What a weird little guy Octo is! No ones ever seen his caregiver before. How COOL is that!? Though, its not like he needs one anyways, Octo gets by just fine. Any little would feel incompetent just standing next to him. But what they dont realize, i...
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Octo
As we walked further and further away from the hall, the noise of the various students grew fainter and I was finally able to gather myself properly again.
Little Rory skipped quietly on my right, his eyes trained on the Caregiver striding a few feet in front of us. I briefly remembered how much they unnerved him. Tommy seemed a little absent-minded as he led us through a maze of hallways I barely recognized. I got slightly worried for a second, thinking we were going to get horribly lost in these twisting corridors. He didn't seem to know (or care) if he should go left or right, up the stairs or down the stairs.
Thankfully we soon came to a set of bright blue doors that would most certainly lead us to a bathroom. He stood off to the side, watching us with the same bored but sort of awkward expression. I took a step forward, then stopped, realizing that Little Rory wasn't even following me.
I turned to him "What?" I asked.
He shifted from foot to foot nervously.
"Why is heeee...there?" he mumbled after an eternity.
I glanced back at the Resident, who now had the beginnings of a scowl forming across his features. Yikes.
"I think it's kind of his job, dude." I replied matter-of-factly. Obviously that didn't help. "Try to ignore him."
Rory stared back at me. "huh??" I may have to change tactics.
"Ok." I looked between Tommy and the slightly ajar bathroom door. It hit me.
"Last one in the bathroom is a wet dog!" I exclaimed, only waiting a second before dashing through the doors. As I predicted, Little Rory was right behind me, yelling;
"Wait! I don't wanna be a wet dooooog!"
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By the time we eventually returned to the hall, two great things had happened.
1. I didn't feel on the brink of insanity anymore and could easily last the next 20 minutes until this dreaded activity was over. (yay)
2. Big Rory was back! (double yay)
A part of me wonders if I should have been paying attention to the things that made him regress and un regress but another, louder, part of me doesn't care.
"So what now?" he said when we returned to our picnic table. The plates had since been removed by a cleaner.
"I don't know." I remembered something. "Oh. I brought a pillow to sleep on to pass the time. Maybe I'll go get it."
"You're just gonna sleep?" Rory looked shocked. "When there's so many caregivers around?"
I hesitated. "Is that...like, embarrassing?" He rolled his eyes so dramatically I almost thought he was Little again.
"No! Dude- aren't you even trying to get a pair? Like with a caregiver?"
"A caregiver? Ugh, you're obsessed with this too?" I slumped back down on the table. I was starting to notice just how Little my environment had gotten in the past few weeks.
"Who else did you talk to about this?" he quirked an eyebrow.
"This other dude, Demi. He thinks a pair is the greatest thing since sliced bread." I answered.
"Almost. Did he tell you exactly what would happen if you got one?" he grasped the edge of the table, leaning forward to express the severity of the situation -which was none at all- in a manner that vividly reminded me of an overeager salesperson.
"Not explicitly no..." I muttered warily. Rory's brown eyes lit up.
"Really?" he fished around in his uniform sweater. "You're gonna wanna hear this. Sid and I talked to some Residents about it at dinner the other day. It's such a hack!"
"Dinner? When?" I hardly recalled a meal I've had in this school without Rory, so where was I during this obviously very informative conversation?
He'd finally found what he was looking for and set it on the table. It was a large piece of torn out notebook paper. "I just said: the other day." he had that stupid smirk on his face.
I fixed him with an unimpressed stare.
"Friday." he amended.
Friday? Why on earth would I miss dinner on a random Friday? I searched my brain.
Tuck. Bingo!
Now I remember. She called me that evening, about an hour before dinner because she'd finished her exams and wanted to see how I was doing. I got so wrapped up in giving her all the news that by the time we were done chatting, dinner was long over.
Yeah, I vaguely recalled Jerry's pissed off expression when he came to get me for a late supper the kitchen had prepared. It was humiliating.
"Oh." was all I said in response.
"Yeah, it was the one time you didn't come with us and I just so happened to discover the secret to paradise in P. Quentin." he placed a hand on his chin as if he were deep in thought. "Maybe we should eat without you more often..."
"Dude."
"Kidding! Kidding!" he laughed at my irritated expression. I was so over his lame digs. "Anyways, here it is."
At the top of the page, in rushed letters, were the words; LITTLE AND CAREGIVER PAIRS: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
"This should be interesting." I hummed.
1. - you get to stay up late but only for an extra hour but only if your Carer says so.
"That's actually pretty good. Just hope you don't get a super mean Carer who doesn't let you stay up at all." I commented. Rory nodded in silent agreement.
2. -Littles can follow their Carer to some of their classes if they're too uncomfortable to be separated.
"Would someone actually need to do that?" I asked with a tilt of my head.
"I asked them the exact same question! Turns out it's fairly common for Littles to get overwhelmed easily. I guess it's more convenient to just let them follow their Carer around." he explained. I chuckled to myself.
"Couldn't be me. What's this next one?"
3. -Littles get customizable badges with the room number and full name of their Carer.
"That's my personal favorite. It's a fantastic idea, isn't it?" he nudged me in the side.
"Eh...It's alright. Though I think it's more for the purpose of being able to quickly track down someone's Carer in case of an emergency. Not for you to decorate."
"Sure, whatever." he rolled his eyes.
"I'll be honest, this isn't really convincing me to get a pair. It just looks like more rules."
"Read the last one!" he urged.
4. - Once in a pair, bonding hour becomes an option instead of a requirement.
"Why wasn't this the first point!? That's it! I'm getting a pair!" I announced, a wide grin on my face. Rory laughed and playfully shoved me. "I knew that's all it would take to lure you in."
"Shut up you did not!"
Author's Note tee hee
(thanks a bunch for all the new reads everyone!!!)
