𝒞𝓁𝒶𝓇𝒾𝓉𝓎'𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝒹ℯ𝒶𝓉𝒽 （𝒜 𝒸𝒽ℯ𝓃𝒻ℴ𝓇𝒹 𝒶𝓊）

Chapter six: I might be okay but I'm not fine at all

A/N: Hii loves, so as it's become apparent my updates have been a bit slower which I'd like to apologize for. This chapter takes place right after the end of chapter five, taking place later in the school day. This chapter also switches between Tim and Lucy's points of views throughout. As always trigger warnings for mentions of sexual assault, mental illness, and brief mentions of suicidal tendencies, and abuse. You have been warned.

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The terror she felt when she walked into school that day slowly faded when it was announced that Pierson and Ashley wouldn't be back until next week, due to getting snowed in at their cabin in New York. However Lucy soon realized that everyone was looking at her. She didn't know what she was expecting, maybe she was expecting to go on being completely invisible to everyone except for Genny and Jackson, but this was not the case, from the moment she walked into home room with Tim and all eyes were on her. Looking her up and down, and some weird pity looks, some annoyed looks, some blank one, and some envious ones which she didn't understand, until she realized she had a firm grip on Tim's hand the whole time, his hang being the only thing she had to keep her from running right back out the door. And after home room Tim however practically walk her to class, and she wondered if he knew he was the only thing keeping her together. She felt like she was falling apart piece by piece, slowing bleeding out, but never dying, and he seemed to be her only lifeline, and it amazed her because she thought he hated her, and now it didn't feel like it.

The question became a lot more active in her mind throughout the day, did he like her now? Did he just feel bad for her? Does he still think she's annoying? Granted she didn't know why she cared so much, but the thoughts keep the flashbacks a bay, and Tim was safe, it wasn't until her father tracked her down during lunch that she became truly upset again. After she made it through her first 4 periods which she managed to make it through mostly smoothly, except for forth period which was her biology class which she shared with Chris, who made comments the whole time. "You know if you wouldn't keep leading guys on, that wouldn't have happened." He mentioned to her, when she became overwhelmed due to the biology lab being passed the hallway in which Pierson raped her against the wall outside of the bathroom a month prior, and then it came back. The images replayed in her head, her body began to hurt just because of the memory alone, so when lunch rolled around she was understandable distraught.

Tim had about 90 problems, the fact that his father hadn't been home in 2 weeks, the fact that his sister was terrified, he was failing every single class and informed he was not only about to be kicked off the football team, but he'd also have to retake his junior year, but most of all was Lucy. He was absolutely terrified of her being back here, he saw the look of pure terror on her face when she walked in, and how he knew completely that she didn't want to be there, but she still forced herself though the doors even after everyone stared at her in a way that was definitely nerve racking. He was both proud of her, and terrified for her at  the same time, terrified that something would happen to her, and he was just scared in general, scared of how strongly he felt for her when he didn't have anything negative to think about her to distract himself from his emotions. After chemistry got out early, Tim remembered that he had a meeting with the school guidance counselor, one he didn't particularly want to see, not at what he witnessed that morning, but still he made his way there nonetheless, trying his best not to seem angry at Mr. Chen, when in actuality he was quite angry with the man, knowing that under no circumstances should Lucy be forced back to school this early, especially not to uphold some reputation that she never wanted to began with.

So at about a quarter till 12:30 he found himself knocking on Mr. Chen's door while both physically and mentally biting his tongue to avoid saying anything, Tim once guessed that Mr. Chen didn't particularly like him, but then again he was a dick half the time, and he had been mean to Lucy so why should he like him? "Ah Mr. Bradford, nice to see you showed up. Have a seat." He told him, so Tim did what he was told and sat down, careful not to look at him too directly. "Do you know why I wanted to mean with you?" He asked, and Tim felt a wave of shame wash over him when he answered. "I'm failing all my classes."  He said, completely embarrassed by the fact. Well he wasn't failing all of his classes, just most of them, because he hate the hardest time reading and comprehending what he was learning. "I've noticed that. And you know that if your grades don't go up you'll be kicked of the football team." Mr. Chen told him as if he didn't already know how his failures were going to ruin his whole life. "Could you tell me why that is? Are you having a hard time at home?" He asked, and felt a rush of panic and frustration come across  him at the question, when he for once wasn't getting beat by his father daily, but he wasn't fine, he wasn't fine at all.  Something in his head was just screwed up, regardless of weather his father was there or not. "Everything's fine. Can we just worry about my grades please?"