Chapter 8

The morning started with Elijah knocking on doors, his voice carrying down the hall as he made his way from room to room.

"Up! Let's go, let's go!" he called, banging on Henry's door a little louder than the others. "Henry, if you're not up in five minutes, I'm dumping water on you!"

A muffled groan came from inside, followed by some grumbling about how Easton never woke him up like this.

I stayed in bed a little longer, hoping maybe I could just disappear under the blankets. But it wasn't long before Elijah was knocking on my door, too.

"Adrian, I know you're awake. Don't make me come in there."

I sighed and dragged myself out of bed. My stomach already felt twisted up in knots, the same way it always did before school. But today felt worse. The thought of seeing Tom again made my skin crawl, and his words played on a loop in my head.

"You really shouldn't eat that, Adrian. You know it just goes straight to your stomach, right?"

"Maybe if you stopped eating sweets all the time, you wouldn't be so—"

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to shake the thoughts away. But even when I made it downstairs, I couldn't bring myself to eat anything. The others were already at the table, half-asleep as they ate their breakfast.

Elijah was the only one paying attention. "Adrian, you're not eating."

"I'm not hungry," I mumbled, sitting down but keeping my hands in my lap.

Elijah gave me a look like he wanted to argue, but Henry distracted him by groaning dramatically.

"I still don't see why I can't drive myself," Henry complained, stabbing at his eggs with his fork. "My car is literally just sitting there, wasting away."

"Because you got in trouble last week, genius," Miles said through a mouthful of cereal. "You're lucky you're even getting them back in two days."

Henry rolled his eyes. "It wasn't even that bad."

"It was bad enough," Elijah said firmly. "Now hurry up and eat. We're leaving in five minutes."

I poked at my plate but didn't take a bite. The idea of eating made my stomach twist even more. I just wanted to get through the day without thinking about Tom, without feeling the weight of everything pressing down on me.

The drive to school was mostly filled with Henry complaining and the twins arguing over the aux cord.

"You played your music yesterday," Alex whined.

"And I'm playing it again today," Miles shot back.

"Why do we always have to listen to your awful playlist?"

"Because I have better taste than you."

Henry groaned dramatically. "You both have trash taste. Just let me drive and I'll play actual good music."

"Henry, drop it," Elijah warned. "Unless you don't want your keys back in two days."

That shut him up real quick.

When we finally pulled into the school parking lot, the twins practically threw themselves out of the car and ran off to find their friends. Henry lingered just long enough to ruffle my hair and smirk.

"Good luck, kid," he teased before jogging off to find Leon.

I barely had time to scowl at him before I noticed another car pulling up.

Lucas.

His mom, Diana, was smiling as she pulled in, talking to him as he grabbed his bag. She was always so sweet—one of those moms who always made you feel welcome, no matter what.

As soon as Lucas got out, I ran over.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound casual.

"Hey," Lucas grinned back.

Leon stepped out right behind him, looking around. "Where's Henry?"

I pointed in the direction he'd run off in. "Probably already looking for you."

Leon just smirked. "Of course he is." Then he jogged off, leaving me alone with Lucas and his mom.

Diana smiled at me. "Adrian, sweetie, I was just telling Lucas—we're baking cookies later. You should come over."

The idea of cookies didn't exactly sit well with me at the moment, but I wasn't about to say no to Diana.

I glanced over at Elijah, who was locking the car. "Can I?"

Elijah nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."

Diana beamed. "Great! We'll see you after school, then."

With that, she drove off, leaving Lucas and me to head inside. As we walked through the front doors, I spotted Chloe and Sophia waiting for us near the lockers.

"Adrian!" Chloe waved. "Come on, we saved you a spot!"

I swallowed down my nerves and tried to shake off the bad feeling still clinging to me. At least I had my friends. Maybe today wouldn't be completely terrible.

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Word count: 784

Hey Guys Thanks for reading this story so please be nice and kind. I am sorry if there are any spelling mistakes or bad grammar.

Thanks for reading my eighth chapter and please vote and leave a comment.

More chapters will be coming out soon and sorry the chapter is so short.

*EMMA HETHRON*