It was the next morning, Eli's six a.m. alarm woke him up. He sat up and headed into his bathroom, he washed his face with water and got changed into some new clothes, Eli put on his favorite grey sweatshirt and put a black jacket over it, he put on black pants along with his white shoes and socks. Eli then made his way downstairs and saw his dad cooking breakfast.

"Morning Dad," Eli greeted.

"morning" Charlie replied.

Luke then came barreling down the stairs, "Hey Dad, can I go to Alex's house today after school?"

"Will you get your homework done?" Charlie asked.

"Yep!" Luke answered.

"Then I don't see why not," Charlie replied.

"Awesome! Thanks, Dad!" Luke exclaimed, he then grabbed a bagel and made his way to the door, "gotta make sure I don't miss the bus!"

Luke ran out the door and both Charlie and Eli chuckled.

"I should probably head to school, bye dad, love you," Eli said.

"have a good day at school."

"Yeah right," Eli replied sarcastically and exited the door.

* * *

Before going to school Eli made his way to his best friend's house which was three blocks from his. He arrived at the door and knocked, seconds later Lucy opened the door, she was wearing a black long-sleeved turtle neck with a plaid skirt, paired with black boots, and her hair was up in a tight ponytail.

"Hey." Lucy greeted.

"ready to go?" Eli asked.

Lucy grabbed her bag and made her way out of her house, the two of them made their way to school.

"So, tell me about Melinda," Lucy said.

"Okay, well, she's nice, she's great with Luke and she makes my dad happy," Eli explained.

"That's great! I'm glad," Lucy replied.

* * *

They arrived at school and went their separate ways. Eli walked into his English class and sat down where he always sat, while Eli opened his notebook his bullies walked into the class, and they made their way towards Eli.

Hank sat directly behind Eli, while Emily and Ben sat on the sides of Hank. Hank leaned over and whispered in Eli's ear.

"I heard we're having a test today, you better give us the answers or else."

"In your dreams," Eli muttered to himself.

Just then the teacher, her name Ms. Scott, came into the classroom.

"Alright then, today we're having a pop quiz, no cheating." Ms. Scott handed out the test to everyone, "You have thirty minutes, begin."

After the test ms. Scott came around the classroom and grabbed the test, she walked past Eli, and Hank kicked Eli in the leg. Eli shot a look that could kill at Hank who just glared back. The teacher walked back up to the front of the class.

the bell rang, and everyone stood up and started picking their stuff up, the class then made their way to the door.

"Great job today everyone," Ms. Scott said, "I'll see you all next week, have a good weekend."

* * *

After Eli exited the classroom he made his way to his locker, and put his books away, suddenly a hand pushed Eli against the locker.

"I told you to give us the answers," Hank sneered.

Eli just looked straight into Hank's eyes, "And I told you that I don't cheat.", Hank moved his arm to punch Eli but Ben stopped Hank.

"Not here," Ben told him, "not in front of everyone."

Hank growled and glared at Eli, "Watch your back, we're gonna pay you back, just you wait."

The Loom siblings walked away and Eli sighed running his fingers through his brown hair, he then made his way towards the lunchroom.

Eli found Lucy and walked over to her. Eli pulled out his lunch and sat it down on the table.

"I made a huge mistake." Eli sighed sitting down he put his hands on his head.

"What did you do?" Lucy asked.

"The Loom siblings wanted me to cheat on the test in English test today, but I didn't, and now I'm going to die," Eli explained.

"He won't land a hand on you as long as I'm there."

"That's the problem, you're not always going to be there." Eli sighed.

"No I won't, but he won't hurt you at school, and I can walk you to and from school every day," Lucy replied.

"But I don't want you to be my bodyguard twenty-four/seven," Eli argued.

"Ouch," Lucy said sarcastically, she put her hand to her heart dramatically.

Eli jokingly pushed Lucy, "You know what I mean. I want to be able to stand up for myself."

"I get that, maybe you should get stronger then you won't need me to protect you." Lucy joked giving Eli a sly smirk.

"Oh really?" Eli asked, "Arm wrestle me then."

Lucy stuck her arm on the table and Eli grabbed her hand, they started to arm wrestle, Lucy pushed Eli's arm down and lifted hers in victory.

Lucy laughed, "I won! Told you I'm stronger than you!"

"Yeah, whatever." Eli crossed his arms.

"Don't pout now, Catherine's coming." Lucy taunted.

Eli sat up instantly, he scanned the room and locked eyes on Catherine, Eli sighed. Eli was snapped out of his thoughts by Lucy snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Hey, dummy. You're staring." Lucy said.

"Oh." Eli sighed, he lowered his head on the table, "I'm a fool, she'll never like me."

"You'll never know if you don't try." Lucy said, "go on."

Lucy pushed Eli up and over to where Catherine was sitting, Catherine was wearing a gray 'New York' t-shirt along with ripped jeans and blue sneakers, her blue eyes sparkling like always. Catherine's brown hair was loose by her shoulders.

"Hi," Eli said, nervously.

"Hi?" Catherine asked staring at him.

Eli looked back and Lucy who mouthed 'go on.'. Eli took a deep breath, "how are you?"

