Oh, Heather

Chapter Five

A few weeks had passed since the auditorium speech, which meant they only had just a few more until college day, which Miley hadn’t shut up about since.

   “I’m so excited for college day.” Miley announced, lightly hitting her fists against the lunch table.
   “Yes we know.” Leo replied, looking over at her.
   “I really hope I can get into the University Of Nebraska.” She said.
   “Miley, you're really smart, I bet you could get in just about anywhere.” Heather smiled
   “Yeah. Well, I hope so at least.” 

   Miley and Leo walked off to their class, leaving Heather to walk alone. Just before walking into the class, she brushed someone’s shoulder. She looked up to see that it was Mia. They smiled softly at each other, a light laughter pressed under both of their breaths.

   “Sorry Heather,” 
   “It’s alright, don’t worry about it. Do you wanna walk with me to class?” She asked.
   “Yeah sure.” Mia said, the worried look on her face fading.

   They walked together, sitting down and talking as they waited for the teacher. She always seemed to be late, never by much, but late nevertheless. Heather didn’t reply much to anyone, unenthused by the idea of Jacklyn coming into class. Fortunately, as class went by she realized that Jacklyn hadn’t shown up, causing her to be much more participant in the class. Towards the end of the class, the teacher began writing names up on the board for a class project.

  “Whoever your name is written beside is who you're going to be working with for the next few weeks.”

Heather looked up on the board, hoping to see her name paired with Mia. 

   “No.” She groaned quietly.
   “Who are you partnered with?” Mia asked, looking over at her.
   “Jacklyn,” 
   “You could ask her if you're able to switch partners?” Mia suggested.
   “It’ll be fine, hopefully.” Heather replied, biting the corner of her nail.

Mia shrugged, walking out of the classroom. Heather finished up her work just as everyone else had started leaving. She turned in her work and started to walk towards the door.

   “Heather?” Her teacher called.
   “Yes?” She replied, looking at her teacher.
   “I’m sorry that I paired you with Jacklyn. You seem like a sweet kid and you seemed to be the only one who would get her to actually work.” She said.
   “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

   Ms. Evans nodded, tilting his head towards the door to tell her to leave. She nodded back, wasting no time to leave the class. The rest of her day finished and she walked back to her house. She wasn’t greeted with the hug of her brother, but was instead greeted by the hug of her mother. She hugged her mother back, looking around for her little brother.

   “Where’s Corey?” She asked.
   “He’s napping. He still doesn’t feel too well.” She whispered.

   Heather smiled as she walked off to her room, trying not to make any loud noises. She sat on her bed, immediately messaging Miley. I got paired with Jacklyn for a chemistry project 😭. She scrolled through instagram as she waited for her friend to reply, but she replied almost instantly. That actually sucks, can you like, change partners? 

I didn’t want to ask, I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of it. Hopefully she just won’t show up to class for the next few weeks. Miley left on her on read, probably to avoid talking about this anymore than she needed to. Heather laid on her bed, thinking about the project when her mom walked into her room.

   “Hey sweetheart. Do you wanna go on a jog with me?” She asked.
   “And leave Corey here?” She replied.
   “Matt is gonna stay here and watch him.” 
   “Okay.”

   Heather groaned when her mom left. She didn’t wanna cause a scene about Matthew, but a part of her just didn’t trust him. That part of her was weary about all people, but it seemed to have a heavier distaste for Matthew. That part of her always seemed to be right, whenever the distrust didn’t go away after a while, she found that it always ended up being right. She walked into the living room, continuing to try and be nice to him. They said their temporary goodbyes and made their way down their block, and around the next row of houses a few times before going back to their house. 

   “We’ve not done that in forever.” Alyssa said, holding her hip as she bent over.
   “Our last run was a year before Corey was born.” Heather replied.
   “Hm.” 

   They walked back inside to find Matthew passed out on the couch. Heather rolled her eyes as she watched her mom prop him up. After Heather took a shower, she blow dried her hair and headed back to her room. She turned on her phone, answering the few messages she had and falling asleep shortly after. It wasn’t that late, or even that dark outside but Heather found herself extremely tired. When she woke up, she was met with the overwhelming smell of bacon and other breakfast foods. She walked into the kitchen to find Matthew and Alyssa playing around and cooking, placing everything on expensive looking plates.

   “Good morning Heather. We made breakfast.” Matthew said, gesturing toward the food in front of them.

   Heather looked between the two, hesitantly taking a few pieces of bacon. She ate the bacon with the two adults finishing up the rest of the food and cleaning up the stove. Alyssa washed off the empty plates and Matthew put the extra food into the fridge. 

   “You better go off to school honey. You’ll be late.” Alyssa said, pointing up to the clock.
   “Shit.” Heather mouthed, walking quickly out the door and off to school.
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This is kind of a shorter chapter but oh well