All of the Stars

Chapter Four

"HEY, ISAAC? YOU KNOW THAT thing when I tell you stuff and you don't listen but you pretend you do?"

    The room was silent besides the sound of a clogged, muffled sniff and I knew, for the first time in a long time, Isaac had actually been listening.

    "Let's do that, yeah? For not so old time's sake."

☆

Isaac had shown up at the front door of my home at ten in the morning, staring up at the Encouragement that hung on the front door (which I had been forced to hammer on the surface myself) like he always did. When Dad had fully opened the door after his second knock, the only thing different from Isaac's usual visits were his puffy eyes and the abnormally red nose, like he'd been crying for a very, very long time. And when he'd been let in and was offered some Mexican take-out leftover from the night before, Isaac only just declined and sat on his favored corner of the sofa and kept both his eye and the fake eye fixed ahead of him.

    This was a pretty big deal since Isaac never passed on any type of take-out. He liked the idea of bringing fast-food or high quality restaurant cuisine into one's home-something that was common knowledge among Waters. Dad called Mom in panicky hushed tones and then it just began to tumble downhill from there.

    Half an hour later, Mom came through the same, precious door and found Dad anxiously waiting on the kitchen island with his leg bouncing up and down, up and down. They watched Isaac on the stairway for a good five minutes after her arrival, up on the tips of their toes, waiting for any movement besides his chest rising and his eyelids opening and closing.

    My mother always knew what to do, simply because she was Mom. So in the middle of mine and Mr Jameson's quite one(his)-sided debate sixteen minutes before the end of second period, Ms Marks, the small, chunky, overly anxious receptionist at the principal's office who seemed to be constantly frightened appeared through the door and Augustus Waters was needed by the principal instantly immediately urgently.

    And then the notorious English teacher's mouth twitched upward and his expression transformed from its perpetual monstrous state into the rare specie of a smiling Henry Jameson.

    I bent down to retrieve my backpack from its place on the floor and shouldered it while Mr Jameson continued to gloat. "Perhaps Principal Ferguson has been watching your every move, Mr Waters, and he must have great things for you-" he paused as I walked past him and snatched the paperback from its place on the desk. "What do you think you're doing?"

    "Taking my great things, Mr Jameson. Just like you told me to. Now, excuse me, sir, I am instantly immediately urgently needed at the principal's office." I turned the handle on the door and before placing both my feet and the prosthetic out the hall, I gave him one last look, smiled sickeningly sweet and bowed my head, "Have a good day."

    Mr Jameson's smile disappeared into thin air and his shoulder hunched in annoyance. I was practically walking with a bounce to my step for the next thirteen seconds until it dawned over me that I'd just been called by the principal, and I was probably being watched the whole time during English. I was caught.

    Ms Marks' heavy steps echoed throughout the hollow hallway and I could feel my bravery against Mr Jameson starting to fade away. I swallowed. "Do you, uh, do you think it's bad?"

    "Oh!" she jumped, as if she had forgotten I was trailing behind her. "Principal Ferguson isn't actually in campus today, he's currently with the basketball team in Fort Wayne. But I received a call from your mother," she paused and took a breath, and so did I. My shoulders relaxed from its tensed state, and Ms Marks continued on. "And she said she needed you home immediately, an emergency has occurred. And, uh, knowing your health issues...we cannot keep you for long. Your father will be waiting for you in the driveway, Mr Waters. Be safe."