Elijah

The wooden slab felt like iron against his backside. He groaned and jumped to his feet, rubbing his butt as he winced in agony. The school basement smelt forbidden to him. He was hungry, tired and would very much choose to be asleep if Demi hadn't asked him to be there. The first thing he'd do when he finally got the money would be to get something so-damn-good-his-buds-would-explode.

You're walking into a trap fool.

"I'm not stupid." He argued with himself.

You know the offer can't be good. She's the evil witch behind all this for Jack sake.

"As if I don't know that?! I need to get out of here if everyone's turned their backs on me. She's my way-"

An hurried shuffle startled him and his eyes widened in shock. Words tumbled out of his lips before he could rein them.

"Betty?!"

His younger sister had just sauntered out of the basement. He watched her look up at him in surprise. She furrowed her brows, puzzled, then slowly parted her lips in realization.

What the hell is she doing here?!

"Eli!" She exclaimed and charged towards him. In a flurry of movements, Eli felt his world go weirdly warm. He stiffened at the arms wrapped tight around him, staring down at her head. "You're okay. I am sooo glad you're okay."

Did she get hit on the head?

"How are you?! Are you fine? You don't look so good. Gahhhh, of course you don't. When was the last time you'd eaten sef?..."

Eli couldn't take it much longer. He wrenched her off him. "Stop it." He hissed.

It's all pretence. All pretence.

"Hey, hey what's wrong? You okay? What are you doing here?" She fussed.

"What are you doing here? You hate basements. What the heck are you doing coming out of one?!" He fumed.

"Oh." She murmured. "We're saving you. I'm supposed to search the basement for clues, Vicky's searching Demi's-"

"Hold up. Saving me? What the fudge do you mean Bets?" Eli asked. He could feel a massive headache spring up in his head. A lot of things made no sense.

Betty let out a frustrated sigh. "We're trying to find proof okay? There's no way we're letting you go to jail. We're going to show everyone that Demi's responsible for all that happened."

But they hate me. They don't care. They shouldn't care!

"Shut up!" He spat.

Betty gasped and took a step back. "Eli-"

"You don't care. None of you are supposed to care!"

"Will you keep quiet and listen?! I am sorry okay? Living with a father who doesn't acknowledge your existence is pretty hard enough. And you make it harder Eli. With your tantrums and unnecessary theatrics. But you're my brother. Always will be. And I will not let you suffer unjustly!" Betty yelled.

Eli closed his eyes tight to stop the headache that had bloomed. This hadn't been how things were supposed to go. Betty, Vicky and Tokunbo weren't supposed to care. Demi was supposed to give him his assignment so he could get the hell out of this city.

"You can't help me." He said in a small voice. "You hate me."

Betty gave a small smile, stepped closer to him and held his face in her hands. "We may have our differences but I don't hate you Eli. I could never hate you even if I wanted to. We're family. And even if they're the most arrogant idiots you've ever seen, Family's all that we have."

Eli felt his eyes water. He sniffed and pulled away, blinking rapidly.

It's the headache. It's definitely the headache.

"Leave Betty. " He said coldly and turned around.

"Vicky and Tokunbo would be so damn thrilled to see you. God, you don't know how worried we were." She stated obliviously.

This made Eli turn to face her. "You guys were worried? Vicky hates my guts and I landed Tokunbo in trouble. Why would you guys ever be worried about me?"

Betty groaned "Because we care! Okay? You've always been too cool for us and we don't ever want to lose you. Remember grade eight? Anya? Remember how we sabotaged your friendship with her?"

Eli grinned at the memory. "You guys covered her in green paint! It looked like Alien puke."

"I know right. And she had worn that sequin dress to the party. Eww big time." They laughed together at the memory for a while. "See, we can't lose you Eli."

"You're not just saying that right?" He asked blinking rapidly.

Betty shook her head smiling. "No. I am not."

Eli felt his chest explode in relief. His headache slowly dissipated. His tears fell unihibited. The past two weeks finally took a huge toll on him. His shoulders slumped and he pulled his younger sister into his arms earnestly.

"I've missed you fowl." He whispered into her hair.

"I've missed you Idiot." She threw back.

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I really wanted a Brother-Sister moment. I'm not sure I did that well enough however.