Other Worlds - The Wilds

Chapter 19

AN: Okay so, I am super busy until the 12th of April. I will play it by ear but I just thought I'd let you know so you don't think I'm disappearing again lol. Anyway enjoy! xx

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  Two weeks passed without a hitch. Carol was fine; drunk, high and mean, but fine. Shelby hardly spoke to her unless it was about her assignment. Both of which could be considered a perfect turn of events. Carol's uncharacteristic behaviour left her unsettled, waiting in anticipation for the other shoe to drop. It was becoming a trend and Toni was starting to think that Carol enjoyed dragging out punishments, having the element of surprise.

  The Shelby issue had seemingly been resolved. She hardly spoke to Toni unless it was about the assignment and that worked perfectly for her. Or mostly perfect; so many things were left unspoken and unexplained, it left the air feeling dense with secrets and lies when Toni was alone with her.

  At least when they were arguing it didn't feel so lonely and empty being with her.

  The lack of drama gave Toni a good amount of time to do school work and catch up with her friends without all these dark things hanging over her head. She tried not to dwell on her dread for the inevitable confrontation with Carol (or Shelby) and focus on enjoying the unfamiliar peace.

  Naturally this normalcy came to a grinding halt on Friday afternoon, two and a bit weeks after Shelby told Dot about Carol.

  Toni was prepared for things to go wrong around this time. She was always tense around the weekends because it meant more time with Carol. She was not, however, expecting it to be Shelby that broke her streak of uneventful days.

  Shelby was late to science. Toni noticed of course, but only because she was her partner. Twenty minutes passed and Toni just assumed she was absent which wasn't ideal because it left her without a textbook.

  Without warning Shelby burst into the room, nearly falling over as she did. The door slammed loudly behind her. "Sorry," Shelby slurred, giggling.

  It was completely obvious to Toni, and probably every other soul in the room, that Shelby was hammered. Like, wake up in a field stroking a farm animal with no memory of the night before, hammered.

  Where did Shelby find the time to get day-drunk? Better yet, how? Only then did Toni eye the water bottle that Shelby was clutching onto. That must be the source. Had she actually gone to her previous classes like this?

  The class was silent as Shelby stumbled towards their desk. There was no way Toni could watch Shelby embarrass herself and potentially get in trouble in class. Just as she sat down, mumbling drunken nonsense, Toni raised her hand. "Miss? Can I take Shelby to the nurses office, she's not well."

  "Of course." The teacher responded cheerily and returned to the whiteboard. Luckily it was a substitute because Mr. Winters would absolutely not have fallen for that crap.

  Toni grabbed her own and Shelby's' bag, and water bottle then hauled Shelby out of the chair. It was not an easy task because Shelby was not, in any way, attempting to get up. Toni completely avoided eye-contact with everyone in the room and tried to focus on helping Shelby out of there. She could feel her cheeks burning as she wrestled with Shelby's limp, uncompromising body. Once she had a hold of her she dragged her out of the room, Shelby's feet simply trailing along the floor.

  When the door finally swung shut behind them Toni gently dropped Shelby to the ground along with their bags. "Thanks for the help Goodkind." She took a long swig from Shelby's water bottle. She quickly identified the contents as straight vodka and the quantity as hardly any. So Shelby had drunk a bottle of vodka; no wonder she was incoherent.