Runaway - A DEVIL'S NIGHT FANFICTION (PTBR + ENG)

Chapter 10 - Nini

Nowadays...

My first week on the cheerleading squad was... as disappointing as I had expected it to be.

There was a part of me that was hoping that joining would at least allow me to spend the accumulated energy I had in my body and keep me going, but the truth was that the practice couldn't satisfy me and only frustrated me. I was used to going to sleep from exhaustion and that way my sleep was heavy and quiet, but with the Thunder Bay team training, I would come home and stay up until the early hours of the morning drawing and trying not to let my anxiety suffocate me, having even acquired an attachment for the balcony window of the bedroom and spending the nights analyzing my options.

The only thought I used to run away from these days was what I told Ivarsen on the day of the initiation and which had become my reason for trying with all my strength to avoid being alone with him after that. Which had earned me ridiculous arguments, such as the fact that I needed to make it clear that I would not sit at the table with the cheerleaders and jocks just because I was now part of the team, and which had put me in a bad spot with Ivarsen's already highly passive-aggressive girlfriend.

"We always sit together so that we can discuss not only the dynamics of the team but also the organization for the events and trips we attend, Nini."

It was then that I reminded her that I wouldn't even be five feet away and that portable phones had already been invented, so all she had to do was send me a message and I would be at her side ready to engage in any discussion as urgent as those suggested, in less than a minute.

Of course, to make up for my boldness, I was the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave, and no matter what Beth demanded, I always successfully complied, but I was suspecting that each time this happened, her anger at me only increased. If only she knew.

I was also trying to get away from Ryan, this being a little more difficult since we shared the same schedules, and although I was one step away from asking Emory to come with me to the office to request a change, he had given me his chair by the window, which made me more at ease during class.

"What are you doing?" - asks a voice just behind me as I walk down the hall toward my room after returning from my morning jog.

I don't have a proper place or gym to train like I used to, but I try to keep up the same warm-up and running sequence because I refuse to lose the habit.

"Did I wake you up? I'm sorry..."

"No. I woke up by myself... I'm eager for the trip," Finn answers me with a shy smile.

That makes at least one of us.

She keeps looking at the bag of ice I carry on my shoulders.

"It's cryotherapy," I explain. – "I'll put it in the bathtub and stay there for fifteen minutes."

"Why?" - she asks, clearly in shock, and then raises her hand and answers by herself. – "Oh, I've seen it in a movie! It's for pain, isn't it?"

I try not to laugh and nod.

"Yes, it is. That's one of the reasons I do it," I consider, and then call her over. – "Do you want to help me prepare the bathtub?"

She nods and leaves her room, closing the door. She is wearing pajamas with matching pants and shirt, and her hair, the same color as mine, is tied up in a messy bun.

"I also saw in a movie that it works to bring down the fever," Finn comments, as we enter my room and head for the bathroom, "but this seems a bit much, and I think that taking a few drops of medicine and rolling me up in my bed with some thick sheets has the same effect, right?"