The quiet classroom was slowly beginning to feel like a sanctuary the longer Victoria Addington sat alone at her new empty desk, recently manicured nails tapping along the shiny mahogany desk as she tried to calm her racing thoughts.
Too much had happened within the span of six and nine a.m and she had already begun to doubt if accepting her nephew's offer was a wise decision. Between fighting off dirty and suspicious looks from her colleagues, getting in a fight with the principal on her first day after assembly, and, of course, accidentally branding one of her seniors because she had no control over her body that sometimes acted like a human repellent, it was a lot. Maybe it was too early an idea but she was already fiddling with an empty white envelope, contemplating getting a head-start on her resignation letter.
The wooden door to her classroom creaked open slowly and a familiar figure strode in, pausing in the doorway suddenly as they took in Victoria's now rigid frame.
"Oh, sorry." The teenager stuttered out awkwardly, hazel eyes dipping to the envelope in Victoria's hand briefly. "I didn't realize you were already in here, otherwise I would have knocked."
Gray eyes slowly skimmed over the fidgety figure in the doorway with curiosity and the young girl visibly squirmed under Victoria's intense gaze. "That's okay." The dark-haired woman finally supplied, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She suddenly felt the need to apologize to the poor girl about what had conspired earlier, going through a million different ways in her head to say 'Sorry for the whole 'burning-you-because-you-unexpectedly-touched-me' thing'. Or, at the very least, warn her about the inevitable events that would soon follow after.
But it probably wouldn't have made a difference whether she apologized or not since she figured the incident would have already been wiped clean from her memory by now. Instead, she gestured with a delicate hand to the empty chairs in her classroom, wordlessly encouraging the teenager to come in and have a seat.
Taking the hint, Aurora carefully closed the door behind her and moved further into the small classroom. Victoria took that time to finally allow her eyes to wander her student's slim form. Her eyes carefully trailed up from the younger girl's pair of white converse up her toned legs with noticeably taut muscles thanks to the short pleated skirt she wore.
At the back of her mind, Victoria wondered if such a skirt was allowed in the school's dress code. However, she was far too caught up in the way the white sleeved shirt Aurora had tucked into her skirt that was purposely left unbuttoned about three buttons from the top to actually care. If it weren't for the tie wrapped loosely around Aurora's shirt collar then Victoria was sure she would have gotten a more-than-she-can-handle view of her cleavage. That thought was short-lived as Victoria quickly dismissed it with a subtle shake of her head.
She watched as Aurora paused and looked around the classroom briefly as if trying to remember something, then she casually slipped into a chair and desk situated at the far back of the classroom. Victoria imagined that when said classroom was eventually filled with the remaining twenty-six loud and chatty seniors, Aurora would be almost invisible in her line of sight from where she was sitting. The teacher wondered for a moment if that was the senior's intention and the need to ask the question burned hotly on the tip of her tongue. But she withheld, deciding that after her too straightforward speech at this morning's assembly, her students, as well as coworkers, would be trying their best to stay out of her path and keep conversation to a minimum with her. A frown appeared along the corner of her lips and she had to remind herself that that was exactly what she wanted all along. In hindsight, saying that might have just interfered with her plans greatly.
She couldn't take the risk of becoming too friendly with anyone as she didn't know how permanent this new job was going to be. It all depended on whatever direction her plans took. She was here for one thing and one thing only. So if that one thing wasn't prioritized among the possible many other things she could easily get wrapped up in by being a little too chatty with a pupil or colleague, then all hell would break loose.
And the 'all hell' isn't to be received very lightly.
After getting consumed with her own troubling thoughts for a moment too long, it took Victoria roughly a full minute before she acknowledged the brunette in front of her that had been trying to get her attention for the past two minutes.
"Were you just saying something?" She shot out towards a now embarrassed Aurora and mentally scolded herself when she realized her tone had come off a lot harsher than she intended. It seemed to have caused the hopeful glint in Aurora's eyes to dwindle in a flash and the teenager's shoulders visibly slouched forward.
"No, never mind. It was a stupid question," the brunette grumbled, quickly attempting to bury her flushed face in her novel again.
This time, Victoria realized she had no choice but to say something to try and redeem herself to this particular student now, hating the way Aurora visibly looked dejected. "No, tell me. What were you asking me just a few moments ago?" The teacher managed to get her words out in a much gentler tone this time and Aurora peered up from behind the spine of her book, her hazel eyes glazed over with uncertainty.
"I was just wondering if you had decided which of the two novels you were going to use for this year's curriculum."
On instinct, Victoria's gray eyes dipped to the title of the novel in the younger girl's hands.
Of Mice And Men, it read.
A small smile twitched on the teacher's lip and she sat back in her swivel chair, arms thoughtfully crossing over her chest. "Which one do you prefer?"
Aurora was visibly taken aback by the unexpected question but she didn't let it show for very long and quickly concealed her surprise with a thoughtful expression. "You want me to choose?" She asked carefully, her thick and tamed eyebrows crinkling.
Victoria shook her head and a soft curtain of obsidian locks framed her delicate face. "Not necessarily... But I wouldn't mind hearing your opinion on it."
"Oh." Aurora understood where her new teacher was coming from now and sat up more confidently in her chair. She then carefully shut the book close in her hands and took her sweet time admiring the cover. "Well, I completed To Kill A Mockingbird over the first few months of the summer vacation. And I have only recently started Of Mice And Men two weeks ago, but I'm halfway through and so far I think I'm able to point out a few similar themes between the two. The overall plot of the latter is a little less complex but as far as the storyline goes, I wouldn't be able to give a proper report until I've reached the ending."
Victoria nodded her head slowly as she took in Aurora's words, admiring the way she spoke so intelligently even at a young age. She sat, slightly amused for roughly two minutes, unable to get used to the scene before her. She didn't think she would ever be able to get used to it either. After all, the last time she saw Aurora Halewell - who back then went by the name Priscilla Prescott - she was almost twenty-four years old.
Even with a new face, a new voice, new friends, and a different timeline, Priscilla - Aurora - still had a passion for reading and it was especially evident in the way she spoke.
The younger girl pursed her lips and cleared her throat awkwardly, yanking Victoria out of her daydream and back into reality. This reality that she was still struggling to get accustomed to. She offered Aurora a polite smile as her silent apology for rudely staring and tried to word her next words very carefully.
"How about we do both?" The teacher suggested and Aurora's lips parted slightly to show her surprise.
"We can do that?"
"Of course we can." Victoria supplied smoothly, putting away her empty envelope in a nearby draw and rising to her feet. She made a show of slowly walking around her desk and bracing her butt against the edge of it, arms crossing over her chest as she took a confident stance. "A lot is about to change with me as your new teacher."
