I'm A What?!

Homework and Unpacking

     Everyone sat in silence as they ate. Tim looked at his phone a few times, until Howard cleared his throat. Tim looked up at him and Howard moved his eyes towards Gatlin. Tim watched as Gatlin slowly took small bites of food and chewed, like he'd never eaten anything in his life and wanted to savor the moment.

     It was about half-way through dinner when the delivery people came down and informed them that the nursery furniture had been assembled and all the items were sitting in the middle of the room. Tim walked them to the door and when he returned, everyone was done eating, except Gatlin.

     Gatlin looked nauseous. He was trying to eat but would take a few breaths before putting the next bite in his mouth.

     "What's the matter with you? Why aren't you done yet?" Tim said, with a little less venom in his voice than normal.

     Gatlin turned slightly pale and hung his head a bit. "I'm trying to finish it... I... I feel bad wasting food. Especially this food." He looked at Emma. "This was really good ma'am." He said with a half-smile. "I'm just not very hungry." He added truthfully.

     "Don't make yourself sick trying to finish it." Emma said, returning the half-smile with a full one. "I'll put it in the fridge, and you can have it tomorrow if you'd like."

     "Yes please."

     Gat felt bad, he hadn't really eaten in so long that he couldn't hold much food in his stomach. He felt a little better knowing that the food wasn't going to go to waste, but now his stomach was turning for another reason. He was going to have to see that room.

     After Emma took his plate, he got up slowly and started to make his way upstairs.

     "Where are you going?" Tim asked.

     "Um... to do my homework... if that's ok?" Gat was nervous now. Should he have asked to get up? Should he have asked if he could even do his homework? "Is... is that ok?"

     Tim looked at him for a moment before nodding his head. "Remember to just stay in those rooms. You let me know if you leave for any reason."

     "W-where will you be?"

     "I'll be working on getting my room switched into the one off of yours. Do not come into my old room. If I'm in there and you need me. Just knock. Don't walk in!"

     With that, Tim walked away. Gat wasn't far behind.

     Gat walked into the nursery room and sighed. Tim stood beside him and sneered. The furniture was assembled, but everything was shoved into the center of the room. In one of the corners, they had put the rest of the bags of items.

     "Well..." Tim said looking at everything. "This is your room. You fix it. I have too much to do." With that, he turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

     Gat stood there alone and overwhelmed for a moment. He looked at everything and took a deep breath. 'Ok.' He thought to himself. 'If I have to live here. Then I might as well set up the bed at least.'

     The bed had been assembled as a crib. He looked at it and sighed. After looking around the room for a moment, he found the additional pieces that made it into a daybed instead. He pushed the crib to the corner, under a window, and started to take it apart. Luckily for him, all the parts and the manual were still in the box with the daybed accessories, and he was easily able to convert it into something he could actually sleep in. He then dug through the bags and found the sheets and other bedding items.