Welcome to the City of Lancaster

Chapter Fourteen

 I guess the party that Tommy hosted wasn't a complete and total waste of time. Calum heated up leftover pizza for us to eat whilst we talked, we didn't dive into what happened at the party but just talked about what kind of missions that they've been on. Some missions sounded terrifying while some sounded like it was a breeze.
"Now Sam and I have an enemy who tends to turn up every now and then to mess with us," Calum rolls his eyes. "Henry is his name and is a complete and total nut job."
I laughed at some of the stories he told, I couldn't pick a favourite.
Lynette snuck in around one o'clock, Calum ignored her but she gave me the thumbs up before going to her bedroom, why she was giving me the thumbs up? I had no idea.
When it was almost three in the morning Calum suggested that I stay the night on the lounge, I agreed with no hesitation as it was a struggle keeping my eyes open. Plus, it would be nice not to collapse on my way to the apartment due to the lack of sleep, would be awkward waking up in the normal, and is known as the weird new kid. Calum brought some blankets out and gave it to me. "Good night," I heard him say under his breath.
I smiled. "I heard you, goodnight."
He chuckles turning off the light, the lounge was quite comfortable and it was easy to fall into a dreamless sleep.
When the sun came up what felt like an hour later, I woke up and decided that instead of sleeping in or waiting for anyone else to wake up, that I overstayed my welcome, I folded the blankets and left a note on a bit of paper that was lying around.

Thanks for a fun night, see you guys sometime today

And left without a word, it was almost six-thirty in the morning and decided to go back to the apartment and shower getting rid of any traces from the party. Thinking back to the conversations I had with Calum, I don't know what it was about him that made my heart flutter and weird feelings stirring around in my stomach.

I really liked him, every inch of my body felt numb and full of excitement just thinking about him but those kinds of feelings I had to push into a cage and throw away the damn key. If I won't allow myself to fully invest in this group of people then there was no way I was going to do the same thing in a relationship. Besides, Calum was a strange one as well. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to date and from what I gather, he doesn't overly like anyone's company besides Sam's.
But what about last night? My mind popped up a question.
I thought about it before coming to the conclusion that maybe Sam sees me as a friend or something and Calum is just sussing me out as well. I laughed, yeah right.
I turned off the hot water and dried myself off before walking back into the room and changing into clean clothes. I quickly combed my hair, brushed my teeth, and decided to go speak to the headmaster, I wanted to know how Mr. Nickel's progress was going and hopefully, I would get a good answer.

"You're a good friend Abby," Audrey whispers.

