The Way We Get By

25 // Angel

Fucking Madelyn. That damn girl got me addicted to Grey's Anatomy.

She was right about it being a shitty soap opera, but it's a damn good one. I mean, who doesn't love a bunch of doctors saving lives while also fucking each other in the on-call rooms. A brilliant dramatic mix, if you ask me.

"Really, Angel?"

I glance behind me to see Madelyn sitting down in the desk behind me.

It's group work time in English, although I'm not bothering to do the assignment or to try and find a group to work with that isn't judging me for beating up Sean. Everyone seems to have an opinion on it, and while a few people are showing sympathy for me, the majority aren't.

They're not exactly bullying me or making me miserable, but it's more of a silent treatment. If I'm being honest, it truly doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Now that things are going better at home, I can relax and depend on my family for support. At least they understand what I was going through and why I did what I did. That's all that matters at the moment.

"You're really watching Grey's Anatomy in class?" Madelyn glares with an unimpressed eyebrow raised.

"Like you don't do it," I bite back as I pause the episode and take out my headphones.

"I don't do it when I'm supposed to be working on an assignment."

"Why don't you go back to your seat, okay? I don't feel like doing my work."

Madelyn glances between me and her empty desk in the back of the room before letting out a sigh.

"Why don't you work with me? You've been acting lonely all week. It's pretty sad."

I glimpse over at the clock on the wall and roll my eyes.

"You do realize that there's, like, three minutes left in the school day, right?"

Madelyn follows my gaze to the clock and shrugs.

"Then that's three minutes you can use to stop watching Grey's and get your work done."

I contemplate telling her to shut the fuck up, but I decide instead to take the high road. I groan and yank my headphones out of my phone. Truthfully, I don't want to do anything but go home and sleep, but I know that Madelyn won't give up until I comply with her. She doesn't take anyone's shit, which makes her annoying and badass at the same time.

"Fine. But only so you'll shut the fuck up."

"Okay, question one." She lifts up her paper as I roll up my headphones up and shove them in my pocket. "What is the tone and subject of the poem?"

I pick up my paper and sigh as the boring English terms start to float through my brain. Even though I'm supposed to be thinking about the questions and trying to give sufficient answers, I don't know if I'll be able to.

Today's a Friday and school's out in about two minutes. This week has been rough, to say the least, with Sean and I both back in school and Eliza and him officially starting to date. My mind's been anywhere but school, and on top of everything, Alex is finally coming home on Sunday.

That is, as long as he can keep up the good record that he's had since we visited him on Monday. He seemed in high spirits, though, and I hope he's still acting good at the group home so that John will let him come home.

"Angel." Madelyn whistles and waves her hand in my face to grab my attention.

I snap my eyes up to look at her and raise an eyebrow.