Into An Idiot

16. Home Again

Michael follows me lazily into my house, and flops down on my bed when I get to my room.
"Tired?" I chuckle, sitting next to him, running my hand over his back.
"Mhm." He moans, closing his eyes.
"Sleep then. You need it." I get up and start making my way to the door.
"No, stay." He whines.
I sigh and lay down next to him.
"That's better." He yawns, stretching his arms over my shoulders, cuddling himself onto me, so that his forehead is on my cheek.
"You okay?" I ask him.
"I missed you a lot." He whispers. "And I missed everyone and I don't want to go back to school."
"When are you going back?" I ask.
"Now until the end of the semester. Then I'm dropping out."
"Your mum agreed to letting you drop out?"
"No, but I'm planning on telling her-"
"You didn't even tell her yet?"
"No, but-"
"Jesus Christ, Michael. When are you going to ask?"
"I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?"
"I don't know, I'm... I just..."
I hug him back.
"You're going to be fine."
"But I'm scared." He says quietly.
"Why?"
"I don't even know if she'll let me try to ask if I can drop out."
"Just ask."
"I'm can't, I'm too nervous."
"Why?"
"She's going to ask me why I want to."
"Tell her then."
"I can't. I don't even want to tell you."
"Michael, what are you bloody talking about?"
"I want to drop out because I hate school. I hate everything about it. Everyone hates me. I don't know what I did but I know everyone thinks I'm cat piss or they call me a dill. And I can't just chuck a sickie because everyone knows I'm faking because they all hate me and think I'm some retard and my teachers say I'm 'incapable of participating in classwork' and I'm mentally disabled and once I ran out of class because everyone was laughing at me and it hurt, like I was crying. And when I came back the professor called me emotionally unstable."
I hug Michael tightly. "I'm sorry."
"I'm fine though, Soph. I'm okay. I'll be fine." His voice cracks.
"Michael, you need sleep. You're getting a bit emotional."
"So what?" He snaps. I stretch my arm around him to pull myself closer so I can play with his hair. "I hate my life." He says, his voice hoarse, barely a whisper.
"Don't say that."
He sighs. I can hear his heart beating, feel every breath, his cheek on mine, sleeping together again for the first time in what seemed like forever.
"I missed you." I whisper, but he's already asleep.
Ashton doesn't even bother checking on us.
I wake up about an hour and a half later, untangling myself from Michael's arms and pulling a blanket over him.
When I open the door to leave, he opens his eyes.
"Soph, cuddle." He yawns.
I smile and walk over to the side of the bed, pushing the hair out of his eyes.
"Sleep." I say. "You need it."
Michael doesn't protest, so I pull another blanket onto him and give him a reassuring hug.
"No goodnight kiss?" He whines when I'm at the door once again.
I think about it for a while. "Alright."
It's too tempting for me to say no. Mikey looks so cute and cuddly and tired, like a little kitten, and I'm really starting like him in that sort of way. It kind of scares me, but I do what he says, giving him a kiss on the cheek before heading to the kitchen to catch up with Ashton.