AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

37| TIME TO FACE THE MUSIC

It was finally Friday. The school had a half day, due to the dance being later on that day, which meant that Callas ended after her third lesson, P.E. Henry had been psyching himself up for his mini movie marathon, asking Callas for suggestions for shows to watch. Even with his injuries, he seemed relatively happy with jogging laps around the field outside in the cold, only occasionally stopping to walk as he held his side, breathing deeply—which was when Callas stopped to take a break as well. Henry complained about his ribs a few times, whining that it was difficult for him to lay down in bed comfortably, or to do anything comfortable for that matter, but other than that, he didn't mind having a few broken ribs. He had been picked up by his dad a bit earlier than when the school actually finished, but Callas didn't bother asking what the reason for it was. Embry had waited by his mum's truck for her, shaking his head when she unchained her bike, telling her to put it in the back and that he would drive her back home.

     That was a few hours ago. She had finished what little homework she had been given for the half term break—or at least most of it, she still had a few Maths questions to get through, but Maths could wait for a few days, there was no harm in it. Henry had already started his movie marathon, which included some musicals he illegally downloaded on the internet. How else? While live messaging her, watching 'Die Hard' for the apparent 'thirtieth' time. The best she could do for dinner was heating up a microwaveable Chinese dinner of chow mien noodles. Callas even took Zeus for a small walk up and down the road a few times—just to be safe since her last excursion out to the woods was less than calming—before giving him his own dinner. It was getting later in the day, Embry would be taking her to the dance in just over an hours' time. As she laid on her bed with her feet dangling off the edge, her phone buzzed. Lazily, she moved her arm to grab it off her pillow, holding it out in front of her as she opened the message:

Embry:
Hey, Cal. I'll pick you up in an hour? Let me know if you don't feel up to it and we can just go to the beach and relax, or stay at home and binge watch whatever you want. We can order pizza or something else—who knows, maybe we'll bake a cake.

     Callas smiled at Embry's text, locking her phone before laying it back down on the pillow. She knew she had to shower and get ready, she already had a dress from her old school which she never wore, considering she didn't attend after her father's death but instead took online classes like Reed before they moved around. In the background, she could hear the faint theme tune to 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' sounding from the open laptop, by her reading area. She had set up a few blankets and pillows, bringing up Zeus's water and food bowl, for him to sit in front of her laptop with a few shows running so he'd feel less alone. He'd probably end up falling asleep within five minutes of her leaving with Embry. That or he'd end up going downstairs to sleep somewhere else. Callas sat up, making her way into her bathroom, turning the water on for it to heat up before she walked out, taking the dress from her wardrobe, hanging it on the back of the bathroom door as she walked in and waited for the water to finish heating up.

     She made sure to be quick, not wanting to spend too long in the shower in case she ended up being late. Nerves began to creep up on her. Did she really want to go out tonight? Embry didn't seem to mind if they went or not, but maybe she should put the effort in at least. When she got out of the shower, she dried her hair, groaning at her reflection in the mirror. There was no amount of makeup that could cover up how tired and drained she looked, she wouldn't be surprised if she had gone to school looking like one of the walking dead. With the shake of her head, she tried her best to cover her bags under her eyes before she got into her dress, unsure of whether she would bother doing anything with her hair. Callas gave up after ten minutes. She walked out of her bathroom and her phone screen lit up, she picked it up and unlocked it. The screen jumped with a glitch again, she already knew what was coming.