Mindful(l)

Chapter 16: Deceiving Drugs and Devastating Diseases (Side Chapter)

KANNA'S P.O.V.:

I did the usual as I woke up in the morning: got dressed and ready for school, had breakfast and got there in 2 minutes via scooter. Something felt wrong about today, as if something bad was going to happen. And, judging from my situation lately, it was.

Everything started getting suspicious when Marlo got to first period Chemistry ten minutes late. His eyes were glassy and red, like that of a hung-over person. As curious as I was, catching up on Chemistry was the most important thing right now, so I set it aside and let Marlo explain everything we'd done in class (besides the experiment papers he gave me the other night) and how the experiment was due in a week. I noticed that, every now and then, he'd look at his watch, as if waiting for something, his fingers tapping nervously on the table when they weren't busy.

As soon as the bell rang, grabbed hold of his textbook and he turned around.

"Uh, Kanna. That's mine. Yours is... over there." he said, a little confused as to why I had mistaken his book for mine when mine was right next to me and his on the other side.

"Waiting for someone? You look pretty restless, if you ask me. Well, that and your eyes look like they've gone through hell. Why'd you put on your contacts anyway? It only makes it worse." I confronted him.

"Ah. Well, to answer all of that, I didn't have breakfast this morning, so I'm anxious to eat. Also, my glasses broke a few months ago, so I'm stuck with these, and since I fell asleep with them on, my eyes are dry and bloated. Better to see clearly than not to, so whatevs about my eyes, I'll go get some drops from the nurse later."

"Oh, whatever then." I shrugged it off and gave him his textbook. He seemed kind of disappointed in my reply, though he didn't know what to expect either so he probably let it go, judging from his shrug afterwards.

My next class was history and, since one of the teachers was sick, the other AP class (besides mine) had to take it with us, which meant that Marlo'd be there too.

Even though he had explained that his eyes were bloated from wearing his contacts too long, that didn't explain the glassiness in them, which also meant that they weren't as dry as they would be if he had slept with them on. Something fishy was going on, I could sense it.

Meanwhile, as I got lost in thought, the other class started filing in and it took me a while to spot Pretty Boy. But there he was, with a less charming face than before, his hands rubbing his temples as if he had a headache. He sat on the seat next to the door and took out his books, rearranging his composure. Suddenly, I remembered something completely unrelated: Didn't Nancy take this class with Marlo, too? She must be absent, no doubt. As I realized this, my interests grew even more. What the hell was going on that I didn't know about? It must be a heck of a lot more exciting than learning about the Civil War for the third time. So, why couldn't I figure this out faster?!

"Marlo, you're being called to the office. Take the Hall Pass and go." the teacher said, snapping me back to reality. Marlo stood up abruptly and walked out with the pass in hand, nonchalantly. There were murmurs of curiosity from a few of the classmates, myself included.

There were about ten minutes left for the bell to ring, and Marlo finally came back, two small Band-Aids in his left arm, as if he had gotten shots from a needle. Other than that and his eyes, Marlo seemed to have his usual "charming" look back, his face giving the fangirls a fake smile to reassure that he was okay. They swooned and sighed, obviously infatuated with him. I couldn't help but roll my eyes in disgust.

Come lunchtime, I sat with a group of classmates from my other AP classes and caught up on English and Physics, too. Every now and then, I'd catch a glimpse of Pretty Boy's table, though he looked a little lost in thought, only laughing with everyone else and listening to the others in the table, not actually communicating. In addition to that, Marlo didn't seem to have a tray in front of him, which meant that he wasn't eating anything, either. Didn't he specifically say that he was anxious to eat?