(Normal warnings plus some tra^ma over sorta verbal ab^s3? -srry for the wait! Also-Ik some of the medical stuff involving allergic reactions isn't perfectly accurate 0-0 so just stretch ur imaginations lolll. Happy reading!!) Chapter 14: June Reasons I need to get home: ~Homework ~Shower ~So Beck doesn't call the police-it's most likely too late ~So Mr. Evans doesn't mark my History Essay as absent ~Because if Kai Brooks d13s because I couldn't call 911, I'm going to feel kinda bad ~Fine. I'm going to feel really bad Sunday, Oct 7th, 8:45am One more day. Just one more day we have to get through before Monday, when they'll open the school again and I will be free. I barely slept last night, overly worried about Kai's condition. He didn't sleep much either, since he had to keep getting up to be sick in the bathroom. He's sleeping now, relaxed and peacefully, mouth hanging slightly open. I'm sitting on the couch across, criss-crossed legs and trying to read without looking up every time he so much as breathes funny. I think you're supposed to go to the hospital after an allergic reaction, even if you use an EpiPen. Problem is, Kai and I are trapped in a locked building with no possible way to contact the outside world. I. Am. Not. Stressing. ... I am one-hundred percent stressing. What I wouldn't give to have a working phone right now. Or even just to be able to talk to my brother, and tell him about this crazy event. Tears pool in my eyes thinking about him. Beck. I miss him so much. Hard to believe that it was just a week ago I told him if he touched my stuff again I would m^rder him in his sleep. And now I can't picture his face without crying. Beck and I actually look a lot alike. We're both brunettes, though his hair has a bit of curl and mine just has the slightest wave. We have the same slender features and similar colored eyes. His are quite a bit more green than brown though. They always make me think of a cat's. Quiet and calculating, but playful as well. Funny how you only really appreciate the simple things once you've lost them. Kai stirs and opens his sea-blue eyes, blinking the bleariness from them. He smiles crookedly, tilting his head at me. "Do you always watch people while they sleep? Or am I just special?" I flush slightly and resist the urge to throw my book at him. The book doesn't deserve that. "Especially ANNOYING." I retort. "I'll take it." He says, sitting up and stretching. Then he gives me a look. "For real though, June. I'm fine." I scowl at him. How dare he know what I'm thinking? I ignore that comment. "It's our last day, y'know. Tomorrow we're free." The look in his eyes is complicated. Searching, almost sad. Before I can try to figure it out it's gone. "Let's make it a good one then." "Travel! Travel! Are you kidding me? That was SUCH a travel!" Kai complains after I shoot a basket and then do a little victory dance. "Excuses are for losers!" "It's not 'excuses' it's the rules!" I shrug. "Play smarter not harder." "So...cheat. You're telling me to cheat?" I stick my tongue out. "It's not my fault you s-" I'm interrupted by Kai grabbing me around the middle and slinging me over his shoulders. "Wha-PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!" "Can't hear you." Kai calls as he dribbles the ball with his free hand and shoots. It bounces off the rim with a 'bonk' and flies somewhere into the bleachers of our school's gym. "Brick! No goal! Zero touchdown!" I shout at him, compiling all my short list of sports terms together into one big mess of an insult. Kai nearly falls over laughing, which gives me that swooping feeling you get going down on a roller coaster. Except scarier. Cause I'm not sure Kai Brooks meets the safety regulations. "What-this is BASKETBALL, June." "If you drop me I'll-" "What?" Kai asks and despite facing backwards and in no view of his face, I can practically hear his devious grin. "Did you say something?" He spins in a circle and I scream. "Ohmygoshyouregoingtodropmeandkillmeimgonnadie-" I say all in one breath, clutching his arm for dear life. He laughs and sets me down, then puts his hands on my shoulders, face serious. "I would never drop you. I'm your Superman, remember?" I blink, heart kicking fast in my chest. Then I shove him in the chest. "You're my Super Irritation. Now go grab that ball and let me continue kicking your butt." Kai salutes and runs off, leaving me to hear the echo of his words in my ears, and wonder why I feel so dizzy. "Okay, hear me out...Anna." I choke on my handful of M&Ms-peanut free, of course-and have to take a second to recover. "From...Frozen?" I ask, incredulously. Kai nods, completely serious. I lose it. "Are you kidding me?" "The red hair's kinda a thing." He says, as if that's an explanation. I snort, nearly choking again. "That's ridiculous." "Says the person who's been naming book characters for the last ten minutes. You don't even know what they look like!" I glare at him.
