Therapeutic Love.

Chapter 11 - Effect.

Oddly, Mitch seemed to be the key for calming me down, I don't know why, and it was fucking weird, but he just had this kind of effect on me. Maybe because he'd distract me by being an annoying little shit, maybe because he was now one of my friends.

There would be multiple times throughout the week where I'd be overthinking stuff, someone would irritate me, a teacher would stick their nose where they shouldn't maybe, and Mitch would be there offering one of his dumb hugs and it was like an instant cool down effect, it was so weird.

On a more normal note, we had two more days until summer break, which was fun. I really enjoyed summer break because the school became so relaxed around that time, especially with me, I mean they still kept the curfews in place and stuff, but no one really followed them since the groundskeepers and other staff just didn't make it their problem, as long as we didn't do anything illegal and warned the school in advance of us staying somewhere else overnight they didn't really care.

At the end of the day though, an announcement came on over the loudspeaker which did not bring me any kind of happiness.

"Could all students who will be attending summer vacation here, please make their way to the main hall."

I already knew nothing good could come from that cryptic announcement, but I went to the main hall nonetheless along with all the others, and when I saw the headmaster standing on the preforming stage with a smug smile on his face I knew this wasn't going to be good. He waited until we were all relatively quiet before speaking.

"As you all know, summer break is fast approaching and while we have usually let you have free reign of what you want to do in that time, we have decided that, since we have the funds, and since there are so little of you, we would take the boarding students on a little trip, a vacation of sorts, only it is absolutely mandatory."

No fucking way.

The reactions, as expected, were very mixed. Some students, mainly the younger ones, broke into excited chatter and grins, some just shrugged indifferently but a good majority of us, including me, exploded into annoyed disbelief.

The only reason they were giving us this 'vacation' was because they didn't want to bother keeping track of us for six weeks. I glared at my shoes at the thought of being stuck with these dickheads for any more length of time needed.

"It will be for two weeks, and we will be travelling to the location by plane, pack for warm weather, we're going to the west coast!"

--

The bus rumbled in the bus bay, spewing out grey exhaust fumes. I stood with my arms crossed glaring at Mr Holmes, suitcase by my feet.

"Piper like it or not, you're getting on this bus." He sighed, rubbing his face with his hand.

"Like hell I am. Just leave me here! I'll be too much a problem to look after." I tried to convince him, and though his face went a little more thunderous than usual at the thought, he didn't crack.

"Get her bag in the trunk." He said, waving his hand at the bus' luggage compartment and glaring at me before boarding the bus.

A hand grabbed my suitcase which I stopped before grabbing, ready to inflict pain if needed. I whipped my head around to yell at whoever was touching my bag, but I stopped when I saw Mitch.

"Hey." He greeted casually with his shitty grin.

"No fucking way." I groaned, retracting my hand as if I'd been burnt and wiping it on my jeans in distain. He took that opportunity to throw my bag in with the rest of the luggage without much care before shutting the lid and locking it. "Hey careful with that asshole!"

"Sorry your highness." He answered with a smirk, sparking annoyance within me.

"Carry on like that and I'll kick your ass." I growled, taking a step forward but faltering when the bus driver revved the engine, trying to hurry us up.

"If you get on the bus now I'll let you do your judo shit or whatever you do on me, okay? Just get on the bus." Mitch bargained with another grin. I thought about it, a small smile appearing on my lips at the thought.

"Alright fine." I shrugged, "There's gonna be no warning."

He just laughed, following me as I boarded the bus. I rolled my eyes when he sat down next to me, as told to by Holmes, but I didn't feel the usual annoyance that popped up whenever he was near me. Maybe this vacation won't be so bad.