Me+You Do the Math✔️

Ch.31 *Triassic Telephone*

"You okay?" Ian asked with the smallest of head cock. 

I shrugged and put on a fake smile. "I'm okay." 

Although the thing is, I was the polar opposite of okay. I have a strange voice in my head, making me consider I'm actually going insane, I might have just ruined my chances with the Ty, and I just want to go home. 

With that realization I turned on my heel, ending the small talk and marched my way to where the teachers were. 

"I want to go home," I announced to the group of them.

Mr. Calp stood up and looked at me like I was crazy. "You can't go home. No one can leave until tomorrow."

I wrung my hands until they turned white. "I can't leave?"

"Not unless there is an emergency and you have a guardian pick you up." He shook his head sadly.

"Do you have a phone I can use?" I asked.

"There is one in the kitchen cabin." 

Mr. Jin smiled and looked over, "Did you finish your assignment?" 

Ah, yes I almost forgot. The whole reason this was happening was so we could get more accustomed to nature and respect the earth. Simple, spend more than fifteen hours outside. 

I nodded, "I think I did."

"No, you didn't"

Shut up. 

I smiled, "Thanks, I'll be going now." 

"Did you mean the double meaning?" The voice asked in a calm way. 

No.

"Oh, I thought it was clever." It said again, in an almost nice way.

I ignored it and found my way to the kitchen. There, a clunky pastel salmon phone on the wall. It came along with a long curly cord and thick touchpad. I dropped my bag to the floor and stood next to it. 

I picked it up and debated calling Anastasia. She lives near here, I bet she could come pick me up. I decided against it and called T. 

It rung a few times before he picked up, "Hello?"

"Taylor! It's Ella." 

"I'm in Civics right now this better be good."

The teacher was a big believer in phones in class. Don't ask me why. 

"Ah, after school today can you ask mom or someone to come pick me up?" I asked, terrified he would say no. His trip here last year was great. I'm sure he talked about it for weeks afterward. Not that I was jealous or anything...

"You really think they would stop their day to do that?" He sighed and I could hear the bitter disappointment leaking into his words. "You'd be better off just calling Aunt Tammy."

The voice sighed, "Your parents are terrible."

I ignored it but secretly agreed. It's true, they were. 

I nodded and played with the cord, "Mmhm... Can you give me her number?"

"Uh yeah. One second." 

I scrambled to find a piece of paper and a pen. There was some in the drawers next to me. I pressed the tip to the paper making sure it worked and told him to go. 

He read the number to me. "Why do you want to leave?"

"I'll explain it all when I get home. Love you bye." I hung up the phone by pressing the little button instead of hanging it up. 

I let out a small sigh and typed in the number Taylor game me. It rang for a few minutes like it was struggling to connect. I wouldn't be surprised. The thing came from the Triassic period. 

There was a small click before Aunt Tammy's voice filled my ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Aunt Tammy?" I tried to make my voice sound as preppy as I possibly could. 

"Ara?" She asked, seemingly recognizing my voice. 

"Yeah, hey um so- I'm at this getaway thing for my school, near your house, and I was wondering if you could pick me up?"

There was a shuffling noise, "Of course honey! Where is it?"

I explained to the best of my capabilities where we were. "It sounds like where we went camping last year. I'll call your school to make sure. Can you be ready and walk out to the parking lot at noon?"

"Yes! Oh, thank you so much, Tammy!" I exclaimed. Tears even filled my eyes. I wasn't used to this. 

I wasn't used to people actually caring about me. Maybe that was my problem. 

"No problem, thank you for calling me. Love you goodbye." 

"Bye."

I put the ugly phone back into its place and leaned my back against the wall. I rested my head backward and took a deep breath. 

She didn't even ask. She just dropped everything and offered her time to come to get me. I couldn't get over that fact. 

"Stop running away from your problems." I winced at the sound of the voice. 

It distracted me from the sound of the door closing and the footsteps. When it ceased to exist, the world resumed its natural course. Signing birds and people talking filled my ears again. 

I opened my eyes and looked down to see Ty sitting on the kitchen countertop. 

"Oh!" I jumped back and hit my head. "Ow," I clutched at my head as the world spun. How hard did I hit it?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." he looked really uncomfortable and shy. His gaze kept going down to his feet and he wrung his hands. 

"It's fine." I could feel a headache coming along. Again I shoved it down so I couldn't feel it anymore and turned to him. 

"Can I talk to you?" Ty asked. He ran his hands through his hair and let out a long sigh. I shuffled my feet and put on a small smile. 

"Um, yeah..." 

He looked up and met my eyes, "In private?"

____

Well hello, how are you? 

I'd like to address two things at this point and time. I'm sorry for not updating last Wednesday or Friday, and I won't be updating as often anymore. 

I just don't have the time anymore and I'm very stressed out due to many things that I cannot speak of on here. 

But yes. Just remember that I love you all!