When Eli woke up, it was morning. The game he had pyed the night before was still running on his ptop. Eli had really enjoyed pying Elder Scrolls 6, but by far, Elder Scrolls 7: Valenwood was his favourite of the franchise. He had also purchased Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim not too long ago. It was the 60-year anniversary edition. Eli slowly climbed out of his chair and began his morning stretches. He had to loosen up his leg every day. Otherwise, walking would be hell, especially on the first day of school. After finishing his morning stretches, Eli quickly got dressed and headed into the kitchen. Eli spotted that the coffee pot had coffee in it and quickly headed over. Yeah, Amy definitely said something, but it wasn’t important compared to getting his morning coffee. Once Eli sat down at the table and took a rexing sip of the liquid gold, Eli finally looked at Amy.

  “Hah I’m alive, alright, I know you definitely said something to me but it wasn’t as important as getting some coffee so…” Eli leaned back in his chair and enjoyed the warmth of the coffee.

  “Hahaha no worries, I merely said good morning and asked how you were doing… Eli, did you forget your gsses?”

  “No, I don’t wear gsses.”

  “Well there is a vision doctor on campus that can help with your zy eye.”

  “Lazy eye?” Eli quickly fished a mirror out of his pocket. He always kept it with him just for this. Eli noticed that his left eye had drifted to the side again. He quickly straightened it back out.

  “Sorry, I lost my eye in an incident during my 2nd year of high school, it’s also how I hurt my knee which is why I have a limp. I need a cane but I spent all my savings on this gss eye and every make-shift cane I have made my parents have thrown out.”

  “They WHAT!”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m used to it at this point. It’s how they teach me to have discipline and responsibility in my life.”

  “Eli, that's not responsibility, that's abuse.”

  “Like I said, I'm used to it. Hopefully I can move out when I turn 18 but I know that’s not likely.”

  “Huuh, there is so much wrong with that sentence I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s not focus on the negative stuff. Are you going to the party tomorrow?”

  “What party?”

  “Did you hear anything I said before you sat down with your coffee?” Amy looked at him with exasperation but also a small smirk at the end.

  “No, needed coffee.”

  “And I thought that I wasn’t a morning person. Either way, the Charlie Alpha Libra Echo Beta house, otherwise called the CALEB house, is hosting a massive party tomorrow night. I was wondering if you intended to go.”

  “Eh, I'm not really a party person.” Eli could only think back to the few parties he had attended throughout high school. The first two years had been hell, bullied and ostracised at every social event until Jake Benson had graduated. After that, every other thug at the school decided to pick up the sck.

  “Come on, I promise you will have a good time. I will introduce you to my friends so that you aren’t alone at the party. The CALEB house hosts a huge number of activities throughout the building, I guarantee that if you go you will have a good time.”

  “Fine, I guess I can check it out. I don’t really want you to go out of your way to do this though, if you don’t want the hassle just let me know.”

  “Nonsense, everyone needs friends at college and this will be a good opportunity to make some friends.”

  “Alright, I mean, if you don’t mind.” Eli gnced at the clock. He was running te.

  “Shit, sorry, got to go.” Eli got out of his chair and quickly ran around the apartment as he tried to get all of his stuff together.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Amy ughed as he headed out the door,

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  Eli managed to get to css with 5 minutes to spare. The css was already quite full. It was the first day of css, afterall. Eli quickly spotted two avaible seats: one over by two gym bros in the middle of a pretty animated conversation and a quiet girl sitting in the back right corner of the room, his kind of people. Eli turned and started making his way towards the girl.

  "Hey, why not come sit with us, huh?"

  "You don't want to sit next to that bitch, do you?"

  "Come on, we don't bite, much."

  "cut it out dude, that's kinda gay."

  "oh fuck you bro."

  "Sure, when and where."

  Eli just ignored the guys and continued heading over to the girl. He pulled his sweater a little tighter and tried to stoop so that he was just a little smaller and less noticeable. Eli had tried to act like those two guys once, tried to force himself to bulk up and be super masculine. There had been some results over the two months Eli kept the routine up, but the people had been the worst. All these dudes constantly trying to one-up each other, as well as the weird touching. It had turned Eli right off of the whole thing. That’s without getting into how the more muscle Eli put on, the worse he felt. The more he looked in the mirror, the more of a weird stranger he saw.

  "Sorry to bother you, but all the other seats were taken."

  "No worries. I wouldn't want to sit next to those guys either," the girl said with a smile. Her warm chocote brown eyes were perfectly framed by her chin-length brown hair. Eli stood there staring for a moment before he looked away in embarrassment.

