The Doctor and I

Just Another Day

Courtney fumbled for her glasses that sat on her messy nightstand. She really wanted to clean it off, but hadn't had the energy to do much of anything the past couple of weeks. Her parents were lucky they weren't fighting her just to go to school that day. She had given up on fighting with them. In trying at school. In everything.
Still, she was going. Something told her to hold on, that there would be a miracle before too long. Courtney also had a few friends that tried to help her. At least, she liked to believe that they tried. She knew things weren't as bad as they could be, and that was another part of what kept her going. Helping people was everything to her. It gave her a sense of self when nothing else would. She was good at it, and she held tightly to that.
School was another story. The effort that had to be put into school exceeded anything that Courtney was willing to give anymore. She had gone from being a straight A, star student to the student that was always in trouble and fed her homework to her dog. Which was why days like today, days where she went without a fight, were extremely few and far between.
"COURTNEY!" Courtney sighed as she finally found her glasses and slid them on and slid out of bed to go meet her mother in the kitchen.
"Morning, Mom," she started, taking the box of Cheerios off of their shelf along with a bowl.
"Do you plan on going to school today?" Her mother's irritation was evident. Had she really been that bad lately?
"I guess," Courtney sighed. "I haven't seen Emily in a while. Haven't answered her texts either."
A look of concern crossed her mother's face. "She's probably worried about you!"
"I doubt it," Courtney gave up on trying to open the cereal box and headed back upstairs to change without any protest from her mother. That's what it had come to. Her mother didn't even really care what she did anymore. Sometimes that was a good thing, but other times it hurt more than being stabbed through the chest.
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It took Courtney an hour to get ready, making her late for first bell. Surprisingly, her mother didn't say a word about having to drive Courtney to school. She usually screamed for a while, making Courtney another hour late. But today Courtney was at school just five minutes late.
The car stopped outside the front office. Courtney's mom turned to her. "Have a good day."
"Yea. You too," Courtney got out of the car and slowly made her way to class. When she walked in Emily was the first to notice her. This was the first time Courtney had been at school in two weeks, so there was a stunned silence as everyone slowly recognized her.
Mr. Ramm was the first to speak. "Welcome back, Courtney," he motioned to her seat. "I trust you can find your seat. It's good have you back."
Courtney nodded and took her seat directly in front of Emily, who looked at her expectantly. Courtney shrugged and got out her notebooks. Emily left her alone for the rest of math class.
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"Sooooooo?" Emily turned to Courtney as they waited for the bell to signal the start of second bell. "What are you going to tell everyone this time?"
"I'm not telling them anything," This was true. Several people had already asked Courtney but she had pretended not to hear them. "It's none of their business."
"Okay so what are you going to tell me?" That was Emily. Courtney couldn't just lie to Emily; she would know and never stop pestering her until Courtney told the truth. The problem was, Courtney didn't know what the truth was anymore. In all honesty, she just felt hollow and didn't want to do anything ever again. But couldn't exactly tell that to Emily.
"That I'm here now and that's what matters," Emily started to reply to Courtney, but at that moment the sound that every student dreads rang through the class. The start of second bell. The start of PE.
"We aren't done talking," Emily raises her eyebrows and both of the girls found their places in the line up.
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By the end of third bell Courtney was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. All she wanted was to go home, but that wasn't for another three bells after lunch. Courtney had originally planned on grabbing her lunch and eating in the detention hall, but Emily convinced her to sit with the other girls. Only when she sat down did it dawn on Courtney just how long she had been gone.
"COURTNEY!!!" Jenna jumped up from her chair and threw her arms around Courtney. For a minute Courtney froze, but soon returned the hug. Nobody had hugged Courtney in a long time, and it helped a lot. Courtney felt tears well up inside her, and pulled away, pretending to get into her backpack while she got her emotions under control.
"Hey, Jenna," Courtney stood back up and looked around. "And... Everyone else..." Her voice trailed off as she realized that everyone was talking to each other, paying no attention to the fact that she was there. She knew that this shouldn't be a big deal, but it kind of was. This was part of what made her feel the way she did. The way that nobody seemed to notice her when she walked in the room.
Emily turned back to Courtney. "So talk," she said, sitting in one of the cold cafeteria chairs.
"There's nothing to talk about," Courtney said, taking a bite of the dry hamburger that somehow passed for food.
"You were gone for two weeks, Courtney," Emily's voice was irritated, as it usually got when Courtney was being stubborn. "You can't honestly tell me that there's nothing to talk about."
Courtney rolled her eyes. "Okay. There's nothing that I want to talk about."
Emily sighed and put her head in her hands. "I guess that's better than lying to me about it."
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The rest of that day was fairly uneventful. That was, until Courtney made it home that afternoon.