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The start of it all:
They’re 14, and it’s June 12th, 2016, and their parents agree to let them have a collective sleepover at Sam’s place, the day after their middle school graduation.
Things have…changed, lately, in a way none of them quite understand. Their classmates have already wondered why none of them are dating, and this isn’t entirely unsurprising…but they’re not the only ones. Sam has had more than one teacher drop completely unsubtle hints, remarks like “He’s pretty cute, huh?” and “It’s okay to date your friend, Sam.”
Not to Aisha, remarkably, though Aisha counts her blessings for that, and Sam envies her for it. She hates fielding those questions, especially when they come from her, Demetri, and Eli’s parents.
(Not her father, strangely, but she doesn’t question this).
The point is, simply, that they know that this is likely one of the few times when things will be completely normal between them. So they pile on the couch in Sam’s guesthouse, snacks strewn here and there, Parent Trap playing on the flatscreen—because, as it turns out, the LaRussos are that kind of rich.
They have a long queue for tonight, built over the past few months, but Demetri and Aisha know they’re not actually going to get through more than four movies—they’re already two movies in, and it’s nearing midnight. It doesn’t matter, none of it does, because they’re all clustered together and laughing as they watch the twins play pranks on their judgmental stepmother-to-be, and everything is perfect.
“Take that, Cruella!” Sam cheers, as Meredith wakes up out on the water and screams.
“Hurry up, boys!” Aisha calls, because five minutes ago, they realized they needed popcorn, and Demetri immediately volunteered to go pop it, and Eli offered to go with. Aisha even winked at him.
He has something he wants to tell Demetri, after all. He’s been second-guessing it for weeks, but Aisha finally got him to get over his nerves and go for it, and for all that Eli isn’t quite brave, Demetri’s always been his exception.
Demetri turns to look at him then, smiling in that curiously adorable way that makes Eli’s stomach do flip-flops. “What?”
Eli blushes. “Demetri, I—”
Just then, the microwave goes off, and Demetri’s eyes widen—they open the door to find a bag of steaming popcorn…which usually means...
“Did you idiots burn the popcorn again?!”
The beginning of the end:
Yasmine sweeps back in as though she had any right to their company in the first place, offers Sam an “out.”
There’s a pretty girl standing behind Yasmine—given name Hannah, chosen name Moon. She smiles at Eli, but Eli looks away from her. She’s standing with Yasmine, she’s letting this happen—she’s a bully.
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Princess,” Demetri scoffs. “Sam would never.”
But Sam’s hesitating. Why is she hesitating?
“Leave them alone,” she repeats, her hands balled into shaking fists. Eli’s not sure if the shaking is new or if he’s just noticing it.
He’s not sure which option is better.
Demetri squeezes his hand under the lunch table, and Eli smiles. My knight in shining armor.
Eli’s no princess, but for Demetri, he’ll be anything. He’ll be at Demetri’s side until the end of their days.
Sam, unfortunately, doesn’t share this same loyalty.
“Fine. If you leave them alone…I’ll join you.”
Eli clenches his own fists under the table.
The rising action:
A kid named Miguel comes to town, beats up Kyler for his cruelty to Sam. Eli’s not a jerk, he can admit that despite his growing hate for Sam, what Kyler did isn’t okay.
He can also admit that he and Sam, apparently, have similar taste in guys. Demetri’s the only guy in Eli’s sights, and likely ever, but something about Miguel is…magnetic. Electric. Like nothing Eli’s ever seen. And Sam clearly feels the same, with how she’s looking at him.
There’s a reason, surely, why Sam and Eli got along so well as kids: fundamentally, they are similar people, even if Sam has always been more outwardly aggressive, while Eli’s aggression has always been more inborn. That similarity in personality also clearly extends to their romantic preferences.
Though, in one way, they differ: for all that Eli admires Miguel, his eyes are drawn moreso to his best friend, to Demetri, who speaks his mind and isn’t afraid of anyone, his forever-and-always knight in shining armor.
Sam’s never looked at Demetri or Eli that way, or even wanted to. So Eli’s content to let her have Miguel, while he has Demetri.
Will have. One day. It’s a work in progress, he’s getting there.
The turning point:
Things change quickly in a matter of months.
Hawk joins the Cobras, rises up their ranks. He’s Eli no more, he won’t be bullied or oppressed—he protects, he doesn’t need protecting.
He’s even befriended Miguel, to a degree that he’s kinda mad at Sam for breaking his heart the way she did. Once, he might’ve defended her, helped organize a reconciliation, but…he barely recognizes Sam anymore.
