"Alright!" Coach announced loudly. Eli pulled the rest of his shirt over his head quickly, already feeling coach ready to lay it on him any second for not being dressed yet, like the rest of the boys were. "Now I know the start of the season bonfire is a big deal for you guys. I also know it gets out-of-hand sometimes. The alumni show up, there's other teams, and alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol."

Loud cheers escaped the boys in the locker room at his words.

"Shut up!" Coach yelled when the cheers got out of hand. "Now, what I don't understand is why anybody would ever want to get stumbling down drunk in front of a massive open fire."

Eli couldn't help it, he let out a giggle.

Coach looked his way, making his eyes widen and clear his throat. "Something funny, Foxx?"

Eli shook his head so fast that his face jiggled slightly.

"I'm also resigned to not be able to stop you guys." Coach huffed as he looked around again, a few taking their chances on cheering once more. "I'll also remind you, your team captain, McCall, will be there. And I can count on him to narc on any and every one of these little bastards. Get back to class."

Eli followed Liam quickly after watching the boy be the first to vanish from the locker room. "Liam!"

The blonde glanced over his shoulder as Eli hurried to catch up with him. "English is that way."

"Are we going to that bonfire thing tonight?" Eli ignored his original statement. "Mason sent a text in the group chat saying we have to, but we can skip it if you feel like it."

Eli looked over when he was ignored, elbowing Liam just to get his attention, not to hurt him. "Are we mad at each other right now?"

Liam sighed. "Something happened last night."

The pair paused, escaping to the empty staircase so no one would eavesdrop on their conversation. Eli gave him an odd look. "Something bad by the looks of you."

"My printer kept going off. Even when I hit cancel and turned it off, it just kept printing." Liam sighed, finally meeting his eye in tiredness and sadness.

Eli frowned. "Printing something bad?"

Liam stuck his hand into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. Before Eli had the chance to look, Coach yelled from his office down the hallway. "What the hell is this!"

Eli and Liam rose from the stairs and hurried off, meeting Scott, who indeed had eavesdropped on then, right there. Looking inside the office, the trio stared at hundred and hundreds of papers, the deadpool list, being printed in coach's office. Scott grabbed hold of one as they all look down at it.

"See the difference?" Liam asked with a sigh.

"Derek's not on the list anymore." Scott spoke confused.

"That's not even the worst part." Eli found Liams name as his eyes widened, looking his way. "You aren't worth three million anymore. It's eighteen."

"Brett isn't gonna be here, is he?" Eli gave a worried look as the trio of friends walked up to the bonfire together, Eli in the middle as he looked around.

"Shouldn't you guys make up by now?" Mason gave a questionable look, but it was clear he was only half listening. "It was, like, a decade ago."

"It wasn't a decade ago, it was two months ago." Eli exclaimed, his hand came up to his mouth as he began to chew on his nails. "I wonder if-"

Eli stopped when he noticed Liam no longer with them, looking back toward Mason and realizing he was walking off as well. Eli's eyebrow rose, rocking on his heels for a second, letting his hand drop from his mouth in embarrassment before walking through the crowd of people.

"Eli!" the familiar voice yelled, making him pause and turn his head to the right. Malia pointed at him, not having stopped dancing, motioning to come here with her index finger. His eyes went wide, reddening in the face, and walking over to her. "You look lonely!"

"My friends kinda ditched me!" Eli yelled over the music, trying not to watch her too closely as she danced around. More like, keeping a hard stare on her face.

"I thought you didn't like parties?" she laughed, taking a swig of the flask she had.

"I don't!" Eli called back, eying the flask slightly. "But i'm the designated driver so I can't go anywhere!"

Malia giggled as she spun slightly. "Wanna get drunk with me?"

She passed him the flask, shoving it at his chest as Eli took a sniffle to know what she was drinking. "It gives me kinda worse anxiety, so, I'll just make sure you don't get si-"

He went to hand her the flask back before someone bumped his shoulder, causing it to spill forward and hit her shirt. Eli's eyes widened at the spill across her front. Malia only laughed. "Malia, i'm really sorry. I mean, it just looks like water so maybe I can just-"

He didn't think about what he was doing under he sweaterpawed his long sleeved shirt, trying to rub it in so it would dry quicker. Malia gave a snort, making Eli stopped as he took notice of exactly what he was doing. He backed up quickly, falling over his feet. Preparing to hit the ground, arms caught him and pulled him up. Eli looked back and saw Scott, making him give a smile. "Thanks."

