Hamilton Academy: He's Always Watching

Part One ~ Chapter Twenty-Two

And soon Matt stopped asking me questions. I knew he was watching me from a distance, to make sure I was okay. It did bug me, a lot if I do say so myself, but I didn't say anything. At least he wasn't constantly pestering me about how I was feeling and blah, blah, blah. Personally, I didn't want to relive that night in the woods. I wanted to do everything to forget about it, never think about it again. Seeing Mr. Grey's face every day made that hard, insanely impossible even, but that didn't mean we had to talk about it out of school also. That just took it a bit too far.

Most of my days were spent playing video games in the lounge after school while Kyle pondered over his homework with pristine interest.

"Want to play COD?" Johnny asked me after school, coming into the cabin where I was just staring up at the ceiling.

I shook my head. "No, nothing… violent."

"Right," he nodded. "How about we play Mario Kart?"

"Sure," I shrugged, though I wasn't really in the mood to race cars. "Meet you in ten?"

"Yeah." And then he was gone.

I struggled to get myself off the bed, feeling incredibly tired and having the urge to sleep. All of a sudden, someone else came bursting into the cabin, and I literally screamed and got ready to fend for myself if it was a killer.

But it was only Kyle.

"Oh, it's you," I gave a sigh of relief.

"Yup," he replied, giving me a look but not saying anything. Kyle knew a lot, he was a smart kid, but he knew when not to comment about things. And he was doing a good job of not bringing up the whole kidnapping, I was grateful for that. "I just came for some of my textbooks. Have you seen the plant life one?"

"On the shelf," I said, without even having to look.

"Thanks!" Kyle's eyes lit up as he grabbed the book he had wanted. I felt glad that at least some of us could feel a sense of joy again. As he left to leave, Kyle gave me a glance over his shoulder. I gave him a shrug as if to say he could leave, I was fine, so Kyle let it go and gingerly closed the door behind him.

 It was nice to have friends that cared though. They understand I need my distance, but they are they for me.

A few minutes later, I went down to the lounge to meet Johnny. He had two controllers in his hand, and I took a seat with him on one of the leather sofas. It was all seeming so familiar, the way I would spend my days. In my cabin, playing video games, or doing homework. The trips to town (chaperoned, sigh) had tapered off, the exploring or the sports had too. The only sport I did was the one required, I had chosen soccer. It wasn't that bad though. Soccer was actually a sport I could actually excel at, if I put my heart into it. Soccer came naturally for me.

"I beat you!" Johnny cheered.

"Huh?" I snapped out of my gaze to see the screen. My car, Luigi, was very far behind. Okay, the first lap… I wasn't very good at Mario Kart, but it beated playing games that involved guns. I used to love COD and all, but after my experiences… I guess my childhood pass times had been ruined.

At one point I found myself winning by two whole laps. I glanced over at Johnny who seemed to be sporting a pouting face.

"Don't just let me win!" I protested.

"What are you talking about?" he played the innocent voice.

"Dude, I suck at this game. If I'm winning them obviously something's wrong."

"Pffft, crazy talk," Johnny sighed with a smile on his face before fixating his eyes on the screen.

Even though I crashed into about a million roadblocks and fell of the bridges twice, I still won. Johnny was obviously going easy on me, but I didn't comment on it. He thought that it would make me feel better, and I wanted him to keep thinking that. As long as he thought I was fine, then I was doing a good job with my façade.