Cover Your Tracks [HS][2014 VERSION]

12. Saved

"I am unraveling unbearably empty, and if this ground gives way I just hope that you'll catch me . . ."

It has been almost a week since the day that I went to the principal's office and got in a fight with my father. That situation alone had lead to many more, me running into the forest and Harry following being one of them. The other was Miles finding out about the bruises and threatening to tell someone until I convinced him not to. It's been almost a week since that day, and I haven't talked to Harry or Miles since.

The past few days have been pretty routine: I force myself to get out of bed and go to school, where I endure eight hours of useless information being pounded into my head and fake people and false-happy teachers. And at the end of a very long day I go home and head straight to my room where I work on homework before going to bed. Wake up, repeat.

Today was particularly dreary, the sky filled with dark clouds and claps of thunder. It had proven entertaining to watch while being bored to death in class, but now, sitting on the bus with leaky windows, I couldn't say that I was enjoying it.

The atmosphere in the bus is hectic, what with all the students scrambling to shut the windows lining the sides of the large yellow vehicle. I join them and stand up, reaching above my head to close the window next to me. I put my fingers on the latches at the top of the glass pane, pushing them towards each other before sliding it up. There's a suction sound as the air space closes, keeping the rain outside from entering. A few drops of it manage to slip through the cracks around the glass frame, but it's not nearly as bad as before.

"You got it?" Caleb asks, looking over at me. I nod my head as I sit down with my back against the window, legs stretching out across the gray leather seat. Caleb sits in the one across from me.

"Comfortable there?" he laughs, shaking his head with a smile.

I cross my legs, adjusting my back against the window so that I'm sitting more upright. "About as comfortable as you can get on an old, trashy school bus with leaky windows during a storm," I reply with a light laugh.

"We need the rain, the drought has been going on for too long," he says.

My eyebrows raise slightly. "You too?"

"What?" He looks confused.

"My father and his friend have been complaining about the drought too. They say that they're loosing too many cattle due to the dry spell."

Caleb waves his hand in the air. "Forget that, I don't care about some damn cows. I wanna go fishin'."

I laugh. Caleb was one of those people that could say anything and make it funny.

"You would say something like that."

He nods and starts talking about his love for fish and I lean back and rest my head against the window, closing my eyes. I nod every now and then to let him know that I'm listening, but really, I'm not.

By the time I get home the rain has let up a little, now only being a light drizzle. I do my best to avoid walking in the water puddles scattered throughout my driveway, and that's when I decide to have a little fun with it. I walk up to a large puddle and stop in front of it, bending my knees and swinging my arms back as I prepare to propel myself forward.

I push off the ground and land just on the edge of the puddle, almost losing my balance altogether. I wave my arms around for a moment and compose myself, then laugh as I realize how childish this truly is. I'm such a kid sometimes.

Before anyone sees me I rush the rest of the way to my house, passing Harry's motorcycle. Once I'm inside I shrug off my jacket and change out of my school clothes and into a t-shirt and shorts.