver was the one who started it? Cameron’s way more hot-headed.”

“I’m sure” Eli rubbed his neck. He’d really felt like the reason had been to separate the two of them last night, but since Sinclair wasn’t behind it that didn’t really seem to be the case.

Two girls sat down at the table and pulled out lunchboxes. Eli glanced at his own meal from the cafeteria. “Something wrong with the food here?”

All three girls crinkled their noses.

“Everything tastes like grease and oil.” The girl on Eli’s right answered. She looked at his meal in disgust, then glanced at him. “I’m Phoebe. You’re Noah’s brother?”

“Eli.” he introduced.

“Oliver started the fight.” Sinclair announced.

Both the girl’s heads snapped to her. “For real? How do you know?”

“Eli,” Sinclair said, “He was there.”

“A lot of people were there.” The one sitting next to Sinclair flicked an uninterested glance over Eli. “They only know how it ended.”

“And anyone who was in the room knows how it started.”

The girl’s uninterested gaze shifted from confusion to understanding in half a second. Phoebe let out a small gasp, and then her face split into a smile. Eli was filled with a sudden urge to eat his lunch elsewhere. Apparently, the other night wasn’t going to be kept secret by Sinclair, and he wasn’t exactly in a position to ask for that either.

“You were the guy? Ooh your so cute.” Phoebe gushed, “Are you and Cameron dating now?”

“No, definitely not.” Eli said quickly, then stuffed his mouth with food so he didn’t have to answer the next half dozen questions thrown at him. During the questions, he figured out the other girl’s name was Kaetlin.

Kaetlin raised her hand, beckoning over a group. Eli glanced back idly and tried not to groan when he spotted a familiar pair of green eyes. Cameron was ducked in conversation with someone to his left, but as if sensing someone was looking at him he turned in Eli’s direction. Their eyes met. Eli tried not to scowl. Cameron looked amused and flashed a lazy grin. Eli was sure that his attempts at keeping a straight face failed.

“Hmm” Sinclair popped her last bite of yogurt into her mouth. “You look closer to hitting him than jumping him.”

Eli opened his mouth to reply, but a tray packed with food being placed onto the end of the table made him pause. “He,” Cameron plonked don’t into the chair at the end of the table, “already did that.”

“Oh?” Sinclair turned to Eli with a raised eyebrow. “You didn’t mention that?”

“Yeah.” Cameron rubbed his discoloured jaw with a pout. “It’s really sore.”

“Oliver left that bruise” Eli flicked his gaze over his lips, but found no mark or even any broken skin. It obviously hadn’t been as bad as Eli had thought originally.

“I’m sure Oliver had a good reason for it.” Sinclair remarked idly, though her gaze stayed keenly on Cameron, clearly trying to prompt an explanation from him.

Cameron just shrugged and moved his attention to the lunch in front of him. Eli wouldn’t have minded hearing the reason behind that spat either. He flicked his gaze over Cameron’s down-turned head once more, then turned away, rubbing his shoulder that had started to itch. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cameron’s gaze zero in on his hand and quickly dropped it.

Eli focused on Phoebe and Kaetlin’s conversation for the rest of the lunch, though the others at the table did introduce themselves. Zack and Bruce both gave him a short nod, David did the same, but Eli felt that his assessment of him was a lot harsher than the others, and his gaze felt a lot sharper.

When the bell finally went, Eli was glad. It was probably him being self-conscious, or perhaps not since he was the new kid, but it felt like everyone was staring at him. Even as he moved about from class to class, the feeling stayed with him for the rest of the day.