Chaos In The Flesh

Chapter 27

Monday, January 16, 2023: 8:42 am

Tim sighed and bounced the volleyball back and forth between his hands, watching Jonathan stare longingly through the gymnasium doors while playing with his new golden bracelet.

Ms.Arenas and two other teachers combined their classes to make one large gymnasium class to teach. It was honestly easier than each separately doing lesson plans. So Tim stood on a random court with a sophomore, two other juniors, and a senior. The perfect amount of people for their volleyball team.

Except their team sucked. The sophomore couldn't hit for shit. The senior was always too busy talking to the seniors on the other team. The other two juniors were too busy focusing on themselves, so it was up to Jonathan and Tim to carry the team. And Jonathan was not paying any fucking attention cause he was to busy making puppy eyes at the door,

Tim hurled the ball and it smashed into the side of Jonathan's head. The kid barely flinched.

"Jon! We're starting!" Tim whistled, trying to get his friend's attention. Jonathan absentmindedly nodded and made his way onto the court.

Down the rest of the side of the gym, two other games began, while on the far side of the gym, three more games began. Someone hooked their music up to the gymnasium speakers and Childish Gambino blasted through the open chamber.

"Why are you so out of it?" Tim asked Jonathan as he served the ball over the net.

Jonathan shrugged. "Cassie's not here."

Tim raised an eyebrow. Since when did Jonathan care about Cassie's attendance? Then again, she always showed up for her classes. Girl wouldn't even take a sick day if she was dying from the flu.

"She'll show up eventually," Tim said, hitting the ball into the other team's court. As they got another point, Tim added, "She probably has a good reason."

Jonathan nodded and pursed his lips, still a bit unsure.

When Cassie didn't show up for the rest of the period, or the rest of the day, Tim sent her the class notes and a little blurb of what happened in the rest of their classes.

"I didn't see Cassie at the student council meeting today," Anasi said, walking out of the school with Tim. "Do you know what happened to her?"

Tim shrugged and held the door open for her. "Blondie's been doing a lot lately. She probably needed an extra day to sleep in."

******

Cassie couldn't sleep. She had just laid in her bed from 7pm to 5pm the next day. Chimera was laying at the foot of her bed, while Cerebus and Griffin laid next to her.

She skipped school, knowing that she would have been a mess trying to make it through the day. Nothing would have sat right with her. She would have been snapping at people all day and making everyone else upset.

Cassie looked to her window, hoping to see any semblance of light. But her blinds were closed and no light was streaming through any of the cracks.

Downstairs, Cassie heard her mom open the door and talk to someone. Cassie shifted in her bed and rolled to face away from her door. Chimera stood up, stretched, and walked over to Cassie, sniffing her face and whining. Cassie didn't have the heart to give him a kiss.

The stairs creaked and her bedroom door slowly opened. "Cass?"

Cassie didn't move or try to talk as her mom walked deeper into her room. "Donna's here. She wants to talk."

"I don't want to talk," Cassie mumbled as her mom sat by her feet. Chim whined a little louder and forced Mrs.Sandsmark to pet his head. "I'm not in the mood."