Chapter 4: Thomas

A/N: 27.04.20

What month is your birthday? I feel like a lot of people are born in April, or is that just me? 😳

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*Thomas's pov*

The cafeteria ladies gave us metal spatulas and two dirty buckets that looked like they haven't been washed since the school was built. They told us that the dirtiest tables were at the very back of the cafeteria and Eli ran to take the front tables, leaving me with the hard work.

Sneaky snob.

We haven't spoken a word since leaving the principal's office, but I could tell that he was anxious. He glanced towards me every few seconds, but I didn't bother talking to him.

I pulled out the chairs from under the tables and grunted as I turned the tables.

I scowled. The lower surface was infested with dried pieces of gum and immediately regretted all those times I stuck one under there myself.

Karma bites back hard.

I put on the latex gloves that we were given and started scraping. I noticed through the corner of my eye that instead of helping, Eli was sitting on a table, one leg crossed over the other, watching me do all the work.

I decided not to say anything. I didn't expect rich boy over there to get on his knees and scrape, anyway. Besides, trying to persuade him seemed more troublesome and a waste of breath.

I heard him clear his voice as if he was going to give out a speech.

"You saw, didn't you?" It sounded more like an accusation than a question.

"I see a lot of things," I mumbled, scraping off a piece of gum and tossing it into the bucket beside me.

"Thomas," he huffed. I was surprisingly delighted to hear him call me by my name. His voice was harsh, but there was something melodic about it.

"What happened to 'filthy rat'?" I mocked.

"You're still filthy rat," he said. "But your name is also Thomas."

"Thank you, I almost forgot my own name."

He scowled. I smiled.

He cleared his voice again.

"There's a water fountain down the hall," I said. "You might want to drink something, your throat seems dry as fu-"

"We're not together," he blurted. I looked but Eli averted his gaze, squirming slightly.

"Cool story bro."

I went back to scraping.

"We really aren't," he pressed.

"'Kay."

"Thomas," he said louder, almost in a plea. My chest tightened at his voice and for some reason, instead of ignoring him as I would have liked, I glanced towards him.

"What do you want?" I growled in annoyance.

"You won't tell anyone, right?"

His voice softened a little, showing a side of vulnerability. Was this the method he used when asking his parents to buy him shiny new things? Batting his lashes and pretending to be kind until he got what he wanted?

"I thought you two weren't dating."

There was a pause. "Not officially," he admitted. "It's complicated, alright? Just... Just don't tell."

"Is that a request or a demand?"

"Both."

"If you say the magic word, I might think about it."

And he shamelessly said it.

"Please."

I glared at him, sighed, and leaned my elbows against my knees.

"Eli, was it?"

His back straightened at his name, the waves of his blond hair falling over his forehead.

"I'll be completely honest with you. Whatever is going on between you and-" I paused.

"Steven."

"Steven," I repeated. "I couldn't give less of a damn. He wants to cheat? Fine, whatever, everyone knows he's a douche anyway. You want to be his closeted little secret? Cool, not my problem," I said. "I already have too much on my plate and better things to do than waste my time bullying two irrelevant people."

He scowled, but I didn't stop.

"I have real problems to deal with and high school isn't one of them. And FYI, the world doesn't revolve around you. I've got better things to do," I said.

Eli's cheeks flushed slightly red and he looked like he wanted to talk back, but he bit his lower lip and remained silent. I guess he wasn't as dumb as I thought.

"And if you really want me to stay silent, then why don't you get on your knees and start helping me scrape these tables." I raised my brows. "Or is that too much for you to handle, pretty boy?"

Eli refused to look my way, but he hopped off the table and put on his latex gloves. He tried to flip the table onto its side, but he let out a funny noise when he tried to lift the leg.

You've got to be kidding me.

He tried again, his face now a bright red, using all the strength he had in his puny little arms, but the table wouldn't budge. Heck, he couldn't even get it two inches off the ground.

I stared, dumbfounded.

I held back a sigh and stood up, walking towards him.

"Move aside, princess, you're going to shit your pants at this rate."

He let go of the legs, panting. I rolled my eyes and pushed the table, carefully setting it onto its side.

"I could have done it myself," he mumbled.

"You're welcome," I replied acidly.

I returned back to my original spot and continued cleaning the bottom of the table. The aroma of fruit made my nose wrinkle.

When I finished three tables, Eli was still on his first. I glanced towards the clock and realized that there were only a few more minutes until detention was over, so I decided to help him finish, ignoring the astonished look on his face.

"Is your head okay?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"There's nothing wrong with my head," I snapped, but Eli shook his head.

"I was talking about your injury from this morning. You were bleeding."

I blinked, feeling kind of stupid.

"Oh."

There was a short pause.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a small scratch, don't worry."

"I wasn't worried."

"I am tempted to throw this dried piece of gum at your face, don't push it."

He didn't answer, too busy focusing in the pink gum stuck in the middle. It was kind of fun seeing him struggle.

"Why were you bending over in the middle of the sidewalk?" He asked, his voice strained as he angrily scraped at the edges of the gum. I pushed him aside and plucked it off with my spatula, throwing it in the bin.

"Picking up a quarter."

"Why?"

I shrugged.

"I see free money, I pick it up. Simple logic."

He gawked at me as if I was speaking alien to him.

"It's a poor people thing, you wouldn't understand," I laughed half-heartedly.

I expected Eli to smirk or sneer, but he remained quiet until detention was over.

We threw away the gum and gloves and put the tables back as they were. Well, I did anyway, Eli watched. At least he waited for me.

When we left the school building, he took out a fancy leather wallet from his bag. He placed something into my palm, his soft, delicate fingers brushing over my skin.

I raised my brows when I saw that he placed a quarter in my hand.

"Giving to the poor," he said. "It's a rich people thing, you wouldn't understand."

I felt grateful and insulted (mostly insulted), and watched him walk away before looking down at the quarter. I brushed my thumb over the surface of the cold metal and the corner of my lips pulled into a small smile.

I guess he was kind of cute.

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