Survivors

Chapter 13 - Emily

Tilly's POV:

"Am I allowed to sleep in detention?" I yawned as we walked toward the classroom where detention was held.

"Well, maybe get your homework done first," Eric said.

"Why can't high schoolers have nap time?" Meagan demanded. "I can guarantee that we're more sleep deprived than five-year-olds."

"Exactly," I agreed.

"I mean, it really depends on who the detention teacher is," Eric said. "If the teacher is laid back, then you can get your homework done first and then do whatever. Just as long as you don't wander off. The detention teacher back at my old school went livid when someone wandered off. It was honestly kind of entertaining. I never wandered off myself though; I may have been a problem, but at least I had some sense."

"Eric?" I asked timidly. "Do you worry that... people judge you? Because of your history?"

"I used to," Eric replied, "but then I realized it wouldn't matter in the long run."

I chuckled sadly. "Wish I had that skill," I muttered.

"Why'd you ask that?" he asked.

"I was just wondering," I replied.

I really wondered, though. How had he achieved that skill of not worrying about what other people thought? Most people judged me because I was an orphan; they thought I was a depressed little dimwit. Depressed, yes, but I wasn't a dimwit.

Meagan was the first to reach the detention classroom, and she opened the door. "Well, here we go," she said, holding the door open for us.

"Thanks, Meagan," I replied as I walked past her.

"Kill myself..." Eric muttered.

We chose our desks, and I ended up in between Eric and Meagan, which wasn't a problem, of course. Eric put his backpack down on the floor.

"Two hours," he was muttering. "Two freaking hours. That's not even normal."

"Maybe it won't be too bad," Meagan said as she sat down.

Eric scoffed. "It won't be; not when you compare it to my old school in Mythrest. That place was an utter joke. You could hardly even breathe around that detention teacher. One little noise and you could consider yourself done for."

Sheesh, I thought. That does not sound like a fun school.

I sighed as the detention teacher came in and started rattling off. I looked at Eric and saw that he looked angry. He looked like he was ready to pounce on anyone and anything that got in his way. Something told me that the attack on Jade had resurfaced the anger he'd buried deep down inside him.

****

Eric's POV:

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead..." I muttered under my breath as I walked into the hospital.

"Hi, Eric," the receptionist at the front desk said.

"Hi, Kinsley," I said, giving her a small smile.

Kinsley was Mom's best friend. They'd met in high school and ended up going to the same college, and they'd been working at hospitals ever since they'd graduated. Kinsley was mainly at the receptionist desk, but she worked back in the operating room sometimes.

"I'm going to assume you're here to see Jade again," she said.

"Yeah," I sighed.

I'm not here to get griped at by my mother but here we are, I thought.