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ONE | FAMILIAR FACES
❝ no one knew me, no one knew me ❞
"Do you have everything you need?" William's voice successfully catches her attention this time and she gave him a quick nod.
She didn't mean to be so distracted on what was already a too-important-to-space-out day but it almost seemed impossible not to. She knew it was something that was bound to happen today, they both did. So Will hadn't really commented on it the first time she'd spaced out during breakfast, or any of the other twelve times she had on the car ride.
And she couldn't really blame herself for being so distracted with her thoughts, considering the situation, or at least she hadn't decided whether to blame it on the part of her brain that kept bringing up memories from five years ago, or the other normal teenage part that worried about diving back into the whole high school thing again.
"Even the back-ups of the back-ups?" he asked with humor and she chuckled. She was nervous, he could tell, and she appreciated him trying to take some of her nervousness away.
"Even a back-up for the back-up-back-ups" she replied with a chuckle.
"Wouldn't expect any less" he smiled.
"Is she ready?" a dark-haired woman in a vibrant pink suit approached them and William gave her a nod.
No, she wasn't. Part of her wanted to tell Will she'd changed her mind and her whole idea of coming back was just that, an idea, not something she actually wanted to do. But she knew she'd be lying, it was so much more than an idea or an impulse, it was something her heart longed for pretty much since she'd left Riverwood.
"Mrs. Rogers will take you to your first class, american literature from what I'm told, which I'm sure you'll find entertaining" he informed her as he saw her smile dropping at the woman's question "Now, there's something really important I want you to focus on today" he added in a much more serious tone and she stared at him almost intimidated by the idea of adding something else to her already-full list of worries "have fun" he smiled at her, his words almost coming as a reminder of what this all was truly about and a genuine smile drew on her lips.
"On it" she said a lot more lightly, making a mental note to thank him once the worst had passed.
"I'll pick you up at three, okay?" he said with a nod.
"Okay" she smiled, giving him one parting look before she followed the woman out the administrative office.
No serious goodbyes. It was a dumb thing her twelve-year-old self had insisted on getting used to and by the time her therapist told her it was something that only helped further deepen her loss and trauma, it had already become a habit she was stuck with.
