Week 3 Story: Eli's Social Death

 

    Somehow it had gotten out that Eli's older sister was Katie, the awesome senior who threw amazing parties throughout high school. Which, is cool and all, until you consider the fact that Eli is the complete opposite of Katie, barely leaving his room long enough to even hold a conversation with their stepdad. He doesn't even remember how it got out, the two of them only have an age gap of two years, so it's not like they're suddenly in the same school or anything. Why does it have to be now?! Midterms are coming up and I have so much studying to get done. Now that everyone knew he and Katie were related, all the other kids in his class were suddenly expecting him to throw a bomb party.

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"Okay, but why can't you help me," Eli whined," after all, it is kind of your fault in the first place!"

Rolling her eyes, Katie rapidly turned around to face her whiny little brother, "I don't see how you being an antisocial nerd is my fault. Also, I don't have the time to help you plan a party, I have to work on my college application and study for my ACT." After saying her piece, she left no room for argument, making her way to her room and slamming the door close. Well, there goes that idea, Eli thinks to himself.

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    The party was set for this Saturday and Eli was completely losing his mind. He had no idea how to throw a cool high school party, he had just started his sophomore year for God's sake! A couple of his friends had come to help him out, picking out music to play, snacks and drinks to eat, and activities to do. Though, for some reason, Eli had the distinct feeling that Scrabble was not considered a cool game for teenagers. The kids at school had been hyping this up for a week, and Eli just knew it was going to turn out badly. He and his friends had everything set up, their parents were out of town for the weekend, and Eli had just finished up his homework for the week. 

Scrabble: Maybe not the favorite past time of teens

    Eli spent the entire night tossing and turning in his bed. Tomorrow is probably going to be the official death of any chance I had of being popular, not that I wanted to be. He had never wanted to be a well-known or popular kid in school, but his sister kind of made it a bit difficult with her party animal tendencies. Yeah, she can throw a cool party, but I was the one who had to help her with her Calculus homework. 

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    So many whispers were traveling through the room only 30 minutes into the party.

        Are we sure he's really Katie's little brother?

        Dude, my grandma's funeral was more exciting than this! I'm gonna dip.

        Pizza sounds really good right now.

    Okay, so maybe the last comment wasn't really relevant, but there were still a lot of whispers. Eli had known this was going to happen. He had no experience in throwing parties and really had no desire to do so anyway, but Katie doesn't seem to have a single care for that. Eli could see a few kids eyeing the Scrabble board with disdain, mumbling about what kind of idiot would set out a board game at a high school party. Okay, well at least I tried. He wasn't going to wait for everyone to tell him how much of a loser he was, so he decided he was just going to head back to his room. The kids would surely leave on their own anyways.

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    "Yo, Katie! How come you never told us how much of a loser your little brother was?" Whipping her head around to the source of the comment, Katie probably had the scariest glint in her eyes that anyone had ever seen. Brandon, the one who had called out to her, flinched back at her gaze, wondering what exactly he had said wrong.

    "Listen," Katie began, poking a finger at Brandon's chest, "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't talk about my little brother that way. He doesn't like parties and you all pressured him into throwing one simply because we're related." For the past couple of weeks, all Katie had heard through whispers in the hallway was about how lame Eli was, and how they couldn't believe that they were even related. Siblings are just different, even if we're related, it doesn't mean we're carbon copies of each other. Although Katie tried her best to extinguish the rumors, they ended up following Eli for the rest of his high school years. Her relationship with her little brother was never the same, as she had done nothing to help him when it had in fact been her reputation that caused her brother to be humiliated by the entire school. A month after Eli's failed party, he had told his sister that he wished they weren't related, then he would've been able to live his high school years in peace, and Katie had no one to deny that she had been somewhat at fault. In college, Katie abstained from throwing parties, occasionally attending some parties, but never throwing one of her own.

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    Author's Note:

    I loosely based my story off of Ovid's Phaethon's Ride, which depicts the son of a mortal woman and the god Apollo who is seeking to prove his parentage. Phaethon's mother had told him that he was the son of Apollo, and as any kid would do, he bragged about it. When bragging about his parentage, the young boy was doubted, so he travels to the home of Apollo to have him confirm that he is in fact the boy's father. Apollo says that he will grant Phaethon a favor to prove that he is in fact his father, but when Phaethon requests to drive his chariot, he immediately regrets it. However, Apollo cannot go back on his promise, so he prepares his chariot and his horses for Phaethon, who is absolutely stoked to ride Apollo's chariot. Once the boy is all set up and takes off, he realizes that he should not have requested this ride, as he is struggling to control the horses, resulting in a fire being set upon the earth. In the end, the young boy ends up dying, struck by Zeus' lightning bolt so that no further damage occurs. Apollo deeply regrets that he ended up killing his son, even though he tried to convince his son not to drive the chariot. It is said that the earth was dark for a full day following the death of Phaethon because Apollo was too overcome by grief to take the daily chariot ride.

    I tried to follow a similar pattern to the original story, though I used siblings instead of father and son. I also tried to incorporate how it can be for two siblings who attend the same school. My sister and I attended the same school, but she is eight years younger than me and I started at our school much later, in 5th grade. So, it is only now that my sister is in class with some of the teachers who taught me, and none of them really expect us to be related. I was always a quiet kid in school, the one at the top of the class with only a few friends, while my younger sister is more outgoing, with tons of friends and active in sports, also with better grades than average.