Sink

chp. 14

CHAPTER 14.

On Thursday, I told Jade, Ethan, and Nate about my dad. Their responses weren't too different, just a load of, "I'm sorry"s, and "it'll be okay"s. I realised, though, over the past few days, those words won't be able to do anything.

Nate left, pulling Jade along with him against her protests, left me alone with Ethan. I glared at Nate's back as he retreated, dragging his girlfriend along. What a way to abandon me with some sort of god.

I took an angry bite of my sandwich, chewing it furiously and looking at everything but Ethan.

"Hey, listen," I paused, sandwich in hand, phone in the other. "I'm sorry if I was too hard on you the other day." I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," I drawled, taking a sip of my water.

"Why do you have to pretend?" Ethan asked, and I almost choked. "It's only me around here."

Exactly, the point. It's only you around here, I wanted to say, but instead, I said, "I'm not pretending."

He scoffed. "Malia, even a blind man would be able to tell that you're faking all this. Stop denying it."

"Why can't I?" I asked, dropping my sandwich, my appetite once again lost. "Is it wrong of me to want to pretend that none of this is happening? Is it wrong that I don't want to act like my dad is actually dying?"

Ethan blinked. "No, I didn't say that."

"Ethan, you pretty much did." I closed my eyes for a second. "I just don't want to face it yet. I mean, I guess I have, in some way. But it's not easy, you know?"

"You're going to have to face it sooner or later," he said, his tone gentle. "Might as well face it now."

"Is it my fault that I don't want to accept that my dad may be dying?" I repeated bitterly. "Ethan, you don't know anything about it. So don't act like you do."

I stood up from my seat, threw away my food and walked out of the canteen, ignoring his stare that was piercing into my back. I'm starting to regret accepting his ride to school this morning. He was my only ride back.

Jade just had to be going on another date with her lovely boyfriend.

I walked into my Chemistry class early - not the first time this week - and nodded at the teacher, who ticked my name off the register.

The classroom is set up for an experiment; two pairs of safety goggles on each table, gloves, lab coats, and equipment that looked a bit dangerous.

"There may be a few small explosions here and there today," the teacher explained, seeing my confused look. "But if something goes wrong, it'll be dangerous. I'm hoping nothing will go wrong."

I settled down in my seat, and as soon as the bell rung, students filed in. Lincoln was one of the last few people to arrive and he plopped himself down next to me. "Hey."

"Hi."

"Experiment today, huh?" he picked up the gloves. "This is serious stuff."

"Yeah, apparently it might be dangerous," I told him. "Hence all the safety equipment."

"Alright, class, listen up," the teacher clapped his hands to get out attention. "The practical that we're doing today will be slightly dangerous, but I'm sure you can handle it. Girls, please tie up your hair and tuck it into your lab coat to avoid it burning."

I scrape my hair into a messy braid, tucking it into my lab coat, like he said. "Okay, this seems kinda intense."

"Please, please, be aware of what you're doing and people around you," the teacher said sternly. "I've had accidents with this experiment before, and they're not nice."