picking teams

chapter 7: janis

hellooooo happy wednesday!!

welcome to chapter seven of this idk what's happening here anymore either but. eh. here it is!

tw for
mentioned drugging
that should be it but if i've missed something please let me know and i'll add it in :)

enjoy!

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Janis isn't totally sure how to face going back to school on Monday. She hasn't done any of her homework over the weekend, or... much of anything at all, really.

Nobody blames her for spending the weekend hiding away in bed. She's heard word that Cady was released from the hospital on Saturday and that she's doing well. Physically, anyway.

Janis is the one not doing well. Seeing the look in Cady's drugged eyes, the raw fear there, will stick with her for a long time. Her eye still hurts, no matter how many cool compresses she rests on it or how much of the weekend she spends napping.

But she knows she doesn't want to stay home. People might stare, she might be just going through the motions all day, but she needs the distraction of school.

She's gotten a bit ripe after spending an entire weekend in bed, so she goes to shower on Sunday evening.

Scrubbing her entire body as hard as she can helps, a lot. She feels the memories of the weekend start settling in her mind, some of the pain wash down the drain with the water dripping off her skin. Her skin is an almost fluorescent pink by the time she comes back into herself enough to stop.

Janis lingers in the shower a lot longer than she needs to, just feeling the scalding hot water run over her face, gradually getting colder as the hot water starts running low. Hopefully nobody else needs a shower for a while.

She sighs as she turns the water off, toweling her hair and body off and returning to her room. She should probably clean up a bit. Her clothes are still on the ground, and all the dishes she's used for three days are scattered around the room. Her bed isn't the freshest either. She hasn't changed her sheets in a while, and it's very clearly unmade.

Meh, it's been worse.

Her bed is a priority, though. No point getting back into a dirty bed after spending so long in the shower.

Janis changes into some clean, comfy pajamas and strips her sheets off. Her dad gives her a grin when he sees her stumbling to the laundry room with her entire bedspread.

She grabs some clean sheets and pillowcases from the linen cabinet and remakes her bed, immediately collapsing into it. She has to admit this is much nicer.

Before she knows it, Janis is drifting off to sleep.

—-

She was right.

People do stare, a lot, throughout the day on Monday. Word spreads fast at North Shore, and she's walking around with a black eye. Some people also saw her carrying Cady out of the party, which isn't helping. People are saying everything from the truth to claiming Cady was the one who punched her.

Janis is used to people staring. She doesn't care. The important people know what really happened, and that's all that matters for now. Janis knows North Shore well enough to know this will all blow over in a week or so.

Cady isn't there, which worries her. She tries not to think about it, tries not to focus on the empty chair in front of her in chemistry class.

She's not there on Tuesday, either.