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by the time we arrived to dinner, there was hardly a crowd. most students had already eaten their dinner by now and were more than likely in bed. not asleep, just in bed. before we left the dormitories, we called out for james, who came running down the stairs, tripping on the last step and falling on his face, causing bursts of laughter from everyone in the room. yet that twat still acted like nothing happened. he got up, brushed himself off, and said, "alright, come on you two!"
there were less options than usual to eat at dinner. tonight there was as a choice of shepherds pie or chicken pot pie, pumpkin juice or water, rolls or cornbread, and either apple strudel or pumpkin pie. of course, i filled my plate up with as much food as i was able to, and so did james. ivory got a small scoop of pot pie and a slice of strudel.
when we were about halfway finished with our dinner, i noticed that she hadn't eaten a single bite of hers. so i spoke up.
"ivory i haven't seen you eat since this morning. you need to eat."
in return, she said, very weakly, "i don't have a very big appetite, you guys."
then james joined in. "ivory, could you just... could you please just take a bite of pot pie?"
"i'm not hungry, james,"she said a little bit louder.
"for me," james whispered, looking her dead in the eyes.
she shook her head. james's game obviously didn't work. it wasn't until ivory cleared her throat that i realized i had been glaring at him.
"i'm fine, you guys. just a little... beaten up, you could say," she said with a chuckle. then i realized that the situation was a lot more severe than we thought. i reached for her hand and she flinched. clearing her throat once again, she spoke up, "um i'll talk to you guys later, okay?" and she got up and left, just like that.
something was definitely wrong.
i got up out of my seat and followed her out. she practically disappeared out of nowhere. that girl had some legs.
after a while i gave up on trying to find her and just decided to go back to the dorms. sure enough, she was just ahead of me, as i saw her in the common room heading up to her room. i reached out and grabbed her arm. she shrieked and lunged forward, her arm being released from my grasp.
"i— sorry, ives, i didn't mean to startle you," i assured her. i felt bad for scaring her.
"please just leave me alone," she mumbled.
"ivory, i need you to talk to me. you don't talk to me for three months and suddenly, out of nowhere, you reach out to apologize? you can't just decide when you want to be in my life. you're either in it or out of it. stop fucking with me."
"i came and apologized to you because i thought i was ready to be around people again. obviously i'm not, so if you'll please just g—"
"what the hell does that even mean? you aren't ready to be with people? i need you to tell me what the hell is going on, because i can't keep going on like this. figure out what's going on and fix it because i'm sick of being a chess piece in your games." and with that, i went up the stairs, straight to my dorm.
she was acting strange, we all knew it, but no one spoke of it that night. i got out of the shower, wrapped my towel around my waist, and walked back to the bedroom.
"oi, james!" i called out.
"hey mate, what's up?" he said from the window.
"what do you think is going on with ivory?"
"i'm not sure, siri. she's probably just having a bad day."
"yeah," i mumbled. he was right. it was probably just an odd day for her. it happens to everyone. besides, she'd come to him if something was wrong... right?
"don't stress it, mate. just go to bed."
"yeah. yeah, alright," and with that, everyone shut their lights off and went to bed.
