No Pills

Anna's role

Author's note: So what's going to happen from here on ...

Charlie's P.O.V

*

The ambulance comes shortly after, drawing everyone's attention to her being carried away on a stretcher, her eyes shut the entire time. I hope it is nothing serious.

I'm wiping dried blood off Sydney's phone when her car parks upfront. I make a beeline for my room and hide under the sheets, abandoning her phone on the kitchen sink.

I hear doors bang open and close. Her scent wafts into my room a minute later, but she does not enter.

An hour afterward, I find her preparing what feels like a commiserating dinner - spaghetti with sauce. Watching her drain excess boiling water in the sink, her forehead glistening with sweat, I cower by the kitchen's entrance. I should have come out and made dinner as usual.

Her phone rings. She picks it up and prances away from the stove, causing me to deduce that it is the school calling. Based on the 'this-is-ridiculous' look she starts giving our mauve carpet, I reckon they're telling her about the incident.

After she hangs up, I dish out our food in fearful anticipation, but she avoids my gaze. We sit among her planet of dying spider plants in the dining hall before she even spares me a small smile. Silence settles between us, letting our forks do the arguing for us. Hers smacks the plate, and mine impales a shrimp. She gnaws, and I swallow. I swallow until I can not bear it anymore.

"What did they say?"

"Nothing." She slurps her last fork full of spaghetti. Something gets clogged in my throat. I cough and sip her tepid water, then cough again. It's when I stop that her dead blue eyes target mine. She regards me with an irritating level of concentration.

"All that matters is that you are fine. They kept assuring me that they cared for their student's mental health and -"

"Mental health?" My eyes furrow.

"Don't interrupt. It's rude."

I apologise. She gets up to wash her empty plate. Mine, still filled with food, starts to feel cold on my tongue. I have lost my appetite.

"Do they think she...did it to herself?"

"Like I said." She sneers."It's none of our business."

*

On Monday, Sydney drives me to the school.

"If anything happens this time, call me!" She points to her phone, which she has loaned me. I am surprised she's still letting me use it - unless it's because it smells like detergent.

According to the call, the entrance exams have been postponed, so I have to take a new timetable. It's not a bother since I get to attend classes and see what teaching is like in this school. Dropping me off, Sydney comments on the short skirts of some girls.

"Be safe. Focus on your studies and on getting better," she says, sneering them.

I nod, amused that this advice has the exact blueprint as the one she gave Sil on her first audition.

"... Focus on your lines and on getting better..."
Leave it to Sydney to recycle her motivational speeches.

Heading to the admissions office first, I am met with the demure, regal, pin-straight brunette who spoke to Sydney the first time we came here.

"Mr Hunt, right?" She beams. " I'm so glad you came by again. I forgot to mention, but please, you did not fill in some aspects of your application." She flips open my forms to pinpoint what's missing - my medical report. I chew a nail.