Almost Alice » l.h

1.9

I did my daily routine: wake up, go downstairs, eat breakfast and take my pills, go upstairs and shower, do my hair and makeup, get dressed, and then get out the door. For the passed two days, it was hard for me to even get out of bed because I was so anxious.

Michael didn't show up for school the next day or the day after that. At first I thought maybe he was just sick until he missed the second day, then I got worried. Maybe he'd told someone and was hiding from me? Or maybe he just thought I was weird and didn't want to be around me. I knew none of those were rational but I couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenarios.

On Thursday, Amy was sick and had to stay home so Calum picked me up for school. I'd been slowly starting to go back into my own style even though I'd started to like my sister's grungy look. I'd chosen a pair of ripped black skinny jeans, a black tank top, and a denim shirt with a red beanie. It wasn't exactly what I used to wear but it wasn't completely Amy's style either. I'd owned the jacket and the hat but the pants and shirt were my sister's. And the all-white Nike's were mine.

"Hey," Calum grinned when I got in the car, pointing to his grey beanie that he wore every day, "we match!"

"Except mine's red and I actually wash my beanie." I joked, buckling up.

"I wash it." he said as he backed out of the driveway.

"Have you heard from Michael?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "Not until this morning."

"Is he coming in?" I asked nervously.

He nodded. "Yeah, he told me he was."

"Why was he out for so long."

"No idea."

I nodded slowly and looked out the window. Did I just stress him out so much that he didn't want to come to school for a couple days? I knew I shouldn't have told anyone but I felt like it was the right thing to do at the time. It's like when it's late at night and you're like, drunk-tired and you think that texting that cute boy is a good idea at the time but then you get secondhand embarrassment in the morning because you were flirting with him like a middle schooler.

The drive to school seemed shorter today. We got out of the car - he parked by Luke's car which he seemed to do every day - and walked into the school. Calum led me to their usual meetup spot and I was both nervous and relieved to see that Michael was there.

"Whoa what the hell happened to you?" Calum asked, looking at Michael.

Michael had a black eye. His entire left eye was bruised and he just looked paler than usual and tired. At least I knew I wasn't the reason he was out. But if I wasn't, what was? What could've happened to Michael since Monday evening that caused this?

He just shook his head. "Nothing, man. Don't worry about it."

"He got in a fight." Violet answered for him.

"With who?" Calum questioned. "About what?"

"It's being handled, Cal." Michael almost growled. "Let it go."

"He wouldn't even tell me." Ashton sighed, resting a hand on Calum's shoulder. "You won't get anything out of him."

"Don't mention it to Luke either, alright?" Violet asked.

In all the worry about Michael, I hadn't even realized Luke wasn't there. Maybe he had anger management classes this morning. I made a mental note to text him later and see what he was up to.

"Yeah, he'll just get angry and make it worse." Michael sighed just before the bell rang.

Calum fixed his beanie and patted Michael's shoulder. "If you need anything, let me know. C'mon, Alice."