Emancipating from his parents hadn't been a hard decision. After they realized how expensive dance was they'd not wanted to support it anymore. Not even with the academy giving him a full scholarship until he was eighteen. So, Eli had found a way to build a court case and got himself a place to stay near the academy and even transferred himself to a new high school.

It was a great place too. He even had a favorite teacher that he had a crush on. Not that he would ever do anything about that but it was still nice. With lots of friends he was able to have a normal life even on his own.

But then he turned eighteen a month into his senior year and suddenly the academy wouldn't give him money anymore. Left with no choice he'd found a job exotic dancing in the shady parts of town. Which suddenly left him with little time for sleeping and less time for doing all his homework. Still, he made it work so his grades wouldn't slip and tried to find time to sleep when he could.

In this case it was during a study period.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he stirred and rubbed his face. Looking to see who wore him up, he found it was actually his favorite teacher. Oops. Quickly he had a smile on his face to cover up anything.

"Sorry, Mr. Cooper. I must have dozed off," he murmured softly.