"Watch your feet." Scott gave a small grin before looking toward Malia. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Getting drunk!" she yelled back, dancing around. "And letting Eli touch my boobs!"

Scott looked over at the boy as he shook his head. "It wasn't intentional. Spilled drink."

"What are you doing?" Malia asked Scott, but it was clear she just wanted to be left alone and dance around with her alcohol.

"Trying to make sure no one gets hurt." Scott informed her, glancing at Eli, then back to her. "I don't want to ruin your night or anything, but we kind of can't get drunk."

Malia gave an odd look. "What?"

"I think it has something to do with our healing. But, trust me, i've tried. You're not gonna feel anything." Scott shook his head at her, but offering a smile as well.

"Maybe I should be a were-something then." Eli spoke honestly from his side.

"Maybe you should tell him that." Malia nodded to Scott, moving out of the way as they saw Liam pouring straight alcohol into a cup.

Eli looked to Scott, looking back to Malia. "Im gonna go over there, then I'll be back."

"I'll make sure she doesn't-" Scott stopped, nodding to Malia. Eli nodded, giving Malias shoulder a squeeze, before walking over toward Mason and Liam.

"There you are." Mason spoke with a geeky grin, looking up at him. "I saved you a glow-stick headband."

Eli's eyebrows rose as Mason laid it upon his head like a halo. "Am I glowing?"

"Oh, extremely." Mason nodded, passing him a beer as Eli simple held it, looking over at Liam, who wasn't giving him even a glance.

"You don't have one." Eli spoke as he nudged Liam's foot, finally getting his attention. "Don't you wanna glow too?"

Liam shook his head. "Kinda just wanna drink."

Eli knew he should probably tell Liam about what Scott said, but felt a ton of guilt because he knew Liam was facing a hard time right now. He watched him poor the last of the bottle into his cup. "Drinking over glowing, got it."

Liam rose his eyebrows. "Are you judging me a little bit?"

"No." Eli defended himself. "Nope."

"Not gonna tell me to slow down?" the Dunbar boy asked. Eli didn't like his attitude but didn't say anything. He then looked over at Mason. "What about you?"

"Actually, I was gonna say keep drinking." Mason said before nodding quickly. "I think you should get drunk. And I mean stumbling down, fall on your ass, passed out, face in the toilet, drunk."

Liam laughed, Eli sitting down on the grass with his back against the log. "Why?"

"Maybe then, when I ask you what's going on, you'll be too drunk to lie." Mason shrugged, sipping his own beer. Eli looked up at Liam, guilty like. "I'm not asking cause I wanna know. I'm asking because I want to help."

Liam looked over at Scott, who was still with Malia. "I'm gonna get another drink. And i'm gonna get Eli one too, because he needs it."

"If we get Eli drunk he will likely die or cry." Mason said honestly with a shake of his head, disappointed he didn't get told anything. "Maybe over share and do something super embarrassing."

"I am right here, incase either of you didn't notice." Eli spoke honestly. "And i'm not really into drinking. Masons right, i'll probably die and most definitely will cry."

"It'll be two percent alcohol, ninty-eight percent sprit." Liam nodded his head, heading off.

Eli leaned back, head leaning against the log as he looked up at Mason. "Hey, Mason, wanna know something that happened tonight?"

Mason looked down at him. "I wanna say no but i'm gonna say yes."

Eli grinned. "I touched boobs for the first time."

•

kylie speaks

andddd he's falling
over again.

okay so i'm not 100% sure
on if lacrosse season is at
the beginning of the year or
not, someone said it was on
reddit but when i googles it
it said it begins around february so i
stuck with that, sorry if
i am wrong, which is why eli
is already 16, for a sophomore,
bc his birthday is january
29th, making him a little
aquarius 🥺

...with a cancer moon and
taurus rising but that is beyond
the point.

any of you ever wanna go on a
date with eli and lydia? they'll
take you to pet horses.