"Oh..." Aurora mumbled, her gaze hard and curious on her teacher. "All for the better, I hope?" She half-joked with a slanted smile, pearly whites peeking out slightly from her peach-colored lips.
"That's up to you." Victoria finished, purposely leaving her student confused without room to elaborate as the final bell rang and the rest of her students began to pile into class.
When everyone was settled, Victoria made the effort to introduce herself again and explained the lesson plan for the day. She let the students vote on which of the two books Aurora suggested to her earlier that they would want to start first. While the majority of the votes were cast for To Kill A Mockingbird, she was going to choose it either way simply because Aurora - and three other students - read it during the summer and she wanted to give her some extra time to finish the second book.
Aurora was already showing her more potential than the other students and was among the few that actually looked somewhat determined to be involved in the classwork as much as possible. The feeling she got from students like Aurora was what made her want to become a teacher in the first place. She always felt extremely pleased as a teacher to see students go beyond what was required of them in the classroom simply because they had a strong passion for the subject being taught.
That was one of the two reasons why she made the effort to get out of bed that morning.
The other being her strong will and determination to claim the soul of the one she loved most. And fortunately for her, she fell right into her hands that morning.
Literally.
.♡.
Feeling satisfied with the success of her first two classes of the day, Victoria gently pushed open the door to the teacher's lounge with a small grin plastered on her red lips. In a second, the small room of teachers went eerily quiet as the new teacher's stilettos were heard clicking intimidatingly against the tiled floors as she approached the coffee machine. Victoria wasn't thirsty for any form of caffeine, but the numerous stares burning into her back left her debating her next move. She didn't exactly start off on the right foot with her colleagues that morning and any chance for redemption was most likely tarnished after her big speech at the assembly.
Her eyes gravitated towards the water dispenser instead and, deciding it was too early in the afternoon for coffee, she reached for a paper cup and began filling it up with warm water instead.
Everyone in the room had yet to resume the conversations they were engrossed in before the new English teacher had walked in. This irritated Victoria somewhat and she soon realized she was going to have to try and make amends while still trying to get her point of personal privacy across. She brought the paper cup of water to her lips and turned around.
When she was sure the other teachers had all gone back to pretending like they were not just rudely staring a few moments ago, she took long and slow gulps of the warm liquid. It took almost all of her energy to not immediately gag and spit out the water but she forced herself to smoothly swallow it down. In an instant, warmth filled her from the pit of her stomach and spread out to the tips of her toes and fingers. She knew the balmy feeling was only temporary but she hoped it lasted long enough to get yet another speech over with.
Who on earth can be so repulsed by water? She imagined the look her colleagues would all be wearing when she was finished.
Thankfully, the paper cup was now empty and being thrown into a nearby waste bin. The only look she was receiving from her coworkers was a 'Well don't you have anything to say for yourself?'.
She didn't even have to look at everyone's faces to conclude that that's what they all were thinking. Their emotions burned the surface of her skin like a wildfire and it was slowly becoming difficult to keep her composure. What she felt was so robust and intractable that she almost called it quits and ran out, leaving them with the decision to openly hate her for the rest of her tenure.
Yet, the raven held her ground and planted her feet firmly, leaning her butt against the edge of the counter behind her and pressing her palms flat against its surface at her sides.
"I understand that I have said some things that most of you would not quite agree with at this morning's assembly. And I acknowledge the fact that, in a way, I unintentionally placed you on the same level as my students. However, I wasn't implying that I do not wish to be affable with you all. We will be seeing each other daily and it is only fair that we are all on good terms with each other." Victoria crossed her ankles and slouched her shoulders slightly, remembering to breathe slowly so it came off as natural and not forced like she normally did when people weren't looking.
She kept her hands glued to her sides and refrained from crossing them, not wanting to give them the feeling that, despite her plea for a truce, she was still somewhat guarded and defensive. As she spoke, she made the extra effort to make eye contact with each of them so that they felt somewhat important and seen. Most listened closely with the intention of at least putting what she had to say into consideration. Others tried to subtly sip their drink a little too loud or chew their food a little too quickly, bits of it spilling out of their mouth like a silent 'fuck off' to the teacher.
But Victoria didn't allow herself to be bothered by it; knowing well that she wasn't to expect much, if, at all, any respect from them given that she was the youngest but also oldest in the room. They didn't know that - they didn't need to know that - and it was just another reason why she initially didn't want to have to communicate with them outside of anything work-related. However, she straightened her shoulders and stood tall, now determined to make them treat her as their equal.
"With that being said, I apologize if I had offended you in any way. I do wish we would be able to move past it and work together to make all of our lives a lot easier."
A few younger teachers nodded and even smiled a little in agreement with her words, not wanting to dwell on the issue any longer than Victoria wanted to either. For that, she was grateful. The older ones, on the other hand, simply stared, their expressions unchanging. Victoria took that as her cue to leave and pushed herself more fully off the counter. "Very well." First, she made a bee-line towards the refrigerator and reached inside for a styrofoam smoothie cup, then turned around and nodded once in the direction of one of the male teachers who was smiling empathetically at her and moved towards the exit.
Not long after she stepped out and was on her way to the principal's office, two people fell into stride beside her and she stared at them both curiously.
"You know, that was pretty bold of you back there." Sir Leon commented from her left. She recognized him as the teacher that smiled at her encouragingly before she left the room just moments ago. "But I'm kind of relieved you did it, to say the least."
"We both are," another teacher added from her right. She couldn't have looked any older than a year or two more than Victoria, but the latter was sure she might look a lot older if the light blue hijab wasn't wound so tightly around her head. Victoria knew better than to ask her to take it off just to prove her point. "I'm Aaliyah, by the way." The young teacher introduced herself, offering a polite smile.
Victoria forced herself to return it before facing forward again.
"Leon," the Asian man on her left made himself known as well, reaching a hand out for a handshake. Victoria subtly sized him up, her gaze lingering briefly on his outstretched hand then shook her head in refusal as politely as she could.
"That's fine." She reassured him. Not one to easily take offense, Leon placed his hand back in the pocket of his pants and smiled kindly.
"So listen," He began to say shortly after. "We understand that forming any kind of friendship with us is the last thing you want, but the three of us together are the youngest of the pack and it's only natural that we stick together."
"Is that so?" Victoria contemplated, the corner of her lips rising in a half-smirk.
"Well, of course." Aaliyah quickly joined in to support her friend. "Stanhope is no place to voluntarily play lone wolf. You're better off with at least a person or two you can actually trust."
"You say that like your colleagues have a bad habit of making your experience here as teachers difficult for you." Victoria pointed out, her smirk disappearing completely as her eyebrows furrowed. Her grip on the smoothie cup tightened and she was reminded to quicken her pace.
Unknown to the new teacher, her two coworkers beside her shared a knowing look and halted their movements.
