Despite the Pain

Chapter 30

With only three weeks to go until our finals started, Albion finally got back to full school days. The transition didn't go very well. After the first day he leaned heavily on me on our way back to the bakery and collapsed into sleep the minute he got upstairs. His second day didn't go much smoother. On the third, he was nearly 20 minutes late for our first class, a white knuckled grip on his cane and a nervous, apologetic look on his face.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Bryson," Mrs. Bennet said as Albion made his way to his desk at the back of the room. "I'm sure you'll be relieved to know you've only missed half of the class."

"I'm s-sorry," Albion mumbled, dropping down into his desk and pushing his hat down his forehead. I turned in my chair to look at him, hoping to catch his eye. He kept his head down, rubbing at his wrist and frowning as he flexed his fingers.

"Miss Reynolds," the teacher snapped. "Eyes forward." I turned around, sinking down in my chair and pushing my bangs away from my face.

As soon as she turned toward the chalk board I glanced over at Albion again. He flashed me a weak smile that did nothing but unsettle me even more.

When class was over I didn't bother waiting for him to get to me the way I usually did; I beelined for his desk. Before I could even get a word out, Mrs. Bennet spoke up from the front of the room.

"Albion, I want to see you before you leave, please."

Both of us looked up at her, ignoring the low chuckle out of Victor as he walked past us to leave the room. I just shot him a glare, my hand coming to rest between Albion's shoulders.

"I'm okay," he said as he got to his feet. His voice was strained, clearly far from okay.

"Dawn, you can wait outside," Mrs. Bennet said. I straightened up indignantly, frowning at Albion.

"It's fine," he said quietly, waving me off. I walked with him to the front of the room, hesitating for a moment. It only took one glare out of Mrs. Bennet to push me out the door. I hovered just outside the doorway, hoping to hear whatever she had to say.

"Albion, I understand you're just starting full days," she said. "I know you've been pushing yourself with all of this, and I understand the arrangement you've made. If this is too much, it's too much. I'll let today slide, but I'm not going to give you any more chances. I can't push you through to next year on good conscience if I don't think you can handle it. Do you understand?" There was a pause, followed by some quiet, indistinct mumbling from Albion. "Good. Now get to your next class before you're late for that one, too."

Albion came out a moment later, his jaw set and his eyes red. He didn't even slow down, just shook his head when I reached for him and pushed past me. I sighed, all but chasing him to our next class. I brushed my fingers over his forearm before we split up to go to opposite sides of the classroom.

I could barely get a word out of him in the few opportunities I had. Even during lunch he was silent and surly. The attempts Alina made at including him in conversation were met with single word responses, if that. When we got back to math Mr. Collins called on him twice, berating him in front of the class for his mumbled, incorrect answers.

"Seems you're not as sharp as you once were, Mr. Bryson," Collins said, frowning and staring Albion down over the rims of his glasses. "And considering your placement in my class last year, that doesn't exactly bode well for how things are going at the moment, does it?" Albion just shrunk down in his seat, and I had to force myself to keep my mouth shut.

When we got to the bakery after school Albion just dropped his books in the back room before stomping upstairs. I followed behind him, waving off the questioning look Ryan gave me as we swept through the kitchen. For all his exhaustion, Albion was moving as fast as I'd ever seen him and nearly closed the bedroom door in my face before I caught up with him.