Under Our Care

Chapter 16

I sat at a secluded table in the cafeteria, away from the hustle of a Monday morning. Ariba was telling me about her day while I sat there playing with my food, I grimaced as I stabbed a piece of cucumber from my salad distastefully. Ezekiel had taken it upon himself to make my diet healthier but rather it felt like he was killing it altogether.

"What's with you and the extremely healthy-looking salad? From the years I have known you, this is the most healthy-looking thing you have eaten in front of me." Ariba raised her eyebrows pointing towards my barely eaten salad.

"It's nothing, Ezekiel is just being super uptight these days. He has forbidden me and Isaiah from eating anything from the cafeteria, he just wants us all to be healthier." I lied, looking anywhere other than her eyes.

She had compelling eyes and lying was hard but thankfully you get away with it if you lied successfully.

"Okay, sounds like something Ezekiel would do. It's not the craziest thing he has done till now but just so you know Isaiah isn't following it, I can see him eating a burger." Ariba said looking behind my shoulders.

I mentally smacked myself, shouldn't have included Isaiah when he is in the same school but it's also his mistake as he is hardly ever around during recess for me to remember. Except for the time I ate with Noah and he stuck around to keep an eye on him, I never saw him in the cafeteria. He said it was to limit human interaction in his defence, and the cafeteria was littered with pesky humans.

Ariba waved to Isaiah who was apparently behind me. I don't understand why she even bothers to wave when Isaiah is incapable of returning the gesture. I wish he left his brooding persona and interacted like a normal person. He tends to hurt people's feelings many times but never Ariba.

Ariba has been waving, smiling, saying pleasantries since she had first met him but never received it back. She doesn't even have a crush on him because she thinks it's gross and I agree with her. She just looks up at him because of his academic performance even though she is quite good herself.

"Hey, I was just checking up on you. Chris and Ezekiel have called me a million times. They are really paranoid." Isaiah whispered leaning down a little, supporting himself with his hand against the table. I don't think Ariba heard it as she was busy checking her phone.

"Oh I'll give them a call, my phone is in the locker," I said, I rarely brought my phone in the cafeteria as I like to concentrate on eating and talking to my friend during that time.

"Yes, you do that," Isaiah said nodding and looked at my almost untouched food. "And I hope you plan on finishing that on your own as I would hate it if I had to force-feed my fifteen-year-old sister in front of all these people." He said raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah," I grimaced. I planned on eating it, I knew how much it would mean to my brothers. They believe in little steps and this was a small step in building up my health for the surgery. The surgery had started giving me panic attacks and nightmares already.

I had a hard time falling asleep last night after Maverick came home and even when I managed to fall asleep I woke up from a nightmare in cold sweats. I couldn't sleep peacefully after that, hence followed the headache and tiredness. I was drooping in my English class and Shakespeare didn't help my case. I don't think Isaiah saw how tired and lousy I felt or if he did not bother to mention it before Ariba. I hope he doesn't bother telling Chris too because it could cause me to drop out of school and being homeschooled. I am not even being dramatic about it.

"Why do you care about her having a salad when you don't even care to follow Ezekiel's dietary rules?" Ariba asked amused. I don't blame her, she was smart and my lie wasn't proofread.