She looks horrified when she looks at him, which is frankly rich of her (pun completely intended). If she can change, why can’t he? She’s the one who fell in with Yasmine by choice, turning away at the cutting remarks to Aisha rather than pushing back as she used to. She’s the one dating around, smiling at Miguel and Robby and breaking their hearts in equal measure, shuffling between them like when she was a kid and had trouble choosing a favorite toy.
She’s always had a hard time making decisions. And the ones that she does make decisively don’t always end well for her.
This time, her love drama explodes in her face and drags them all down with her.
Eli doesn’t much care about the details of who provoked who first between Sam and Tory.
The facts, as he knows them, are simple: Sam dated Miguel and kept that a secret from her parents, then broke his heart because he got jealous of her and Robby and got a little drunk and pushed her when aiming for Keene. Then she dated Keene for a bit, while Miguel dated Tory, then Sam cheated on Keene with Miguel, and now Tory’s understandably angry, so she starts the fight at school.
And they all get swept up in it, in the adrenaline and anger…and Hawk’s no exception, because Demetri’s been no slouch in the hurting department either.
Why Demetri forgave Sam so fast, Hawk doesn’t know. But he wonders if maybe it’s because they’re so alike—preaching morality and being the bigger person, but not above cheating and prancing around and outing their best friend’s childhood miseries.
Demetri pushes him into a trophy case, but he’ll recover. Their friendship, on the other hand? Hawk’s not so sure.
Keene kicks Miguel off a balcony. Hawk doesn’t dare think that Miguel won’t recover too.
The nail in the coffin:
Sam, Hawk thinks darkly, should know better than to poke a napping Cobra. Especially a nest of us.
Sam knows Hawk, doesn’t she? Well enough to know that any strike will be met with equal strength at least, if not more.
But maybe that’s just it. Sam’s so caught up in Hawk’s flashy fury and aggression that she’s forgotten Eli’s greatest ally: Counselor Blatt.
Hawk (or Eli? He’s not sure at the moment) can’t disguise his grin as the pretty princess’s jaw falls open, as she’s scolded by the counselor who once thought her an angel, as she’s carted off to detention.
Hawk keeps pushing, keeps taunting, because they ought not forget who’s on top, who’s really concerned about Miguel’s recovery. As far as Hawk’s concerned, the Miyagi-Dos are all responsible, and the Cobras will see justice done.
Sam, in a move more aggressive than Hawk’s come to expect of her lately (maybe Sam isn’t the only one forgetting who their friend used to be), corners them at laser tag, with Miyagi-Do backing her.
“What do you want?” Hawk sneers.
“Payback,” Sam snarls, and it’s on.
It’s a brutal fight, with Miyagi-Do giving as good as they get—mostly Sam, a fierce fighting force. Eli wants to cheer her on, but Hawk scowls.
When Tory appears, when Sam’s mysteriously disappeared, Hawk rolls his eyes. That’s just like Sam, to disappear when things get hard.
And then he sees Demetri. His best friend, his crush, his—
For Demetri, he’ll be anything. He’ll be at Demetri’s side until the end of their days.
“Have any of you heard of sleep enuresis?”
—his enemy.
“Eli, stop, please!” Demetri cries, anguished, as Hawk grabs his arm tightly, kneeling down. “It’s me!”
“Do it! Finish him!” The Cobras cry behind him, rallying and strong.
The enemy deserves no mercy.
The time for sentiment, for Eli, is over.
A quick snap and it’s done.
The start:
Demetri, like a knight in shining armor, immediately hooks his right arm under Eli’s legs and his left arm around Eli’s shoulders, lifts him up into—
Into a bridal carry?!
The dramatic running and screaming is a bit much, but it’s also so very Demetri.
Despite Sam’s huffiness in response to the boys’ sheepishness, Eli catches the way she looks between them, the twinkle in her eye. Clearly she’s been talking to Aisha, and as she sweeps by them, Eli catches her staring at him and mouthing, Tell him!
But despite his clear resolve moments ago, he’s unsure now. How can he tell Demetri? His best friend, straight as an arrow, his only deviation from the norm being his comic book obsession? Even if Demetri doesn’t reject him outright…it’ll still change things. Demetri would hate having to break Eli’s heart like this, and Eli would hate himself for putting Demetri in that position.
So he pushes those feelings aside, and as Sam returns with a bag of Lays chips instead, they watch Nick Parker embrace his little girls. And Eli wonders just when his life got so complicated.