*(Y/n)'s POV*
"Sweetie?" Mom asked me the following morning before school. I hardly ate any of the eggs she made for me. "Is everything okay?" I poked at it several times with my fork. "(Y/n)?"
"Hm?" I asked. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine." I shrugged.
"You don't seem fine." She said. "Want to talk about it?"
I shook my head, and started taking a bite of the scrambled eggs. Dustin was hurrying downstairs with his backpack over his shoulders. He started to grab toast from the toaster and shoved the whole thing in his mouth.
"It's just-" I said, ignoring Dustin frantically getting ready in the morning. "It's nothing." I sighed.
"Is it something to do with your boyfriend, perhaps?"
"No, mom..." I said. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Is there a girl?"
I felt my ears get hot. "Yes, but no. She's not here right now, but I don't know, Mike hasn't recently been himself. Every time I'm with him, he gets agitated around everyone, including me." Dustin removed the toast from his mouth after pouring himself some orange juice quick and chugged it down. I gave him a disgusted look at how fast he was eating. "Dustin, you're going to get sick."
"'s all right. I'll be fine." Dustin mumbled with his mouth full.
"Anyways, Will has these episodes, mom." I explained. "They're really hard to...explain, but it's terrifying. And the girl we had before is gone now, so I have a feeling Mike is missing her, and not thinking about us. I missed the way things used to be..." Mom frowned at me and she walked over to hug me and kiss the top of my head.
"Oh, sweetie..." She said. "Dustin, did you know about this?" We looked over to him before he walked out the door. "Dusty? Hey, aren't you going to take your sister?"
"Dustin!" I called out to him again, and he looked up at us with confusion. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, mhm." He said with toast hanging from his mouth. "I'm perfectly okay. Come on, (Y/n), we're going to be late!"
Mom planted a kiss on my cheek and she handed me my backpack. I put it on my shoulders, and waved goodbye. I followed Dustin out the door. "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked, stepping on the back pegs of his bike.
"I'll tell you about it on the way. We gotta head to the library first. Let's go!"
When we arrived, we searched around for books on reptiles.
We placed the stack of books on the countertop in front of the librarian. She stared at the stack in surprise and looked at my brother. "Mr. Henderson, you know the rules. Five at a time."
"Oh," He stammered, and counted the stack. "One, two, three, four, and five."
"Ten." She held up a card. "You already have five books checked out."
"My mistake." He said. "However, my sister and I are on a curiosity voyage, and we need our paddles to travel. And these books...these books are our paddles."
"Five, at, a time." She repeated.
"Are you shitting me?" Dustin actually asked.
"Dustin." I scolded.
"Excuse me?" the librarian also was appalled.
"What the hell is-" he pointed over her shoulder. Dustin turned to slap me in the chest to catch my attention. "(Y/n), quick!" He whispered, and I grabbed the books in a frantic.
"Wha- Dustin!" I said, running away with the rest of the stack.
"Mr. and Miss Henderson!" The librarian shouted after us.
"I need my paddles!" Dustin shouted back.
"I'm so sorry!" I apologized to the librarian. "I left my library card on there for you so you can use it to check me out! I'll get it back later!" Dustin had closed the door in my face, and I saw it coming, but I ended up using my powers to open the door.
I knew the librarian couldn't know what I was doing, so I pretended to have my hand extended out to the door just to make it look like I was doing something.
I cursed at Dustin when I followed him out. "Thanks a lot, Dustin!" I shouted. I waved my hand back and closed the door behind me, while making sure the librarian didn't notice.
"Sorry, (Y/n)!" He shouted back, "Let's go, let's go!"
~~~
*Third person POV*
"I still don't get why they call him zombie boy." Max said to Lucas after class. "I mean, I get it. He got lost in the woods for a week or something, but why is he a zombie? Because everyone thought he was dead?"
