The Price of Protection

Chapter 9~ Friends, I Guess?

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     Several more weeks go by, homework piles up, And life moves on.
Quinn knows the basics of what happened but keeps saying she thinks something funny is going on after trying to find a record of the arrest of the man that attacked me and not finding it. I told her I didn't want to think about it anymore and I wasn't going to ask Marius what happened because I wanted to move on. Do I realize that it's sketchy? Of course. Should I distance myself? Probably. Am I going to?

     Marius and I have been able to exchange pleasant, even if awkward, conversation at school in passing. He always has this look like he's evaluating me. And I wonder if he wants to ask more, if he wants to just come out and ask how I'm coping after the attack. He briefly tried to bring up that I didn't tell my dad and I shut it down quickly and harshly. It helps that Remi hangs with him most of the time. He ends up carrying on most of the conversation as a mutual friend leaving us to reply or interact with him instead of each other.

      They are so different, Remi and Marius. I'm surprised that they are able to even be friends. Remi may be incredibly bright and good at reading people but he's always got an upbeat attitude and a warm smile on his face. He's the friend you would call if there was an issue and you needed some help.

     Quinn is more like the friend you would call if you needed to beat somebody up or hide their body later. She makes me laugh so much, but also, she kind of scares me.

     And Marius... well... Marius is still a mystery to me. I've put everything I researched on the day of the attack behind me and decided to try and be a normal human trying to get to know him instead of forming opinions based on gossip sites. This infuriates Quinn who thinks that if a gossip site said it then it must be true. She did her own deep dive and found similar things but, of course, not on mainstream media or anything credible so there's no way to tell if it's true or not. She is quite the wiz with a computer or any sort of tech really so I trust the majority of her judgment when it comes to finding credible sources on the internet. The problem is she really loves her gossip sites too so sometimes it's hard to tell if she's being serious or not.

     It's hard to believe that it's October already. I'm not quite reaching for my jacket yet though, as the highs are still around 80. A few more weeks and I'm going to be living in leggings and sweatshirts for a few short months. It's my favorite part of the year! I get lost in  this day dream about cooler weather in class. It's not my fault that it's been so boring lately. It feels like I already know what we're learning or it's something unnecessary for my future.

     The more I consider investigative journalism, the more I want to work towards it. I love every aspect of it. It's not boring or repetitive. It always gives you a chance to learn something new and meet knew people. It gives you a chance to write also. You work in many different facets as an investigative journalist and that's what I want. A life that keeps me so busy doing something I love that I don't have time to look back and regret or dwell on the ugly parts of life.

     "Miss Bouchard!" The teacher's sharp voice startles me out of my wandering thoughts and a few giggles and whispers break out across the room.

     I clear my throat and look confidently up at her, "Yes, Mrs. Reece?"

     She sighs and shakes her head, "I would appreciate you hanging with us for the last few minutes of class if you can spare the time." She sniffs in bored sarcasm as she turns back to the board.

     Internally I'm rolling my eyes, but I still give her a fake smile and nod.

     "Now," she continues, "we'll be assigning study partners for the next few assignments as they will be advancement tests. This is a trial run this year and we would like to see if it helps to test out advanced students from a few classes and start adding college credit for the rest of the year."
Some of the students start to murmur and I'm sure they're already trying to pick partners but Mrs. Reece raps Her knuckles on the dry erase board loudly to get everyone's attention. "Don't be too excited because you will not be choosing your partner. We will be assigning based on your performance so far in the year. You will be graded based on personal performance as well as the work you and your partner do together. So make sure to be meticulous in all of your work please."