Tetra Pact

Chapter 5

"I'll be passing down a list of identified students for the after school remedial group. Please sign next to your name if it's on it."

Eden rummaged through her backpack for her pencil case and homework folder, and cursed when she realised she'd accidentally brought the Noble Minds file as well. She had no idea what was going through her mind last night when she only attempted to rush her untouched homework at one in the morning.

The piece of paper for the remedial group soon got to her, with Vincent saying, "You're on the list."

"Shite." Eden took the paper and immediately found her name on the list. She slapped her forehead in annoyance, but wrote her signature beside it anyway. "Damn it."

She remained unfocused throughout the lesson, sneaking her phone out every so often to check and recheck her weekly schedule, wishing that the remedial group didn't have to clash with Erin's Monday physiotherapy session. Now who was going to bring him there? Mister Adams? The clinic needed someone to fill in the paperwork on behalf of Erin and receive the reports every session, and their chauffeur's job was to - well, chauffeur them. Not act as a guardian.

At the end of class, Eden chased after her chemistry teacher and stopped him in his tracks abruptly. He glanced at her curiously, an eyebrow raised. "Is anything the matter?"

"Can I go for the remedial before school instead? I can come earlier."

"It's a remedial group, Eden. Unless you can get everyone on board with coming to school an hour earlier, you have to stick with the stipulated timing."

Eden bit her lip. "What if I can't make it?"

"Depends on the reason."

"What kind of reason must it be?"

Her teacher gave her a dubious look, taken aback by her question.

"It has to be a certain type of reason for you to accept it, doesn't it?" she continued.

He was befuddled. "How about this, Eden. Why can't you make it?"

"Um..." she started tentatively, unsure if she wanted to tell him the real reason or make up another.

Seeing her hesitance, her teacher's eyes narrowed. But he continued, "Alright. How many sessions are you able to come for?"

Eden paused again, calculating in her head. "As long as it's on Monday? None."

"Are you able to tell me why?"

She could see his clear suspicion, but she wasn't about to tell him all about her family. The last time a teacher got involved, he backed out after a minute of speaking to her father. It wasn't that she wanted to get out of the remedial group - her father would be able to pull her out in an instant, she just didn't need someone to be thrown into the mix of her family. And in any case, her father would deny anything she said about her brothers. He liked to pretend that they were, well, normal - as much as she hated the usage of that word.

She swallowed. "Could I not?"

"Yes, definitely," he replied. "Then you have to turn up for every remedial session."

Eden sighed defeatedly, but did not let her gaze on her teacher waver.

"Okay."

~

Eden clenched her teeth as her eyes travelled to the obnoxiously huge 'Monthly Special!" sign hanging on the front door of Lle Diogel. They were having a hair and beard colouring promotion for the rest of the month, and she hated it. Dyeing people's hair was such a time consuming process, and sometimes - though it was admittedly just Eden herself being particular - the customers wanted to dye their hair the most unflattering colours. But she hated days like today more, where she had a shift only to service a specific customer, who were usually the older regulars.