That night Alex spent about ten minutes staring down at his bottle of suppressants before he went to sleep. He hated how embarrassed he felt by them. How ashamed. Dr. Bayer's tone had been reassuring when she said they were for children, but that fact was having a bit of an opposite effect. The child's medication for a childish problem he should have gotten over in primary school.
Look, either take them or don't, AJ cut in. You're boring me to death just sitting here staring.
Alex sighed and shook out one little pill, popping it in and swallowing it without any water. Jack had told him once that the pills made him feel like a sense he didn't realize he had was suddenly turned off. Alex braced himself for a strange sensation like that, but the only thing that changed was he started to feel a bit drowsy. Like he had taken cough medicine instead of a suppressant. He lay back in bed, wondering if it would be a good idea to try to use his powers on purpose to see if it was working. Before he could decide, a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him, and he fell asleep half against his will.
He was woken up the next morning by his bed shaking back and forth, just like when Julia had woken him up weeks before.
"What now, Julia?" he moaned without opening his eyes. His head felt groggy and his body heavy. All he wanted was to be left alone to sleep.
"Julia?" Jack's voice answered. "The fuck makes you think I'm her?"
Alex opened his eyes to see Jack looking down at him with a slightly concerned frown. It was also much brighter in his room than he felt it should be.
"What time is it?" he muttered.
"Quarter to eight," Jack said, making Alex shoot up to a sitting position.
"What?" he said, grabbing his bedside clock to check. Sure enough, Jack was right. "Why didn't this thing go off?'
"It did. It was still beeping when I got here. You were too knocked out to hear it, I guess."
"Ah, shit."
Jack stepped aside as Alex stumbled out of bed and to his closet. "You could probably get away with taking today off too, you know," he said as Alex hurriedly got dressed. "You look a little-"
"No, no. I feel fine. I can't miss another day. I can't believe I slept in this long."
Jack picked up the pills Alex still had on his desk. "You took one last night, yeah? Says here one of the side effects is drowsiness."
"It did knock me out fairly quickly."
"Montoya said he popped his head in before he left, but he wasn't sure if you wanted him to bother you. So, he found me when you still weren't showing up to breakfast." Jack put down the bottle and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Honestly, it's probably for the best you slept in. Things were getting tense in there. Seems like that Spanish guy has stirred up about half the scholarship kids with his cover-up conspiracy theory."
Alex instinctively flinched at the word conspiracy. "His name is Emilio," Alex mumbled. "And maybe he should."
"What good will it do, Al?"
"What good will doing nothing do?"
Jack sighed and leaned against Alex's desk. "Are you sure you don't want to take today off?"
"I won't stop you if you do," Alex said as he tightened his tie. "But I can't hide forever. Was Ellie at breakfast too?"
"She was. I didn't get a chance to talk to her."
"If she and Matthew can muscle through the rest of this week then so can I. Have you still got those energy drinks in your flat?"
"The ones you said taste like carbonated piss? Yeah."
"Great. Get me a couple? I'll meet you in the lobby after I brush my teeth."
Jack looked like he wanted to argue for them taking the day off, but he didn't. He just headed out of the room, lightly flicking the back of Alex's head as he went. Alex finished pulling himself together as quickly as he could and raced down to the lobby, where Jack was waiting with the drinks in hand. Alex managed to get through one by the time they reached their chemistry classroom and tucked the other in his bag for later.
The room was half filled when they arrived, and Baxter was at the front writing their daily practice problems. He spoke to Alex and Jack without looking as they sat down at their table.
"Place the assignment you were meant to turn in yesterday on my desk, gentlemen," he said. "And I expect what I assigned yesterday to be turned in Friday like everyone else. Get the problems from a classmate."
"Yes, sir," Alex said as he took out his barely finished and mostly incorrect homework. Jack didn't even make a move to pretend he did him. Alex placed it on Baxter's desk just as Warren was walking in with Connor at his side. Alex tensed up as soon as he made eye contact with them. They did not look like they were having a pleasant morning. Alex opened his mouth to say something, but Warren held up a hand and gestured for him to follow them to their lab table at the back.
"You feeling better?" Warren asked as they made their way there.
"Yeah," Alex said. "Just... tired. Are you two alright?"
"Breakfast was a nightmare," Connor answered. "Emilio is still crying foul. And since you and Farrow weren't there this morning, he tried to pick a fight with that Greene boy."
"Really?"
"Emilio decided to accuse him of it this morning," Warren added once they got to their table. "The worst was that Malcolm didn't deny it. It was almost like he wanted everyone to believe it. I'm convinced the only reason they didn't start a fight right there was because of the extra security guards."
