#mchqeli

who? eli c. self para

what? new directions audition

when? august 29th, following blaine’s performance

where? mckinley auditorium

cause if one day you wake up and find that your missing me, and your heart starts to wonder where on this earth I can be thinking maybe you'd come back here to the place that we'd meet, and you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street. so I'm not moving.

Okay, so maybe going on after Blaine wasn’t his greatest idea.  Eli stood off to the side of the stage with his mouth hanging open after the younger Anderson’s performance.  Even palming over his mouth to try and wipe it off didn’t do much good.  When Blaine turned to go off the stage, Eli might’ve resembled a deer-caught-in-the-headlights as his mind screamed how in the hell was he going to follow that?  Yeah, cool.  No problem.  

Blaine’s hand clasped his shoulder cause that’s what Blaine was bound to do seeing the other boy stunned and swallowing around a golf ball sized lump in his throat.  Eli felt like he took a swig of water in slow motion.  He heard something and he didn’t remember what it was.  Probably never would but, no doubt, it was something alluding to him nailing it or whatever.  Another drink and he breathed in deep, tossed nervous smile over his shoulder and walked towards the spotlight.

Here goes nothing..

“Hello, my name is Eli Clearfield.  Another new guy.  Thank you for the opportunity.  I’ll be singing a song I couldn’t get out of my head lately.  Hope you enjoy it.”  His fingers shook less when he was trying out for football in front of a dozen or so people who didn’t know his face from some random stranger’s and they all looked like they were ready to tackle him to the ground to prove who was the top dog.  Yeah, he’d take football try-outs over opening his mouth and nothing coming out any day.  Or worse.  Some crackling mess of a voice and no means of ever living it down.  Funny how the first few notes just seemed to feel good.  Yeah, he could make this work.  He had to make this work.  No going back now.

style is knowing what suits you, who you are, and what your assets are. it is also accepting it all. - bianca jagger

Elijah doesn’t remember any of his life in England.  His father retired from a very successful career in pharmaceuticals when Elijah turned two joining his mother who retired from her position in the same field as a researcher when she found out she became pregnant with a very unexpected little boy.  Leaving England to join some family and friends who moved stateside, the Clearfield’s easily slipped into the Boston/Hamptons Elite and Elijah enjoyed a very content and comfortable life not having the pressure on him that his older siblings had from stressed out parents who wanted their children to do the best.

Not that Eli got off easy as a kid.  The expectations were still high and he rose to meet them bustling from Catholic school to a private middle school and high school career.  All the while, his best friend Fletcher who he met in second grade was there for him.  The two were always with one another.  From sports to summers to weekends, the boys rarely were seen apart.  Fletcher was more outgoing in the awkward pre-teen phase of their childhood and, thank God, for small favors.  He brought Eli out of his shell and kept him even-keel for the most part since most of Eli’s other influences were casual friends and much older adults.  That could have gone very badly.  They shared everything.  Stories about girls they liked.  Things they were afraid of.  Plans for the future.  How they sometimes wished their families were around more.  Eli even knew that Fletcher once had a crush on his older sister and he didn’t even hate him for it like he did his sister’s real boyfriend.

What started out as friendship began to take a different turn in the summer of Eli’s freshman into sophomore year. During a game of Never Have I Ever, Eli found out that Fletcher had kissed a boy.  Jealousy wasn’t something Eli was very familiar with until that night.  It was a rough road on him discovering why.  Until on the last week of their vacation?  Fletcher had had enough of Eli’s attitude and dared Eli to kiss him since that seemed like what started it all..  Eli wouldn’t be seen as weak or shy and did it.

The two kept kissing one another throughout their sophomore year..  

Their houses.  The woods out back.  Under the bleachers.  In the locker room.  In empty hallways.  Or not so empty ones.  Eli hated leaving Fletcher behind when his family decided to move to Ohio after one of his father’s friends had.  He yelled and fought against it for weeks, pouted, even cried when the move was done and he was left missing his best friend.

In the first month after his transfer?  He’d joined the football team, made some friends but no one felt like they could replace Fletcher.  Until he met Blaine.  Blaine was a sweet boy.  A lot different than Fletcher but he was kind, talented and out.  The first out boy Eli had ever met that he called a friend.  Even in a city like Boston, kids felt pressured to belong enough that a lot of them hid it.  Or were so out and involved in community that they had the support they needed.  Eli was dumbfounded when he found out Fletcher was now one of them.  He was proud, happy.  But when asked if he was going to do the same thing?  Eli wasn’t barely sure of what he was.  Much less coming out.  Girls were great to kiss.  They tasted good, smelled good. Were fun to be around.  Boys just seemed easier to bond with.   That was a normal way of thinking for anyone, wasn’t it?

Blaine being so bold piqued Eli’s curiosity.  He watched as the other was who he was and was proud of it.   Until he started seeing the looks the other boy got behind his back (or not so behind his back) and started to hear the whispers from the other boys.  Especially ones he called friends.  Unknown to Blaine?  Eli ‘coming out’ was because two boys were making fun of Blaine so bad in the locker room one day that Eli sprouted off something about liking guys as much as he liked girls.  Just in a different way and he didn’t know what the big deal was.  High schoolers aren’t known to be forgiving about a slip that big and the context was blown up.  Eli stayed on the team because he was good.  But stopped going to the parties after the games.  Right home (or to Blaine’s) after practice and sooner or later?  His social circle dwindled to Blaine and girlfriends.  A lot of girl...friends.   When Blaine suggested they attend the last dance of the school year together?  Eli wouldn’t have said no even if he wasn’t determined to prove a point.  The price they paid?  Landed Eli in the Emergency Room, Blaine hospitalized.

Eli returned to school a week later.  Bruises fading but his pride ready to strike back.  It started out with a jeer from the jocks who passed him in the hall.  The word ‘fag’ was said.  Eli’s fist greeted someone’s mouth.  Jersey 21 joined in with a vengeance.  By the end of it?  Eli had a broken collarbone and blood running down his chest from a set of metal cleats greeting his skin and clavicle.  There are four perfectly parted scars still there to remind him to check someone’s shoes before you throw a punch.  Teachers found them and broke the fight up.

The Clearfields have decided it’s best their son change schools in the wake of what happened.  Dax and his wife plan on moving to America in the winter, so their parents decided to buy a house in Lima as well since they have friends in town and enjoy it here.  Through the summer, the family moved and Eli is starting fresh.

it’s amazing how quickly things can go from bad to total shit storm.  - martin castrogiovanni