All The Faith In The World

Chapter 6: Off To School

Connor pulled the silent red truck up to the curb of the high school to drop Noah and I off at school.

"Are you guys wanting to go today? I could fake a note if, you know, don't feel physically or emotionally stable yet," Connor said. 

"I'm fine," I said, grabbing my bag and opening up the door.

Noah grabbed his bag too, "Yeah. I will be good," he said, pulling the handle on the door and stretching his legs out of the vehicle. 

"Are you going to get back to college, today?" Noah asked Connor before he was too far away from the car. I looked back at them. Connor motioned Noah to whisper something in his ear, watching me as if to make sure I didn't hear. I saw Noah look taken back, then nodded his head, then whipped around, on his heels, hands in his pockets, and backpack on his shoulders, smiling. Connor pulled away, but not before chuckling at his little brother who looked as satisfied as Bender from the Breakfast Club as he walked away.

"Is everything ok?" I asked Noah when he reached me.

"Yeah. Everything is fine. Connor will just be able to pick us up a lot more often now," Noah said.

"I'm not 5 years old Noah, you can tell me if Connor is dropping out of college," I said.

"It's not because he wants to, Faith, well he does, but he says he has a plan. He wants to buy an apartment, and become our legal guardian so we don't have to live with Mom or Dad anymore," he said, looking straight in my eyes. "Don't tell him I told you. He wanted to tell you when he has actually made progress on it," he said, almost pleading me now, to not tell Connor.

"I won't. I promise," I said, smiling, "Just think. No more bruises or yelling. Just happiness," I said.

"Just happiness," he repeated, letting a breath go along with it.

"I will see you after school right? Or do you have to work?" I asked, letting go of him and started walking away. "Yeah, I have to work, so just come to the diner right after dance," he said.

"Okay!" I called to him, and with that, away I went. I had a new found feeling of hope that it would get better today. I felt like I had all the faith in the world on my side.

I waited in the lunch line to get some chicken nuggets and french fries, my favorite. I picked up a reddish colored tray and started moving toward the older women at the cash register with a grey hair net on and a plain grey apron. 

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Angela and her army came up behind me.

"What do you want Angela?" I asked her, disgusted.

"Where's your older brother? Is he not here to protect you?" she asked me, getting closer to my face.

"No. Just leave me alone, Angela. We both know if I wanted to I could beat your butt anywhere anytime," I said.

"Oh, is that a threat?" she asked, stepping closer.

"No, that's a promise. One thing about me, I never break a promise." She pushed me into the counter. I hit my elbow and fell to the floor. Everyone was watching us now. I kicked her in the back of the knees and she came toppling down on top of my. On the way, she managed to get the elbow of her sleeve caught on a tray full of ketchup and nuggets. They flew through the air, each one landing on her white pants.

"You will pay, you little-" A teacher finally came over to get her off of me. From the angle he was standing, I'm sure he saw everything. I got up and brushed myself off. He pulled her away, not to be seen the rest of the day.

"Are you ok, Ms. Porter?" the lunch lady asked me when I stood up and got my tray.

"Yeah, I'm all good," I said, even though on the inside, I felt like dying. I grabbed my chicken nuggets and fries and went to go find my friends table.

"Are you ok?" my best friend, Hayden Grimlaki asked when I approached the table.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I always am," I said, setting my stuff down and sitting next to him. Hayden had been my best friend for about 4 years. We first met in 5th grade over a project. He came to my house and we have been inseparable ever since.

"Cuz, I could punch someone if I needed to," he said making a fist.

"I think I'm good for now," I said grinning, "but thanks for your consideration," I handed him a french fry.

"I got you Faith, don't worry," he said.

"So, don't bring anything up to Connor, right?" I asked Noah as we walked to Connor's car in the parking lot after school.

"No. I will ask him about it later, but for now just pretend you don't know anything," he whispered to me as we got closer to the truck.

"Ok," I said.

"Hey guys! How was school?"Connor energetically said as we opened the doors and got in.

"Fine," Noah said, "Anything exciting happen?" he asked, hitting Connor in the arm.

"Yes actually," Connor nodded. "We got the night off at the diner! So now we can drop Faith off and just relax," he said, very relieved. Oh crap, dance tonight.

"Do I have to go?" I whined from the back seat.

"Why? Don't you want to go?" Noah asked.

"Well, I mean, my legs hurt still, from this morning," I said. I knew if I brought up what happened with mom, they would let me stay home. They looked at each other and then Connor shrugged.

"You can skip today, if you want" he said, driving off. It seemed like he didn't want me to come hang out with them. The ride home was pretty quiet. Only thing that filled the air was Noah talking about what his calculus teacher said today about a project that was going to be due soon.

I walked into the house and looked around at everything. It looked the same as yesterday with all the boxes and things on the floor and in the hallway. There was a note on the chair above all the mess.

Went to get some food. Be back by 4

-Mom

Well, it was 3:30 so we had 30 more minutes of a mom free house. I walked down the hall to my room. I could finally listen to The Leopard's new track. I put the ear buds in and fell asleep on my bed, never even pressing the play button.