Cabin Fever | ✓

(58) He Wants To Know If You'd Be Into Edible Underwear

The rest of the school day was fairly uneventful.

Once each set of partners were finished in the marshes, they were to return to class and complete the worksheets. Marley and Aiden finished shortly after lunch, so the classroom was quiet, the presence of Ethan and Gabby working as well as a handful of other people conversing in their groups.

It was easy to see the Christmas spirit was dull and that was a given, since, despite the fact that there would be a few days off between Christmas and New Years, including the day after New Years, it would be right back to biology while their peers back home would still be on winter break. This was a necessary and expected evil; a note had gone home warning parents and student with this Advanced Placement Biology Camp earning three credits in three months, the timing would be tight and the holiday's would be as good as away from home.

Not that Marley minded. Being here meant that she could avoid her father and a way of life that she feels as though she couldn't handle anymore. Not when she knows how nice it is to be surrounded by people who care about and love her. By a calm, quiet place to sleep at night. To feel safe in. Where her triggers are calmer, and her nights in the closet have slowly become a distant memory.

Her father's still in holding pending a DUI charge, but the house itself would haunt her, in a way.

Marley still had the pesky living situation to figure out, something that begun to feel was more and more urgent of a problem every day. The camp was officially ended on the sixteenth of January and it was the end of December now.

Rent, car insurance, and gas as well as other necessities and utilities, would mean that if she wasn't at school she should be working the majority of her senior year. Marley is glad that she has a part-time job here to save more money, sixteen hours a week is generous. Though, once she gets home she'll have to request at least twenty four, even with selling the house and finding a cheap apartment it'll be tight.

Bryan was offering a room in his house to rent, but she didn't want to spend the next eight to nine months intruding on his family. Welfare is an option, she'll be eighteen in April...but she will be his dependant, and his wage will cap over the limit for financial aid.

Stress on top of stress, on top of stress.

"This is soooooo depressing."

Marley lifted her head from her textbook on the floor that she admittedly wasn't paying any attention to. They were back in Marley and Gabby's room, the girls sprawled on the floor with their textbooks doing homework after school.

The guys were out shopping, Ian included which meant they had the afternoon to themselves. The mall was off limits while the guys perused around the city for Christmas gifts. It was agreed upon that the girls would pool for a group gift for the guys and vice versa instead of having to buy individual gifts for everyone, so Marley didn't have to worry apart from Gabby and Aiden.

Those two are her family and she is invested in buying them personal gifts, alongside Noah for the gift exchange. Marley knows what to get her best friend, and Noah will be a quick walk around the mall until she sees something acceptable for twenty dollars, but Aiden's gift is proving to be a headache. Time was running out and she was clueless.

Marley considered asking the girls but made that mistake once before, by asking Eve who told her to buy lingerie and surprise Aiden in his bed wearing it. Clearly, reaching out for advice is not the way to go. Marley knows him better than anyone anyway, apart from Ian and Leo.

She wants this to be her idea and no one else's.

"Sarah you haven't even started the homework and you've been sat in front of it for over an hour." Kelly shot her a frustrated look, "I'd be depressed if I were you, too."