Chapter 10: Eight

Liam slams his car door and begins walking to the school. The air is crisper this morning and it feels fresh in his lungs when he breathes it in.

Mondays are terrible. School is terrible. Yet, Liam still isn't the most unhappy because it beats being home.

Dealing with the looks of disappointment and even a bit of resentment from his mother all Sunday was not fun. Dinner that night was silent. The awkwardness just made the guilt worse.

"Good morning, Will." A boy walks up and smiles at him. He faintly recognizes him.

"Good morning." Liam replies and it only slightly sounds cold.

"How are you?" The boy asks. He's got a big smile.

"I'm fine." Liam then clears his throat, trying to get rid of the hostile tone. "You?"

"Splendid." He grins. "I saw your dad yesterday."

Liam raises his eyebrows. "Did you?"

"Yes. He was having a meeting with my dad and I came along."

"Oh." Liam doesn't want to be having this conversation anymore.

"Yeah." Raymond, Liam thinks that's his name, nods. "A shame you weren't there. We could've talked a little after."

Liam hums. "Shame."

"Well, I'll see you around. I just thought I'd come say hi." He smiles again, good-naturedly. Liam watches him walk away. The guilt stirred in his stomach.

He walks in to the building and goes towards his locker at a fast pace. Not fast enough that it'd be weird but fast enough that no one else will try to talk to him.

He goes to his locker and scowls at the metal that didn't do anything to him. He's mad. At who or what he doesn't know. All he knows is he's mad and frustrated.

"Li?"

He looks over and Paige is standing there. Her voice is tender just like her expression is. Ember is next to her and they're both clearly worried.

Liam lets out a sigh. He isn't happy. He's rarely ever fully happy. However, he's grateful for these two.

"Hey. Good morning." Liam answers.

"Doesn't seem like yours has been very good." Ember says and Paige just weakly nods.

He turns back to his locker and begins to open it. "Yeah, well, Saturday night sucked and Sunday wasn't much better."

"Oh." Ember nods dully. Paige looks sad for him. They both look sad for him.

A new type of guilt pangs him for a moment. "Sorry. How are you two?"

"Fine." Paige nods simply.

"Swell." Ember smiles brightly. Liam gives her a small smile back as most of the guilt leaves. At his smile, Paige smiles.

"Good weekend?" Liam asks and raises his eyebrows. He takes his laptop out of the back and hangs it in his locker.

"Yep. Izzy ended up staying the night."

"Oh?" Paige looks over now, suddenly very interested.

"Yeah." Ember smiles. "We watched movies and cuddled like all night."

"Good for you." Liam says quickly, his voice teasing. He's smiling a bit bigger now.

A slow blush rises to Ember's cheeks. "You know?"

"That you're like, madly in love with her?" Liam asks. "You told me, remember?"

"Oh." Ember looks like she's processing. "But everyone usually just thinks I'm joking anyway."

"You look at her like she's the most beautiful person on the planet. It's hard to think you're joking when there's that."

"Well can you blame me? She is!" Ember exclaims. "And oh my lordie she's so cute!"

They dive into a conversation about Ember's crush. She goes on and on. Liam and Paige both stand by her with small smiles as they listen.

Eventually though, Paige has to ruin the moment. "As cute as this is. We need to get our stuff and head to class before the bell rings."

Ember sighs. "I know. It's just so cool to talk about her to people that actually know."

"Ian knows. Don't you talk to him?" Paige raises her eyebrows. Liam does too but for different reasons. Ian knows?

"No. Ian says I'm gross and pushes me to tell her and just won't sit and listen. Not like you guys."

Liam smiles. Sitting and listening is one of his talents. Paige smiles too.

"Alright well, let's go." Ember says, sighing dramatically and spinning around. "Until next time friends."

And then she's walking away. Paige laughs quietly before turning to look at Liam and walking away herself. "Bye."

Liam waves a little and then goes to class himself. The class in which he hates. He decides though that it's still better than dinners with his parents so maybe hate is a strong word.

No, nevermind. He hates it.

He sits in the desk and lays his head down. He's tired. He's always tired but today he's especially tired.

The weekend was very draining. His parents are draining. He wants to sleep forever.

He can't sleep forever though. Someone or something always wakes him up. He could honestly probably have a fair shot at it if no one woke him up.

The bell rings and he sits up, coming out of his half asleep trance. It isn't perfect though because his brain is still foggy. Learning with a foggy brain is quite difficult.

So of course, he doesn't learn anything first hour.

Seeing Paige afterwards seems to clear up the brain fog. He talks to her on the way and feels a little better about himself. Class is spent talking quietly in hushed whispers.

He seems okay up until the teacher starts talking in third hour. Then the brain fog comes back full swing and stays for fourth hour as well. Liam thinks sometimes that it will never leave permanently.

He's gotten quite used to it though so if it doesn't that won't be all bad.

After what seems like more than four hours, the lunch bell finally rings. Liam stands from his seat with a small smile, relieved to have a break from trying to learn with a distracted mind.

He walks down the hall and towards his locker. After stuffing all his stuff in his locker he shuts it with a small sigh. Before he can feel any worse though his friends are at his side.

