Phased

~1.5 • Matthew ~

Wait. What?

Mr Aiman is at a loss. The look on his face tells Tia that he was expecting some sort of harsh reaction from Matt, but not this. "Matt... I simply didn't want Rebecca to be involved in the mess." He says, but his voice is wavering. "Surely you can understand that."

"But sir, she was a possible witness who could provide crucial evidence to the case. Why on earth would you want Ms. White to refrain from calling the police about it?" The bitter note in Matt's voice was as clear as day.

"I don't know how on earth you found out this information Matt, but Rebecca is currently struggling with her own issues." Mr. Aiman says, his jaw clenching. "Becoming a witness in a case can be a taxing and arduous process."

"Even then, my little brother's life was at stake." Matt says, his jaw clenched.

"And anything she said could've been used against her in the court of law." Mr. Aiman bites back. "Being the only witness that night, any of her statements could be unreliable or dub her as guilty. We couldn't take that risk until we found ourselves a lawyer." The finality of his tone makes it clear that he wouldn't going to continue for any longer. With a tap on his desk, he moves onto his next victim in the class.

Matt furrows his brows, clearly wanting to ask more questions, but begrudgingly keeps silent and slouches into his seat. However, Fran's eyebrows shot up, and shuffles around so that she has her arms around the back of her chair, straddling it to face her friend. "Ms. White? As in, our psych teacher?"

Matt's eyes slowly drifted to Fran's face, as if moving them was an effort in itself. "Yep. That's the one."

Tia scooted around too. "Hold on, you can't be serious."

Matt nods. "We've had this conversation before."

Fran shakes her head. "Not with Tia. Though to be honest, even I still can't get over the fact that this downer is about to be married to that lady." She chews the gum in her mouth thoughtfully. "It would be interesting to see what she has to say about the case though. From a psychological standpoint, she could definitely provide powerful evidence."

Matt sighs, and stabs his pencil at the spine of his book. "Well that's not going to happen anytime soon."

Tia looked at Matt with sympathy, but the whole situation felt so surreal.

"Well surely you could grill her yourselves if she's at school right?" Fran asks, frowning at the obvious answer.

"Wait, she is?" Matt asks, suddenly perking up.

"Yeah, I think I saw her in the hallway this morning." Tia says, beginning to grow weary of the conversation. Her hand starts to fiddle with one of her textas, repeatedly popping the lid on and off the tip.

Fran notices and slaps her on the arm, effectively regaining Tia's attention. "Check the schedule, if she's here today, you might be able to chat to her if you've got lunch after psych." She says to Matt, ignoring Tia's sounds of protest at her assault.

"I dunno, Fran. I'm not sure if I have the energy to bother asking." Matt says, but pulls his phone out to look anyway.

"Err, I can be there for moral support if you want it." Fran says, trying to make an effort with Matt. "I have to clarify something on superego with Miss White."

Tia can't help but snort at the suggestion. "Fran, as much as I think Matt will love having a inanimate person awkwardly standing next to him as he confronts a teacher, I can go instead. My study period should match up with Matt's psych class. You couldn't morally support a dead person even if you tried."

"Oh shut up." Fran scowls, flipping the bird at Tia, her straight ponytail bobbing with her violent energy. "For your information, I'm an awesome friend."

"I'm sorry, but was that an awesome friend telling me to f*ck off?" Tia shoots back, but with a good-natured grin.

Matt flinches at the word 'dead', but doesn't comment on it. Instead he sets his phone down and picks up his pen. "It sucks, but either way, I have psych before P.E. and I gotta change into uniform." Matt says with a sigh, effectively dismissing the plans.

"Oh," Tia says, somewhat disappointed. "Well, there's always tomorrow, if you're up for it."  She worriedly glances at Matt, and then back to her textbook. "Um, do you want me to catch you up on the P&L work?"

Matt looks unsure at the offer. He seemed paler than normal, the freckles on his nose more noticeable than ever, his shaggy hair almost touching the dark circles under his eyes. Tia notices that he's had his pen in his hand for the past fifteen minutes, but hadn't gotten much more than the title down on the page. He glances once again at the textbook before giving a sigh and a nod.

Tia works in quiet murmurs with Matt, while Toni browses random websites, unrelated to the class. Although there's a constant stream of chatter surrounding them from other classmates, the three friends pay little attention, and surprisingly for once they stay on task... somewhat.

Mr. Aiman watches his students from a corner of the room, sitting at his desk marking Year 12 test papers, but not quite finished with examining Matthew Blake's deflated personality. Regret and guilt were definitely factors that were currently stabbing at him, but he tries not to overthink it. Rebecca had a lot going on in her life — too much to handle accusations on top. He was certain he'd made the right choice in holding her back from questioning, to assure her to think her statements through before jumping so eagerly to help.