Saving Marley

Chapter Eleven

Marley

Trent and Jeremy wander into the hallway with bright smiles. His eyes catch me and the smile slips from his face. Jeremy wraps his arm around his shoulder and bumps him into the metal lockers.

"Let's grab food and head to the field."

He shrugs Jeremy's arm off his shoulder and re-adjusts his black school bag.

"I have some things to sort out."

"Am I hearing you right?" Jeremy scoffs.

"Let's play at lunch, we'll have more time then."

With a sigh, Jeremy nods.

Jeremy races down the hallway and Trent roughly exhales. He pushes the bathroom door open and wanders inside. I hang outside until I'm bored of waiting. I take a deep breath and charge forward. I move through the door and stumble into the bathroom.

There's a sniffle which makes me frown.

"Trent?"

"You shouldn't be in here."

"Are you crying?"

"No."

I poke my head through the disabled bathroom stall and raise an eyebrow. Trent leaps back and crashes into the toilet.

"What if I was using the bathroom?" He grumbles.

"Do you often cry when you use the bathroom?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I wasn't crying." He sniffles.

"Oh okay." I nod.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you." I sigh.

"You don't need to worry about me."

"You are talking to yourself." I chuckle.

Trent rolls his eyes and unlocks the bathroom door. He turns the tap on and splashes water onto his face. It trickles down his chin and splashes against his school shirt.

"Why did you ask about ghosts?"

He shrugs his shoulders and I glare.

"What if you're my conscience?"

"Why would I appear as your conscience and why would you imagine me in this awful school uniform?" I cross my arms and sigh.

Trent shakes his head and slumps his shoulders.

"Because I." He looks away and shrugs. "It was just a question, Marley."

He fixes his hair in the mirror, then leaves the bathroom.

I stare at myself and groan.

When is this nightmare going to end?

* * * * *

By lunch time, Trent is either starving or attempting to eat his feelings with the amount of food he purchases. How does he consume all that food and find the will to run? I'd have a food baby which would require a three hour nap before I even thought about moving let alone running.

He sits alone until Jeremy and a few other people from the team settle down with food piled just as high as his. They mostly talk about sports which is boring.

I watch the doorway in the hopes of seeing Josh. He never comes though, just streams of students complaining about their hunger and staying up too late at night.

Once they're finished, Jeremy takes the lead by standing up and heading outside. Trent frowns, he seems conflicted.

"Don't stay here on my account," I mumble.

Trent grabs his bag and wanders outside with Jeremy. I don't know why I follow, but I do.

There's cones and tape around where the accident happened. I thought I would feel more about seeing it, but I don't. Since I'm surrounded by people, it feels like someone else was hurt, not me.

The reality of this nightmare hasn't sunken in, but I suppose it's because I'm forced to watch yet another game of hockey on my lunch break and it's rather calming.

* * * * *