So if you're looking for some proof that there's a heart inside of me, then lace your fingers between mine and you will see it start to leak. (Private Fears In Public Places)
After the strange encounter with Bowers she immediately rushed in their classroom. All of the eyes were on her the moment she stepped through the door. Judging her. At least it felt that way. Like she was catapulted back into her past. The seconds of silence lasted an eternity to her. "Nice of you to join us too", the teacher remarked - finally - with distaste. Even Patrick, who tended to come late by default was already in his place. In her situation, Patrick wouldn't care. Be like him. She commanded herself. And unconsciously she mimicked the exact posture he wore whenever he burst in the classroom, minutes after the door had been closed. "Won't happen again.", she assured the teacher with her newfound facade of confidence, before slipping into her seat next to Patrick.
Victor once again sat in the front. Laughing quietly at something the blonde girl next to him said. How did he expect Patrick not to find out? But the blond had been right in one aspect. Patrick didn't even glance in his direction. Instead he regarded her with a questioning look. "You're never late. I almost came looking for you, but yeah...you needed time.", he trailed off. She was genuinely surprised at how he had taken her words into consideration. "Nothing much. Talked a bit to Stan and the boys.", she decided not to stir up more drama between him and Bowers and instead opted for dropping a subtle hint that she knew what he did to Stanley. Not that she would have estimated he'd get it, after all she didn't dare to outright confront him about it just now. Regardless she was curious of his reaction. But her curiosity stayed unsatisfied.
Loud rummaging was building up in the whole classroom. Everybody was grabbing their belongings and getting up. She furrowed her eyebrows. Class had only just started. What were they doing? Patrick who was just about to reply to her comment about Stanley, filled her in on what she had missed instead: "Some sh*t about the Derry Project. We gotta find our partners and make a concept with them. I'd say we just ditch, you comin'?" He had already risen from his seat and held out his hand to help her up. Perhaps a nice gesture, but she wasn't elderly or ill. And she had gotten fed up with people making decisions for her long ago. She brushed his hand off and stood up by herself. A strange emotion she couldn't quite identify briefly crossed his features. Rejection perhaps, maybe anger, or was that hurt? Maybe after her sending him away last night he really was quite sorrowful about her not wanting him to stay. Well, her claiming that she wouldn't want him there. -He must have recognised that this wasn't what she truly wanted!- Either way she immediately regretted her rudeness and reached out to lace their fingers together.
Patrick didn't show much of a reaction to her nonverbal reconciliation. But she had caught the small smile that tugged at his lips and that was reward enough.
"So you two have been missing last lesson. Who's your third partner?", the annoyed voice of her teacher addressed them. "Erm..", her eyes quickly roamed around the classroom. Who would voluntarily join a group with her and Patrick? "Vic", Patrick stated matter-of-factly. The girl next to him however, had already located the mentioned boy. And judging from his hand laced with Caroline's while he was observing the blonde with glazed eyes as she vividly talked about something, she was certain Vic already had a team. And she wouldn't want to rip his momentarily luck away from him. "I'll take care of it.", she piped up, earning a confused look from Patrick.
"Can you already go outside to our spot, 'Trick? We're gonna discuss things there.", she added only for him, hoping to appeal to him with the use of "their spot". But if her assumption was right and Victor had really favoured Caroline over them for his group, she wouldn't want Patrick to confront him about it. The sight wouldn't be nice for sure. "'Trick? I liked you calling me god a lot better.", he raised his eyebrows, "But I'll be waiting there for you. Tell Vic to come a bit later, then we'll have time to catch up.", he winked, making her blush. Their teacher soundly cleared their throat. Her head flushed a bright red. Why did he have to imply this in front of the teacher?
While Patrick simply licked his lips at his implication regardless of her teacher watching, her own face warmed up considerably. She was mortified.
Anyway, her mission was accomplished. Patrick swiftly turned to leave their classroom. And Vic's secret crush had been protected for now. But honestly, the blond wasn't doing a good job at hiding it. If it weren't for Patrick being so unfazed by everyone he didn't need to assess some kind of dominance over, it would have most certainly been out already. She needed to reprimand Victor to be more careful. She sighed, before shooting her teacher an apologetic look and went to try her luck with finding a team partner.
