The Hawthorne Effect (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 13: Friday & Saturday.

"Well look who decided to show up!" Is what Charlie and I are greeted by when we (finally) make it down to breakfast.

"Shut up and eat your waffles, Sophie." Charlie jokes back. The group have left him and I seats on opposing sides of the table. I choose to sit next to Anne, and Charlie sits opposite me and next to Sophie – with Miss Parks sitting at the head of the table.

"You feeling any better, Dan?" She asks when I put my tray down. For a second, I forget that I've "been ill" for the past two days, but I'm reminded when Charlie shoots me a look across the table.

"Oh, yeah!" I eventually splutter out. "Much better, thank you."

"And, Charlie, what about you?"

"I'm all good, thanks. I think having a day in bed kept it at bay."

"What were you guys even ill with?" Anne says, suspicion filling her words.

"A cold."

"Stomach pains."

The both of us say our excuses over one other, and I curse us for not remembering to organise a lie to tell the others in a moment like this.

"We uh," Charlie tries to fish us out of the situation, but fails miserably. I can see him start to panic; something I've only learned to indentify because of the London Eye incident.

"He had a stomach pain, I had a cold." I offer, surprising myself at how logical my lie is. It goes down well with the group, because all confusion disperses. Even Anne goes back to eating the rest of her fruit bowl – not before casting us one more suspicious glare, though.

"Thank you." Charlie mouths across the table once he's sure no one is watching. His eyes still have a hint of panic in them, and I can immediately read why.

"They won't find out." I mouth back slowly – making sure he captures what I say precisely.

He shoots me back a look that tells me he's not so sure.

"I promise." I mouth.

"Thankfully the snow seems to have completely melted," Parks starts. "So I think we'll fully be able to enjoy our last day here."

"What we doing, Miss?" Anne asks whilst peeling her orange.

"I thought we could go and see a film in this cinema my wife and I went to on one of our first dates. It's rather large but it's still lovely. And then I'll treat you all to meal as a last hurrah before we have to come back and pack."

"To be fair, I never actually unpacked." Sophie offers.

"We did." Charlie points out, gesturing between us with his slice of toast. He's right. We both made the room our own little home pretty quickly. It's going to be hard to leave behind the haven him and I have built over these past few days, but at least I know this thing we've got going on won't end once we're home. If anything, I'm sort of excited to go. Not only because it means him and I can start a new chapter, but it also means that I can escape from the constant stress of having him around me 24/7.

Plus, I miss my dog, so.

"Whilst we're on the subject of going home," Miss says after taking a sip of her tea. "Tomorrow, can we all meet in the reception area at 8:30? You'll probably have to grab breakfast when you can tomorrow morning; I suggest packing first, bringing your cases down and having breakfast here before we leave. But it's up to you, really. I'm aiming to have us back at school for 12:30 so I can go home and enjoy my weekend."

"Sounds good." Sophie chimes in.

//

"Babe, sweet or salted?"