"Security guards? In the dining hall?"
"They've been posted there since yesterday. I imagine because your uncle heard about what happened Monday night and knew his statement would cause a stir."
"They're helping curb physical violence," Connor added. "But their presence isn't the best for morale. I'm not sure how much longer we can go on without an incident. Matt was trying to talk everyone down, but..."
"But what?"
"Emilio accused him of being in on it," Warren said as he took out his chemistry notebook.
"What?"
"Absolute bullshit," Connor seethed. "But a fair number of kids were buying into it because... Well, they noticed how chummy the two of you seemed on Monday."
"No one was very receptive when Matthew told them you've not got anything to do with it either," Warren added. He wrote something down in his notebook and tore out the page. "Here, the assignment you missed."
"Thanks," Alex mumbled, looking down at the huge list of textbook problems. He couldn't fathom anything less important than homework at the moment.
"You've got a class with Emilio, right?"
"Yeah. PE."
"Watch your back."
"I want to believe he's not dumb enough to throw a punch," Connor added. "But I'm honestly not sure anymore."
"In your seats, gentlemen," Baxter suddenly called out. "You've got two minutes to give me these compounds' correct empirical formulas."
Alex shuffled back to his table, barely able to focus on the board when he sat down. The chemicals and their subscripts might as well have been hieroglyphics. Jack bumped Alex's knee with his own when he noticed Alex had yet to write a single thing on his paper after a full minute. He slid his finished problems into Alex's view. Alex rushed to copy Jack's answers without drawing Baxter's attention, ignoring what would prove to be AJ's mantra of the day.
We should have just stayed in bed, mate.
Alex suffered through the rest of chemistry with similar success. Baxter called on him a couple of times to answer simple questions. He had a reputation for not relenting when kids didn't know the answer, but even he moved on when all Alex could give him was a blank stare. The rest of his classes weren't much better. By lunch, AJ had repeated his desire to stay in bed 47 times, and Alex was finding it very difficult to keep ignoring him.
"I think we should call it, Al," Jack said as they left trigonometry. "You've been a zombie all morning."
"I can make it through three more classes," Alex insisted, taking his second energy drink out of his bag.
"You barely made it through the last four."
"Just, let me eat something, okay? And I'll think about it."
"I don't know if we should go to the dining hall, man. You especially."
"It's fine," Alex insisted. "He won't do anything."
Not with Jack around, at least, AJ added.
Jack didn't look convinced, but he didn't argue as they took the long way around to the dining hall. When they got there, Alex did a bit of a double take when he noticed his usually empty table was mostly filled. He didn't realize why until he noticed Ellie and Matthew were among them. All the other students there were scholarship kids, some of which Alex recognized from the party. Ellie's roommate Mikayla. That girl from London, Stephanie. Warren wasn't there, but only because he was back at his other table with Connor and the girls. They had a fair number of new faces with them as well. About half the scholarship students had stayed at their old spot, Emilio being one of them. Olena wasn't, though. Alex spotted her at the edge of Warren's table, looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Seems there's been a bit of a schism," Jack muttered.
"Do you think that's a good sign or a bad one?" Alex asked.
"Well, guess it means they don't all hate us."
Ellie stood up and waved them over when she noticed they had walked in. She and Matthew had each saved them a chair next to them.
"Do I even want to know how this happened?" Jack asked as he took the seat next to Ellie.
"We all just got sick of listening to Emilio's tirades this morning," Ellie explained. "Matt and I were the first to walk away. Everyone else split off on their own time."
"Sorry if we're crowding your space," Matthew whispered to Alex when he sat down next to him. "I wasn't sure if you would come to classes today. You seemed pretty knocked out this morning."
"The... medication had a pretty strong side effect," Alex whispered back. "Made me pretty drowsy. Thanks for sending Jack."
"If you want, I could make sure you wake up on time tomorrow. I've been told my stereo is pretty good at fighting back sleep."
Alex smiled for what felt like the first time that day. "Very good," he agreed. "Thanks. How, um, how's your day been?"
"Bearable. You?"
"Better now," Alex said without thinking. Matthew's mouth ticked up into a smug smile.
"Oh? Why's that?"
Alex froze and tried his best to keep his body heat from rising too noticeably. "Um... hungry," he mumbled, making Matthew's smile get wider.
"We'd better get you some food, then," he said, getting a waiter's attention. After they ordered a boy with dark brown skin and a short afro came up to Ellie.
"I just talked to Coach Sanders," he said, speaking in a French accent. "He would like to help us with the vigil."
