Not Done Yet

4

Morning periods had never felt like agony before. It was only the first class of the morning and Ian was already itching to get out of school.

He constantly kept checking his phone under his desk,  zoned in and out of class and got yelled at for his lack of notes by the end of the session.

He could feel his classmates' flitting eyes pierce him and could hear the whispers and gossip about to start. Normally, he would've found some way to pull himself back together, quash the kindling of any rumours and go about his day as though nothing had happened, and usually, everyone else would take his lead and act like it too.

But hell, the only person who could turn him into this disaster was coming, and she, at this point, was his priority.

Admittedly, Friday's plane didn't touch down until sometime in the afternoon so he had no reason to anticipate anything from Bernie.

Still, a bit of reassurance would be nice. 

He'd made Bernie promise to text him as soon as he'd met up with Friday.

He'd raised his eyebrows at this request but had said nothing as he agreed.

He needed to make sure she was okay. Goodness knows what state she might be in after coming out of jail.

She'll be fine, he'd tried telling himself as the hours ticked by. Though he couldn't quite bring himself to believe it.

He tried to think about who might be coming with her as well.

There were chaperone teachers and while he didn't know which ones, he hoped Friday's sake that perhaps the staff had changed while he'd been gone. If not, he could assume that Mrs Cannon and Mr Maclean had come along, both volunteering for their own reasons.

Mrs Cannon, because Italy was wonderful, and Mr Maclean, because Italy was wonderful and he could take lots of selfies.

Ian tried to think of the students who'd come along.

They were all senior History students so he could say anyone in Year 10 and above. That left a lot of people. Melanie was obviously coming and that thought made Ian relax a little. She would have never let her friend travel to another country without her.

It was nearly three in the afternoon when the message came through.

With Friday. She's okay.

Ian wanted to collapse with relief. 

She was okay.

The bell rang, announcing the end of the day and Ian could not have left class quicker.

"Are you alright Ian?" 

He'd turned around to see Tatiana, her bag held daintily in front of her knees.

"Yeah, I'm alright," he replied, going to his default answer.

She tilted her head. "You seem...skittish,"

He wasn't surprised she'd noticed, the whole grade had probably noticed. 

He thought back to Pietro's advice. 

If you trust her, she'll trust you.

He sighed, taking on a resigned expression, took her bag out of her hands and gestured to the school exit.

"Shall we?"

It took a lot of improvising to come up with a cover for Friday.

She was Ian's step-cousin (saying she was just his cousin felt revolting) and they had been close for a while before he moved to Italy. He was worried about seeing her again.