Quickly noticing their sudden absence beside her, Victoria stopped walking as well and peered over her shoulder. "What is the matter with you two?"
Adjusting his tie for the tenth time that morning, Leon stepped forward with a resolute expression. "We would really like it if you would at least consider our offer. You're new around here and anyone will be searching for new ways to take advantage of that. Allow us to be the ones that will have your back whenever necessary.
You don't have to agree right away, I just wanted to give you a heads up that Aaliyah and I are here if you ever needed anything."
Skepticism was written all over Victoria's fine features and, for a moment, she hated how persuasive Leon sounded. She knew this might as well be her first potential distraction offering itself up to her on a gold platter. Did she really need the company of these two? No. Victoria was more than capable of handling herself, especially around simple-minded teachers like the ones she met earlier.
But, at the same time, there might come a day when she could use their help to execute her plans quickly and efficiently. She also needed to somewhat fit in since this was an environment she wasn't particularly accustomed to. If anything these two particular teachers seemed like the perfect candidates to be around and camouflage herself from the other world.
Still contemplating the idea, Victoria turned to face the pair of hopeful teachers. "Yeah, sure, I'll think about it. Thank you for being so considerate."
Maybe a little too considerate, even...
"No problem. Are you busy now? The two of us were just about to leave campus and eat in at a fast-food restaurant a little walk away from school. If you'd like you can join us and we can talk a bit more?" Aaliyah suggested with a broad smile, her hands clasped together hopefully and a little child-like.
The dark-haired beauty gestured to the smoothie cup in her hands, "This will do just fine, thank you."
"That's all you're having?" Leon almost gasped, eyes widening a fraction in concern.
"Special diet," Victoria answered him flatly, not giving anything away. She noticed him shamelessly checking her out, probably wondering how she was able to maintain such a figure on a diet like that.
"Are you sure you don't want to join us? We really wouldn't mind the extra company." He pressed on with a suggestive smile.
Victoria began to take small steps backward and waved a hand dismissively. "Maybe some other time. If you'll kindly excuse me, I have somewhere else to be." And with that, she turned around and left.
For once she wasn't making up an excuse to be away from the company of others but was actually in quite a hurry to get to the principal's office. So far, it was the only form of privacy she was going to have if she wanted to have lunch in peace and without further judgmental stares.
Besides, her special drink was getting warmer by the minute and losing all its flavor. If she avoided it for another minute too long then she would have to spend the rest of the day taking it all in small discreet sips, risking any further possibilities of getting caught. With that thought in mind, Victoria quickly hastened her pace, her mouth already beginning to salivate.
After all, there can only be cold blood for the cold-blooded.
.♡.
"Don't tell me you plan on ignoring me for the rest of the day, mama?" James pouted in Aurora's direction, his tall, lean frame towering over their lunch table as if he were saying something of importance.
Aurora's small eyes slanted further and her lips dipped in a frown before she glanced to the albino beside her then burst into laughter. Jayda soon joined her, dropping the handful of french fries that she was about to put into her mouth back onto her tray..
"Can you believe this guy, Jade?" Aurora snickered, lifting her head from the comfort of her best friend's shoulder as she unwrapped herself from her side. When Jayda simply shrugged and went back to devouring her lunch, Aurora forced herself to glare up at James with whatever energy she had left. "Don't be stupid, James. Have a seat and let's chat."
"Finally." The blonde boy sighed in relief and slumped down in the opposite chair facing Aurora. He knew better than to sit in front of Jayda whilst she was eating. The girl did not hesitate to spit her food out in your face if she ended up laughing a little too hard. It was only by some unforeseen luck that he was spared that happening to him a few moments ago. "Can we pretend like this morning never happened? I feel like it would be best for everyone."
"Shit, not for me," Jayda argued as she reached in front of James for a water bottle. Struggling to uncap it due to her greasy fingers, she allowed Aurora to take it out of her hands and uncap it for her. "Thanks, baby," she said, smiling widely and blew her friend a kiss. "I haven't been able to get the image of that new teacher out of my head." She then said to James who pulled a face at the mention of Miss Addington. He was glaring at his best friend in mild disgust as she proceeded to take long and loud gulps of water from her bottle, exaggerating both her thirst for the cool liquid down her throat and her commentary on the English teacher.
"Must be nice. Meanwhile, I haven't been able to figure out where this stupid burn in my palm came from," Aurora complained, glancing down at said palm in her lap with a deep frown. She spent the entirety of her first two classes of the day daydreaming about how such a thing could have possibly happened without her having any recollection of it. It was troubling her a lot more than she was letting on to her friends and she wasn't able to focus at all. She was almost positive that the notes she took in Physics class were all gibberish that she'd have to deal with when she would revise it at home.
"Let me have a look at it," James ordered gently, reaching across the table to take Aurora's hand in his. She allowed it, now being a lot more comfortable with the idea of him touching her again. At least she knew for a fact that the simple thought of him holding her hand wasn't going to force her back into the emo shell of a mess she was last year.
James traced his pointer finger around the symbol in Rory's palm similar to the way Jayda had that morning. This time, she didn't flinch but to her surprise, she wasn't able to feel James' touch at all. "That kinda looks like a pretty badass tattoo."
"I know, right." Jayda agreed with a wave of her hand, happy that she wasn't the only one thinking it. "I swore I thought she had gone to Jeremy's to mark her body up without us."
"Now that is something I don't think I'd be able to forgive you for," The boy teased as he released the scarred hand.
Aurora rolled her eyes all the way to Mars and zoned out for another ten seconds to examine her hand again. This time she traced the symbol for herself and felt her own touch. Frowning, she grabbed Jayda's hand on her knee from underneath the table and guided her index finger over the symbol. Confused, she released the albino's hand and stared even harder at the mark.
"What's wrong?" Both Jayda and James asked in unison, foreheads creasing in concern.
"It's so weird but when you guys touch it, I don't feel anything at all. It's like that particular spot just goes completely numb. But when I touch it, I just..." Rory trailed off from her sentence, not being able to find the right words to finish. She was sure her friends were going to think she was going crazy and would brush it off with a joke or something.
"It's okay," Jayda reassured, positioning her hand to rub the small of Rory's back compassionately. Hazel eyes glanced up to lock with brown and James smiled at her encouragingly.
Aurora sighed and clenched her fists, chin tilting north as she groaned in frustration. "I feel like I'm going crazy. Why can't I remember where I got this from? It's so big and obvious, how could I possibly forget something like that?"
Both of her friends stayed silent in their own thoughts for a few short moments, trying their best to come up with any logical explanation that might help their friend. But to their dismay, both Jayda and James came up blank.
Instead, they opted for simply comforting and being there for their friend. "I can't think of anything right now," James admitted and Jayda nodded her agreement. "But whatever it is, we'll help you figure it out, okay, mama?"
