Handcuffed

Chapter 54

*One month later*

A lot has changed in the past month.  Or rather, it was just a huge adjustment after everything happened....

At the moment, I was sitting on my bed, doing nothing other than my homework and listening to music.  Yeah, I know right.  It was a rather funny thought considering this was me we were talking about.   But it wasn’t that difficult to do.  Just a pain in the ass.

Yes, homework.  I was back to school and working as well as I could manage.  Before that, it was quite a different system for a while.   When I was hurt and spent those few weeks in the hospital, Jan would come by everyday and give me the work I missed.  More than that though, she did something that would stay with me forever: she taught me.  She actually went out of her way and took the time to do that.  Apparently, Jan loved the idea of teaching and took that opportunity to teach me everything that was being currently taught at my school. 

Not only having Jan as a personal teacher was a nice break from people, it was also helpful and it worked for me.  Every day, she would come in with my books, sit next to my bed, and teach me everything I should have been learning in school.  That was everyday for a few hours.  But after I was released from the hospital, I was forced to go back to school and attend my classes.  I wasn’t looking forward to it and I knew my instincts were right.  It was rough.  But after a little bit, it got better and I was able to actually focus on something in school. 

I had just reached problem 18 in math when I was interrupted by the annoying ring of the telephone.  I ignored it at first, figuring Luke or Clare would get it.  But after the next few rings, with the realization that nobody was picking it up downstairs for some reason, I felt myself groan.  I never was one for talking on the phone and if I did, it was with my cell phone.  But hey, it’s not like I would have rather continued with my homework.  This would be a nice distraction.

Moving my work aside, I jumped off my bed and quickly walked out my door towards Luke and Clare’s room, where I knew the closest phone was.  “Is there anybody that cares I have homework!?” I yelled throughout the house, hoping one of them heard me wherever they were as I stomped towards their room.  Going in, I picked up the phone from the jack that was on their small table, and answered.

“Hello,” I said after a sigh.  I aimlessly started to walk out of their room and back towards my room.

“Hey, Albany,” I heard a drawn out voice over the phone.  After a moment of thought, I had a good idea of who it was from the voice. 

“Francis?”  I wasn’t really sure at first if it was Francis for the fact that he never calls the house phone; it’s always either my cell phone or Luke's. But it sounded like him. 

I walked back into my room, closing the door behind me.  Still trying to figure out why he was calling the house phone, I approached my bed and moved aside my scattered homework before I sat down.  Sliding back until my back rested against the wall, I stretched my legs out before me, waiting for his voice to answer.

“Yeah hey, I needed to talk to you.”

“Why did you call the house phone?”

He paused over the phone, nothing but the silence there for a moment.  After what seemed like too long of a natural pause, he answered.  “I lost my phone and don't have your cell number,” he said quietly.  What I didn’t know at the time was that there was more to it than that.  Much much more.

Francis quickly moved onto the purpose of this call (I always liked that about him when talking over the phone.  Straight to the point). “Anyway, I need to talk to you about something really important."