"Um, imagination for one. And two-it's not all about looks! What about personality?" "You said the Mr. Darby guy was a jerk." Kai points out, taking some more of the candy. We found the teacher's secret stash during a competitive game of Hide and Seek earlier. And yes, we are reverting to our childhoods. "Mr. Darcy." I correct, then stick out my tongue. "And he's a cute jerk. With a change of heart later. Inner depths, what's not to love?" Kai nods slowly. "Okay, I get that I guess. Well what about the Peter guy then?" "Peeta. And if you don't read the Hunger Games soon, I don't think we can be friends." "Alright then...Jo March." I pause, raising my eyebrows. "Really? I would've pegged you more as a Meg or Amy sort of guy...you know, the pretty ones." Kai made a face. "It's not all about looks, June." He retorts, then shrugs. "I like her fire. Her ambition and determination to make her own way in the world. Her spirit." I study Kai closer. "Wow. That's...surprisingly deep." "Can I have some more M&Ms?" Kai asks, ruining the moment. I nod. "Yeah. The other packs are in my black purse over there." I point and he goes back over near my couch to get them. "Are these your glasses?" I look up quickly to see him holding a black sleek case. I flush. "O-oh. Yeah. You can just leave those in there." "Why don't you wear them? Do you like contacts better or something?" "Or something." I mumble. The truth is I hate contacts. They make my eyes feel dry, and I despise having to touch my eyes to put them in. In fact, I took my contacts out earlier after we were done running around the school, since a blurry world wasn't dangerous when you were sitting still. "Here. Put them on." Kai sets the case in my lap and I can suddenly read the logo printed over the front from the proximity. Kai sits across from me again. "Nah, not right now-" "Why?" "Kai-it doesn't matter-" "Please? I just want to see." Somehow the soft kindness of his voice breaks through to me and I automatically obey, swallowing as I flip the case open and pull them out. They're nothing special. Just simple black lenses. There's no visible reason someone should be scared to put them on. And yet...my fingers tremble as I finger the edges. Not because of the glasses themselves. More of the memories that go with them. The sick, inadequate feeling I've come to associate them with. That cold, poisonous fear of never being enough. The voices, like ghosts, of conversations past. "I know babe-but look how pretty you look without them!" "No, no at all! But if you lost a little weight you'd look even better than she does." "It's not attractive to snort when you laugh. Not very ladylike, y'know?" "You don't wanna seem like a nerd, right? Well skip the test! Grades don't really matter that much anyway." "Maybe if you were like other girls it would be easier to stay." "Hey-hey, June? Are you okay?" It takes me a second to realize the voice isn't an echo of the past, but Kai Brooks. He's seated in front of me, eyes wide in concern, hands hovering, like he isn't quite sure what he should do with them. I'm crying. It shouldn't be a surprise. This is why I don't like to think about this stuff-because I can't control myself when I do. And I hate being out of control. Tears are dripping slowly down my face, falling onto the fabric of my skirt and speckling it. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. So I just cry. Kai takes the case gently from my lap and sets it aside. And then he just sits there and holds me, not flinching even as I lay my head on his shoulder and tears and snot wet the fabric of his shirt. Not even when I'm full on sobbing. He doesn't say anything. Doesn't try to fix it or understand. He's just there. And maybe that's exactly what I need. Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1320731711 First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1306595253 (Comment to be pinged! Check out the studio for 48 Hours! if yall wanna do theories or whatever that's fine too whatever u want lolll!! I'm already working on part 9 so it should be out in the next couple of days or less-love yall!)