Rory managed a grateful smile and allowed Jayda to wrap the arm on her back around her waist again and pull her closer. "Want me to come over after school?" She mumbled softly into her ear, not wanting James to overhear. Luckily, he was already distracted by something Christoper was trying to shout at him from all the way across the cafeteria.
"I'd really appreciate that." Aurora hummed, leaning forward to press a lingering kiss to her best friend's snow colored cheek. She was quickly distracted by the way Jayda's cheeks warmed as a cloud of red caressed the swell of it before slowly fading in to settle at the center. The other girl took notice of her staring and the blush on her cheek was soon replaced with a small smirk making its way onto her lips.
"You're staring, baby," Jayda whispered softly, her smile contagious as Rory's hazel eyes lifted and connected with her mint green ones.
"Oh, I need permission now?" Rory questioned, her tone playful.
"Never."
"Damn, correct me if I'm wrong but why do I get the feeling that I'm suddenly third-wheeling...?" James interrupted suddenly, his gaze suspicious as he reprimanded the two girls before him.
"You were always third-wheeling." Aurora declared light-heartedly, throwing a used napkin at James' chest.
"Okay, true." He acknowledged with a light chuckle before his features contorted into a more inquisitive look. "But the two of you seem a lot closer somehow. And don't get me wrong, you guys are already close but... I feel like you hung out a lot more together over the summer than when all three of us were together."
"And what about it? Are you... jealous?" Jayda teased him, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
James scoffed and avoided eye contact with them both, not allowing the satisfaction of the doubt. "Oh, please. I'm just saying, it's not that hard to see."
"Your jealousy or our unbreakable bond?" Aurora teased him further, emphasizing the 'unbreakable' with a tight squeeze to Jayda's side.
The blonde boy relaxed his shoulders with a tiny huff and sunk back into his chair, his arms reaching around it to clasp behind his back. "The literal fuck-me-eyes you were giving that idiot a few moments ago." Heat immediately clawed up at the side of Aurora's neck and she couldn't have done anything to hide the obvious blush spreading across her olive cheeks.
She glanced to Jayda anxiously, hoping she wouldn't say anything stupid, and accidentally let James in on their little secret. But the albino had other plans as she turned around in her seat to face Aurora, a fake and overly exaggerated gasp leaving her lips as she stared at her best friend with a shocked expression.
"Rory... do you want to fuck me?"
Deciding to play along, Aurora bit back her own laugh and fake gasped as well, mimicking the surprised look on Jayda's face.
"Do you want to fuck me?"
They both cocked their heads comically as if coming to some silent agreement, then grabbed onto each other and pretended to make out with filthy porn sound effects following not long after.
James has never felt more embarrassed to be seen with the two clowns he had for best friends and quickly ducked his head in shame, looking around uncomfortably to see if anyone was watching the two who were still shamelessly going at it.
"Oh hell, I'm beyond ashamed to call you guys my friends sometimes." He admitted while trying - and miserably failing - to have the collar of his leather jacket swallow him whole.
Finally, the two girls broke apart from their antics with an outburst of loud laughter. They had never seen James act so shy and uncomfortable before, and it didn't help that he was blushing profusely.
"Oh my god, I wish you could see the look on your face right now!" Jayda exclaimed, hands over her mouth as she tried to contain herself.
"Purely traumatic." Aurora described for him, still trying to subdue her own giggles.
"Idiots," James muttered under his breath as he sat up back in his seat, a smile threatening to break out on his face. "You two can never take anything seriously, huh?"
"You're one to talk." Aurora retorted with her arms crossed, clearly intending for him to catch on to the double meaning.
James tilted his head, momentarily perturbed by her words before his attention was stolen by Christopher who was calling his name again.
"Yo James! Come holler at us for a sec!" Both Aurora and Jayda glanced over their shoulders at the table Christopher sat at, their lips curling slightly in distaste at the group of cheerleaders and basketball players all jam-packed into one setting; chatting wildly and loudly amongst themselves and becoming the center of attention.
Turning back around, both girls sighed at the desperate look on James' face and practically shooed him off with a wave of their hand. "Go on. Go reunite with your gang." Jayda spoke on both her and Aurora's behalf. But he knew all too well that neither of them actually wanted him to leave. It was the first day of school and they couldn't even have lunch together for more than fifteen minutes without James being summoned. It annoyed them, to say the least because he had promised to be more present and inclusive with them given it's their last year in high school together. But by the looks of it, old habits die hard and senior year was just going to be another repeat of the last two years.
"Sorry guys. It's kind of important." He stated as he rose to his feet hesitantly.
"It always is with you," Aurora grumbled, suddenly very interested in something on her phone.
He almost sat back down but Jayda shooed him away again when Cecilia began to scream his name like a maniac. "Leave if you intend to, please," She ordered him stiffly.
"I'll make it up to you guys later, I promise." He said hurriedly and squeezed Jayda's hand apologetically before scurrying off.
"Is he gone yet?" Aurora asked after a while, placing her phone on the table face down even though she hadn't used it in the first place, staring at the black screen to avoid dealing with James.
"Like the wind," Jayda answered smoothly, finally deciding to finish up the rest of her lunch. Aurora had finished hers a lot earlier than everyone else since she had skipped breakfast this morning and was practically on the verge of blacking out. She spent the rest of her lunchtime admiring Jayda simply eating her fries and cheese instead.
"I don't see why he feels the need to run to them like a stray dog every time they call on him. He's literally like a pet to them that they play with occasionally and show off to call cute every once in a while." Aurora complained to Jayda after a few moments of silence, placing her chin in the palm of her hands with an annoyed look.
Jayda simply nodded as she spoke, not seeing the need for many words since Aurora pretty much said everything she was thinking. "I'm just confused as to why he and Cecilia are acting like best buds all of a sudden." She decided to say instead, peering over her shoulder briefly to gaze at the redhead who was clinging to James' side like flies on a pile of shit.
Oops, maybe she shouldn't have compared James to a pile of shit. But he was kind of acting like a piece-of-shit friend so if the cap fits...
Aurora followed Jayda's green gaze and sighed, turning back around just as quickly as she had looked. "When he does that, it makes it harder for me to believe everything he said to me." She confessed very quietly. It was so soft that Jayda wouldn't have caught it if she wasn't so close to her all the time. The latter eyed her best friend's suddenly dejected expression and wrapped her arms around her from the side, resting her chin on her shoulder as she peered up into Aurora's distant eyes.