Audrey's words shocked me, I almost fell over when the memories from last night appeared in my mind so suddenly.
How little she had known me and already considered me as her friend, she didn't look like the type to trust someone new and she was drunk... but regardless, I couldn't afford to make any friends or find a boyfriend.
I needed to go home.
I checked my appearance once more, the weather was starting to get a little chilly so I added a cute blue cardigan and left the apartment. I marched across the campus, it was a ghost school, no one was in sight and honestly, it was a little frightening.
I arrived at the main building and walked upstairs not stopping until I reached the headmaster's office, I knocked twice waiting for him to say, 'enter' and then entering. The headmaster, like last time, was sitting in the chair writing down on some papers, he glanced up and smile spreads across his face.
"Ah, Miss Johnson, how lovely to see you," he motions for me to sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"Morning headmaster," I replied sitting down.
"What do I owe the pleasure of your company so early in the morning?" he questions.
"I came to see Mr. Nickel's progress," I tell him. "How long until I am able to go home?"
The headmaster makes a sad face. "Unfortunately there isn't much progress, he is needing to go through all his notes to see what went right and what went wrong so he can avoid making mistakes. Especially if we are sending someone back and not bringing them here accidentally, the last thing we need it another poor person falling into our world."
I sighed, my shoulders sagged in disappointment.
"Cheer up child, you are given an amazing opportunity to explore a new world. Learn new things and give this place a chance before you return home."
"I guess..."
"Tell me how your first week was," he sits back watching me carefully.
"It was okay, it was pretty cool seeing people's abilities even though I still need to pinch myself to really believe what I am seeing."
He laughs.
"And what about defense class?"
I cringed. He is the headmaster, the teachers would've told him what happened the first day so there was no point in lying.
"I froze in defense class so now I am not really participating as much," I tell him.
"And why is that?"
I shrugged. "I wish I can say but it's a little hard opening up," I couldn't meet the headmaster's eyes. I wonder what he was thinking so I tried choosing my words better. "It is really hard to explain but basically I have a hard time trusting people with my problems even my friends." Thinking of Kaiden felt like a stab in the chest.
He nodded slowly taking in each of my words in carefully.
"And how are the counseling sessions going?"
"The first session... I said somethings that I wish I didn't but it just blurted out."
The headmaster sighs and leans forward. "Abigail, it is my job to take care of each and every one of my students and staff. That includes you whether you are from this world or not. I cannot force you to tell me anything but my advice would be to tell someone as the more you keep it bottled up, the more it makes an impact on your health."
I fidgeted with my fingers, if the words that needed to be spoken were not going to come out any time soon, there was something else that weighed on my mind.
"Audrey said that I was a good friend to her but headmaster... I've screwed up," he frowns, confused at my words, and just like that I began to cry. "I can't be anyone's friend here," I cried feeling my chest tightening with every word. "Leaving this place will be a lot harder and it won't just affect me but anyone I get close with... It hurts just thinking about it and-" I had to stop talking, I was already a mess with the crying and the snot but the headmaster did not seem to mind, he pushed a box of tissues towards me, I took one and blew my nose. The headmaster waited patiently as I collected myself before resuming what I was saying before I started crying.
"The more and more I stay here, the more I don't want to leave this place," I admitted. "I miss my best friend back home though. Kaiden, I don't know what he is probably thinking right now."
The haunting thought of him thinking Shawn had killed me was a painful one, I grabbed another tissue and sobbed into it.
"You don't miss your family?" the headmaster asks.
I sniffed. "What?"
"Don't you miss your family?" He asks softly.
"What do you want me to say about them?"
"Your parents would be missing you," the headmaster tells me gently.
I bit my lip. "I hate to tell you this but my parents are dead."
That wasn't what the headmaster was expecting, he seemed so calm and collected with a hint of concern but he slipped up, his mouth dropped in shock.
"Oh. Oh, I am so sorry Abigail," he sounded so genuine, I bit my lip from sobbing again. I don't even remember them at all.
"I apologise for assuming."
"It's okay," I tell him. "I'd rather not talk about my family matters." Or even think of what the outcome would have been concerning my aunt who I left behind. I wiped my eyes with the tissue and bunched it up into a ball.
"I wish I never came here," it was painful to say those words, there was two meanings behind it, half-true but also half a lie.
"I cannot pretend to understand how this is affecting you as I have never in all my years have been put into the position you are currently in. But know this, you have been given an amazing opportunity to explore this new world and see new things that you are not used to seeing in your everyday life."
He was trying to make me see the positive in a terrible situation so I gave him a small smile.
"It hurts me," I pointed to my chest. "It really hurts knowing that one day I'll be leaving behind a group of amazing people that I took the time to know and I'm scared that when the time comes, it's going to hurt me so much." I take a deep. "And the thought of never coming back..."
The headmaster reaches out to place his hand on my shoulder.
"I have a council meeting with the king and queen in an hour, this is one of the concerns that we will be speaking about. I will bring this issue up and see to it that once the portal is up and running that you will be able to return here."
My ears perked up. "Seriously?"
"I cannot make you promises but I will try but only if you try."
I pursed my lips. "How long do council meetings go for?"
"Depending on if the concerns are solved, why?"
"How about I avoid the group until you are finished and we talk about it when you return."
The headmaster hesitated. "Abigail, I don't think-" I cut him off.
"With all due respect headmaster but I have been hurt enough by someone previously and the last thing I need is being hurt even more than I already have. Please."
He hesitates again and looked down at me like he was searching for something within my face but whatever it was, he found it because he smiled gently. "Okay, Abigail."
"Thank you."