Through the Dark

Chapter 9

On Monday morning I woke up with renewed energy. Thea and I had to go to school earlier than usual that day as we had basketball practice in the morning before the classes began. It was tiring but our Principal suggested that we keep on playing while continuing with all our classes until the next few days. The Principal and the committee had come to this conclusion because eventually we would have to miss our classes due to the intense practice sessions right before the tournament began. 

Practice in the morning efficiently kept my mind out of all other things and it acted as a good refreshment. For a while it seemed that everything was fine but reality struck me as soon as the bell rang meaning the end of our playing session. It was the first bell that was introduced for us players half an hour before the actual classes began. We quickly freshened up in the locker following which we all rushed to our classes. 

Along with Aiden and Finn, I had back to back English Language in the first two periods. It was one of the many reasons why I absolutely detested Mondays. It was the beginning of the week meaning that I had to endure the whole week again before the weekend and that thought alone was enough to begin my headache. On top of that, it had to start with none other than double English classes of Mr. Duke who could not make it any more banal. It was a compulsory subject for which we were bound to do it.

As the usual ordeal, Aiden dosed off half way through the class while Finn and I somehow managed to survive it like every other day. Nevertheless, it was a good time for me to really process all my thoughts and plan my way through the week. The whole class was quiet, with half the students dosing off, while our teacher kept on explaining something about about writing essays and the beauty of it. 

After English we had English Literature before recess. 

"I will file a complaint saying that I cannot concentrate in class after I play in the morning," Aiden said yawning as we all sat down in the cafeteria. 
"Why?" Finn questioned.
"If by the complaint our principal decides to let us skip the coming classes before the tournament why wouldn't I take that opportunity," replied Aiden.

"I will do too. The more people the better," Nathan added. 
"Guys wouldn't it affect your academics?" asked Finn. 
"If it means that I won't have to attend a month of English Language or Literature classes I'm willing to take that risk," said Aiden. 
"I agree," Thea added. 
"Just a few more months until we get to choose our desired subjects," I stated.
"After that I will have to endure Mr. Duke's lecture alone," sighed Addison who was the only one who had planned to take both English Language and Literature. 

"Vee when's Reese going to go home?" Nathan asked. 
"The doctors didn't really said anything about that," I answered. 
"When will you start packing?" Finn inquired. 
"Today after school," I said and began to laugh internally while pondering about the situation. 

"What are you boys up to after school today? Addi and I are going to help Vee pack," Thea mentioned. 
"Nothing that I know of," replied Finn.

"Well I'm sort of busy," Aiden said. 
"Where are you going?" Thea inquired. 
"I planned to help Stacy with something," he replied shyly. Stacy was Aiden's neighbor and a year junior in our school. Aiden had been trying to get her attention since the past couple of days. 

"Don't do anything that I would not do," teased Nathan. 
"Come on, she just asked me to help her out," Aiden said and began to grin inadvertently.
Nathan motioned his hand as if he was sealing his lips with a lock which made Aiden chuckle.

The limited amount of time that we had during recess finished within a blink of the eye and all of us had to go to our respective classes. It was an arduous action attempting to sit up straight and to pretend giving attention in class provided that none of the classes were interesting. Above all, I was not nonchalant enough to give the attention that was required. On normal days I would just be bored but attentive. That day was definitely an exception. I was being ignorant about what was going on in class. Thinking that I would take it from one of my friends I skipped taking notes and did not even write the lecture properly.

By the end of the day I was beginning to get anxious and when the last bell rang, I was more than relieved to know that school was over for the day. Addison and Thea were waiting outside together and after I joined them, we all walked to my house. We could have taken the bus as we usually did but the weather outside was perfect and a walk amidst the impeccable weather seemed natural.

"So what should we start with?" Addison asked as soon as we reached my house and I unlocked the front door. 
"Closet?" I asked. As I entered the house, I inspected the whole of it at first to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary was prevalent like the previous days.

The night before, Reese had told me to just keep one of the luggage and to use the rest. As the girls went inside my room while I went inside Reese's to bring out the luggage which would carry my things. It was then when I remembered probably one of the most important events of the preceding day.

I forgot to tell Reese about the condition of her room that I had  seen prior to the heated conversation we had in the hospital. Amidst all the hurdles I had forgotten to tell her about that. I quickly called her to inform about it before I forgot. However, as the call went to a voicemail. I told her what a mess her room was after the beep.

I went inside my room to see both Addison and Thea changed out of their school uniforms and into my spare clothes. We were all similar sizes and it was honestly the best thing as we could literally wear what anything the other owned. Upon changing into more comfortable clothes, we three began the work on a full scale. It took us 2 whole hours to just assemble the clothes in my closet and put the things inside.

"How are you going to move all the things?" Thea sighed looking at the two luggage which were already filled to capacity with only the clothes inside.
"I have no frigging clue," I answered sitting on my bed.
"I just hope that Livia allows me to keep the books," I said looking at my bookshelf. There were about a hundred books in there which I simply adored. I would not be able to part from those in any way.

"You know it's a bit weird that you read but don't like Literature," Addison said as I was looking at the bookshelf.
"No it's not," I replied back.
"I like to read because it's relaxing. Literature in our school is all about passing the exams and writing an essay about what the writer may have thought at that point while he wrote the poem or something. Come on I need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure all that out," I said which made them laugh.
"You are wired differently that's all," Addi added making me laugh as well.

I had cultured the habit of reading at a very young age. It was mostly because my parents, as far as I could recall, they were very keen readers. Added to that, in my early years of life Reese had always encouraged me to read for she said that knowledge was the greatest power.

We spend the evening like the good old days when nothing was out of the normal. However, it was mostly Thea and Addison who did the talking while I was busy in my mind palace. There was this constant nagging inside my head which reminded me that things were about to change. Though I tried to pretend as if it did not affect me but in reality it did. I knew that people have far bigger and scarier problems in their life but at that time it was the scariest thing that I had to deal with in my entire life. In all honesty, I was frightened that not everything will go well.