  "E-E-El-Eli, my name is Eli."

  "Well, E-E-E-Eli, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

  Eli suddenly found his desk very interesting. Thankfully, before things could get any worse, the teacher decided to start doing roll call. It took a few moments for the teacher to work his way down to R, but Eli’s name finally came up.

  "Elliot Rivers"

  Eli slowly got to his feet. His leg was particurly troublesome after he had to run to css this morning. Today was going to suck. "Here sir, though I prefer if you used El..."

  "I don't care.” Eli was cut off by the professor, a tall, pale-skinned man who seemed to be well into his sixties with an attitude to match. “Do you have a problem with your name? Fix it with the government. Otherwise, it's not my problem."

  At this, Eli kind of defted into his seat. He hated when teachers insisted on using his full name.

  "Sorry about him. He's quite well known among the student body as the worst teacher to change your name with, I'm sorry to say, but he will probably call on you quite a bit today just for that ."

  "why?"

  "Because he's a bigoted piece of shit whose head is so far up his ass, you would think it was 60 years ago. By the way my name is Rachel. I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier."

  "Well, thanks for that, Rachel, though it still sucks that he is going to insist on calling my Elliot all day."

  "why? If you don't mind me asking that is."

  "I don't know. Elliot always seems so stiff and stuffy, never really felt like it fit me." Eli kind of squirmed in his seat. Every time the topic came up, he felt awkward and uncomfortable and didn’t know why.

  "Interesting. I might have some people for you to meet ter." Rachel said with a knowing smile, though what she knew Eli could only guess at.

  "what do you me-"

  "All right, css. Enough chit-chat. Let's begin the lesson." The teacher was quick to end the students' banter and begin the lesson.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  Rachel was right. The two hours that the css sted seemed to drag on forever. Whenever the teacher would address the css with a question, he would always call on Eli, ensuring to use his full legal name: Every. Single. Time. The worst part though, was that when Eli didn’t know the answer, the teacher would continuously berate him for not knowing the answer, always ciming that this was simple English and that everyone should know this. For the entire duration of the css, the professor never once called on another student.

  At the end of css, Eli was ready to cry and quickly made his way out of the cssroom, his leg compining at him the entire time, reminding him of his mistake of being te that morning. Eli had just sat down on a nearby bench in front of a row of hedges when he saw a girl walking around the corner of the building, heading across the courtyard. She was tall, blond-haired and blue-eyed. Eli thought that the girl looked familiar, but he couldn’t pce why. Eli continued to mull the thought over in his mind for a few minutes as he rexed. His next css was in an hour.

  Eli had sat on the bench for 10 minutes when the girl walked back into view. Eli stood up with a jolt. The girl looked like Jake Benson, but there was no way that was him. Eli has ensured to enroll at a college on the opposite side of the Greater Toronto Metropolitan Area but the girl walking across the courtyard looked just like him. The girl's frame was distinctly feminine. Eli was uncertain as to who this girl could be. Maybe she was a sibling or a cousin. Eli had no desire to find out.

  Eli forced his way through the bushes behind him and onto the path on the other side. Once Eli was through the bush, he ran off in the direction of his next css, hoping to put as much distance between him and this girl as possible.

  ______________________________________________________________________________

  Eli finally made his way into the apartment after two more csses that day. His leg protested constantly after Eli decided not once but twice that running was a good idea. His leg was making sure that its opinion on the matter was understood loud and clear.

  Eli slumped into one of the kitchen chairs, feeling exhausted after everything that had happened that day Eli was mentally done with the day.

  “Are you alright there? You seem exhausted.” Amy walked around the corner to see Eli slumped in the chair and looked at him with concern.

  “It’s nothing, my leg is just making its opinion known about me having to run twice in one day.”

  “Twice? I get this morning but why with your leg in the condition that it’s in did you decide to run a second time?”

  “Not going to lie, though I saw a ghost. Must have been imagining things but I saw this girl who looked like the spitting image of this guy I used to know. I don’t remember him having any siblings though.”

  “Maybe it is him.”

  “No way, it couldn’t be him. Not Mr. Manly man from Manville himself. He would never be caught dead crossdressing. Besides, this girl looked far too feminine to be him. They just have a very simir face. It must be a cousin or something.”

  “I mean you never know when Xenos powers get involved.”

  “True enough but I am honestly just too tired and sore right now, I am going to lie down for a while, hopefully my leg will feel better in a bit.”

  “Alright then, see you then. You really should get a cane though.”

  “I learned that lesson the hard way. No way will I be able to get one. Either way, good night.”