The Story of Us

20 - Shiro

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back! It took me a while to update, so we're getting some Shiro lovin' since we haven't been in his POV for a lil while. I hope everyone had a good New Year! I also noticed that I haven't been putting the songs in each chapter like I normally do, so tell me: would you rather me put just a sad song at the beginning of each chapter, or have a song that applies to what's in the chapter but not on each one? Let me know because I'm 100% torn. Anywho, on with the story!!  

"So I'm not returning to school?" 

I'm sitting with Sophie and Greg in the living room, discussing my transition from the hospital. They have papers from my therapist sitting on the coffee table between my chair and the sofa they're sitting on. 

"No, you are, but only for about a week and a half. Then you're going to a post-hospitalization program and being homeschooled for a little bit. After you've gone through sufficient treatment, we're gonna see if you're ready to return to school physically. You already missed a lot of the quarter, but it's only the first semester," Sophie says. 

I nod slowly. "So...what happens if I spend the rest of the school year in treatment? Will I not graduate?" 

Greg shakes his head. "Since you'll be homeschooled, you're still going to get your classwork done. So, yeah, you're gonna graduate," 

"And, Shiro, sweetie, you're not going to be in treatment the whole year. You have over half of it left! You only missed...three weeks. That's less than you'd miss if you had mono, or whatever," Sophie adds with a supportive smile. 

"That's a lot of school! God, I'm probably failing everything and they're not gonna give me enough time to finish it and then I'm not gonna graduate because I saved my stupid music class that I have to take for this year and-" 

"Sweetie," Sophie says softly, placing a gentle hand on my knee, "You're going to be fine," 

"But...what if I fail everything?" I ask. I'm sure I sound pathetic. 

"What if you don't?" Greg says. 

I sigh and shrug. "So, come Monday - which is tomorrow - I'm going back to school?" 

They share a glance and nod. "I know it's not ideal, but you're gonna be able to make it. Adam said he can drive you there so you don't have to take the bus, and he'll pick you up to. Doesn't that sound nice?" Sophie says perkily. 

Ah, the ever-famous 'doesn't that sound nice' quote, straight from every cliche supportive mother's mouth. 

"Sounds great," I sigh. 

With that, I walk up the stairs to my bedroom. Adam is inside, vigorously taking down notes from a YouTube video. He looks up when I walk in. 

"I take it you're going back t school tomorrow?" He asks kindly, pausing the video and turning his full attention towards me. 

I nod, already feeling the stress making my heart pang. "Yeah," I croak out. As much as I'm trying to to let this bother me, it's really putting me on edge. 

Adam sets his notebook aside and walks over to me, sitting me down on the bed. "You can make it through a week and a half, you know. You already made it through twelve years, including kindergarten," 

"I guess," I mumble. I take my hands from my lap and run them through my hair, a telltale sign of stress. 

"Hey." Adam pulls my hands and holds them his his (slightly smaller) hands. "You're gonna be okay. And if you aren't, I can pick you up and we can talk about it, okay? I-look at me,"