"Rory, baby, look at me." In an instant, hazel eyes were on her and Jayda momentarily felt a skip in her heartbeat. Ignoring it, she suddenly felt the need to remind Aurora how important she was to her and how much better she deserved compared to what anyone else had ever given to her. "Don't let people like Cecilia get to you. As far as I'm concerned, she and James are just perfect for each other. Both manipulative, inconsiderate, and, worst of all, unconcerned. But you're better than them and because of that, you'll be able to learn and grow from these experiences so you can make better choices in the future. You won't allow the wrong person to waste your time anymore and treat you any less of the queen you are -all while making you feel like it's all you deserve. Because it's not and I really wish you would see that already."
"I do though. Every time you talk to me." Rory confessed, moving her head to gently press her forehead against Jayda's. Closing her eyes, she managed a small content smile and spoke up gently. "You always know what to say to make me feel better. And you make me feel so important and loved, all at the same time."
Without missing a beat, Jayda replied, "That's because you are and I do."
Aurora pulled away slightly from the hug to make sure Jayda could see the big smile on her face. "Thank you for everything."
.♡.
Okay, this was actually getting kind of ridiculous. Aurora thought to herself silently, her forehead falling into her sky blue canvas as she clutched her right hand to her chest, eyes sewn shut tightly as she tried to ride the wave of unbearable pain.
"Hey, Rory, are you feeling alright?" Someone whispered in concern from beside her, their hand resting on her shoulder for comfort. When Aurora failed to respond; too busy whining and cursing silently in pain as a few drops of tears slid down her cheeks, her classmate did not hesitate to call for their teacher's attention. "Miss Aaliyah! Can you please come to the back for a quick second?!"
Aurora mentally thanked them for not calling attention to her and making a scene. She hated being stared at in a crowded room and it would have only made her unnecessarily cry harder.
Noting the look of concern on her student's face, the art teacher quickly made her way to the back of the class to inspect the situation.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" She said to Aurora gently, brushing back a few loose curls from her fish braid to get a better look at why she was crying. "Rory, what happened? Are you in pain?"
Afraid a scream would rip free from her throat if she tried to speak, the teenager simply nodded her head violently.
"Did you hurt yourself while painting?" Miss Aaliyah began to guess, quickly realizing Aurora was clearly in too much pain to speak. She shook her head. That wasn't it. "Did someone in here do something to you?" Aurora shook her head again. In a much lower tone, she asked, "Period cramps?" Another shake of the head.
Swallowing back her tears, Aurora decided she was going to have to try and say what was happening to her if she wanted to receive any help at all. Obviously her teacher couldn't read minds and it would be completely useless to stay in class and wait it out. The symbol in her palm made her feel like her entire body was on fire and there was no way she could put herself out.
"My hand, it's... it's..." Aurora trailed off, realizing she was about to sound crazy as hell. She shook her head dismissively and said it anyway. "My h-hand is on fi-fire."
Perturbed, the teacher removed her hands from Aurora's hair and examined her more carefully. Her brown orbs glanced toward the hand the teen was holding onto. "Is it okay if I take a look?" She asked cautiously but her hand was already reaching towards her.
Aurora sat up in her chair slightly enough for the teacher to see her outstretched hand. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip, drawing blood as she forced herself to swallow back her tears. She had her eyes closed the entire time and did not realize Miss Aaliyah had already touched her hand, twisting it this way and that to inspect for any signs of a burn or... anything at all, really. The teacher stood from her crouched position and sighed, wondering at the back of her mind if she was being pranked.
"Aurora..." She called for the young girl's attention. , Aurora finally forced her teary eyes open and glanced up at her teacher, the pain evident on her face. The idea of this being a prank was quickly dismissed from Miss Aaliyah's mind. "Honey, there's nothing there."
With a baffled look, Aurora examined her hand on her own and was further confused as to why the teacher couldn't see it. It was right there in the center of her hand, burning up her insides.
"But it's... it's right there. I swear there's this weird burn in my hand! I don't know how, but I got it this morning and it's been hurting ever since." Aurora's forehead creased with a visible line of sweat and she suddenly looked extremely pale. And Aurora was not one to easily get pale, thanks to her mother's strong melanin.
The art teacher pressed a hand to Aurora's forehead then retracted it immediately. "Oh my god, you're practically burning up!" She exclaimed worriedly, having never seen someone with such a high fever before.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" The teenage whisper-yelled, her body suddenly collapsing with a lack of energy as she fell into her teacher's arms.
Acting fast, Miss Aaliyah summoned the help of two of her trusted male students to carry a barely conscious Aurora to the nurse's office. She wrote up hall passes for the both of them and sent them on their way, unable to leave her class unattended. The last time she did that, the sophomores and freshmen started a paint war and not even the few seniors or juniors in the class were able to control them.
Adam and Gavin, the two boys who were in charge of taking care of Aurora, made sure their classmate was comfortably seated in the nurse's office before returning to Art class. The nurse instructed Aurora to lie down on the small bed with her arms outstretched while she checked her temperature. The pain in her palm had subdued, but it left her with the aftermath of a high fever.
Her throat was so dry that it felt like she was swallowing needles with every gulp, and she was sweating so profusely that she could feel droplets of it trickle off her limbs and soak through the mattress underneath her.
The nurse, Hazel, sat in front of Aurora on a stool and adjusted her thermometer. She then gave the pale girl a comforting smile before lifting her arm and sticking the device underneath it. "This is the first time I'm seeing you in here." She tried making conversation with Aurora about the piece of gum she was smacking while they waited a few short moments for the thermometer to get a reading.
Instead of responding with her usual witty remarks, Aurora lifted a finger to her throat and choked out dryly, "Water."
"Oh, of course!" Hazel jumped up from her seat and fetched the younger girl a cold cup of water. She made the extra effort to give it to her in small sips until it was all gone. The nurse then threw the paper cup in a nearby waste bin before retrieving the thermometer and quickly checking it. It didn't take long before her eyes were almost bulging out of their sockets, and she nearly dropped the device from her hand in shock.
"Holy shit," she cursed, placing a hand over her mouth immediately after. She usually tried to avoid cursing in front of the students, but in this particular circumstance, it felt justifiable.
"What's wrong?" Aurora asked from across the room, her voice laced with fear. She tried to sit up in bed as best as she could, trying to prop herself up with her elbow on her side.
Hazel glanced to Aurora sympathetically and moved closer to her but made sure to stay at a safe distance in case whatever that fever meant was contagious. "Love, I'm going to have to let you call your parents to pick you up right away. I think you might need to go to the hospital."
Panicking at the mention of a hospital, Aurora tried to force herself to feel better. She sat up firmer and braced her back against the wall for support as a wave of dizziness hit her but she blinked it away rapidly, trying her best to hide it. "No, I don't." She disagreed stubbornly.
The nurse pursed her lips and spoke very slowly to make sure the teenager understood everything she was about to say. "Your normal body temperature is supposed to be at least thirty-seven degrees celsius. But right now... yours is at forty-four." She allowed the first half to sink in and when Aurora nodded her understanding, Hazel continued, "I don't want to scare you, but technically you could be dead within the next few hours if we don't try to get it down to at least forty-two."