"I'm fine, how are you?" Catherine answered.

"I'm good." Eli rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

After an embarrassing silence, Catherine spoke, "Do you need something?"

Eli was snapped out of his thoughts, "Huh? Oh right. Um, would you like to go on a date with me?" Eli asked.

"Sure." Catherine started writing something down on a piece of notebook paper, "Pick me up tomorrow? At seven?"

"Sure will, um bye." Eli waved.

"Bye." Catherine laughed.

Eli made his way back to Lucy who gave him a look that said, 'How'd it go?'.

"We're going on a date," Eli answered, letting out a breath he didn't even know he was holding in.

Lucy punched Eli in the shoulder, "That's great dude, I knew you could do it.".

"Thanks," Eli replied rubbing his shoulder.

The bell then rang, signaling that it was time for the next class, Eli made his way to his math class.

* * *

Eli arrived at math and sat down, Lucy sat down next to him. The loom siblings were sitting in the way back, glaring at Eli.

"Ignore them," Lucy whispered.

"Kinda hard to," Eli whispered back, "I can feel their eyes burning through my skull."

The teacher, named ms, Willson, came into the class.

"Hello class, today we're going to..." Mrs, Willson started. Eli looked out the window and drowned the teacher out, but before he knew it class was over. The bell rang, snapping Eli back into reality, "Alright class, that is all for today, stay safe, looks like there's a snowstorm coming."

Eli got up and made his way toward his locker, followed by Lucy.

"What did the teacher say? I wasn't paying attention," Eli asked.

"We have to do this paper," Lucy said, handing Eli a piece of paper.

"Thanks" Eli replied.

"Next time pay attention in class," Lucy said.

"I will. I promise," Eli promised.

"Good, let's get you home then," Lucy replied. They then exited the doors to the school and went out into the cold air.

* * *

"Wait hold on," Lucy laughed, "Luke did what?"

"Yeah, he ran out of the house butt naked when he was five," Eli replied.

"That's hilarious," Lucy exclaimed.

"he got in trouble for it," Eli explained.

As they were walking home there was a yell behind the two, making them jump.

"ELI!"

Eli and Lucy turned around, and standing a couple of feet away from them were the loom siblings, Hank was in the middle and he was fuming with anger.

"Run!" Eli yelled.

Both Eli and Lucy ran, the Loom siblings following behind them, they were catching up to them, Lucy grabbed Eli's wrist and pulled him into a junkyard.

The junkyard was filled with old rusted cars and car parts, with only one exit the kids became trapped, eli and Lucy ran and hid behind an old rusty car.

"Where are you, Eli? You can't hide forever." Hank taunted, anger evident in his voice.

"Oh god, they're going to find us," Eli exclaimed, facing his back to the car, he put his head in his lap and held his head. "I'm sorry Lucy, this is my fault."

Lucy slapped Eli right across the face, "Snap out of it, I'm going to teach these kids who they're messing with."

Lucy started to stand but Eli pulled her down, "Are you crazy? Let's just stay right here." Eli said.

"HEY! ELI! COME OUT NOW AND IT WON'T BE SO BAD." Hank yelled.

"Eli we need to show them that you won't be pushed around anymore," Lucy spoke.

"Fine, let's do this." Eli agreed, and they both stood up, "HEY DUMMIES!"

The Loom siblings looked over at Eli and Lucy.

"Who are you calling dummies?" Hank asked.

"You! And your siblings." Eli answered, "I'm not going to cheat for you, and I'm not going to be a punching bag for you guys anymore."

Hank and his siblings ran toward Eli and tackled him, they started punching him over and over and over again. Eli pushed them off of him and stood up. Hank got right up and swung at Eli, Eli ducked and tackled Hank, and started punching Hank in the stomach, he was thrown off of Hank by his two siblings, and they started punching Eli once more, Lucy joined in to stop what was happening, she pushed Hank off of Eli. then helped him up and ran, pulling Eli with her. "Come on, you were right, we should've just stayed hidden, I just made things worse."

Lucy had found another rusted old car to hide behind. As Lucy and Eli were hiding behind the car, she ripped part of her sleeve and wiped off some of the blood covering Eli's face.

"It's not your fault," Eli muttered deliriously.

"IM GONNA KILL YOU ELI!" they heard Hank yell.

"Where's your phone?" Eli asked.

"here." Lucy said handing Eli her phone.

"It's dead," Eli replied handing back her phone.

"But I charged it this morning!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Well it's dead," Eli said.

"What about your phone?" Lucy asked.

"I forgot it at home," Eli answered.

"Great!" Lucy replied annoyed.

Just then a purple portal that looked like a swirl of purple cotton candy opened up right in front of Lucy and Eli, they both stared at it, unsure of what to do.

"What's that?" Eli asked, accidentally too loud.

"I HEARD YOU ELI!" hanked yelled.

"Who knows, but looks like it's the best option right now!" Lucy grabbed Eli's wrist and ran into the portal, just barely for Hank's hand was an inch away from grabbing Eli's shirt. Eli and Lucy disappeared into the portal, leaving the loom siblings standing there.