Disillusioned

Five

A hand landed on my shoulder, breaking me from my daydreaming habit. "Remi, are you alright?" Mrs. Hart's deep voice brought me back to class.

My eyes dragged upwards to the board, scanning over the small words in fine print. The letters blurred together and brought a physical sharp pain to my already throbbing head.

I pulled myself upwards in my seat, feeling the moisture run along my back and onto the back of the metal chair like a slip and slide. Throwing a smile on my face, I addressed Mrs Hart. "Of course." My eyes creased into a forced look of happiness when in reality I felt as dead inside as I probably looked on the outside.

My throat was burning, my head was pounding, and my skin felt like it wasn't sure if I was in a sauna or an ice bath. I caught Trinity's concerned look from a few rows over. I brushed her off, mouthing the words 'I'm fine,' to her.

When the bell rang signaling that class had ended, I stood to my feet a little too fast. I wobbled, barely catching myself as one foot collided with the other. My hand rushed to my head as black dots began to crowd my vision. I squeezed my eyes together until they began to fade.

"Remi, really?" Trinity spoke up from next to me as her hand landed on my sweaty back. "Just leave school early, go to the doctors."

I shook my head, my eyes remaining clamped shut. "I hate the doctors."

After the dots cleared my vision, I gathered my things together. Trinity guided me, much to my dismay, through the hallways to the cafeteria. I sluggishly allowed her to pull me right along as I watched her dark curls bounce against her shoulders. I had to hold back a laugh at the way she was plowing through the multitudes of teenagers blocking the hall just to get us some room.

"I never understood why you hated them so much," she said, releasing my elbow as we arrived at our table. "Have a bad experience there or something?"

I shrugged, sitting down. "Something like that." I took out the juice box that I had shoved in my backpack this morning and began downing it, the cold liquid soothing against my throat.

Trinity's phone lit up against the table. "Oh fuck!" She exclaimed, scrolling over the Lock Screen briefly.

"What is it?" I questioned hoarsely as I continued to sip on my juice.

"Tilly's is having a sale today at the mall, I totally forgot."

I hummed in interest as I wiped a hand over my forehead. Sweat leaked onto it in a thick layer and I winced. "Damn I'm dripping. I can't even tell you how annoying it is, Trin," I babbled to my best friend as I hung my head lazily between my hands. "My throat feels like it's on fire right now but they still made me come to school. And for what? I don't learn anything in this shit hole anyway."

She bit back a laugh, pulling out her sandwich from her lunch box. "Why didn't you just skip like you usually do?"

Images of Lucas's emails flashed through my mind. I exhaled, rubbing my sweaty palms against the fabric of my sweatpants. "Apparently my mom isn't the only one with updates from the teachers; Lucas and maybe even Warren get them too. If I don't show up to class, they'll know."

"Oh wow," she bit into her sandwich. Covering a hand over her mouth while she chewed, she continued to speak. "Why do they care so much anyway? They are barely at home."

"I know," I agreed.

They never were like this; that's what I didn't understand yet either.

I paused to take a bite of my pizza rolls, stuffing another into my mouth after registering how hungry I was. "I think they are trying to be more involved but it's weird, I'm not used to it. Before all this happened with my parents it was just me, Logan, and Chris moving between our parents' houses. We didn't care what we each did. Chris would go out and party and I would skip school no problem."