dancing queen (beck oliver)

8. indigo ophelia's day off (pt 1)

indie woke up with one thing on her mind, and it wasn't the desire to go to school. with no parents in the house, it was a miracle she didn't skip more often, but today was a unique situation. finn was home, and he was determined to make sure she didn't skip any more school.

why, you may ask? because when their parents found out from finn's college that he was close to flunking out, finn threw indie under the bus for skipping a couple days of school. his parents (whose number the school didn't have) gave him a stern talking-to about how indie was his responsibility, and he appeared to be taking it to heart.

but luckily, indie woke up with a plan that morning. her alarm went off like normal, but she let it ring, staying in bed, hoping finn would hear it.

sure enough, he came into her room after about a minute. "indie?" he asked.

indie looked up at him weakly. "finn?"

"are you okay?!" asked finn, beginning to panic.

"i'm okay," she croaked out. "my stomach just hurts, and i'm seeing spots."

finn pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. "you don't have a fever."

indie weakly reached up and grabbed his arm. 

"your hands are cold and clammy," said finn in horror. 

"i'm fine. i can get up," said indie, sitting up.

"no!" said finn quickly, pushing her back down. 

"i have a test today," said indie, trying again.

"no!" finn pushed her down again.

"i have to take it. i wanna go to a good college and have a fruitful life."

"indie, you can't go to school," said finn. 

"fine," said indie. "i'll just sleep. maybe i'll have an aspirin around noon."

"okay," said finn, tucking the blankets around her. "i have a big exam today, so i'll be at campus. if you need me, call."

"it's nice to know that i have such a loving, caring brother," indie said hoarsely. "you're a very special person."

finn kissed her on the forehead. "aww. i'll be home at six sharp, okay? if you need anything, call."

"ringy-dingy," said indie faintly, giggling.

finn smiled and walked out. "love you!" he called back.

"love you too," responded indie. 

the second she heard the door to the house close and saw finns's range rover pull out, she shot up.

he bought it.

she turned on some music and got ready to go shower, tying her silk bathrobe around her waist.

incredible. one of the worst performances of my career, and he never doubted it for a second.

she opened up the blinds to reveal perfectly sunny skies and a slight breeze.

how could i possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?

she set up her imac to play a snoring sound in case finn came back to check on her in between classes. it took some tweaking, but she got it. 

this is my ninth sick day this semester. it's getting tough coming up with new illnesses. if i go for ten, i'm probably gonna have to barf up a lung. so i better make this one count.

she set about making a mannequin that was rigged to the door to resemble her if finn opened the door to check. he would hear the snoring and see the mannequin, and all would be well.