Behind

Chapter 42

I woke up five minutes before my alarm went off. I don't even remember falling asleep more or less setting my alarm. 

I trudged to the bathroom with a sore foot and my ratty hair strung over my forehead and in front of my face. I bet I was a sight for sore eyes. 

I neared the bathroom and felt the unenthusiastic drag of school fill my being. I had allowed myself a day off and I would do anything for another day away. It wasn't the school necessarily that was offering me feelings of resent. I just craved a day where I could simply lay in bed and forget everything going on around me. No homework. No Magcon. No boys. Nothing.

I brushed my hair out of my face and curved into the bathroom to see Nash pulling his pants up over his boxers.

"Oh God." I muttered as I shielded my eyes and backstepped out of the room. I forgot Shawn had offered to let him stay the night.

"Teal," he said quickly, peering out of the bathroom. "I'm done in here. Didn't expect anyone to be awake this early."

"I'm a girl, I wake up early to get ready for school."

He started washing his hands. "Six in the morning seems to be too early for a girl like you, don't you think?"

I crossed my arms and shifted my body weight to lean on one leg. "I can't look like this for school, it takes time to look like a human." I walked past him to the mirror as he lathered his hands with soap. "And what do you mean 'a girl like me'?" 

He turned off the faucet. "A girl like you who doesn't need to do anything to be beautiful because it just comes naturally." 

I pressed my lips together to hide my grin and he flicked his fingers in my face, causing cold droplets of water to splatter on my skin. I jumped backwards and he walked out of the room. 

I shut the bathroom door and started my daily routine.

***

After getting dressed and doing my makeup and such, I slightly limped downstairs to join the crowd. And by crowd, I mean Nick, Nash, Shawn, and my mother.

I sat down at the table next to Shawn and plucked a waffle off of the plate in the center of the table. I set it on my plate and carefully trickled drops of syrup into every hole of the fluffy breakfast food. 

Shawn watched me out of the corner of his eye and chuckled. 

"What?" I asked. 

"You." 

I shrugged and started eating my masterpiece. 

My mom brought over glasses of apple juice and Nash thanked her politely, as well as Shawn. I thanked her, but it seemed to be quieter and more mellow than usual.

Nick was reading the paper; that was his daily routine. His spectacles sunk down on his nose as he read, giving him the generic librarian look.

I finished eating and ran up to my room to grab my backpack. 

"I'm leaving." I said bluntly to my mom. I carefully slipped my sneakers on over some fresh gauze I had applied to my wound.

"Bye honey," she leaned in to kiss my cheek, but stopped half way and hugged me instead. 

I don't know if she still had hard feelings, but I still felt diminished from last night's verbal battle.

I started walking toward my school and tucked my phone in my pocket. My foot seemed to have healed slightly, pain-wise, overnight. I was thankful for that. 

I had thoughts rushing through my head, like, why do I have to go to school? Why don't Nash and Shawn have to go at all? Are they homeschooled? Why was Nash such a sweetheart this morning? Is he starting to get along with Shawn better? I let the most important questions involving the mystery voice message slip my mind, purposely.