You alright?" Marco asked Ada.
They stood against the lockers waiting for the first bell. Ada had seen Casey come through the door over Marco's shoulder. He also had a bruise on his face, a shadow, along his jawline.
"Yeah. Yeah." She assured him. "Listen, there's something I have to do. Can I catch you later?"
She went to move but he caught her arm.
"Ad? What's up?"
"Nothing." She shook her head. "I just need to talk to Casey."
"I'll come with you."
"Nah, don't. I don't want it to get out of hand."
She shrugged him off. He watched her go.
Ada marched down the corridor towards Casey.
"Oi." She called.
He ignored her.
Ada grabbed his arm.
He ripped it back. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"Come with me, now!"
She pushed him into an empty classroom and closed the door.
"Look Ad, I'm really not in the mood for whatever this is."
"Shut up."
He scoffed.
She glared at him. "You hit Brax?"
"Yeah, and he hit me."
"Why?" She asked him.
He shrugged. "Because, he was bugging me!"
"Casey, what's going on?"
"Ah, just leave it Ada!" He grunted. He launched towards the door.
She stood in his way, demanding his eye contact.
"Casey! I'm not Brax. Just tell me what is going on." She pleaded.
Casey deflated. He looked pained. "I'm gonna fail. There's no way I'm gonna pass. And Brax just keeps pushing me and pushing me. And Ruby, she thinks I'm lazy and stupid."
"Casey, you're not stupid. You're not going to fail through school."
"I've failed every one of my essays this term. If I don't hand in a passable one today, I'm screwed."
He sat back onto the table. She joined him.
She leaned down and rummaged in her backpack.
"Give me your essay." She instructed him.
"What? Why?"
She retrieved some pages from her backpack and thrust them into his hands.
"Have this one."
"Ada, we're in different years, there's different topics."
"Yeah, I know. I've read your assignment and the reading, and I've written my own answer."
Casey stared perplexed. "What? Why?"
"Does it matter? I don't need it and you do. Look, I can't fix your girl problems but I'm not going to let you flunk out of school. Use this to buy yourself some time. Start from the beginning and get caught up."
The bell rang.
"Ada," Casey began, "If I get caught..."
"Then keep your mouth shut."
She slung her bag over her shoulder.
Marco opened the door. "Is everything alright?" He asked curiously.