Aurora swallowed a whimper and felt her heartbeat rapidly begin to increase. She could die in the next few hours? Impossible! She was perfectly fine this morning. Her mother had even forced her to take some vitamins before she left the house.
"Do you understand why you need to go to the hospital now? I can't diagnose you here with anything besides the flu. And I really don't want to risk it either if it's anything more than that." Abandoning her silent rule to keep her distance, Hazel moved closer to the terrified teenager and placed a hand on her warm back comfortingly. Aurora was obviously in a state of distress but Hazel did not want to make the situation worse by leaving her to deal with the overwhelming news. Anyone would be scared by what she just said, but she knew she had to do it so that Aurora could fully understand the severity of the situation.
"Okay." Aurora finally agreed, nodding her head once and releasing a shaky breath. "I'll give you my dad's number. My mom doesn't drive anymore so she can't pick me up."
"That's alright." Hazel quickly stood to her feet and made her way towards the telephone placed on her desk. Aurora grumbled out the digits to her dad's office phone since that would be where he most likely was right now and would not answer his cell for whatever reason. He answered on the second ring and Hazel tumbled out the emergency to him as well as she could so he would try to get to the school as quickly as possible. Aurora's dad promised on the other side of the line that he would be there in the next fifteen to twenty minutes.
In the meantime, Hazel placed a cloth in the freezer to cool for a few minutes before laying it atop Aurora's forehead. She hoped it would at least help to get the fever down to a few degrees by the time the girl's dad had arrived.
Aurora was no longer feeling dizzy and could now manage to sit up on her own. She reached into her backpack on the floor for her phone and sent a chained message to James and Jayda, informing them that she was leaving school early but leaving out the details as to why. Predictably, neither of them responded right away given the fact that they were both currently in class so she didn't dwell too much on it.
A few minutes passed with the nurse trying her best to get Aurora's fever down and so far it had only dropped by about a degree. Not being able to do much more, Hazel accompanied her to the school's office where she would inform Miss Grace that she was feeling ill and would be leaving school early. The secretary handed her a gate-pass for her to give to the security guard and wished for her to feel better. Aurora barely managed a smile and dragged her feet towards the entrance of the building.
The security guard's booth was just opposite her left towards the parking lot and she begrudgingly made her way towards it. She was definitely in no mood to deal with Phill's perverted behavior but she, unfortunately, did not have a choice. This time of day, Phill was highly alert and awake in his recliner chair, readily greeting her with a broad yellow smile. Aurora cringed and forced a tight smile back, stopping about two feet away from the open door and stretching out her hand for him to take her gate-pass.
"Leaving already?" He asked her with a creepily disappointed look on his face, standing up from his chair and making a show of fixing his leather belt.
Aurora simply nodded, not wanting to give him any more opportunities to prolong the one-sided conversation.
However, unable to respect the personal space of others, he stepped down from his booth and claimed the two feet of distance Aurora had put between them. Suddenly uncomfortable, the teenager took two more steps back, allowing him to take another one forward. She waved the piece of paper in her hands impatiently for him to take and glanced around her surroundings to see if anyone was watching them. The place seemed deserted, what with the majority of the students being in class with their respective teachers and any other authoritative figure that would have been present was most likely busy participating in meetings and whatnot. Phill took the final step towards her and he was so close that Aurora could smell what he had for lunch combined with the foul scent of the cheap cigarettes he smoked. That's when she decided he was too close and she had had enough.
"Can you just take my gate-pass already? I really need to get home." She instructed him firmly, trying her best to not crumble under his predatory stare, and held her head high.
"Sure thing, doll." He agreed and pretended like he was reaching for the gate-pass in her hand, only to redirect it at the last minute and cup her face in the palm of his calloused and wrinkly hands. "Soooo pretty..." He dragged out with his nicotine breath and Aurora quickly stumbled out of his grip.
"Do not touch me!" She yelled at him threateningly with a finger pointing accusingly in his face. She then folded the piece of paper in her hands and dropped it on the floor between them before taking several more steps back. "There, take it and open the gate."
"But I'm going to miss you so much." He cooed with a crooked smile as he began to take slow steps towards her again. When he reached the folded paper, he bent down to pick it up and his hat fell off. A strong wind passed and blew it at Aurora's feet. She glanced down at it with distaste and a sinister smile took over Phill's face. "Would you be a dear and bring that for me, Rora?"
"It's Rory." She corrected with a slight growl.
"Yes, of course. Forgive me, Rory. Can you bring my hat for me, love?"
Aurora felt her skin crawl at the many nicknames and glanced around one last time for any sign of a teacher in sight. By some stroke of luck, she saw Miss Addington exiting the school library from about fifty feet away from where she stood. She quickly began to think of a way to get the teacher's attention before the crazy man in front of her attacked her. She didn't care that she was practically a mile away but at least if something happened to her, then she was grateful someone was there to see it. Aurora took her final steps back and her back hit against the side of a gold 2005 Mazda Miata, triggering the alarm.
It blared loudly and almost made her jump 20 feet back, but looking over her shoulder, she could see Miss Addington stopping in her tracks as her attention was immediately caught by the sudden alarm. Her gray eyes glared at the car first, then softened as she spotted Rory bracing up against it and a thoughtful look spread across her face.
"You stupid bitch!" Phill yelled from in front of her and she glanced at him anxiously. He practically began to sprint towards her now, anger bleeding into his already crazed pupils. "Why would you do that?" He growled with his arms outstretched, just about to grab her by the shoulders. Before he got the chance, a tall figure materialized in front of Aurora and caught Phill by the neck at the last minute. He was slammed into the hard concrete face first with a loud thud. There he lay motionless on the floor for so long that she thought he was dead. A loud sigh of relief was only released when she saw his fingers twitching at his sides.
Her exhale caught the attention of the woman standing with her back facing her, her shoulders hunched forward in a protective stance. As if remembering she was there, Miss Addington slowly turned around and looked at her, the anger quickly vanishing from her features at the scared look on the teenager's face. Now with a look of concern, she took cautious steps forward towards Aurora who thankfully didn't back away. Or maybe that was just because she was trapped between her new English teacher and a car.
"Aurora," Victoria called her gently when she was about a foot away. "Are you okay?"
Aurora straightened herself and tightened her grip on her backpack, the shock still evident on her face as she stared at the grey-eyed woman. "Uhm, yeah. Yeah. You got here just in time, thank you."
"Did he hurt you?"
"No," Aurora answered quickly, taking deep breaths to calm down so her hands would stop shaking. Victoria glanced to her fidgety hands first then to Aurora's backpack and the sickly look on her face.
