Tethered

Chapter 10

You woke up to the strong smell of coffee and eggs wafting into your room from the kitchen.

"(Y/N), come quick!" Ai's voice shouted from across the house as the smoke alarm started to beep. Sh*t, what did she do now? When you rushed to the kitchen, you saw Ai standing in front of the smoldering stove, which was covered in raw eggs and spilled oil. She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and smiled at you as you pinched the bridge of your nose trying to take in the sight in front of you.

"So what happened this time?" Ai held up a plate of charred eggs that somehow looked undercooked at the same time.

"Breakfast....?" You scrunched up your nose at the smell and pushed the plate away.

"It's thoughtful, but I think I'll pass this time. We have some cream puffs that we can eat instead. Unless you wanna eat those eggs." Ai quickly dumped them in the trash at the mention of something with sugar in it.

"Say no more! Cream puff time."

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Ten minutes later, you and Ai sat at the dining table with cream puffs and coffee. Ai chugged down another mug of coffee without any sugar or milk, not noticing your strange looks at her.

"Ai, that's your third cup."

"Fifth."

"What?! That's WAY too much coffee. No more." You snatched the cup out of her hands. "How can you even drink so much anyway?" Ai grumbled.

"I didn't wanna sleep last night." She rested her head on her palm. "I locked my window, but I kept hearing this tapping sound outside. It didn't feel safe enough to sleep." She sighed and stabbed her fork into her cream puff.

"You could've told me. I would've gone to check."

"Are you crazy? That's how people die in horror movies. You never go towards the sound." She has a point...

"How about you stay home today? You don't look so good, and I think you should get some rest." Ai shook her head.

"I can't miss class today. There's a huge test or whatever that I studied for and I'm gonna fail if I don't go."

"If you pass out in the middle of the test the result will be the same anyway. Besides, you can just ask to take it another day after class is over."

"NO. Being the only person in class while the teacher stares you down is worse than failing.

"...True. Well, do you want me to walk with you to school today? I can be a few minutes late to first period if it means you get to school safely. Especially what happened yesterday, we probably don't wanna take chances." Ai sighed and gave a small nod. "Alright," you said. "I'll go get changed. We should leave now if we wanna make it on time." Ai pushed her unfinished cream puff away and got up to put her shoes on.

By the time you finished changing and getting ready for the day, Ai was already standing outside wearing a scarf and tapping on her phone. She looked so tired that you were debating whether you should force her to stay home for the day, but you knew she wouldn't listen. Ai was too stubborn to change her mind once it was made up, and she would no doubt start complaining the second you brought up a subject she didn't like.

"Alright, ready to go?" you asked Ai as you pulled a jacket over your uniform.

"Mhm. Let's go." Neither of you moved. Ai looked up from her phone. "Uh... let's go?" You sweatdropped.