"Really?" Ellie said, beaming slightly.
"He said it should not be a problem so long as he can find another chaperone. He wants to know if Sunday would be good."
"Yeah, I think that'll give us enough time. Thanks, Chidi. Mikayla and I will check in with him after school." Chidi nodded, hesitating for a moment as he glanced at Jack and Alex with a touch of apprehension. Ellie noticed and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Guys, this is Chidi. Chidi, this is Jack, and that's Alex."
"Nice to meet you," he said, very much sounding like he wanted to leave. "I will see you later, Eloise. Back at the dorm."
"Okay," Ellie said as Chidi turned to go off towards Warren's table. Ellie looked at Alex and Jack with an apologetic grin. "Sorry, he's kind of shy by default. He and Baptiste were flatmates."
"We get it," Jack said. "No worries... He said you guys were holding a vigil?"
Ellie nodded, taking her hand off Jack's shoulder to fiddle with the ends of her hair. "Mikayla was worried about the administration giving us a hard time if we asked permission to have a gathering. I thought it might be easier if we had teachers agree to chaperone ahead of time. Coach Sanders was the first I thought to ask. He's been kind to us since day one. So many of the other teachers are going on as if nothing happened. Professor Alvaro has been more lenient this week, at least. I can tell he cares, even though he's a bit strict. I'd think he might be a good second chaperone, but a lot of the others are still kind of scared of him."
"You guys should ask Nurse Clara or Dr. Bayer," Alex suggested. "Dr. Bayer especially could help if my uncle has a problem with it. She stands up to him."
"That's a good idea. She could help with emotional support, too. Baptiste liked her a lot."
"If, um, if there's anything you need," Jack said, suddenly looking bashful, "let me know."
Ellie smiled and put her hand back on Jack's arm, a little bit more affectionately than before. "Thanks, Jackie," she said.
Lunch managed to pass without incident, though Alex made the mistake of glancing over at Emilio's table a few times. The first couple of times he was too engaged with whatever conversations he was having to be giving Alex's table any attention. But the last time Alex glanced at him he was staring right at them. Not glaring, this time. He had a blank expression that somehow managed to be more unsettling than his angry one. Matthew must have noticed Alex tense up from seeing it because he immediately got his attention to continue his pop culture interrogation from Monday afternoon.
Alex, Jack, Warren, and Ellie all walked to art together. Once they got there Jack took it upon himself to rearrange the easels a bit so that they could all sit together. Their professor decided to lecture for almost the entire class, so they weren't exactly able to talk. About thirty minutes in Ellie bumped Alex's arm with her elbow. He glanced at her to see she was pointing to the giant blank sketch sheet on her canvas. Well, not entirely blank. In the corner, in very small delicate writing, was Hi, with a little smiley face next to it. Alex smiled and wrote the same on his page. Once Ellie saw it, she started writing more on hers.
Missed you yesterday, she wrote.
Really? Alex wrote back, trying not to warm up.
Of course. You were sick?
Something like that. Have you been alright?
As I can be.
Was Hannah giving you a hard time? Matthew mentioned she was being rude to him.
Nothing worse than what she's already been saying to my face. However, I overheard some choice stuff she was saying to her friends.
Sorry.
Not your fault. I'm sorry you got dealt that for a fiancée.
Alex wasn't quite sure what to say to that without being crass himself, so he decided to change the subject. The soup you and Connor made was good, he wrote, feeling a bit stupid. Matthew brought me some.
It was mostly thanks to Connor, she wrote. His family's recipe. I just helped a bit. Lots of practice being my mother's kitchen assistant. Don't get much motivation to cook when she's not pulling my ear, though. Or if it's the only way to get her to make something. I always had to help if I wanted her biryani. My brother always bribes me to help when he wants it. Little shit doesn't want to pull his weight.
What does he give you?
Usually a reprieve from his bullshit. Never lasts as long as he promises it will, though.
Alex chuckled accidentally, drawing the attention of their professor. "Would you like to share your joke with the class, Mr. Conrad?" she said, pausing her lecture.
"No, ma'am," he mumbled. "Sorry."
Their professor gave him a stern look before dropping it and going back to her lecture. Ellie waited a few minutes before writing on her page again.
Sorry, she wrote.
My fault, Alex wrote.
Maybe we should stop before my wit and humour get you in trouble again.
It'd be worth it.
Ellie bit back a smile and visibly flushed. She didn't write anything else. She just bumped Alex's knee with her own and kept it pressed against his while they both redirected their focus toward their professor's extremely boring lecture.