"Are you going home early?" She asked, already putting two and two together.
Aurora nodded and nervously adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm not feeling that great." She then pointed to a now groaning-in-pain Phill on the floor that laid next to her still folded gate-pass. "He wouldn't open the gate for me and my dad is going to be here soon."
Victoria didn't need to hear any more than that because she was already making her way back towards Phill and kicked him back to consciousness in the leg. "Get up and open the gate for Aurora," she demanded coldly. In seconds, Phill was staggering to stand on his feet as he fingered a bunch of keys around his belt. He quickly took them off and made long, sloppy strides towards the school gate.
She watched him closely as he stuck a key in and twisted, struggling to pull the gate open more than two inches as he just kept groaning and wincing loudly in pain. She stepped in front of him and forced him out of her way with the harsh glare in her eyes alone. Without any sign of a visible struggle, she pulled the heavy metal gate open with one hand and glanced over her shoulder at Aurora expectantly.
The teenager practically sprinted towards her and out of the gate, not wanting to spend another second in the guard's presence. Once safely outside, she looked at Phill for the first time since Miss Addington arrived and swallowed back the gasp in her throat. He had a huge gash on his forehead from the impact he had hit the concrete with.
It bled out quickly and smeared his face, caking his mustache and goatee with it. She almost felt bad for him until she remembered that he tried to grab and hold her down barely a few moments ago. Her disgust for him returned, leaving no room for remorse or anything close to it.
"Thank you." She said gratefully, turning to Victoria who was already watching her from the other side of the gate with worry.
"Are you sure you're okay?" The older woman asked uneasily, ignoring Aurora's thanks for a second time. She seemed to be refusing to acknowledge it until she was positive Aurora was as fine as she was letting on and safely away from Phill. He had already done the honors of removing himself from the presence of the two women and was now hiding away in his booth, trying his best to bandage the wound on his forehead. Victoria wrapped her fingers around the metal poles on the gate in an attempt to physically restrain herself from marching into his stupid little booth and breaking his hands, ensuring that he was never able to put them on someone else ever again.
"Positive. Just a little shaken up." Aurora suddenly spoke up from beside her, yanking her mind away from her dark thoughts as the anger she was feeling again immediately subdued. "Once I'm home and get my fever down I..." She noticed Aurora pressing her palms against her neck and forehead almost in a panic as if she was feeling for something that was no longer there. "That's strange." She mumbled softly to herself, probably not intending for Victoria to hear but she did anyway.
"What's wrong?" She asked the teenager in a soft tone though she had already had a strong inclination of what it could have been.
Aurora allowed her hands to fall freely at her sides as she sighed tiredly, turning around slightly to face her teacher, "I don't know. I could have sworn I had a really horrible fever just a few minutes ago."
"You did?" Victoria asked for confirmation, her suspicion growing further.
"Yeah." Aurora nodded, her eyes searching up and down the street anxiously for her father's vehicle. She was having the weirdest day and wanted nothing more than to go home and collapse into the comfort of her bed. Seeing no sign of it, she turned around to face Victoria more fully and decided to tell her what happened. "Remember that burn I told you about on my hand this morning at assembly?" When the teacher nodded to show that she did remember, Aurora lifted her right hand and stretched open her palm to show Victoria the yin-yang symbol that scarred the center of it. Aurora was too busy recounting the story of how she almost fainted in Art class to notice the wide-eyed expression on her teacher's face, as her intense silver gaze took in the mark on Aurora's hand tentatively. "So the nurse then tells me my fever was at forty-four degrees and if I didn't try to get it down soon I could literally die. Like why would she even say that, I almost burst into tears like a little wuss." On the bright side, Aurora was already making fun of her situation and finally looked up to meet Victoria's eyes as she laughed.
"That must have been a horrible experience." The dark-haired woman noted, smiling along with Aurora. She was surprised she was even able to manage it despite the butterflies in her stomach practically stirring up a hurricane with every flap of their wings.
"Not more horrible than him, to be honest," the teenager admitted with a fiery glare towards Phill's current hiding spot.
"I'll be reporting him to the Principal as soon as you leave and I head back inside," Victoria promised, making it a priority over anything else she had planned that afternoon.
A hopeless look took over Rory's face and she exhaled defeatedly, "You can try but it probably won't make much of a difference. Last year, a bunch of other girls and I wrote up a letter of complaint and everything and sent it to the board of directors, describing in detail how he would harass us and look at us inappropriately. But it only made Mr. Banks angry and he told us to drop it. We were the ones to get into trouble and basically lectured for filing 'false complaints' against the 'poor old security guard'. He disregarded it all as just Phill being a harmless and lonely old man, saying that he would not fire him if his staring didn't go beyond that. I haven't felt safe on campus ever since and everyone else just chooses to ignore him at this point."
Victoria's thick brows furrowed greatly as she took in Aurora's words. At the back of her mind, she already had a list of a string of curse words she was going to release on her nephew for taking Aurora's situation so lightly.
"So what, he's going to wait for one of you to be touched inappropriately before he does something about it?" Victoria asked incredulously, finding it difficult to believe the principal would react in such a way. Now she was determined to get back inside and give him a piece of her mind.
"Pretty much, yeah," Aurora answered, all playfulness on her face from before gone. A familiar black SUV turned onto the street and Aurora felt her heartbeat finally slow down with relief. Her father was here. "Hey, how did you manage to get to me so quickly back there?" She suddenly questioned Victoria, suspicion written all over her face.
The teacher stepped back from the gate as Aurora's father pulled into the driveway and shrugged her shoulders, a playful smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I believe your dad's here." She stated instead, completely avoiding the question.
Aurora frowned but didn't bother to pry further, making a mental note to question her more if she made it to school tomorrow. "Yeah, that's him." The horn on the SUV honked once, signaling Aurora over. She glanced at her teacher one last time, hoping she would give her some kind of last-minute explanation but Miss Addington simply smiled and put up a hand to give her a small wave.
"I hope you feel better, Aurora. See you at school tomorrow?"
"Yeah, maybe." Aurora hoped, suddenly not wanting to leave without a proper answer just yet. But her father honked his horn again and she released a soft sigh. "Goodbye, then."
She said finally and walked away, opening the back door of the SUV and dumped her backpack inside before sitting in the front. The vehicle slowly pulled out of the driveway and within a few moments, it went speeding down the street, leaving the mystery that was Victoria Addington behind.
"You said fifteen to twenty minutes." Aurora berated her father, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared out the window.
"That was fifteen to twenty minutes. Half hour tops." He countered, glancing across at her every now and then with a worried look.
"That was an hour ago." The teenager grumbled, sinking back into her seat. The further away she got from the school, the more at ease she felt with herself. On the contrary, heat was crawling up her hand again and traveling all the way to her neck then forehead, slowly consuming her body once again.
