Stay for Me (Hold Me Close Prequel)

Chapter Seventeen: Silent Night

-=Hunter=-

The ride back. Was. Terrible.

Not because of other students, which is a first. It was actually because the teachers realized that we didn't actually have to leave super early in the morning. Someone fucked up their AM/PM crap. [24-HR clock for the win]

It was too late for us to go back, we had signed out of the motels and we couldn't just turn the busses around. It was funny though watching the teachers search frantically for something to save the situation. If only they didn't pick what they did.

Up in Pennsylvania on our way home, there was an Amish village/museum and it was free for groups to come by today.

I'll tell you what, there is no worse feeling then walking around a town with the best aspect of humanity, the internet and electricity, missing. It's even worse when it's 95 degrees and 86% humidity. It was so bad that it was hard to breathe because of the high concentration of water in the air.

I walked around a bit only with Evan because I guess Jason was hanging out with another group of friends for a little while. We aimlessly walked through houses and various buildings looking at rusty metal tools and reading the signs describing useless information such as weaving techniques.

Probably the worst part of the entire day was when we were required to do a massive role play session with everyone else in the school. For. Two. Hours. I pretended to be a blacksmith, which really meant I sat on top of a massive iron anvil while no one was looking and stared at random stuff. Evan got swept away and I think he was working in the fields or something. I felt really bad for him too, because that's where all the teachers were and the couldn't slack off. Also he was outside.

When our own little version of hell concluded, I found Evan slowly walking over to me. He was drenched in sweat, extremely sunburnt, and was panting like he just crossed a desert. I handed him the water bottle I had been carrying with me all day, and even though the water was well passed warm by now, he downed the whole thing.

"Thank you so much, oh my God." He breathed heavily. There was nothing better that I could do but shake my head and laugh.

-<*>-

It was just about four thirty when we finally got back onto the bus, welcoming the frigid air conditioning like a starving man would a four-course meal.

Around seven we neared a rest stop and the busses pulled in.

"Listen up everyone!!" The math teacher at the front of the bus yelled. "Go inside and grab dinner, and only dinner, nothing else." The Doberman said. "Also, be back here in half an hour so we aren't late."

I got up with Evan and we slowly shuffled our way into the isle of moving furs and eventually after what seemed like forever we made it outside into the parking lot of the rest stop. The sun had set just below the tree line, which cast a tiger-orange glow everywhere, and a masterpiece of colors in the sky.

It didn't take me too long to find the perfect fast food restaurant to get food at. God bless Popeye's. I didn't even look to see where Evan had gone off to before I jumped right into line.

About five minutes later I was sitting at a table with a box of fried chicken and a flakey biscuit from heaven. Evan came over to the table shortly after carrying a brown Burger King bag and sipping from a fountain drink. His eyes widened as he approached and set his food down on the table across from me.

"They have a Popeyes in here?!" He exclaimed quite dissapointedly.

"Yeah. I'm suprised you didn't see it." I said rather smugly, making sure he could see me take a bite out of a chicke strip. Wow I love teasing people.

"Where?!" He asked back pretty loudly. I pointed over to the restaurant.

"Back around that wall." I said.

"Motherfucker..." He sighed, looking enviously at the best fast food joint there is.

"I didn't know Burger King had salads." I said innocently while sneaking a couple of my chicken strips onto his food while he wasn't looking. He looked down, looked back up into my eyes and said a silent thank you and started eating. "So how did bunking with Sam go?" I asked casually, and I was actually quite curious to see how it went.

"Well... it was eventful." He said after a few seconds of thinking.

"Ooh do tell more." I replied, dunking a helpless piece of chicken into sauce and devouring it.

"Okay then. So I guess we're friends again, we kind of bonded over hating that prick." He said, jabbing his thumb over his head towards the table Elliot and his gang were obnoxiously yelling and laughing.

"That's good, right?" I asked, happy that things weren't as awkward anymore.

"I suppose so." He muttered before angrily stabbing his salad with a plastic fork.

The rest of the ride back was very quiet. No one really spoke a word, and that was weird because it's not like high schoolers to be tired. I sat in the window seat next to Evan, with my head pressed up against the glass and listening to music. Finally we pulled into the school parking lot and started to get off of the bus. I had to shield my eyes as I stepped off of the bus because the headlights on the cars were pointed at us. I offered to bring Evan home, but he said that he had already promised Jason that he would ride back with him so I went off in search of my car.

When I got back to my place everyone was already asleep, which I guess is nice because that means I don't have to deal with questions from my family and them badgering me.

I silently trotted up the stairs and flopped down onto my bed. I was about to just go to sleep then and there when I realized I still hadn't brushed my teeth, so reluctantly, I got back up and slowly forced myself to walk into the bathroom. Wow I was unbelievably tired.

I shut the door and turned on the light and immediately cringed and squinted my eyes, everything was so bright and a little blurry. Eventually my eyes adjusted and I picked up my toothbrush. As I was squeezing out toothpaste onto the brush I looked more carefully at my paw and noticed that it was shaking. Like, a lot. Before I even had the time to question it a red droplet fell onto the toothbrush. I started to look up to see where it had come from and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My eyes were bloodshot and a thin line of blood came from my nose. My vision crossed and doubled, and before I knew it everything went black.