"Victor?", she called. Immediately, finding herself in the focus of all the girls in the front row where he was sitting at. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. They acted like she didn't have a right to talk to the blond. Like he was somehow claimed by their friend Caroline. "Yeah?", Vic turned towards her, interrupting his vacant stare. She motioned for him to come over to her, out of earshot of all the overhearing girls. She would have attempted to overhear it too in their position, so she couldn't exactly blame them for that. Still, she'd rather have this conversation in private. "Do you want to be in our group? For the project.", she offered him a smile. He probably knew that their options were limited. Nobody else would willingly join a rumoured mental person as well as a sl**, that made out with the biggest bullies in school. "Er..sorry, but I already joined a group.", for once the usually so calm Victor seemed flustered, "Caroline asked me." The name rolled off his tongue in this special, careful tone made her smirk at him knowingly. Called it. "Alright, but Patrick's gonna notice.", she warned. "Can't you find a different partner? I'm sure one of your friends can deal with Pat. Please. I'll owe you one!"
Sweet, naive Victor. Sure, I'll just ask one of my countless friends. That's why none of them are talking to me, right? She sighed. Maybe she could do good with collecting some positive karma. "You'll owe me a big one.", she gave in after the slight hesitation. And she planned to make good of that. Having someone on her side that could talk to either Patrick or Henry without getting his face smashed in - usually at least- was always an advantage she could use.
"You're the best.", he quickly pulled her into an overenthusiastic hug. Over his shoulder she caught Caroline's jealous stare and smirked to herself. This better worked out between them. Giving him a thumbs up, she retreated back to the teacher's desk. Not wanting to disturb the blond boy any longer. And mainly concerned with how she'd find a decent group partner.
"Excuse me, Miss. Unfortunately, there have been some troubles with our group. Could you tell me who's been missing too? We can form a group.", she spoke up, knowing that Richie was absent yesterday. Sure, he wouldn't be glad about Patrick as his partner, but that way he could at least show his good intentions of accepting her. And right now, along with her also came Patrick. "Ah yes.", the teacher pulled out a list from a folder. Of course, Richard and her also weren't exactly friends, but at least he was the closest available option to that.
"We already divided the groups and the absent students were either put with their friends who requested it or will form a group together. So it's you, Mr. Hockstetter and someone from another class that had been absent. A grade below you there were some other singles if I remember it correctly.", the teacher skimmed through her list. It must be Richie, he had just confirmed earlier on that he wasn't there. "Mr. Tozier?", she offered politely. The combination of Patrick, Richie and her wouldn't be nice, but at least Richie had already been starting to get more accepting towards her thanks to Stan. And it would certainly not get boring. "Oh no, Mr. Tozier's friends had saved him a spot. But there was another student...", she finally found the information she was looking for, "There it is! Mr. Bowers also failed to show up in second period. "
Oh no, indeed. Of course, she knew the reason why he hadn't been there. He was busy blackmailing and assaulting her, before getting knocked out by Patrick. Save to assume their project was going to be an explosive combination with the three of them partnered together. Both Patrick and Bowers were ticking time-bombs, especially with both of them fueling each other's anger. "Is there any way to switch partners?", she hopefully looked up to her teacher. The woman only sternly shook her head: "You need to get to work now. You should have been there yesterday and this wouldn't have been a problem. Funny enough that five pupils just disappear within a school day." The grim expression of their teacher told her that the woman reckoned it wasn't coincidental. Well, she was right. Her head dropped due to the guilt washing over her. She had managed to disappoint the one teacher that gave her a fair chance and was actually sort of a mentor figure. "I'm sorry, Miss"
Her teacher however conspiringly leant over to her: "You may not have the best conditions for the project. But try your best. You know how much your father wanted this project." The last part resonated strongly with her. She nodded solemnly. Being all too aware of this. With a respectful nod to her teacher, she turned to leave.
Her teacher stopped her: "I know you're not happy with you partners, but I'm sure if any girl in this class can handle them it is you. Also don't tell anyone, but I saved one of the nicest spots of Derry for you. If you possess a third of your father's talent, then it'll be worth a special place at the exhibition." Her teacher wistfully glanced outside to the dark clouds hanging over Derry. "Umm...thank you", she hesitatingly acknowledged the blatant favouritism her teacher just admitted. But her teacher had already zoned out.
Adults behaved strange in Derry. Her teacher was no exception to this rule. Even when she had to admit that at least her teacher was one of the only adults in Derry that reacted positively to her last name. This one time she should be allowed to take advantage of that. Though she doubted that with Bowers and Hockstetter at each other's throats she'd accomplish much.
And now it was time to find Henry and Patrick to deliver the news. She grimaced. This was going to be interesting.