"Dang it, I'm sorry, love." He reached a hand over to her and caressed the back of her head. Feeling the heat, he quickly retracted it as the nurse's words replayed in his head from their brief phone call. "On the phone, the nurse said you had a high fever and I should take you to the hospital." He reminded her gently although his tone held a kind of suggestiveness to it- as if to tell her he wouldn't take her there if she didn't feel up for it. "I know how much you hate going there, so you have to tell me now and be completely honest, how are you feeling?"
Aurora tilted her head to the side, examining her father's side profile that was almost an exact replica of hers, and sighed for the nth time that afternoon.
"Like shit."
.♡.
Back home, Aurora was barely spared five seconds to breathe in the familiar air of her living room before her mother was already interrogating her at the door.
"What are you doing home this early?" She inquired with a stern look, blocking her daughter's entrance through the door. Aurora looked so visibly weak as if she was barely holding on to dear life so she braced her shoulder against the doorframe for support.
"Mom, please, I really need to lie down." She begged, hoping the woman would have a bit of understanding and for once feel some sympathy towards her.
Before Aurora's mom could get another statement in, her father popped up behind her with a briefcase and a few grocery bags in his hands and gave his wife a disapproving look. "Jesus, woman, the child is not feeling well so she was excused to come home early. Just check her temperature, she's burning up."
Hesitant and full of doubt, Claudia reached out and pressed her palms against Aurora's neck then slowly slid one up to her forehead. She pulled them back quickly and wrapped a supportive hand around her waist, guiding her daughter further into the house. "Christ, why didn't you just say that, Aurora? You look like you're on the verge of death."
"Feel like it too." Aurora agreed and allowed her mother to sit her down in a chair, the older woman now glaring at her lame joke.
"Why didn't you take my daughter to the hospital?" Claudia began to argue with her husband as she followed him into the kitchen. She moved in quick strides and began tumbling through various cabinets for flu tablets.
Aurora's father placed the bags of groceries onto the counter and released a frustrated breath, moving to stand behind his wife and grabbing the card of tablets she was struggling to reach in a higher cabinet. "She's my daughter too, you know. And that's why I knew we should at least try to treat her at home before forcing her to go back to that awful place."
"The hospital is not an awful place. She would have been much better off there than having me running around here like a madwoman." He simply sighed and ignored his wife, knowing she rarely meant half of the things she said and glided towards the kitchen sink. He grabbed a glass and was about to fill it up with water, but thought of something else.
"Rory, would you like the tablets crushed up and in a glass of orange juice?!" He yelled over his shoulder and tried his best to ignore Claudia's disapproving stare.
"Thanks, Dad," came his daughter's barely audible reply from the living room.
"So what is wrong with the tap water?" Claudia challenged, placing a hand on her hip as she glared at her husband.
"Nothing is wrong with it, honey. Orange juice has a lot of Vitamin C and I think I heard her sniffling a lot in the car. It will help with the cold."
"You baby that girl too much, Zach." She mumbled loud enough for him to hear as she retrieved an unopened box of orange juice from the grocery bag he brought in and emptied it into a glass.
"And you don't baby her enough. Keep treating her like she's some unbreakable thing and I assure you, she'll not want anything to do with you whenever she starts living on her own." The Japanese man tried to reason and he could tell his words were finally beginning to get to his wife. It was a topic they disagreed on every day.
"I treat Rory nicely," Claudia stated in defense, but her eyes were soft. "You're making me sound like a bad mother."
Zach stepped closer to his wife and held her delicate frame in his hands. "I never said you don't and I never said you are. You just stopped treating her like a human being since... the incident."
She knew right away what he was referring to and her head lowered. She was suddenly overcome with guilt, realizing that her husband was right, and she sighed in defeat.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Hey, it's alright," Zach reassured his wife, tilting her chin up as he kissed her forehead tenderly. "Just take care of her as you used to since she hasn't been sick in a while. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. I have to get back to work but I'll be back home to help you soon, okay?"
"Okay." Claudia agreed, a genuine smile tugging at her lips. She pecked Zach on his lips before stepping away from him.
"I brought home some stuff to make a dumpling soup for her. I was going to make it when I got. back but you can whip up something for her if you're up for it." He informed, retrieving his suitcase from off the counter and adjusting his tie.
"I'll get started on it soon."
Zach and Claudia made their way back to the living room; Zach with his briefcase in his hand and Claudia with Rory's glass of orange juice with the crushed pill inside.
Claudia went to hand the juice to her daughter only to realize she had fallen asleep soundly in the chair, her hand resting on the armrest with her head barely leaning against it. Her mother placed down the glass and replaced Aurora's arm with a nearby cushion.
"Poor thing." Her father muttered under his breath and leaned down to kiss her forehead. The heat radiating off of her skin concerned him greatly, but he had faith in his wife that she would take good care of their daughter. "Call me if she begins to feel any worse or if the fever goes down before I reach home. I'll stop by the pharmacy and see if they have anything stronger." Zach kissed his wife one last time before taking his leave.
Claudia waited until she heard his car pull out from the driveway before attempting to wake up her sleeping daughter. "Rory." She called her name gently, slightly shaking her awake. Aurora sat up with a loud groan, but her mother couldn't tell if she was in pain or just annoyed to be woken up from her nap. "Come on, baby. I'll run you a bath and then make some hot soup to see if we can sweat that fever out, okay?"
Claudia was sure Aurora was only half listening but at least she was awake enough for her mother to give the glass of juice to her. Aurora began to complain about a sore throat before she had even drunk half of the glass' contents. Claudia refrained from forcing it to her, remembering her husband's words about being a little more sympathetic with her. Besides, the teenager was sick. It's not like she was doing any of it on purpose.
Shortly after, Claudia gave Aurora a cool bath and dressed her in a pair of sweatpants, one of her father's oversized shirts, and a pair of colorful socks. She made her spend the rest of the evening in bed while she prepared a pot of soup downstairs. Since Zach was sometimes stingy with his homemade recipes, Claudia spent almost an hour watching multiple YouTube videos trying to perfect the traditional Gyoza. Thanks to her ability to learn quickly, as well as her determination to try new things, she got through with the Gyoza on her first try and spent the next two hours perfecting the taste of her soup.
Just as she was setting a plate for Rory, the loud chime of the doorbell went off several times in a row. She quickly dried her hands on a kitchen towel and made her way towards the front door with a heavy sigh. She had a strong inclination of who it was because there was only one person in the entire town that dared to relentlessly ring down her doorbell without fear of the following consequences.
Claudia hauled the front door to her home open, almost ripping it off its hinges as she came face-to-face with a certain white-haired devil she knew all too well who was standing there.
"Don't you have somewhere better to be?"