Chapter 6: Four

It's Friday, two days after Liam had went to Ember's. His parents haven't brought the situation up since. Of course that didn't mean anything. Knowing them they could bring it up a year from now acting like it was the day before.

Paige, Ember and him were all sitting outside for lunch today. Liam wasn't feeling well. The thought of food made him feel more sick than normal for some reason. Paige must've sensed this because she asked if they wanted to ditch lunch today and sit outside. They all agreed. So, here they are, sitting in the grass out by the back of the school.

Paige was plucking grass up and throwing it lightly at Ember. Em wasn't phased by this at all. She smiles and starts to speak.

"You guys wanna hang out this weekend? We could go swimming."

"Swimming where?" Liam raised his eyebrows.

"My neighbors have one of those in ground pools" Ember says. "It's really nice."

"You're allowed to bring your friends over there to swim?" Liam couldn't help the question. Sneaking into her neighbors' yard to swim seems like something she would do.

"Yeah. Their son, Javier, is friends with Ian and I. He usually swims with us."

"Oh." Liam nods slowly. "I suppose I could probably get away. Tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Ember smiles brightly and moves her eyes to Paige. "Will you be able to?"

"Uh." Paige looks in thought, her hand pausing its movements on the grass. "I guess. I might not have a ride."

"I can pick you up." Liam says simply. She doesn't have to ask and he doesn't have to think about it. She smiles at him kindly.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Liam says quietly. Ember smiles at both of them.

"So it's agreed? My house tomorrow?"

They both nod. Liam rests back on his hands, his legs stretched out in front of him. "What time should I be there?"

"Any time really works. My parents don't really care when friends come over as long as they don't come super early and are loud."

"Oh okay." Liam nods and turns to Paige. "When should I pick you up?"

Paige shrugs. "Any time I guess. Just text me when you leave your house so I can get ready."

"Alright." Liam nods.

"Cool." Ember smiles. "Ian will be there but I don't know if anyone else will be. Well, Javi probably."

Liam nods. He swallows down his nerves. It would be okay. He remembers what Paige said in the car on Wednesday. This could be good for him.

"As long as they're cool I'll be okay."

Ember smiles. "They'll be cool. Javi is nice and you've already met Ian."

"But if you get bad vibes just let us know and we can go chill in Em's room or something." Paige butts in. Ember quickly nods in agreement.

Liam lets out a small sigh of relief. "Thank you guys, seriously."

"Don't thank us Li. We'd be awful friends if we let you be uncomfortable." Paige states simply.

He smiles at both of them. He wants to thank them again but feels like that would be the wrong thing to say. Especially after Paige just told him not to.

"Do you think Mrs Fritz fails me because she hates me?" Ember asks into the air omce it gets quiet. She lays on her back and looks up at the sky in thought.

Paige gives her a look, being sitting on the grass with her legs crossed under her. "No. I think she fails you because you don't pay attention in class."

Ember hums. "I guess that could make sense. But I don't know bro, she glares at me all the time."

"You ever think she glares at you because you never pay attention in class?" Liam raises his eyebrows at her.

Ember grins widely. "Do you two ever try being not serious for once?"

"Not when it comes to school." Paige says and leans over to flick her friend on the forehead. "Do you ever try being serious for once?"

"That sounds boring." Ember admits. "And plus I have you two to be serious for me."

Liam and Paige exchange a look before Liam rolls his eyes. "You're so stupid sometimes."

"And you're depressed but I don't say anything about that." She says back.

Paige flicks her forehead again. Liam laughs softly and Ember's laughter erupts into the quiet air as well. Paige smiles fondly at the two of them.

"Seriously though, Li, maybe buy yourself a therapist with that endless credit card of yours."

Liam smiles and rolls his eyes again. "And you should buy bigger grades with your daddy's child support money."

Ember laughs quietly. "Touché."

"You two are so mean to each other sometimes." Paige says quietly. Liam looks over and she's smiling softly at them.

"You should try it, Paigie. It's very therapeutic." Ember grins at her.

