Ivy and the Fluorescent Lightbulb

Chapter 12 - A Bad Start

Ivy lay on her bed with her arms in the air, holding onto the shirt from the future world. It really was real... she thought, moving the fabric and watching as the now-dark threads glimmered under her ceiling's light. Her mind was swirling with thoughts—what had happened to them? Were they able to escape the government agent? What about Uncle Taner, did he get arrested? Did the group get a chance to continue with their investigations?

She set the shirt next to herself.

And what was she supposed to do with the clothes?

"Well it's not like I can return it," she said to herself. But I don't think I should keep it either... she thought.

"Ivy?" her mother's voice sounded from somewhere else in the house.

"Yes, mama?" she yelled.

There was a pause.

"Ivy?" her mother called again.

Ivy sighed, then rolled out of her bed, trudging to her door and swinging it open. "Yes, mama?" she called out.

"Yuh finish your homework yet?"

Ivy hesitated. She had completely forgotten about all of her assignments after the day's events. And I've gotten so much homework tonight! she groaned to herself. "Not yet," she finally said.

"A wah yuh deh do weh take so long, eeh?"

"It's...a lot of work."

"Well, hurry up an done, me av dinner pon the table."

"Yes, mama..." Ivy said, closing the door. "Right," she said as she surveyed the room with the future world clothes strewn across it. "Let's put this away and focus on the homework."

Ivy made quick work of grabbing the articles of clothing and stuffing them into the bag that Syndria had given her. She paused. I kinda miss them... she thought, surprised at the twinge of sadness. "Nope, Ivy, we're not doing this!" she said, patting her cheeks. "We have reality to focus on!"

She placed Syndria's bag into her backpack. But that was real too...
Shaking her head, she grabbed her homework from her bag. "What's a reality is my failing grades," she muttered to herself, sitting at her desk and spreading her papers out.

✨✨✨✨✨

It was all Ivy could do to keep from falling asleep on the bus ride to school. The cozy gray overcast didn't help keep her awake, nor did the soft pattering of rain against the sides and top of the school bus. She had spent all evening finishing her homework. I barely had enough time to eat Mom's dinner before I went to bed, she thought, shuddering at the memory of the cold food. The morning was a blurry rush of Ivy waking up late, throwing on her clothes, untwisting and fluffing her hair, and barely catching the bus before it left her.

She yawned, rummaging through her bags. There were her notebooks, binders, and a bag of future clothes. Wait... Ivy thought with growing horror. Where's all my homework?? A mental image of her sheets of homework, still strewn across her desk, flashed in her mind. "Oh nooo," she quietly groaned, plopping her head onto the cold bus window.

She whipped out her phone, ready to text her parents. Ivy paused. They're both at work...so they can't possibly get it to me... She dropped her phone into her bag and buried her face into the backpack. This day can't possibly get any worse, she sullenly thought.

"Hey, Ivy?" a voice said, prodding Ivy's shoulder.

"Huh?" she grunted, opening her eyes. She looked around. The school was outside the window. Funny, I don't remember getting to the school...