"Hey, Lou." Isaac's voice hung in the air.
Somehow, it was lower than usual and barely a whisper, yet it still managed to drift through the wall.
At first, Louis didn't stir. He had fallen asleep to the sound of Isaac's voice, and now, slowly, he was being woken up by it. Louis moved around in his bed but still didn't open his eyes; he was awake, but only just. He was still tired, but it wasn't the same sort of exhaustion he had felt before finally falling asleep. He didn't feel drained, but rather like he had just woken up from a deep sleep. It was something Louis could get used to.
A quiet knock came from the other side of Louis' bedroom wall, and Louis closed his eyes, waiting for the calming voice of the boy next door to drift through again, his eyes still closed.
"I don't know if you're awake or not, but I'm heading off to school. I didn't know if you were going to school today or not, so I thought I'd try to wake you up... just in case. So, yeah," Isaac rambled, sounding more and more embarrassed by his actions with each word. "Anyway, have a good day, Lou."
Then came silence. Louis found himself smiling into his pillow. Usually, he would be angry at someone for waking him up, but this wasn't someone. This was Isaac.
The smile Louis had on his face quickly vanished when his phone's alarm started ringing, and the thoughts of school entered his mind. Louis sighed and turned the alarm off.
I've probably been expelled anyway, Louis found himself thinking as he grabbed his phone from its charger. He hadn't looked at his phone for a few days now, and God only knows the messages he had on it. He knew that they would only be from Kara or Sam, but after yesterday, he could only imagine how many messages they had sent him. Especially Kara, after Louis had missed their call the night before.
"Holy crap, seventy-four messages," Louis cursed under his breath, preparing himself for what he was going to read.
The screen flashed at Louis as he moved it closer to his face. The light was harsh on his eyes, but he still moved it closer, cursing his horrible vision.
Most of the messages were from Kara. As he looked down his screen, he saw that he had a few from Sam as well, as he had guessed. But some were from an unknown number. Of course, as he expected, there were no messages from his aunt.
Sighing again, Louis started going through the messages, prolonging the time he had to stay in his bed and not think about school. A few of the messages from Sam were from the other day, early in the morning, asking him where he was and telling him to open his door. The rest of those from Sam were from the night before, when he must have got home from Louis', and just before Louis had woken up, asking him how he was.
Louis wrote him a small message and shot it off to him, saying that he was fine and thanking him for what he did before going back and opening the messages he had gotten from Kara.
He knew what to expect. He had missed the call that they had scheduled, which he had never done before. He had always kept his word, even when things got bad. So, naturally, Kara was freaking out, and Louis didn't even have to read all of the messages to know that. Trying to write as fast as possible, Louis typed up an apology, also adding that he was okay and that they would definitely talk later.
He knew that when Kara did call him later on, he would be bombarded with questions and maybe even a scolding. Hopefully, he could prepare himself mentally for that beforehand. He was thinking that maybe he could throw her off her onslaught of questions by mentioning Isaac.
Sitting up in his bed, Louis moved on to the messages that had captured his attention the most. They were from an unknown number. Before he opened the messages, he wondered who they could be from. He rarely ever gave his number out to people.
His question, though, was answered straight away, as the first message was from Sarah; Sam had given her Louis' number. Louis smiled at himself. Of course, Sam would do that. Sam was always trying to make new friends for Louis, and now that Louis had gotten one, Sam was going to be doing everything he could to make sure that he kept her.
"Caring ass." Louis grinned.
Reading through Sarah's messages, Louis saw that they followed the same formula as the others. Filled with concern and worry as well as asking if he was okay. Louis again wrote a small message, assuring her he was fine, and sent it.
Louis turned his attention to his ceiling. Whenever Louis was unsure about something or needed to think something over, he always seemed to stare at his plain white bedroom ceiling. It didn't have any distractions on it, and it allowed Louis' mind to wander, allowing him to figure things out.
This time, while looking at the ceiling, Louis was trying to decide if he should go to school. He didn't know if he was welcome back. And even if he was, he didn't know if he wanted to face his peers or teachers. The week had been one big mess, and Louis just wanted it to be over. He tried to think if there would be any major repercussions if he didn't go. That's if he wasn't expelled, of course.
He thought about Mrs Carter and the drama assignment she had given him. So far, he had kept to his word and gone to see her every day—even if it had only been a few. They were still reading over famous monologues and dissecting them together. She kept making Louis read monologues from Shakespeare, even though Louis knew them already.
Surely, she would be okay if Louis took a day off. In fact, that was the only thing Louis cared about. Whether or not Mrs Carter would understand. After all, she was the only teacher at the school who treated him with any respect and always seemed to understand him.
After ten minutes of lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling, doing his best to ignore the pain in his jaw and head, Louis had made up his mind. He picked his phone back up and opened his messages again, clicking on his and Sam's conversation.
To Sam:
Hey, I'm not coming in today. Can you see Mrs Carter for me and tell her I'm sorry that I can't see her about my drama assignment?
After sending the message, Louis put his phone back down, wondering what he was going to do on his day off. He'd never really had any days off before, so this was going to be a new experience for him. He had never missed a day of school in his life, and on weekends, he was always working at the café. But now, he'd have a completely free day, and he wasn't sure what to do with himself.
His thinking was cut short, however, as his phone began vibrating. Knowing who it would be, Louis answered it straight away without looking at the caller I.D.
"How are you feeling?" Sam's voice drifted through the speaker.
"I'm good, Sam," Louis responded. It wasn't a lie either.
Louis was feeling good, and the ability to say that honestly was amazing. He didn't want to lie anymore.
"That's good, that's good," Sam muttered. "So, you're not coming in today? Did they call you or something?"
"No, they didn't. But I just don't feel up to it," Louis replied. "I think I just need a break. I probably won't go tomorrow either."
The words surprised Louis as they came out of his mouth. He hadn't planned that far ahead, but something was drawing him to the idea of having the rest of the week off.
"Who are you and what have you done to my best friend?" Sam asked, but the joke didn't hide the worry in his voice.
"I just think it'll be good for me."
"You know what? I think you're right, Lou." Louis felt as though he could hear the smile in Sam's voice. "I'll let Sarah know."
"Thanks, Sam." Louis smiled through his phone. "Come to the café tomorrow after you finish school. I'm working."
"Will do, Lou. I'll see you then."
"Yes, you will.' Louis smiled again. 'Have a good day, Sam."
"You too, Lou-Lou. Bye!"
With that, Sam hung up, leaving Louis with a smile. So far, the day was looking up, and Louis decided to get an early start.
Comments (0)
See all