In Our Heads

Chapter 33

*****

The house was silent as usual when Cassian walked into the living room. He glanced over at the couches before heading into the hallway to peek into each of his parents' offices. They were not there, and he felt a bit of relief at not having to enter another argument with them because of his detention and behaviour in Mr Brentworth's classroom.

He headed upstairs wondering where they were, glancing toward their room as he entered his own and raised his brows in surprise when he spotted his phone on his desk. Grabbing it as he placed his bags down beside the table, he noticed a note left beneath the phone and recognised his mother's handwriting.

They were allowing him to have his phone back while they were out of town in case of an emergency. It also noted that they had received a call from his school and were not going to let that slide, so they would discuss it with him once they got back in a week. He furrowed his brows wondering why they had left so quickly for so long as he crumbled the page up to toss it into the bin, a little upset that he had not been able to speak to them before they left because he did not have his phone then.

Sitting down, he attempted to start the evening's homework but got distracted by his phone. Despite thinking that Kian had brought it on himself and the guy could be a complete asshole sometimes, Cassian was worried about how his friend was doing so he opened his messages to text Kian.

After sending it, he stared at the, 'Hey. Are you okay?' for a few seconds as the message became marked read but Kian gave no response or attempt at typing.

Cassian sighed as he exited the app, shaking his head.

Kian would probably keep being stubborn about it and Cassian was not going to apologise or sympathise too much because Kian knew damn well he brought it on himself. It was surprising that none of the other scholarships or 'lower' kids at their school had snapped at him or the others before. Usually, they just ended up leaving the school after a few weeks or a couple of months of tormenting.

Placing his phone face-down on the other side of the desk, Cassian pushed the thoughts from his mind and began to concentrate on his work.

"Early day again?" Jonathan asked once they had moved past their usual greetings and Cassian suggested they head out.

He nodded at the question as they made their way down the stairs into the dark morning, the wind brushing against the exposed skin of his thighs. He was already wearing his training uniform to keep from having to change into it at school.

"Yes. I skipped practice yesterday." He had to get some work in, even if he felt exhausted already.

"Again?" the older man asked as they climbed into the car.

"Not on purpose. I had detention."

Jonathan's face skewed, his forehead creasing as he looked at Cassian.

"That's not like you. Am I to believe your parents' concerns are valid?"

"Concerns? No. It wasn't serious, I just spilt a drink that should not have been open in class. Stupid, careless mistake. No big..." he was going to say 'no big deal' but remembering his parents' reactions to the wine at the party, it was probably a big deal. Any mistake was a big deal. "I learnt my lesson," he added instead.

He averted his attention to the seatbelt as Jonathan began to drive.

It was interesting. Though he did not like upsetting his parents, he felt much less anxious when he just did what he wanted. Even with the knowledge that it would upset them. It did not seem like he was behaving too differently from himself, he still did everything they asked of him, well almost everything. He believed that he still did everything well and did not mind doing most of the activities they had scheduled for him.