Halley's comet | Steve Harrington

iii. excuse the children

"𝑾𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒔?"

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The first class Halley had was math, and, not that she would ever admit it, half the time she slept through it. It was easy, considering she sat in the back of the class and Mr. Atkins was an old man who couldn't see past the second row. Despite her lack of attention toward the subject, she had yet to fail a test.

Today, however, was different. Halley sat wide awake in the back of the class, her leg bouncing rapidly, eyes flitting toward the door or phone with every slight movement or sound. Anything out of the ordinary forcing her thoughts to Will. She could sense something was off, and she was determined to find him.

Caroline Cae eyed Halley throughout the lesson, finding it odd that she had an abnormal amount of consciousness. The two girls had never been close, and only talked when one of them needed help with a problem during test prep, but Caroline could tell something was on Halley's mind.

Deciding the pre-calc packet Mr. Atkins handed out could wait, Caroline leaned over, resting her elbows on Halley's desk, and waited to be acknowledged.

"Can I help you?" Halley said, not harshly, but not exactly welcoming either. Her left eyebrow lifted slightly, giving her icy blue eyes a glint of interest, but Caroline could tell her mind was somewhere else.

A pencil tapped lightly against the desk, though Halley didn't realize she was doing it. The noise was almost melodic, like a song playing on repeat in the back of your head. The boy to her left shushed her, and she was forced to notice the shakiness in her hands. She flashed him the same look a deer would give a driver in the night.

Caroline quietly cleared her throat, bringing Halley's attention back to her. "You seem, off..." she finally said, watching as Halley's eyes wandered to the windows behind them. Eyes squinted, lips pursed, almost like she was coming up with a plan. "Uh, Halley? Are you okay?"

"Huh-- oh. You're still here. Wait, shit that sounded mean. I just meant, oh God, nevermind." Halley brought her hand up to her scrunched face, and used her middle finger and thumb to pinch at the skin on the bridge of her nose. "I-- sorry, what was the question?"

At this point, Caroline was genuinely worried, it wasn't like Halley to be so out of it. She was always so untouchable, at least to the lower classmen, Caroline knew that to the other juniors, Halley was just another burden hurting their reputation. She had looked up to the older girl though; last year, when Caroline had just begun her first year of high school, it had been Halley that stopped to ask her if she needed help. Proving that, despite her menacing exterior, she was a good person.