The Next Death

Chapter 5

My counselor looks at me, shocked. Not sure of what to say. He blinks shaking his head. "You want to drop three of your classes? You do realize that doing that could cause you to fall in class rank?" he asks.

I nod. "I do, but frankly, I'm still technically recovering from the accident, I feel like I'm going crazy with all the work I'm doing, and I'm kinda rethinking my life plans."

He looks at me with a considering face, trying to figure out what to say. I wish that I could have been this chill when telling my mom about this whole dropping classes thing.

"Are you sure? If you have any reservations, I would suggest keeping the classes until you're sure. If you go through with this then change your mind later, it may be too late to go back," he warns.

"I know."

"Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"Yep. They are okay with this."

He sighs. "Alright. Which three do you want dropped?"

- - - - -

I drop my three unneeded classes and reconfigure my schedule so that the empty slots all fall at the end of the day, all the while hating myself. Every bit of me that had been aiming for a future after college was screaming at me to change it back, but every practical part of me keeps silently whispering that we passed the point of no return the minute I had accepted the deal.

An hour later, I walk out of my counselor's office with my new schedule in hand, effective as of tomorrow. Now to face Emma and Riley.

I walk into AP Chem and take my seat next to Emma and across from Riley. There's a minute before class starts.

Emma turns to me. "Where were you last period? You missed the review for the gov test on Friday."

"I was with my counselor," I say, pulling out my notebook.

"Why?" Emma presses, her brown eyes boring into me.

"I was rearranging my schedule," I say slowly turning through my notebook, to where I left off.

Now its Riley's turn to ask why. As she does so, she leans across the table.

I quickly glance at her, then at Emma, then back to my notebook. I silently prayed that they would forgive me. "I dropped some classes."

"What?!" they practically yell at the same time.

"Voices," our teacher warns from her desk.

I hold up my hands in defense. "Please don't hate me, but since the accident, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I came to the decision to start with dropping my unneeded classes."

"But, El," Emma implores, "What about our plan?"

I shrink down in my seat, wishing I could vanish.

"El, no!" Emma begs. "We've had this planned for years. Come on girl! It's us versus the world. Remember?"

Riley springs further across the table and catches my hands. "El, you know we're here for you. If you need help to make it, all you have to do is ask. You don't have to give up on the plan."

"What plan?" James asks, taking his seat at our table.

Riley snaps her head towards him. "This doesn't concern you," she snaps icily.

James holds up his hands as if to ward her off. "This is why I didn't want to be in a group with only girls."

The bell rings and Riley looks back to me. "We're continuing this after class," she says sitting back down.