piece by piece~j.d

~64~

Aubrey and Ebony were sat around Aubrey's laptop as she tried to decide what she wanted her dress to look like. They were supposed to be discussing something about their class but were both easily distracted.

"We're going to get fired one day, just so you know." Ebony pointed out as they scrolled. "If someone walks in and we're dress shopping instead of marking tests and stuff, they'll be mad."

"This is a very important event for me, I've seen what they've written about other girls when the media doesn't like the dress and I am not about to be bullied for whatever I wear, which means that this is stressful for me." Aubrey dismissed Ebony's comments. "Also Josh is just no help, I'll show him a dress and ask his opinion and every time he says that I'll look gorgeous in it."

"He's just trying to be cute and not make me annoyed in case there's one that you really like, probably doesn't want to sway your opinion." Ebony shrugged, she thought it was cute that he was trying to do that.

"And I love him for that, but if he showed me an ugly suit I'd tell him about it. He's just lucky that I have people like you that will help me pick in the end." Aubrey said, making a disgusted face as she scrolled past a dress that she thought was disgusting.

"You sure do, any of the other girls know what they're wearing yet?" Ebony asked, possibly being able to draw some inspiration from them.

"I think Lou is wearing pink and I don't think anyone else has fully chosen yet, I know a couple people are still going and talking to designers to decide." Aubrey said, she had been talking to a few people not only from her club but from others as well.

"Mmhmm." Ebony thought as her eyes hurt from looking at the dresses for so long. "I think we should do this again later, this too much for my pea brain to handle."

"Okay deal, sorry I'm so stressed that it's all I'm talking about. I just have to do school well and I want the boys to win and I want to look good." Aubrey couldn't stop herself from apologising for all of her stressors.

"Don't worry about it, I don't mind at all." Ebony assured her friend as she handed her some of the tests taht rested on her desk. "Just make sure you get all of this done, it'll keep you busy and your mind off of all of that for a while."

"Copy that," Aubrey said as she took the answer sheet and put it to one side, the stack of papers that were her students to the other and putting her airpods that Ebony was offering so that she could be in her own little space for a little while, knowing she could do this until the end of lunch time as both her and Ebony's classes were at either music or sport.

"Aubs, your phone is ringing." Ebony pointed out, passing her phone over to her. "It's Baz."

"Do you think he's okay?" Aubrey asked, he knew not to call her during the day, it was sort of a rule that they had to not cause one another anxiety if they were to have a missed call. "Hello?" She said before Ebony could reassure her that it was all probably fine.

"Hey Aubs, sorry for calling you." Bailey said. "Just thought that I should let you know that Josh had a bit of an injury scare, I'm pretty sure he's fine but he's pretty stressed out about it."

"Fuck, are you sure he's okay?" Aubrey asked, she had stood up and was quick to start pacing around the room, Ebony was looking at her confused as she was deaf to the other side of the conversation. "Do I have to come."

"I know you can't just leave your class and this isn't enough of a family emergency because he isn't exactly your family. We have this week off and he can have next week off as well if he needs to." Bailey tried to calm his sister down, though he expected that it would be harder to do so from where he was.

"Why didn't he call me?" Aubrey questioned, she wasn't trying to be aggressive but she wanted to know.

"He didn't want to stress you out Aubs, he's trying to do the right thing but I thought you should know about it. He's sitting with Ads right now and they're laughing as we speak, I don't think you have too much to worry about it."

"Is that the truth or are you just trying to make it all better?"

"Just saying Aubs, the amount of players that have played finals series while being injured or unwell, you know a saints player Zac Dawson played in a grand final after being on a drip literally that same day because of food poisoning." Bailey said.

"Good for him, can you just update me if anything that goes bad?" Aubrey asked, she knew she would have to stay at school and she'd be damned if she spent the rest of the day going about her business as if nothing had happened at all.

"I promise that if anything happens, you'll be the first to know." Bailey said. "Listen I really have to go, but keep your phone next to you."

"Okay, see you soon Bailey." Aubrey hung up and looked over at Ebony who looked concerned despite not knowing what was going on.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, apparently Josh might have hurt himself but its also supposedly not that bad. I don't really know what's going on but I've been told to chill out and stay here." Aubrey explained as the bell to signal the end of lunch time sounded. "A couple of deep breaths and I'll be fine."

"I'm sure he's fine, he would have called you if it was terrible and as long as he can walk he'll be playing, we all know that. He's tough like that." Ebony said, patting Aubrey's shoulder. "We can work together if you want, put the classes together."

"It's okay, we both know that we have science and you have some writing to catch up on, I'll message you if something changes and I become incompetent." Aubrey thanked and dismissed.

"You're always incompetent, but for sure." Ebony waved as she left the office to let her class in, Aubrey gave herself an extra minute sending Josh a quick text before doing the same.

~~~

"Miss Smith, are you okay?" Grace asked, looking up at her teacher looking worried. It always surprised Aubrey that even her kids could notice if she was down on a certain day, they played close enough attention to notice the little gives that would give away how she was feeling.

"I'm okay, thank you for asking though. I'm just a little bit worried." Aubrey explained, also adding on that someone she cared about was a little bit hurt but that it wasn't so bad, she was trying to push that into her mind so that she didn't worry about it.

"It's not your brother is it?" Ruby asked sounding concerned, she had become attached to Baz when he had come to the school for the clinic and was always asking about him since. Aubrey didn't mind though, she thought it was adorable.

"No Rubs, Bailey is doing all good." Aubrey said smiling at the girl who got back to writing down some results in her book.

"Well I hope that everything is okay with them." Dylan said as he bought his work up to show his teacher. "Also don't tell anyone but I'm going for the bulldogs during the finals. But only because my team didn't make it and dad said I could choose someone else."

"I won't tell anyone, between you and me, I'm going for them as well." Aubrey whispered as if it was a secret and he laughed. "Do you have a favourite player from the dogs?"

"I like the Bont, my dad thinks he's going to win the brownlow." Dylan said matter of factly as if his dad couldn't be wrong. "Who's your favourite?"

"I hope he wins it as well and I have more then one favourite."

"You can't have more then one." Dylan gasped as if it were the most outrageous thing he had ever heard. "Pick one."

"If I had to pick one, I think I would say that Adam is my favourite, Adam Treloar. Don't tell my brother or boyfriend though."

"Your secret is safe with me Miss Smith, I promise."

just had dancing on zoom again. i was teaching, it's all too much effort for me