Ethereal

Chapter 11

The shrill ring of the school bell was a welcome sound, I found myself breathing out a sigh of relief as I stood up, slinging my bag up onto my shoulder. It had been a long, and tiresome day. I'd had no lessons with Travis, Jasmine or Noah today, and it left me feeling weary. I didn't like the idea that I was beginning to rely on them, but being around them somehow made the world seem better. I hadn't even gotten to see them at lunch, when I'd had to sit a Biology test because our teacher couldn't fit it into the class schedule. 

Though almost the instant I had left the classroom, the three of them were by my side, walking in sync with my steps. 

"You're lucky you missed lunch." Noah commented, "Macy wouldn't stop droning on about Travis, and how excited she is for their date." 

"Don't remind me." Travis muttered, clearly displeased. I might have imagined it, but I thought I saw a hint of a smile on Jasmine's face at his response. 

I laughed quietly, feeling the short rush of energy I always seemed to get when I entered their presence. "Glad I didn't have to suffer through that."

"How was your test?" Jasmine asked, changing the topic, I noticed. 

"I'm not sure." I frowned as I pushed the front doors of the school open, welcoming the fresh air having been stuck indoors all day. "It seemed pretty easy, but that usually means I'm doing it wrong. We're meant to find out how we did tonight though." 

We stayed relatively silent after that, aside from the occasional moan from Travis regarding his date this evening. They were only giving me a lift up to work, so we didn't have much time to talk anyway. 

"We're going to go check out Jonathan while Travis is on his date, we can come back later and pick you up if you'd like to join us?" Noah asked, referring to himself and Jasmine. 

I shook my head. "I would, but I want to go to the library after work so I can get my Biology results." 

Noah frowned in response but otherwise didn't speak, Jasmine simply shrugged as I climbed out the car, having just arrived at the store. 

"I'll see you guys tomorrow morning then?" I looked towards Noah hopefully, and was rewarded with a smile. He had picked me up for school again today, though Jasmine and Travis had been with him this time. Of course, tomorrow was a Saturday so we didn't have school, that didn't mean I wanted to waste time having a lie in when I could be spending time with them instead. 

I waved as the car sped off, and let out a deep breath as I turned around and trudged my way into the shop, collecting my plastic jacket off of its hook as I headed towards the office. 

At least Charlie wasn't working this shift, and Friday afternoons were never that busy anyways. 

*  *  *

To say it was a relief when 7o'clock hit and it was closing time would be an understatement. I had barely been managing to stay awake for my shift, I was lucky we hadn't had many customers. 

I wanted nothing more than to go home, but my desire to head to the library and finally have access to a computer was slightly winning out. 

It wasn't just that I wanted to check my grade for Biology, but I was getting desperate to finally look up where Jasmine, Travis and Noah are from.

I had heard Travis say it a few days ago. Caelum. At least, he said that was where they would return to. It definitely sounded foreign, but the only language I had studied was Spanish, and I'd never been good at it. 

The library was pretty close to the store, given how small the town was, everything was nearby. So it didn't take me long to walk there, and before I knew it I was sat in front of a computer.