Once they had made it to school, both Andrew and Jared went their separate ways.
"I'll see you later." Jared said before he made it towards the members of his band.
Andrew stood there and watched Jared from a distance. He was envious of the relationships Jared had outside of the house. He on the other hand, did not have any friendships at school and preferred to be alone.
He had been popular two years ago in junior high. Played some football and baseball. He had friends on other sports teams because they all stayed after school on the field, in the showers and walked home together. And then one day they had career day. All the stalls had been set up for any of the students interested in a particular career. Andrew never had any plans for the future at that point.
Then while randomly walking though each of the stalls he noticed them. The scientists that worked at the Rodwell Institute as researchers. They were wearing white lab coats, they had on good looking clothes, they were good looking. Andrew was left wondering how they even got there.
'How does a person make it to the elite of society?' He wondered. Then he had made his way to their stall and had a conversation with them. One of the scientists mentioned being from a poor family and never having anything besides what was given by the government and having a parent that worked to the bone just to afford rent and the yearly vaccine.
How he had worked hard academically. How that was the only thing that he thought of doing when he woke up and went to sleep. Andrew remembered admiring the man for his dedication. For his ability to take control of his own future. That's when he made the decision to do exactly what he did, so there would be no surprises down the line.
At first his friends on the sports teams that he was in did not understand and they kept on playfully making jokes about how he ditched them to become a 'nerd'. At first they thought it was just a phase and that he'd go back to playing and everything would be normal but that was not the case. Eventually they realized that he had changed but they didn't know why and gave up on trying to find out.
With one quick glance at Jared and his friends, Andrew walked away and made his way to their home room class and sat down reading a scientific journal on epidemiology and how it relates to the socioeconomic situations of a country.
Just as he was reading it, he felt a sharp pain in his head that made his eyes start to hurt. He tried blinking multiple times as his vision went blurred. He took off his glasses as the searing pain would not go away. Then he heard a whisper, "Don't let go." He heard a girl say, "I'm right here with you."
The pain in his head subsided but then he saw blood dripping on the pages of the book and his hand instinctively went to his nose. He used to get severe nosebleeds as a kid but he thought they had stopped.
With a sigh, he stood up and rushed to the front of the class for some tissue to wipe his hands and to hold the blood. He then made his way to the nurses office. He hoped that she would be there since it was quite early and everyone in school right now on a Saturday were the ones going on the trip.
When he reached her office and knocked no answer came but the door did not seem locked. He walked and looked around the white room that smelt of bleach and cough syrup.
No one was in the room but he still needed his nose treated, so we looked in the drawers and found a cloth and then looked in the freezer and found an ice pack. He then began to put some cold pressure on his nose.
"Way to start the day, not only are the voices back but the nose bleeds are too." He murmured and kicked the metal cabinet in front of him only to hurt his toe.
"Fuck." He said in frustration. 'Maybe Jared was right maybe I will have bad-' He was then interrupted by the sound of giggling and some kissing noises. Andrew scrunched up his face. 'Get a room' He thought.
Just when he was about to go out he heard Jared's voice. "I know baby but I can't. This day in the hospital means so much to him. I can't leave and let him experience it on his own."
"He won't be on his own, he'll be with the rest of the class." Sheryl, Jared's girlfriend and lead singer in the band said. "And I don't undertand why you always have to sacrifice your time for him. He's a grown up, he can take care of himself." Then Andrew heard another series of kisses being exchanged.
"I-I know baby." Jared stuttered as if he was feeling uncomfortable, "But I can't. He's basically my brother, I can't miss this day."
"But today is important for you too. We all get to introduce ourselves as a band in the city. I mean it's amateur night and this will be the first and only time we get to something like this. He could get scouted and stuff." Sheryl kissed Jared and then added, "Just think about it, okay?"
Andrew heard Jared sigh loudly, "Okay. Let's go into class before they miss us at register."
Andrew felt his heart sink a little. Jared hadn't told him anything about this opportunity he had. He didn't want to burden Jared with his dream. Andrew decided to make things right.
Andrew made his way to the classroom that everyone in his class was in. He saw Jared in his usual seat, with Sheryl on his lap and his other band mates around him. He had a huge smile on his face.
Andrew thought of going there and telling him he could ditch the field trip to the hospital, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. Instead he made his way to his seat.
Shortly after their home room teacher Mrs Pitt made her way into the class and started taking register. Meanwhile Andrew sent Jared a text informing him he could go perform. Andrew looked at Jared when he saw that he has seen the text, he looked in Jared's direction.
Jared who just seen the text was shocked as to how Andrew knew about the performance that he had. He looked at Andrew who was in the corner at the back of the classroom, to check his friends facial expression. Andrew was smiling at him and Jared smiled back. He didn't know how Andrew found out but he was glad his friend was backing him up.