She raises her eyebrows. "No thanks."

"I'm pretty sure Paige is incapable of being mean." Liam says and the look Paige gives him afterwards says he's right.

Ember laughs. "Of course she is. Can you imagine Paige of all people being mean?"

He couldn't. He tried and it was actually impossible. Being mean just didn't suit her.

The bell rings then. Liam sighs and closes his eyes. Paige stands up first and offers her hand for Liam to take. He does and stands up after her.

Still on the ground, Ember groans. "Do we have to go?"

"If I get lower than a B, I lose my scholarship." Paige points out and Ember sighs.

"Fine." She stands up and leans against Liam's shoulder dramatically. "But I will cry through all of my classes."

"Drama queen." Liam lightly shoves her off. She stands and they all walk back inside.

Liam feels slightly better now. He really needed the short break from people. Sitting in the sun made him feel less sick and breathing in fresh air made taking in oxygen easier.

He walks through the hall and to his locker. Ember disperses from them first and walks to her own locker. She doesn't say goodbye but she does lightly wave.

Paige's eyes look at Liam. She looks slightly worried. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah." Liam sighs a little. "I'm managing."

"Okay." Paige gives him a weak smile.

"You doing okay?" He asks back.

She raises her eyebrows a little but nods. "Yeah."

"Okay." He nods too and then closes his locker.

Paige looks down the hall in the direction where she needs to go. She gives him one last smile before leaving and heading towards her own locker. In her wake, Liam begins to walk to AP Biology.

It takes a painfully long time for the class to be over. He understands what the teacher is saying and it makes sense to him but he doesn't have any motivation to work in that class. He doesn't have any motivation to work in any class. Having no motivation makes time go by extremely slow when in school.

Business law goes by like that too. Very slow and afterwards his brain feels like mush. He has no interest in law. He never has.

Finally it's the last hour of the day. Liam breathes out a silent breath of relief when he steps into hid Wolrd History class. Ember is already in her seat at the back. He walks back and slides into the desk next to her.

She turns to him and furrows her brows a bit. "Is a slug just a snail when it loses its shell? Are slugs just homeless snails?"

"What is wrong with you?" Liam raises hus eyebrows.

"No, I'm serious! That also brings up the question, if a snail loses its shell is it homeless? Or would it be naked? Which does the shell count as? Both? Are slugs both homeless and naked? Poor slugs."

Liam sighs. "Em, snails and slugs are two different creatures."

"What?" Ember's eyes widen in surprise. "How do you know?"

"Just trust me, okay? They're the same species but two different types of said species. Slugs never had shells so they're not homeless or naked."

"Oh." Ember hums quietly. "So then, can snails lose their shells and become naked and homeless?"

"Um." Liam thinks about that question. It's ridiculous and he shouldn't even be joining in on this conversation. Yet, he is anyway. "I'm not sure but I'm pretty sure it's like attached to them so if they lose their shell that's not very good. I don't know if they die or not but I do know them losing their shells isn't good."

Ember nods like she's taking in all this information and retaining it. She might be. Maybe stupid conversations like this is where all her brain storage goes and that's why she sucks in school. It would explain a lot. "You are so very wise Liam."

He chuckles softly. "I'm sure every stupid person thinks that."

Ember looks mock offended for a little bit before laughing. Liam chuckles next to her. As the bell tardy bell rings they smile at each other and Liam knows this class isn't going to be as bad. It never really is.

The teacher assigns their work and passes it back. It's a work sheet going over the chapter they read out of the book the last week. Liam glances at Ember and she's staring at it confused.

He smiles, knowing he's going to have to help her on it. She looks up and finds him already looking at her. She flashes him a smile and points at her paper. He nods, saying he's going to help her silently.

They spend the class quietly passing notes about where to find the answers and sometimes just Liam giving them to her since she claims to give up. Her assignment is halfway through and Liam finishes right as the bell rings. They both start packing their things.

"You want this?" Liam offers the paper and she takes it with a grateful smile.

"What would I do without you?"

