Cold Open | Applyfic

Chapter Five

The first tip-off to something being completely and utterly wrong–besides the obvious–was when Espy's mother yelled at her for letting Scottie stay the night.

"But, mom, it's Scottie!"

"I can see that, Esperanza. I have eyes."

Espy searched her brains for the right words to respond to her mother's words, but she kept coming up short. "But... but... he's alive, Mom!"

"Yes. He is. What is your point? You cannot let boys sleep over here! Especially without telling me first!"

"Mom-"

"Ni una palabra más. Prepararse para la escuela."

Espy stared at her mother in astonishment. She gave Espy one last glare, then left the two alone in the living room. "I thought my mom would be a bit more understanding."

"Yeah, me too," Scottie replied, sharing Espy's confusion.

"We don't have to go to school, Scottie. We can just go to the park or something."

Scottie shook his head and stood up. "I'm fine, Espy."

"But-"

"Please, Espy. Do this for me."

The second–and third, fourth, fifth, and a thousand more–tip-off was when Scottie was able to walk through the school hallways without so much as a stray glance. Scottie knew most of the people around the school, so looks in his direction weren't uncommon. They got some nods from acquaintances and of course the random strangers making eye contact, but nothing that read "whoa this guy rose from the dead this is so weird."

Espy and Scottie searched for something, anything that hinted that they weren't going crazy, but they were met with nothing. The only thing out of the ordinary in the first half of their day was that instead of Scottie's usual teacher, it was a substitute that let them all do whatever they wanted. To be fair, it's difficult to leave lesson plans for an art class, and even harder to teach an art class if you don't even know how to draw a stick figure correctly–something Scottie learned when the substitute drew one next to his name on the white board. Somehow, he managed to give himself a longer neck than arms.

The class commented more about that slip up than the fact that Scottie was in the same classroom as them, very much alive.

For lunch, Scottie and Espy made their way outside to the courtyard. They found an empty bench, ignoring the sting of cold metal against their exposed necks. Espy adjusted her striped jacket, and Scottie put his hands into his pockets. There were hardly any people around, considering how cold it was. It was perfect.

"How's your day?" Espy asked.

"Normal," responded Scottie.

"Yeah, mine too."

Before Scottie could say anything else, a voice shouted from their side. "Prescott! You're okay!" Scottie shot around to face a girl with ginger hair and a clashing yellow sweater practically skipping towards the two. Scottie recognized her as Elisabeth, a girl from one of his classes a few years back. Pure shock laced her face.

"You... did you think that something happened?" Scottie started.

"I mean, I thought... you were at the watch party, right?"

"Yeah." Scottie took care to tread cautiously with the conversation.

"I thought you had gotten into a fight or something."

"Well, yeah, I did."

"I guess I thought... nevermind, I could barely see anything anyways! I was all the way by the bathrooms, I practically only saw peoples' heads!" Despite Elisabeth's outwardly bubbly demeanor, Scottie could sense a bit of uncertainty behind her words. "Glad all is good!"