Lucas kept his hands on the straps of his backpack and he shrugged, "Yeah," he said truthfully, "I mean, we had a funeral for him and everything."
"After a week." Max clarified.
"Well, see, some other kid drowned at the quarry. We thought it was Will because his body was super decomposed."
Max found it hard to believe, so she turned to him again. "What?" She said. "Okay, that's not funny."
Lucas sighed, "It's not a joke, all right? It's public knowledge. You can ask anybody. If you want, ask (Y/n), and not Will, because he is really sensitive about it. All right?"
Max nodded. "Okay."
~~~
*(Y/n)'s POV*
"Phineas miraculously survived. He seemed fine, and physically, yes, he was, but his injury resulted in a complete change to his personality. So much so that friends knew him started referring to him as "No longer Gage. At the time, this was known as the American Crowbar Case. Although it wasn't a-"
Dustin and I burst through the door with incredible speed. I bumped right into him and almost hit my nose against his cap.
"We are so sorry, Mr. Clarke." I panted apologetically.
Everyone's head turned to us with confusion, and I grabbed onto my knees and tried to catch my breath.
Mike looked at me worriedly and I caught him. He mouthed at me, "Are you okay?" I nodded.
"Really, we're so sorry." Dustin panted some more, heading to his seat next to Lucas. I sat next to Mike and took a deep breath. "Please continue with the class. Don't mind us. Really, please continue, please."
Mr. Clarke nodded, but he waited a moment just so he could make sure we were all right.
Dustin turned to me, and I nodded.
"Although it wasn't a crowbar, it was a rod, as I said." Mr. Clarke continued.
"We have to meet." Dustin said, after getting our attention. The five of us leaned forward.
"All of us." I whispered. Everyone nodded. "At lunch, AV club."
"Why?" Mike asked me.
"I have something that you won't believe." Dustin whispered.
Mike nodded, and he turned to me again with a smile. I smiled back as I felt his hand in mine.
I heard Dustin whisper to Max, but I already thought, "Oh no." as I thought of Mike.
"Dustin!" Mr. Clarke said.
Dustin turned back around. "Yes, my lord?"
"Would you care to join the class now?"
"Please, yes."
"The case of Phineas Gage." Mr. Clarke said.
"Phineas Gage." Dustin repeated, grabbing his textbook. I also pulled out my textbook. "Page 104."
"104. 104."
"Focus."
"Focusing. Focusing."
After that chaotic morning, I was able to relax for the rest of the period. I had leaned forward on Mike's shoulder during class and he leaned his head against mine while we listened to the lecture together.
~~~
The six of us were at AV club during lunch together. We waited til everyone was ready to reveal the secret in the trap box. Everyone else nodded and I looked at Dustin. He opened the trap box, and we heard d'Artagnan making some noises.
"His name is d'Artagnan." Dustin said.
Dustin lifted him out of the box, and it still creeped me out how well he was able to keep his composure. "Cute, right?" I asked. "From a distance?"
Dustin glared at me.
"D'Artagnan?" Mike asked me.
"Dart for short." I said.
"And he was in you guys' trash?" Max asked.
"Foraging for food." Dustin replied. Then, he looked at Max. "You wanna hold him? (Y/n) couldn't even hold him last night."
"No, no." Max said, shaking her head frantically. She looked at me for help. "I don't want to-"
"He doesn't bite." Dustin handed Dart over to Max.
He placed Dart in her hands and she made a disgusted face. "Oh, God, he's slimy!" She exclaimed, and handed it to Lucas.
"Ugh, he's like a living booger!" Lucas said, and then handed Dart over to me.
"No, Lucas, don't!" I exclaimed, backing into Mike who held my shoulders. "Ugh, gross!"
I handed Dart over to Will. "Ugh, oh, god!" Will tried to not throw up, and handed Dart over to Mike this time.
Mike had no problems holding Dart in both his hands and he held it up to his face. "What is he?" Mike asked.
"My question exactly." I said.