"Fail." Liam states simply while standing up. She rolls her eyes but stands up with him.

"Yeah, honestly probably."

They walk down the hall until they reach her locker. She walks over and Liam leaves her in favor of walking to his own locker. When he gets there Paige is already there, her bag on her back.

"Hey." He smiles and opens his locker to grab his bag.

"Hey." She watches as he starts to try and stuff his laptop in his backpack with only one hand since the other is holding it. "Did you finish the assignment in History?"

"Yeah. Em has it."

Paige hums. "I was just wondering because I did but didn't turn it in just in case."

Liam nods. "I'm good. I got it finished. Thank you though."

"Okay." Paige nods back.

Liam throws his bag on his back and shuts his locker. Ember comes walking up to them with her usual smile. "Hello friends, I have returned."

"Oh joy." Liam says sarcastically but he has a small smile on his face.

"Rude." Ember pouts.

"Hey, how was history?" Paige raises her eyebrows, drawing the attention to her. It is an obvious attempt to stop them from bickering before they began. It works.

"Oh horrible." Ember groans dramatically. "I don't understand how you two manage in there."

"All you have to do is read the book. The answers are all there, you just have to fimd them." Liam gives her a pointed look while they start walking towards the exit.

"Exactly." She shakes her head. "So boring. I can't stand reading."

"You're weird." Paige says. "Reading is great."

"Paige, babe, don't ever say that again." Ember deadpans. "It makes you sound nerdy."

"I am nerdy." Paige looks over at her like she's lost her mind. She honestly probably has.

"Oh. True." Ember says like she forgot. "Well, c'mon nerd, we got a bus to catch."

"Okay. See you tomorrow Liam." Paige says calmly as she turns to walk next to Ember. The two of them start walking down the path towards the public street and Ember waves.

"Bye Liam! Don't forget about mine tomorrow!"

"See you. I won't. " Liam waves a little and then turns to walk towards the student parking lot.

He walks down until he reaches the sign with his name in bold, painted letters. It's ugly so he tries not to look at it as he gets in the car. He sighs loudly before starting the car.

Now, time to go home. If you could even really call his house that. It doesn't feel much like a home.

He chooses not to think about that now though. Instead he focuses on the drive. Liam likes to drive. It calms his nerves most of the time.

Unfortunately the drive from the school back to his house isn't very long. So, he's back in his driveway before his nerves have time to settle. He shuts the car off and steps out.

As he walks to the house he focuses on the feeling of the breeze instead of where he's going. The wind blows up the front of his fringe. He can feel it blowing on his skin and cooling his body.

All too soon he's opening his front door. It's always too soon. There's never a good time to open this damn door.

He listens to it loudly shut behind him. He stays quiet after the noise fades, waiting. When he doesn't hear footsteps he continues into the house.

His shoes echo against the floor with each step. As he goes up the stairs he hears a clack from his dress shoes every time he gets closer to the second story. There's still no sound of any other shoes.

He goes down the hall. It's dim because the curtains at the end of the hall are closed. They're always closed. The hall is always dim.

He finds the door to the room that's called his. He opens it and shuts it again quickly behind him. His shoes slip off and he walks over to his closet, eager to change out of the stupid school uniform that he hates so much.

He grabs a red T-shirt and a pair of black joggers. When he changes into the outfit he looks like an average teenager again. With the comfort of that thought he folds his uniform up and sits it on a shelf.

He walks out of his closet and looks around his room. He's bored and just wants something to do. Life is too dull around this house.

He settles for watching a movie so he goes over to his bag. It doesn't take much to find it and he takes it out. With it tucked under his arm he walks over to the bed and sits down.

He sets his laptop up and after finding a movie, leans back. With hooded eyes Liam watches the film but it doesn't do much to ease his boredom. Life feels like its moving extra slow again and he finds himself wishing tomorrow would come faster.

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Slow, filler chapter that was more difficult to write than it should've been.

Anyways, I hope you're enjoying my story so far :).

Love you ♡

- Z