Admiring the Light

Ep 28

*Maybe a week later*

Gotta love Edgewater. Early November, and Natalie could already look out the window next to her in her Film class and see swirling snow outside. Maybe she could start hearing Christmas music over the radio.

"I'm dreaming of a white thanksgiving, KG."

"Imagine getting snow in early November, casuals. Where I come from, we'd have snowy Halloween nights." Caitlyn peered over her shoulder.

"Natalie, stop distracting your classmates. A plus students receive the same treatment." Their tiny, wrinkled man of a teacher shot the chattering girls a stare.

"God's gonna have mercy today, I know it."

"He might, I won't. Your response is due by tomorrow, the analysis of The Exorcist."

"Sir, I have two pages, I think I'm in the clear."

"Stop. Distracting." He wasn't wrong, she noted. The rest of the teens dispersed around the room did seem to be watching. "Fine, fine."

Of course she'd been right, she knew she would be. Natalie had been dismissed enough times to know when a snow day would be called, the intercom system crackling to life.

"Early dismissal, y'all. We're getting snowed in, and y'all need to go home before you're stuck here." A voice buzzed out over the loudspeaker. "Busses will be here soon, transporting throughout Edgewater, White Plains, and Oldfield. Call parents or guardians if necessary."

"And look who was right, sir? Meee! Pay up!" Natalie shoved her essay into a random blue folder, already bursting at the seams with other work. "And Danny, speaking of payment-"

"There's your fifteen, make another bold call like that and you could be paying me back triple."

"Edelman had two pretty mid games before this, Patriots against Giants might be a rough match, but they'll clutch it."

"Memememe, football blah blah-"

"You really think-"

"MEMEMEMEME- MINE >:I" She wrapped her arms around Natalie's chest. "Psst, Natalie, I need some answers."

"Gotchu, uh-"

"And yooou. You're not funny. Football players... ugh..."

"Lola, I get you don't like football. But me and Dan kinda needed to settle some fantasy stuff."

"Well too bad! Fantasy football means nothing compared to finishing your college essays."

"Where am I possibly applying, University of Tennessee?! Is that even a school?"

"Don't you have your FAFSA stuff done??"

"WHY IS COLLEGE IMPORTANT RIGHT NOWWW-"

"Now now, Natalie, no barking."

"You two, out, come on. Y'all miss the bell, you're wasting my damn time." Their teacher sighed, trying to usher them out of the room. "Drivers got dismissed."

"That's you-?" Lola bumped Natalie's arm, but she continued to the cafeteria anyway. "Nah, I'm gonna help if I can, Lola. You're waiting on a bus?"

"I'm gonna need to check in with Beavoux, she'll have a list. The bus might not be stopping near the farm." She glanced around at the slowly emptying hallways as snow whipped at the glass panes of the windows. "I could bring you home tonight? Once the storm chills, Lola, it's only a half hour to your farm from my house."

"I'm gonna call my father... uhm- just don't leave me- please- Dad? We're leaving school early because of the snow- I'll be home soon. Love you."

"He didn't pick up?"

"My dad needs to prepare stuff for the storm, I understand."

"Isn't it growing season or whatever?"

"We harvest in the fall, luckily we gathered the corn a few days ago."

"I see...?" Natalie didn't really know how farm duties worked, but if she never had to pull another baby calf from a mother, she wouldn't complain.

"Beavoux!! Hi! Lola needs a bus number- uh- I can help! Are you stressed?" She smiled, she loomed over her stocky redheaded teacher, but she really did only want to help.

"We don't have a route going towards the farms. Uh-" She checked her list, glancing back up into the big eyes of her two students. "Yeah- sorry girls-"

"Well then- We're both driving! We can help!" Natalie's excitement refused to waver, even as Lola backed off.

"Natalie, I don't have time for this right now." Her coach sighed, as she shouldered Natalie aside. "Beavoux, I can help! I-"

"107, BUS 107-"

"Natalie, go sit down. Let us teachers handle this." She restated, her eyes tired. "Bus 107, follow Ms. Beavoux. Everyone else, sit down."

The principal was getting involved now, the shrieking megaphone in her ears finally getting Natalie to back off. "Ugh..."

"Natalie? Fuck- hey- come on-" Someone's voice from behind her, but everything was just... fuzzy. She really didn't feel stressed? But it was all washing over her, whatever it was, and it felt like it was numbing her senses.

"Shit- LOLA-"

Another person laid their hands around her...

"NATALIE-"

Darkness.

...

Natalie didn't feel like she was overwhelmed by anything, her surroundings just seemed fuzzy. Her ears ringing, she tried to look around, but her body had half the energy her brain did.

The school nurse's office, a brick room with bland, grimy tiles and a sad black fridge with a glow from inside, like an alley from a movie had been built inside the school.

"NATALIE- HOLY FUCK, NATALIE..."

"Miss Obrejo, please back away. She's breathing."

That must have been Lola- nobody else would get so defensive.

"SHE COULD BE HURT!"

"Some ice will heal it."

"THERE'S NOTHING TO ICE!!"

"Yeah... uh... could you ice my head... ma'am-" Natalie mumbled, feeling a pathetic bag of ice get plopped on her forehead. The school didn't even have ice packs, they just put a few ice cubes in a bag.

But surprisingly, it felt better than the splitting headache she knew would develop. "Thanks..."

"Natalie, what's happening to you...?"

"That was the most autism moment I've had in a while." She joked, that's all it must have been. An overload.