Journey's Merge

Chapter 30

Chester
I lay on the bed, staring at Felix who was sitting there, wide-eyed. He took me downstairs last night and I heard Rick and Kate run downstairs. He said he loved me. "Umm," He said. He seemed dumbfounded. "Yes." he deadpanned. My breath caught in my throat. "You...love me?" I asked again. He swallowed and nodded. "Yea, I love you." I scooted closer to him and buried my face in his chest. I sighed as he wrapped his arms around me in a hug "I love you too," I whispered. Maybe that's what that feeling was. The feeling I've been trying to get for so long.

*

I could feel everyones eyes on me as I was eating breakfast. I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything the last three days without throwing it up. Everyone thought I was sick, and I was....sort of. I guess. I felt terrible, hvaing all the orphanage come back. Especially Mrs.Murphy. I had tried so hard to forget about all of them. Why would they do that? Why would they bring back those people? I only wanted to see Ava. I swallowed the last bite of whatever I was eating and looked up at everybody around the table. They were all staring at me with wide eyes. "Chester," Kate said, setting down her fork. I hummed. "Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded. "Yea, I was just hungry," I said. She nodded slowly. "Okay, you sure?" I nodded again. She smiled. "So, you seem to be feeling better," Lindsey said to me. I looked up. "Yea, I'm feeling better now, I guess I was just a little sick," I lied. She nodded. "Well, that's good," The table went silent. Rick and Kate were acting awefully weird this morning. After another few minutes, Liam finally broke the awkward silence. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked suddenly. Both Rick and Kates head shot up. "What do you mean?" Rick asked nervously. Liam crossed his arms. "You're acting weirder than usual, what happened?" he asked. Kate sighed and looked at Rick. "I guess we have to tell him anyways," she said. "Tell who what?" Liam asked. Kate ignored him and turned her head to me. "Chester, your teacher called me a few days ago," she said. I sat up straighter. "Am I in trouble?" I asked. He smiled and shook her head. "No, you aren't," she shared another look with Rick beofre sighing once again. "He adn the principle asked to meet up with us and he told us about your...behaivoir," Lindsey laughed. "Chesters amazing, he hasn't done anything wrong," Lindsey said. She was right, as far as I know I've been a pretty good student. "And I didn't say he did." She ran her hand down her face. "He said that you get along well with the students and teachers, but you have a bit of a problem whenit comes to certain things," "LIke when you get an uneven number as a grade, you start crying, or when he switches up the desks or changes the lesson plan," she explained. "I told him you didn't mean to and it was becasue of your autism, but he more or less said that you should probably be in a school for people with your....mindset," she said. I sat there, staring at her dumfounded. "I don't want to move schools." I said. Crap. I shouldn't of said that. I sat back. "Okay, where am I going?" I asked. She looked at me weirdly then sighed and let her head fall back. "Chester, you aren't going to get in trouble for saying you don't want to move schools," she said. She sounded annoyed. "Are you mad?" I whispered. She groaned again. "Kate," Rick warned. Kate looked up. "What?" she snapped. "Stop getting so...annoyed," he whispered, like I couldn't hear him. Kate stood up,her chair falling back. "Annoyed?" "I'm not fucking annoyed Rick, I'm angry!" she yelled. Liam and Lindsey stood up. "Mom!" Lindsey yelled. "Be quiet," Lindsey said to her. Kate ignored her and instead kept her attention focused on Rick, but her eyes were on me. "I want him to understand thsat everything here is...different," she said, looking back at Rick. "We need him to understand that so we can actually talk to him and-" she stopped talking and looked at me. "Nevermind," she said. She picked up her chair and smoothed down her hair before sitting down. "I'm sorry, Chester," she breathed. I looked at the table. "No, I'm not mad, and I know you don't want to move schools," she sighed. "But I really think you need to, this school does everything differently from whatever you have problems with," "They make plans and classes fitting your criteria and it would really help," she pulled out a small pamphlet adn handed it to me. I opened it and saw 'Rosewood Academy for the Trouble Minded and Mentally Disabled' (RATMMD) printed on the front. The school was moderate sized, kind of like a general house. "They get out three hours earlier than all other schools, since most of the people there have attachment issues, and you can bring anyone you want to comfort you throughout the day, even Felix," she said. I looked up at her and she smiled. "If you don't want to go, then thats okay but-" "I wanna go," I said. She looked up at me. "Really," I nodded. "It seems a lot...easier than High Class Academy," I said. "Do they have uniforms?" I asked. She shook her head. "No, again everythings fit for people with your mindset, some people can only deal with certain types of clothes, adn that varies through everyone everyday, so no uniforms," I nodded. "When do I start?" I asked her. "Well, I can get you out of HCA with a phone call, but Rosewood will need your doctors notes, a doctor phonecall, you have to go through examination, and with all the regular signing in on top of that, a few weeks at most," I nodded again. "What do you mean examination?" Felix chimed in. Kate looked over at him. "They have to test him for classes and different triggers and things he might have so he can put him with the right people," "They also need you to meet everyone individually so they can see who you get along with and who you don't so they can put you with the ones you do," I smiled. "Sounds fun."