Chapter Nine

Trying New Things

After Zoe departed, Tyler pulled up his camera and pointed it in Elias’s direction. “Well, what would you like to do first?”

It was quite the question. Elias sucked in a breath and held it for a moment before releasing. He had just made the case for himself to stay and see if this was where he was meant to end up; he could not risk letting Tyler see just how anxious he was still feeling about the whole thing. His grandfather had given him an incredible opportunity to change the course of his life. He could not simply waste it, and in the grand scheme of things a fortnight was not much time. He would need to dive in, regardless of not having any plans or any ideas about what to do next in this strange new place. No time for fear or hesitation.

“Hmm… Well, I suppose in order to answer that I would need to know what my options are. What do people our age usually do for recreation in the future—erm, the present—the now?”

Tyler laughed in response to Elias’s fumbling, and Elias suddenly felt lighter, as if the anxiety he had just been facing had all but evaporated. In the short time he had known this young man, he was becoming acutely aware of just how much he enjoyed that laugh.

Tyler seemed to contemplate the inquiry before replying, “Well, I’m usually behind this thing.” As he said it, he nodded to the magical device in his hands. “But that’s not typical of everyone. Other times my friends and I will go out to eat, go see a movie.”

“A movie?”

“A film, a moving picture—like what I showed you on my camera just…on a much bigger scale.” Tyler smirked. “I’ve got a lot to teach you. C’mon.”

Elias did not know where Tyler was about to lead him, but he was open to anything, so he obliged, trotting after him, until something caught his eye.

Out in the courtyard, in front of the school’s main campus, a handful of students were tossing around a red disc.

Elias stopped abruptly, but Tyler had not seemed to notice, continuing on in the direction of the dormitory.

“I want to do that!” he called out, finally causing Tyler to stop and turn around.

Elias felt drawn to the group like a moth to a flame. They seemed relaxed, carefree…fun. So different from the young people in his family’s social circle.

As he walked over to them he could hear protests from Tyler in the form of “No, wait!” You can’t just—” “But they’re…” but Elias did not let these utterances deter him.

“Hello there!” Elias called out. His heart was thumping in his chest, and he could feel beads of sweat forming along his brow. In spite of his fear, there was an invigorating sense of freedom in knowing that if he faced the same sort of social rejections here that he did back home, there was a lovely little trinket in his pocket that could take him far, far away in an instant. “Would you mind if I joined you in this bit of sport?”

“‘Bit of sport’?” a brawny boy with brown hair that had been slicked back asked, waving the red disc about. “Do you not know what a Frisbee is?”

Technically, he did not, but the whole point of his deal with Tyler was that he would be adapting and trying to fit in, so he figured it was best not to say as much.

A girl with long hair and shockingly bare legs intervened. “Shut up, Charlie! Clearly he’s not from around here.” She started to twirl a strand of that long hair around one of her fingers. “Where’s that accent from?”

“London.”

As soon as Elias said it, faces brightened, some of the others moved in closer, and he could have sworn he even heard a few “ohhs” and “aahhs.” It was like his being from Britain had them all suddenly enamored with him. Had he known that this would be the way Americans reacted to the English he would have planned on running off to America years ago.

They all introduced themselves, and once it came time for Elias’s introduction, Tyler stepped in and introduced him as some distant relative (a third cousin twice removed or something of the sort) who was on holiday visiting the States. Elias could not help but raise a speculative eyebrow in Tyler’s direction. Just last night he had introduced him to his friends as an exchange student that Tyler had taken under his wing. There were now two stories out in the world, two explanations for why he was there, which was more than a little risky.

He knew exactly what Tyler was doing. Now that he had agreed on giving Elias a trial period, Tyler had already determined that Elias would be returning home or going somewhere else once those fourteen days were expired. Elias forced down his frustration and tried to focus on the positive: the new friendships that were blossoming before his very eyes.

After some more conversation (which mostly consisted of the others requesting that he say specific words and then fawning over his inflection) the game that they were playing resumed. When the Frisbee was tossed in Elias’s direction, he failed miserably in his attempt to catch it. He went to pick it up, but when he thrust the object forward it fell right in front of him. The others laughed, but it wasn’t in the way his parents’ friends used to laugh at him. There was something different in this laughter, something that made him feel like he was also in on the joke…like he wasn’t alone.

A girl with bouncing golden curls and tight blue trousers that someone had referred to as “skinny jeans,” which honestly looked more like underclothes rather than garments to be worn out in broad daylight, eagerly stepped in to show Elias the proper technique. It took a few tries, but eventually Elias was able to make the disc float through the air. He resisted the urge to cry out “I did it!” because he worried it would make him sound like some wide-eyed child, but the glee he felt was comparable.

Occasionally, he would look over to Tyler, but his bespectacled eyes were fixed on the camera. Eventually one of the students addressed him by calling out, “Why are you filming us, perv?” Elias didn’t know what a “perv” was, but he could tell by the shade of pink that Tyler’s cheeks turned, it was not anything good. Elias understood. How many times in social situations had he felt like the odd one out? The difference was that Tyler at least had Oscar and Zoe, though they weren’t here with him now.

After a bit, the activity was winding down, and some of the others were retreating to their dormitories. The girl with the long hair and the tiny skirt, who Elias now knew was named Vanessa, walked over to him and Tyler. “We’re going to have a Gathering tonight…you should come, Ty, and bring your British cousin along.”

“Uh, thanks Vanessa. Maybe. We’ve got a lot planned while he’s in town, but we’ll see.”

Charlie clapped a hand on Tyler’s shoulder, and Tyler’s cheeks turned pink once more, but something told Elias that this time it was for a different reason. “Yeah, come on, Ty. We never see you out at the Gatherings. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll see you there.” Tyler’s eyes went straight toward the ground before gesturing over to Elias. “Come on, Eli, we should really get going.”

Elias nodded to his new companions and flashed a grin before hurrying off after Tyler.

“What are these gatherings they were talking about?”

“It’s a party that all the popular kids have out in the woods after lights out,” Tyler explained. “People drink and dance and make out.”

“Make out?”

“Kissing. People don’t kiss in 1886?” Tyler flashed him a skeptical look over his shoulder.

“Not when they are not married,” Elias responded.

“Ah, well, see, then it would be a bad idea anyway,” Tyler said, a little too quickly. “Too much too fast, ya know. It could be culture shock.”

“Or, it could be exactly what I need. Socialization. A chance to learn more about your culture and customs firsthand. Plus I do so love a good party. I’m no stranger to drinks, in particular red wine.” The image of a dark stain marring a painting flashed into his mind, and Elias shuddered. But he quickly composed himself, wanting to seem confident in his assertion that they should be going to this party.

“Trust me, it’s a bad idea.”

“You’ve said that to just about everything I have proposed since my arrival. Please, Ty?”

Tyler rolled his eyes and immediately Elias regretted using the nickname. “None of those guys actually call me that. They were just warming up to me so that my cool British cousin would come.”

Elias couldn’t hide his smile. “It’s the first time anyone’s actually wanted me to be in attendance somewhere.”

Tyler stopped walking for a moment. Elias hadn’t intended on gaining sympathy or eliciting guilt with the statement. It had simply been a statement of fact. But he could tell it had touched something in Tyler.

“Maybe,” was all he said as they continued back to his dormitory.