Vanilla & Smoke || A.I.

Haze.

Haze
/heyz/
noun
an aggregation in the atmosphere of very fine, widely dispersed, solid or liquid particles, or both, giving the air an opalescent appearance that subdues colors.

~~~

They were skipping again.

The previous day had been too long, too tired, and too boring. So, they skipped.

Calum's parents both left for work early, his mom leaving around seven for her job as a surgeon, and his dad leaving in the early hours of the mornings to work at for the sewage plant, testing water levels and working to keep the city clean.

Since they were gone so early, Calum took his time to sleep in. When it was clear he wasn't picking her up, Thora walked to his house and using the key under the potted plant outside, let herself in.

Calum woke up hours later and came downstairs to find Thora asleep on his couch. "You're the worst burglar ever," he commented dryly, pushing her aside to sit down, remote in hand.

Thora groaned, fixing her skirt annoyedly. "You only caught me because I let you," she griped. "If I wanted to I could've taken the TV and left without you ever waking up."

"Whatever," he hummed, flipping though the channels boredly. "I'm going to go smoke. You coming?"

Thora gritted her teeth lightly, turning up her nose at just the idea of weed so early in the morning. "Don't smoke every day. You're going to become addicted."

"I'm not addicted," he growled, more quieter and relaxed then the way he'd growled at Michael the night before. "I can stop whenever I want."

"Then stop now. Don't smoke all day."

He groaned, shifting uncomfortably. "I don't want to stop though. I don't need to."

Thora rolled her eyes. "Whatever you need to tell yourself."

"You can stop being such a smart ass. You're not going to make me feel guilty."

"Fine."

"I'm going to go anyways, you can't tell me no."

"I don't care."

But he didn't go, instead staying on the couch and watching the show, his fingers tapping on his thigh impatiently. "I need to do someone with my hands," he grumbled, pausing to run his fingers through his hair, messing it up even more.

Thora had a few ideas, but didn't bother sharing them. He wasn't in the mood.

Just to have something to do, Thora checked her phone irritantly, finding she had a message from Luke.

"Luke says Mr.Irwin is pissed off." she read, boredly. "Something about threatening the class and saying he's going to fail us."

Calum wasn't fazed. "He just loves threatening people, doesn't he."

Kicking her feet out on the coffee table she huffed in annoyance, closing her eyes. "He's not going to actually do it," she said, almost like she was trying to convince herself. "Obviously, he wouldn't."

***********************************

He would.

"I'm aware of the little deal you've made with the other teachers," he was saying, pacing back and forth in frustration, his hand trailing along the whiteboard. "And I've opted to ignore it. If you pass my class, it won't be because I'm too afraid to fail you."

It was the next day, and Thora had gone to the second half of English class. Calum hadn't bothered going at all.

As soon as she entered the class, Mr.Irwin had frozen, his face blank in a way that seemed like a mixture of processing and contempt.

"Miss Faye, stay after class."

She crossed her arms, chewing her gum obnoxiously. "I have other things to do."

"It wasn't a question."

So she stayed after, not because he told her to, but because she wanted to confront him about his threat.

Now he paced angrily, his face a mask of calm to cover his frustration. He ran a hand through his curly hair, before turning in her direction- although a bit too far left. "Tell me, you want to graduate, right? To do that you have to pass? How do you think you're going to pass if you never show up to class?"

"It was one day!" She argued, slowly getting more and more annoyed.

"Every day is just one day," he explained impatiently, lecturing the cabinets to her side. "I don't teach it unless it's worth hearing. Therefore, you need to know everything I taught yesterday and the beginning of class today, but because you chose to skip, you won't know it."

Thora appeared to give up the argument, backing out of the room slowly, trying not to make any noise. Mr.Irwin waited, his glasses slightly lopsided.

"Miss Faye?"

She didn't respond, instead turning and taking quiet steps out of the room, not saying goodbye, not saying anything. Mr.Irwin remained frozen in place, waiting for a response from a girl who had left.