"Hey." Ember smiles at him widely.

"Hi." Liam says back.

The three of them fall into step together and begin to walk to the cafeteria. Ember is in a very bubbly mood today and it shows since she skips while she walks.

"So... we're gonna be hanging out at my house more now right?" Ember looks over at Liam. Paige looks at him too.

"Um..." Liam thinks about it. He did have a lot of fun. "Yeah. Sure."

Ember smiles widely. "Good."

Paige smiles a little too. They all smile while walking into the cafeteria and going to the line.

"Paige, did you know snails and slugs are two different creatures?" Ember starts as she gets her tray and loads it up with food.

Liam groans. "Are you still on that?"

"Yes!" Ember exclaims. "I can't believe it!"

Paige chuckles. "Yes, Em, I did know that."

"You knew?!" Ember looks over like she can't believe it. "Am I the only one that didn't know?"

"Probably." Liam says.

"Don't worry about it." Paige shrugs.

"Worry about it." Liam counters. "You're stupid."

"You're rude." Ember glares at him. The three of them begin to walk to a table together.

"Better than being dumb."

"I'm not dumb." Ember huffs.

At that time they're interrupted. A boy approaches their table with a smile. He's in their grade and slightly familiar.

"Hey." He greets with a small smile. Liam racks his brain for the boy's name.

Zander raves.

"I just came over here to ask Paige if we could exchange numbers." He says simply. "The bell rang before we really got to discuss the details of you tutoring me."

"Oh, right." Paige nods. "Sure we can."

His smile is wide as he pulls out his phone and unlocks it. "Cool."

Paige takes it when he holds it out to him and starts to add her contact information. "We can talk about days and times later if you'll text me after school. We can also discuss the price but I hope you know my time does cost some so if you're hoping to get away scotch free you've got the wrong person."

Zander nods. "I'll pay. As long as you can get my math grade up I won't conplain."

Paige hands the phone back. "Okay, I'm in there."

He grins. "Thanks. I'll text you after school."

"Alright." She nods. He sends her a wink before spinning around and walking away.

"He's cute." Ember deadpans as he walks away.

Paige rolls her eyes. "I guess."

"He seems nice." Liam nudges her side a little.

Paige looks between the two of them like she's trying to tell if they're being serious. When she concludes they are she shakes her head. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend. I'm just going to help him with math and get some money out of it."

"But you already work a lot. When will you even have time?" Ember looks over, seemingly a little concerned.

"I have off days. I only work three or four days a week."

"Yeah but Sundays are reserved so you can spend time with your mom and you still make time to hang out at mine. If you take on tutoring will you have any time for yourself?" Now Liam was concerned as well.

"Spending time at yours is my time Em. It beats sitting alone in my house." Paige says and shrugs her shoulders. "I'll be fine."

Ember sighs a little. "If you say so."

"I do." Paige takes a bite of her sandwich. "And remember, I'm the genuis here so you should listen to me."

Ember rolls her eyes but not another word is spoken about it. After a few seconds of silence Ember spoke up again. "So, we're having a movie night this Friday night. You guys should come. I don't want to be stuck with Ian and Chris the whole time."

"Is Chris going to be the only one there?" Paige looks over confused.

"Oh no. Ian invited Javi and Lucas as well. I'm also going to invite Izzy, but Ian said I should invite you two as well. I don't think he wants to third wheel."

"No one wants to thirdwheel." Paige points out and Ember waves her off.

"Wait if we come won't that be eight kids? All in your house at the same time? Your parents are okay with that?" Liam looks over in surprise.

"Yeah." Ember shrugs. "As long as we all camp out in the living room and don't disturb them they don't care."

Liam nods a little. "Um well then I guess I can come."

"Okay." Ember smiles. "Bring clothes so you can sleep over. I mean, if you want to sleep over."

"That's fine, I'll bring clothes." Liam assures. She smiles again.

"Okay, cool." Ember nods and then looks at Paige. Liam looks at Paige too.

Normally he would be really hoping she comes so he won't feel out of place. Although after swimming with them he felt a little more comfortable with Ian at least. So, he felt confident that he would be okay.

"I'll go." Paige nods. "I don't have work Friday. I will have to leave Saturday morning though. I've got work from nine til four."

"Okay, that works. My mom will probably give you a ride."

"Okay." Paige smiles a little.

"Alright." Ember agrees. "Now, Liam, I need your wisdom."

Liam groans. "Great. What is it now?"

"Is Antartica a country or a state?"

Liam blinks at her. "How- how do you even come up with these questions? Where do they come from? Why can't you just Google it?"

Ember smiles. "That's not as fun."

Liam sighs and rolls his eyes. "You're weird."

Lunch went on with their simple conversations. It was nice and definitely the break Liam needed. His brain wasn't foggy when he talked with his best friends.

There also wasn't a tense state to his shoulders or a knot in his throat. No, when he talks with his friends everything seems like it's going to be okay.

But of course it isn't.

The bell rings and they're dragged back into reality. He has to go back to class where the tense shoulder, knot in his throat, and foggy brain all come back.

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Short chapter, sorry.

Love you ♡

- Z