Care For Me ✔️

3

He seems shocked to hear my voice, judging by the way his eyes widen. He turns his head and looks at me, eyes briefly roaming my face like he's trying to think of what I might ask.

"What?"

He answered?

Wow, right, okay.

I wasn't expecting him to say anything.

"Uh, well." I choke. "I, um, w-was wondering... I w-anted-"

"For fuck sake, Lily," he snaps. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just spit it out."

Breathe, inhale, exhale, breathe.

I'm not going to hurt you.

"Wh-what's school l-like?" I whisper, pressing myself closer to the door. I won't hurt you. "I'm n-nervous."

We reach a red light and Jack moves the little stick thing between us, stopping the car. He turns and looks at me, staring at my with his vacant eyes. Honestly, he's freaking me out a little. It's like he wants me to read him to, but I can't see anything beyond nothing.

After thirty-five seconds of silence and stares, the light turns green. Without a word, Jack removes his gaze, moves the stick again and drives, ignoring my question entirely.

Welp, that was useless.

A for effort.

Ten minutes later and were pulling into a large parking lot, in front of a huge building that's sign reads Riverside Private Education.

Kids are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Some look much older than me and others look the roughly the same age and even younger. Not that I'm surprised about the differences, the school was apparently for grade one right through to twelve.

As my gaze continues to wonder the sea of students, I feel my breath hitch in my throat. I've never been around so many people, or any people for that matter. My hands start to shake and I sink my nails back into my palms, needing something else to focus on.

I don't think I can do this.

Hands grasp mine, soft and warm, pulling my fingernails away from my palms before they can draw blood.

I look up and seek Jack's eyes, mine wide as shock drowns me. He doesn't meet my gaze, only holds my hand tight in his own as he looks directly ahead.

"School is school," he eventually says, voice softer than I've ever heard. "It's shit."

I blink at him, mouth agape as I struggle to form a response.

He clears his throat and releases my hand. "Come on," he opens his door. "We need to get our schedules."

"Oh-kay." I nod slowly, staring down at my hands.

What the heck just happened?

Jack exits the car and starts to walk away, I grab my bag and quickly rush after him. I don't want to be alone right now, and even though he scares me, Jack's the only thing here that's familiar to me. As strange as it sounds, after what just happened, his presence brings me comfort.

Maybe he doesn't hate me. Dislikes, yes. But maybe hates too strong a word to use.

I follow after my brother like a lost puppy, quick stepping to match his pace, but fail due to his long legs out preforming my short ones.

We reach the front entrance and Jack pulls open one of the large double doors. He takes a hold of my arm and pulls me along with him towards a large window screen thing that a woman sits behind. She's middle aged with short red hair and thick purple glasses, she doesn't notice us, too busy typing away on her computer.

Jack clears his throat, gaining the woman's attention. She lifts her gaze and smiles at us both.

Both.

She smiled at me!

"Oh, sorry, kiddos!" She wheels her chair closer to the gap in the plastic window. "Didn't notice y'all there. What can I do for ya?"

"Hi," Jack smiles, somewhat awkwardly. "We need to collect our schedules. I'm Jack Adams, and this is my sister, Lily Adams."

"Okay dokey, honey. Give me a sec, I think I have them right here." She spins in her chair and picks up two pieces of paper from the desk behind her, before spinning back. "Here we go." She slides the papers to Jack.

"We don't get many new students in fall." She says thoughtfully, before smiling again. She has such a nice smile. "Welcome to Riverside. I'm Mrs Reeves. If you ever need anything, just gimmie a holler."

"Good to know, Mrs." Jack smiles. "Thank you."

As we leave the front desk, I turn back and offer a small wave and smile to Mrs Reeves.

What a kind lady.

I don't know where to go so I'm just following Jack, since he still has my schedule. He stops in front of a long row of lockers and turns to me.

"Okay," he says, staring down at the paper. "This is your locker, 308. Mine is 335 so I'm just down the hall. Your schedule," he hands me the paper. "You have English first, it's in room 205 which I think is down that corridor over there. Someone in your class will have the same Biology class as you next, so just ask around."

Jack begins to walk away before I can even absorb what he's saying.

"If I don't see you at lunch, meet me in front of your locker at the end of the day."

"T-thank you, Jack." I call to him.

He pauses and turns to me, giving a slow nod before walking away.

Taking a deep breath, I keep my locker's placement in my head so I can find it easily, along with the combination written on the paper and then start looking for room 205.

I have no clue where I'm going.

I look around, willing myself not to cry when I end up in front of room 220 instead of 205. It has to be around here somewhere, but the corridor is like a maze.

"You lost?" Someone says, she looks a few years older than I am, and she's smiling at me.

My second smile!

"I-I can't find English class." I admit, feeling my face flush in embarrassment.

"Can I check?" She asks, nodding to my schedule. I hand it to her. "Oh, you were close. It's just down this way. Come on, I'll lead the way."

"Thank y-ou." I whisper, relieved yet still terrified, and follow after her.

The relief doesn't stay very long, not when I realise I'm late for my first ever class.

***