The Ghosts of Dearheart: Book I

Chapter 5

Tieran wasn't exactly sure why, but his mood had been exceptionally good the past few days.

It probably shouldn't have been. He probably should have been a lot more worried that he was now a fainting, hallucinating, nymphomaniacal disaster, but at some point, he'd clearly just come to terms with it. So he was a wreck. Big deal. No reason to let it ruin his day. Especially not a Tuesday.

He stood leaning against the wall outside the class, sipping an energy drink and loathe to enter without Hartley. Surely neither of them wanted to be interrogated about last week on their lonesome and he really didn't feel like stopping class for the whole 'are you okay/what happened/what did the doctors say' bullshit twice. He didn't have to wait long. Hartley apparently decided to join the early train today as well, probably with the intent of slipping into class unnoticed. When he saw Tieran, however, his face looked downright relieved. That sure made his heart flutter in a bad way.

"Hey, you're alive," Hartley observed as he approached him.

"Mm, for now. How've you been?"

Hartley shrugged. "A-okay as far as I know. Have you been in there yet?"

"Nah, figured I'd wait for you."

"Thanks."

"No worries. Come on."

Tieran braced himself as they trailed into the room, and sure enough, Professor Hager was immediately on them.

"Oh, goodness. I wasn't sure I'd see you two today," she said, looking them over cautiously. "Are you both alright now?"

"Yeah, we're good," Tieran answered. "Doctor says we seem okay."

"But then what on earth happened to you?" she asked.

"It was probably fatigue," Hartley offered. "He's been going hard at football practice and I'd just ridden my bike all the way up that hill, so..."

Sure, that worked. Not bad, Bates.

She nodded, looking comforted enough by that. "Well, I'm sorry to have put you out like that, then. I did see that you two had some answers on your sheet that no one else had gotten yet. You were obviously putting in the effort. Let's just call that one a pass, okay?"

Damn. Now Tieran really did wish they'd saved a medical emergency for an exam. "Thanks, Professor," he replied graciously. "And...sorry. It won't happen again."

"I hope not. You two try and take it easy, okay?"

Tieran and Hartley nodded in tandem and shuffled their way back to the table they'd sat together at their first class. Hartley pushed out a long breath as he sat, setting his backpack down and looking displeased about how many stares they were getting from the other students on their way in. "How long do you think this'll last?" he asked.

"Just until class starts. Relax," Tieran advised.

Hartley crossed his arms and slouched back in his chair. "On the plus side, it sounds like we might get babied."

Pretty well as soon as those words left his mouth, Sasha was walking in, and upon seeing Hartley in his seat was already rushing over to him. "Hey, you guys are here!" she squealed.

Hartley looked between her and Tieran with a shrug. "Yeah. No big deal."

"Oh my god, I was like, fucking horrified when you guys just...blinked out. It was scary. Didn't really make the graveyard feel any less creepy, you know?"

Tieran nodded, keeping his eyes on her with suspicion.

Sasha looked back to Hartley. "Anyway, I'm so glad you're okay. Can I have a hug?"