The Quincy Brothers | ON HOLD|

14~ Show Me All the Scars You Hide

Demi was off all week for someone's wedding in Vermont. I think it was her nephew or someone like that. She didn't say much about it.

Ethan tried to make my protein shake for the morning, but it didn't turn out too well. I went without it and made myself some breakfast instead. I knew this would end up making us late, but I didn't mind much.

We got to school just before ten. It was the middle of my third period.

"You're late again, Easton," Mr. Howell announced as I walked into the middle of his discussion.

"I'm aware," I stated and sat down.

This was a college credit class, so it didn't matter if I was late or not. Most of the work was online, but Mr. Howell likes to pretend he cares.

"Don't let it happen again," He looked at me. We both knew it would happen again. I knew he actually didn't give a shit and quite frankly neither did I.

The class was over in ten minutes. I just wanted to go to lunch. Today was not the day. Ash would kill me if I skipped more before Thanksgiving break. One more week.

Ash didn't see me this morning. If I skipped, she wouldn't even have known I was here. If I go back to the house, I'd have nothing to do to pass the time. I wouldn't be able to go on another run for a while and I didn't feel like cooking. It would be nice to see Ash. It would make my shitty day go a lot better.

So I stayed.

Fourth period went by so slowly. Then study hall seemed to slow time even more. All I wanted was to see my friends and eat food. Is that so hard?

Finally, it was lunch and I practically ran out of study hall and to the cafeteria.

I walked up to the table and to my surprise, Ash was already sitting there and she was talking to someone, to a guy. He made her laugh at something. I sat down in my normal seat and stared at the guy sitting next to Ash. He looked familiar, maybe I had him in a class or something.

"Hey Ash," I said cooly. "Who's your friend?" I asked and eyed him down. I could see a glint of fear in his eyes and smirked to myself. I turned my attention back to Ash she looked at me with the faint smile she always had after she laughed.

"Oh hey, East," She said as if she didn't even notice me sit down. "This is Isaac, he's in my French class."

"Hey man," He said casually. I glared at him. He gave off a bad vibe and I didn't like him.

"Isaac, this is my friend, Easton," She introduced me. The word friend sounded weird coming from her mouth. Normally, I'm her best friend, but now I'm just a friend. I don't understand.

What's with this guy anyway? She usually says something before bringing someone to the table or our hangouts. I glared at him.

"Well, I should get going. À plus tard!" He smiled at Ash.

She laughed. "Au revoir." She looked back at me. "So we still good for tonight?" She asked and ate her rice casually.

I didn't understand how she could be so casual about what just happened. I also didn't understand what had me so worked up about it. She had other friends and that had never bothered me before.

"Yeah, yeah we're good," I said.

"Are you okay? You seem a little distracted."

I looked at her worried-filled eyes. I was worrying for no fucking reason. God, what is wrong with me? I smiled at her. "I'm just fine, Ash."

"Hey, guys," Erin said as she and Ethan sat down. It was quite obvious they didn't come straight from study hall.

"What took you guys so long?" I teased with a wink in Ethan's direction. "I'm surprised you guys even show up to lunch anymore."