Eyes | Amphibia

Chapter 9

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A few days later

After quickly eating breakfast, Marcy left for school. At this point, she'd learned the route to get to the school, so she didn't need her mother to drive her there anymore. She quite preferred walking, actually; it was relaxing to just be on her lonesome while she walked, her earbuds in (probably listening to either Mitski or Ricky Montgomery), and the cool fall breeze gently hitting her face. It was a small moment of serenity that she greatly appreciated in these trying times.

When she got to her homeroom, she immediately noticed people looking at her funny. She could feel their stares all around. This was probably because she looked like she hadn't slept in a week, which really wasn't too far from the truth— ever since her conversation with Andrias, she'd been spending almost all of her free time researching things that she hoped would help her obtain more knowledge about the Ultra Stone and it's power, but, unsurprisingly, she got absolutely nothing; and she still didn't know how to get into the mindscape voluntarily, so she couldn't necessarily ask The Core either.
If the answers she sought were anywhere, then they were in Amphibia— but was Marcy really going to risk her sanity and her friends' lives to get there?
Yes, she was. She'd already decided that.
Her birthday was only a few more weeks away, and then it was go time. She was becoming more and more apprehensive by the day, while The Core grew more and more excited; it's eagerness became more evident each day, but Marcy didn't reciprocate those feelings— or did she?
What?! No. Of course she didn't. Of course not. She was just extremely sleep-deprived, so her mind was full of all these crazy thoughts, but she didn't actually want any of it. Right?
To be honest, she couldn't even tell anymore. She could barely differentiate between her own thoughts and desires and The Core's at this point. She felt like she was going crazy, she looked sick, but by far the worst part of it all was that she couldn't tell anyone about anything that was going on inside of her head. It was more than difficult to keep quiet about, but out of fear, she managed.

After school was the doctor's appointment her mother had made for her to get her "migraines" checked out. She knew that whatever the doctor gave her wasn't going to rid her mind of The Core, but if she just acted like it was helping, she'd finally get her parents and her friends off of her back. So that was her plan.
At the end of the school day, though, Marcy was going to try to swing by the chess club real quick. Ever since Anise enlightened her that it existed at this school, she's been trying to attend as many meetings as possible, and she really enjoyed it; it was nice to unwind at the end of the day and get her mind off of everything by playing a game she knew and loved so well. Chess is a lot more complex than meets the eye, and the other members of the club immediately noticed that Marcy was a master at it. Needless to say, she was accepted into the club with open arms.
The head of the club was a kid named Nico, and he was your typical "nerd, teacher's pet, goody-two-shoes" type of kid, but he was extremely competitive in chess and only willingly accepted the best of the best players into the club— which was probably why not many people attended the meetings. Marcy remembered when she was head of the chess club back at Saint James, and she looked back at those memories fondly; Hopefully she'd be able to make her way back up to the top again someday!
Avery was also apart of the club, so naturally Marcy became closer with him over games of chess. She liked Avery; he was very down-to-earth and friendly, while also having great humor. He talked about theatre a lot, and Marcy would tell him all about the plays they did back at Saint James. Avery said it was interesting to hear about the plays from a behind the scenes standpoint, since Marcy was always apart of the stage crew.

The rest of the school day was pretty much a blur that day, except for english class, where Marcy immediately noticed something was up with Anise upon entering the classroom; they weren't wearing their usual big, bright smile, and they appeared rather despondent. That was very concerning to Marcy, who had only ever seen the bubbly and vibrant side of them.
"Hey, Anise," Marcy greeted as she took a seat beside them. "Is everything okay? You don't look so good."
"I could say the same about you," Anise glanced over at Marcy, chuckling dryly. Their voice was a bit raspy, like how it would sound after you'd just finished crying. "Everything's fine, I just didn't sleep well last night. I appreciate the concern, though."
"You sure?" Marcy raised a brow. "I know we haven't known each other for very long, but you can always talk to me if you need to, Anise. I'll listen."
"Thanks, Marcy, but I'm sure. Why would anything be wrong?" Anise smiled a clearly forced smile. "Anyways. what's up with you? You don't look so good either."
"Oh, uh..." Marcy averted her eyes from Anise. "I-I couldn't sleep last night either; still not one-hundred-precent used to the new house and everything."
"Yeah, I get that," Anise replied, which surprised Marcy, not expecting her to be able to relate. "We moved here awhile ago, when I was a lot younger. I remember it being really hard to get used to, especially being so far away from everything I knew before; but you'll get used to it eventually!" They assured her, their previously artificial smile morphing into something more authentic.
A small smile lifted Marcy's lips. "Yeah. Thanks, Anise." Even if what she had told her friend wasn't entirely the truth, she still appreciated her attempt to relate to her and console her.
The teacher shushed them after that, indicating the start of class.

