9 Trouble Brewing

'Finally.'

Eli thought after seeing secretary Kim off. She bolted the door and rested the back of her head against it. It had been an intense couple of days for her. She had finally come to an agreement with Secretary Kim, well, more like imposes herself on him but that's beside the point.

The point was, an agreement was reached and a contract was drafted. Would it be signed by her proclaimed grandfather, John Carter? That, she would find out in a couple of days. For now, she needed rest. She looked around the room and sighed.

It was going to be a long night.

Eli spent the next one hour and a half cleaning, which would have taken about forty minutes took twice as long due to her sprained shoulder. While the house was relatively neat before, being the clean freak she was, it felt like a mess.

But now that she was done, the house finally felt live-able. She put away the cleaning supplies and walked into her bedroom. She had had a tour of the house as she cleaned.

Apart from not being high-end, the previous hosts' bedroom style was very much in sync with her aesthetics. While it was small, the bedroom was painted white- which gave the illusion of more space. It also had white curtains, a coffee dresser, and had a single college student-sized bed by the left wall of the room. It gave off a very minimalistic vibe.

Eli tore off the sweaty clothes she had been wearing for the past two days and threw them into the laundry basket before walking into the bathroom. The image in the mirror looked very unkempt. Her short hair was disheveled, and her eyes- bloodshot and had dark circles underneath them.

Eli boiled some water in the kettle and took a long shower, washing away the dirt and the lingering smell of disinfectant on her body. After her shower, she dried herself thoroughly and stood in front of the mirror again, her arm in a sling partially holding onto the towel around her chest and the other, wiping away the fog that had gathered on the mirror.

The reflection in the mirror was of an unfamiliar girl. Eli had an idea of what she looked like from the previous host's memories and her brief glance earlier, but seeing herself fresh out of the shower and without the messy bangs hit a bit differently.

Her face was so breathtakingly beautiful that she stared at herself silly, unable to move her eyes. The girl in the mirror had an androgynous-looking face, with her sunken cheeps, short hair, and bony frame, she looked very much like an adorable young man. It was no wonder she was usually mistaken as male.

With Eli's cold temperament coming into the mix, her beauty seemed eternal, like something out of this world. It was no wonder she had gotten a lot of looks all the way from the hospital to the funeral home.

With a face like this, she could become one of the top beauties in the city. Heck! She could go into the entertainment industry and simply earn money by doing nothing but being pretty. It was a face very different from hers in her previous life. While she was also a beauty by all accounts and had had more of a feminine-vixen-looking face, it was no match for this.

This face could stop traffic! It was a pity the previous host kept it hidden with her overgrown bangs. Being the timid kid she was, she did not appreciate the attention her appearance brought especially after surviving a pedophile as a foster parent.

Eli ran her hand through her short hair and decided to visit a barbershop for a haircut. For now, she needed rest.

Eli slept through the better part of the morning and did not get up until the sound of her mobile phone ringing woke her.

She groaned and felt around for the device until she found it. Looking at the screen of the vibrating device, the caller ID read "Bully No. 4". Eli signed, 'it is too early for this' she thought but her finger still hovered around the answer button. She couldn't put off dealing with the previous host's unfinished business any longer.

"Speak" Eli ordered irritably after accepting the call. Her voice, husky from just waking up.

The person at the end of the line paused for a couple of seconds before answering. "Eli, it's Jeffery, the class rep?" Jeffery replied much like a question. He was gearing up to blow up once the call connected.

It was bad enough that the Homeroom teacher had to saddle him with the class freak but now the said freak has the balls to take her sweet time answering his call. However, hearing the absolute command from the oddly hot voice, he didn't even notice when his anger faded.

'Mrs. Makenzie asked me to give you a call to let you know that you need to be in school next week. She asked that i...I tell you to check your emails and return her call." She had indeed seen a couple of missed calls from her homeroom teacher amongst others.

"Is that all?" Eli drawled.

Jeffery did not know why he suddenly felt tense while speaking with Eli. "Yes, that's why I called"

"En got it," Eli replied before ending the call.

Jeffery listened to the dial tone and pulled it away from his ear towards his face to confirm his thoughts.

He frowned. 'She...Did she just hang up on me?'

Jeffery huffed. "Little punk, got me tripping," he exclaimed.

'Wait until I tell the rest you're coming back next week. Let's see if you will still have that attitude' He thought menacingly, pocketing his mobile phone and heading to class.

Eli, ignorant of the trouble brewing, flung the duvet off her body and sat up before carefully stretching her arm and shoulder. It hurt slightly, but it was obvious it was healing nicely.

She walked towards the window. The weather today was pleasant. The sun was up, large white clouds were splattered around the blue sky and the smell of rain from yesterday still lingered in the air making one feel very comfortable.

Eli let out a long sigh. 'This weather was perfect for watching Harry Potter, and patting Lucifer's furr' she thought. How she missed him. Deciding she did not dwell on the past, she pinched her sore shoulder. The pain pulled her out of her reverie which was her intent.

" it's time to get my affairs in order"