After Dark

Twenty-six

Wednesday morning Liam woke up with a headache. For someone that was starting to not hate his life, this was a big set back.

He shuts his locker, probably a little harder than necessary, and Paige flinches from next to him. She looks up at his face with wide eyes.

"Okay, what's wrong? You've had that scowl since this morning." Paige looks at him with concern.

"Scowl?" Liam's eyebrows furrow.

"You've been glaring all day." Paige points out like it's obvious.

"I have?" Liam asks with surprise. He hasn't been meaning to scowl.

"Yes, you have. Now come on, we're gonna be late for Philosophy."

Liam falls into step beside Paige, an apology quick on his tongue. "Sorry. I wasn't aware I've been scowling all day."

"Well you have been." Paige says, not like she's upset but just explaining. "What's going on?"

"I'm exhausted." Liam sighs. "I don't know. My head has been hurting since I woke up."

Paige cringes. "Oh, it's a headache."

They take their seats in Philosophy class. Paige pulls her phone out under her desk and begins typing. Liam raises his eyebrows, that's out of character for her. She usually sticks by the rules in school.

The class goes by without Paige looking at her phone anymore. Liam doesn't say anything about it. They both sit and listen to the lecture, taking notes occasionally.

After class Paige follows him to his locker. "Do you think it's from stress? You've been working more in school lately, maybe you're just tired."

"It's not that big of a deal Paige, it's just a headache." Liam shrugs it off. His head is still aching. He can feel his vains pulsing in his temples and he hates it.

"Well, maybe not." Paige argues back. "It could be something more, Li. Maybe this is your body's sign to take a break."

"I agree." Ember walks up, joining their conversation uninvited. Liam rasies his brows at her bag on her back but doesn't get time to question it. Her voice is softer than it typically is, not trying to make Liam's headache worse. "Paige texted me. Anyways, I think you're over exerting yourself. You've been more upbeat lately and now you're crashing. Really, this was bound to happen."

"You both sound like therapists. I'm fine."

"Lies." Ember crosses her arms. "Now, pack your stuff. We're dipping."

"What?" Liam's hand pause on his notebook that he was about to pull out of his locker. He glances back at Ember. "Pardon?"

"We're dipping." Ember grins. "You need a break."

"We're ditching school?" Liam's hands fall away from his locker. "We can't do that."

"Oh but we can." Ember smirks. "Chris does it all the time. So does Javi. I've already texted them, Javi and Ian are both gonna ditch too. We can meet up with them."

"Ember, we can't. What would my mom think?"

Ember's face falls a little. "I guess that's true. But if you need a break, you should take it. Think about it." Ember then spins around. "Now, if we're not leaving then I gotta go and get my stuff for third period."

Ember runs off. Paige looks back up at Liam with a small smile. "Think about it. It'll just be you and Ember leaving since I don't want to take the chance of skipping, but you'll have Ian and Javi too. I gotta go now."

Liam turns back to his locker as Paige walks away. He picks up his notebook and stacks it on top of his laptop. He closes his locker and grimaces at the sounds of it slamming.