.....

Once the dismissal bell rang at the end of the day, Marcy rushed as fast as they could to room two-twenty-one, which was where the chess club was meeting. When they got there, they found that they were the first one there. However, it wasn't very long before Avery, Nico, and the other members of the club showed up.
"Marcy! Hey!" Avery smiled as he approached Marcy. "Up for a game?"
"Of course I am, Aves!" Marcy grinned brightly at her friend as she began setting up the chess board. "Gotta make it quick, though; I have somewhere to be in about a half hour."
"Awh, you're going to leave me here alone with Nico and the rest of these dweebs? How rude of you." Avery joked, helping Marcy finish setting up the board.
Giggling, Marcy sat down at one end of the table once everything was all in place on the board. Avery took a seat on the other side. Marcy debated on asking Avery if he knew anything about what was going on with Anise, but she ultimately decided against it, unsure if she was close enough with the friend group yet to start getting into their personal business.
"Your move first." Marcy gestured to the board.
Avery nodded and moved one of his pawns forward. "So where are you going after this?"
"Ah, just to the doctor's," Marcy sighed as she moved one of her pieces forward in response to Avery's move. "Been having super bad migraines lately, and my mom wants me to get them checked out."
Avery's smile fell, concern filling his eyes instead. "Oh. Um... are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course!— or at least, I will be. No need to worry about me." Marcy smiled reassuringly at the older boy. "Now come on, it's your move!"

....

The two continued the game until Marcy got Avery's king in check. Smiling widely, she stood up and threw her hands in the air triumphantly. "Woohoo! Checkmate!" She called out with a laugh.
Avery groaned and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, all the while with a smile on his face.
Nico and his opponent looked over at the two of them with narrowed eyes, distracted by the noise. "Shhh!" Nico impatiently shushed them.
"Sorry, man." Avery muttered with a small glance in Nico's direction before turning his attention back to Marcy, lowering his voice to a whisper. "No fair, you always win!" He chuckled. "How are you so good at this game?"
"I don't know, it's just something I'm good at I guess!" Marcy whispered back with a big grin. "And you're not so bad yourself!"
Then, her phone went off. Marcy pulled the device out of her pocket to see that her mother had texted her to let her know that she was at the school to pick her up.
"Ah, I've gotta run," She said to Avery, quickly getting up, grabbing her backpack, and swinging it over her shoulder. "Good game!"
"Awe, alright! See ya, Marcy!" Avery waved goodbye, and Marcy waved back. She then left the room and headed out of the school, where she quickly found her mom's car waiting outside.
Marcy got into the car with a big smile on her face. "Hey, Mom!"
"Hi, honey! Wow, you're awfully happy today!" Mrs. Wu pointed out, delighted to see her daughter so cheerful, as that wasn't something she would see too often anymore.
"Yeah, I had a good time at chess club!"
"That's great!" Mrs. Wu smiled. "Ready for your doctor's appointment?"
Marcy's joy promptly vanished, having to forcefully uphold the smile on her lips as to not concern her mother. She had forgotten about the appointment until now. "Yep, super ready! Can't wait to finally get rid of those migraines!" She nervously chuckled, giving her mother a thumbs up.
"Me too!" Mrs. Wu replied as she started to drive. "Seeing you in so much pain has been so hard for me and your father, Marcy. We're going to do whatever we can to make sure you get the help you need. I promise, things are going to be better from here on out."
"Heh... yeah... thanks, Mom..." Marcy mumbled, still upholding that painfully forced smile. Her mother seemed to have really changed since before Amphibia, she seemed to care about her so much more now; Too bad she didn't even know half of what she was going through, making her efforts to help pretty much fruitless.

Marcy must've zoned out for the remainder of the car ride after that, because when she regained awareness of her surroundings they had arrived at the doctor's. After Mrs. Wu checked her in, Marcy sat down in the waiting room, and her mother took a seat beside her. Marcy's leg immediately starting to bounce uncontrollably as anxiety rushed through her, restlessly fiddling with her hoodie strings as she waited to be called in.

This was going to be fun.

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