Butterfly Farm

Chapter Twelve: Waiting

Waiting by Fallstar

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  The ride to school the next day was not nearly as eventful as the first. Only Sidney was there to follow the bus in. Sev had apparently already gone ahead to school, which Ava found odd but not entirely surprising. Mostly, she was just grateful for the reprieve. Sleep had not come easily to her last night. 

  All her fears seemed to have been founded in the worst possible way, and it terrified her. She'd tried to gauge Sev's mood by his actions at dinner, but he'd responded with a glare cold enough her heart had stopped dead for a beat and ice had twisted into her gut. She couldn't get away fast enough after that. It was only after she confirmed both vehicles had left and wouldn't come back for awhile that she went back downstairs to help Mrs. Lennox clean up after dinner. Thankfully, the older woman didn't ask her any questions, so Ava didn't have to lie. Lies always caught up with her eventually. 

  The entire morning passed in her usual routine. Sidney was barely in sight the entire time she was getting ready to leave. She had to wait by his car again at the end of the driveway, but it was only a few mintues before the bus arrived. 

  As soon as she got to school, she hid in the bathroom until the bell. 

  Maybe it was childish. Maybe she should feel guilty for leaving the twins, but she couldn't really bring herself to care. They hadn't exactly shown a lot of consideration when it came to her. Why should she show them any? 

  Eventually, though, she did have to leave. She dragged her feet all the way back to her classroom, dreading the day ahead and dreading the boys she couldn't seem to get away from.

  As soon as she entered Mrs. Alistair's classroom, though, she realized she had no reason to feel guilty, after all. Both the twins were already there, and apparently locked in some silent argument or staring contest in the back seats in the opposite corner of the room from her usual spot. Guess they weren't eager to share her textbook again today. 

  Ava ignored them both and sat down heavily in her spot, glad she wouldn't have to deal with their drama again. They confused her, and she didn't like being confused. It made her feel like the same stupid kid that hung around trashcans wondering when her mother was coming back to get her. It made her feel worthless.

  Ava unzipped her backpack and pulled out her notebook, flipping it open to a random page and forcing herself to work through some of the more difficult equations from the previous day's lesson. Since she'd run out yesterday, she could at least try and play catchup while she had the opportunity. She wasn't about to let herself fail high school-- not when she was so close.

  She didn't realize the bell had rung until the classroom started filling up with people and loud shouting. Despite being behind, she did well enough in math that she was already catching up, working through most of the problems while she waited for the noise to die down in the rest of the class. 

  Were they always this loud? How had she never noticed before?

  She stoically worked to ignore the noise, and eventually, she didn't hear it anymore. She just had a little bit left to do. Surely if she got this done before class started she wouldn't be so far behind today, right? All she had was a few more problems. She just needed to complete the page. Just a few more.

  So why was her paper now covered in strange dark symbols she didn't remember writing?

  Ava blinked at the page in utter confusion and even a little fear. She didn't remember writing that. Didn't even remember when she'd finished the last equation, but apparently she had. And she'd lost her mind again. She really was going crazy. The entire page was graffitied with the same symbols that haunted her dreams, the class had apparently already started, and there were people intermittently turning around to stare at her with wide eyes or amused expressions.