Apples Don't Just Mean School [in process of rewriting]

I Still Want To Kill Him

Maybe I'm better off dead/If I was would it finally be enough/To shut out all those voices in my head? ~ Better Off Dead, Sleeping With Sirens

Emily's POV

I went up to Jared the next day, in the office, and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for ditching you last night, it was really rude and insensitive..." He cut me off by waving a hand. "Nah, it's alright, you probably have a reason for doing that and I'm not going to pry further..." I smiled gratefully. "Thanks... Erm, to make up for that... Do you want to go out for lunch later? Bill's on me." Jared smirked. "If you say so." I turned around and speed-walked back to  my seat. He's actually not so bad.

I didn't have time to even sit down, before Gwen grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the corridor. "Where to?" I asked. "Upper East Side... There's been a car crash again!" I groaned. Just as I thought I would have a quiet day. "Lara's coming too, by the way," she added. Lara Sparks was one of my colleagues. She was quiet, but always did a good job; we were lucky to have her, really. "Oh, that's good. Did you forget to bring your laptop again?" Gwen rolled her eyes. "Of course not!"

We leapt into the passenger seats of the van. "Go, go, go, we need to be there before The Wall Street Journal does!" Gwen yelled to the driver. He understood and slammed on the gas. Our photographer, Christopher, tried to untangle himself from the camera stands at the back, while Lara clung on for dear life to the door handle. I checked that my trusty satchel contained my notebook, pens and mini camera, with - of course - my laptop.

Matthew's POV

I slapped on a smile as Arthur, Amelia and Jeremy materialised in the doorway, along with Louis and Diane. Ooh, they're together now! Uhh, no, they aren't. Look at their body language! Meh. They'll get together. "How are you feeling now, Mattie?" Amelia asked. "You know... Same-old, same-old," I replied airily. "You still haven't told us how you ended up here," Jeremy accused. "And that's not important..." I declared. "Oi, mate, it IS important. We have the right to know," Arthur protested. 

I can't tell them or they'll probably do something drastic. Harper, they're your FRIENDS. You got to tell 'em! No, I won't, and I will NEVER. "Yeah, well... Maybe I'll explain some other time," I responded, then changed the subject. "So Steinfield's well and truly cancelled the Teachers' Retreat?" Louis nodded, and added, "He's such an idiot, huh..."I scowled visibly. "Once I'm out of here, I'm going to kill him." Diane gave me a look. "No, you won't. You won't do that, you'd probably just sass him or something," she noted critically. 

"True, but I still want to kill him," I retorted. Grr... Steinfield had better start planning some escape route or something. But not too hard... Louis picked up a carrier cage he had left on the floor. "I brought Tangent with me... Do you want to-" I perked up. "Of course!" He plopped the fluffy, black and white cat on the blankets, and her light amber eyes stared at me in the manner of cats. I stroked her well groomed fur. "Aww, she's adorable," I cooed. "Yeah, that's why I love her," Louis replied, smiling.

Emily's POV

We pulled over at the crash site and I immediately started taking down observations. Blond haired man... Gash on the side of his chest. Motorcycle engine leak... Where's his IC? Oh, he's called 'Jason Kendall'? Twenty-three years old... Not married... I scribbled down short phrases and some stuff that the policeman had said, while Gwen flitted around, recording interviews and snapping pictures. Lara prodded around the stilled body, notebook in hand.

The ambulance roared towards us and paramedics swarmed down, stretcher dragged behind, with multiple cords and apparatuses in their gloved hands. "Make way, quick!" One of them bent down and checked his breathing, another checked his pulse. The third and the fourth carried some obscure medical device over and placed it over his face and chest. I backed off to give them space, all the while jotting down pointers on the blank pages with a pen. 

"Chris! Chris! Quick, grab Camera Four!" Gwen yelled. It was rolling down the hill on its wheeled tripod stand. I lunged forwards and caught it before it could fall into the drain, which would have shattered the precious equipment. "Thanks, Em," he panted. "Have you gotten all of the info? Wall Street's turning up." I turned around, and saw more journalists, sent from various newspapers and magazines, swarming the site. "Yeah, we'd better go." 

Matthew's POV

The cat had cheered me up, of course, but now they were gone, and I was left alone again. Until 9R flooded the room for the second time in three days. "HI MR HARPER!" I smiled, a genuine one this time. "Which one of you little buggers wrote this?" I held up the black card with the poem on it. The chatter in the room died down, and everyone pointed at Elizabetha. "Oh, uhh, that's mine, I left that here, didn't mean to..." 

She came forward and took the paper back, before melting back into the crowd. Well, that's one mystery solved. But what if it wasn't an accident? You're overthinking it, Matthew. Stop fussing. It was not on purpose, forget it. I tried to lighten the tone by asking, "What are you all doing here?" There was a quick, whispered discussion before they replied. "Because we missed you!" I laughed. "Okay, now tell me why you all REALLY came." There was another silent pause. "Uhh..."

I waited expectantly. "We just wanna know when you'll be okay, and if you'll be well enough before Teachers' Day?" Hunter tried. "We need help in biology because our substitute teacher sucks?" Victoria added. "Because you're awesome and without you, biology class is boring?" Jessica declared. I grinned. "Aww, you all are the best..." The class giggled and then deposited M&Ms on my bedside table. CHOCOLATES~ Ooh... You'll get fat. Oh, my God, screw getting fat! I sighed contentedly. Maybe today isn't TOO bad.

A/N: Yay! Chappie is UPPPPP :D