The rest of the day was spent trying to recover sleep. Every few hours, the headaches would return, and Morty had to drink more of the stuff Rick gave him. Eventually he just filled a water bottle with it and kept it by the side of his bed.
His dad came home and tried to make lunch, but ended up ordering a pizza. He was probably put off by the serum when he came upstairs to give Morty a slice, but he didn't mention it. Summer and Beth were home around 3:30. It wasn't that hard to tell; they were practically screaming, but not at each other, for some reason. They were just talking really loudly today.
Morty couldn't miss another day of school; he was already far enough behind. If he took a large bottle of the serum, he might make it through the whole day. He should probably take a hat, too, just in case the hole reappeared. Thinking of school made his head hurt.
He didn't eat supper. He didn't want to see Rick after what he did. Maybe tomorrow, but right now, Morty was just fed up with everything.
In the morning, he lied and told his family he was feeling better. Rick knew he was lying; Morty was bad at it, but his family was gullible. School would be hard to get through, but he'd rather do it than be subject to more of Rick's "tests". He packed extra serum and a baseball cap in his backpack.
The school bus is no safe haven, but today was pure torture. The usual rumble of everyone's voices seemed like the sound of a crowd screaming directly in his ear. He tried listening to music to block it out, but the lowest volume on his phone was way too loud. What was going on? Were increased senses something the worm had caused? Or was he just stressed?
Loud noises startled him much more than usual throughout the day. If someone dropped a pencil, he'd jump from the loudness of it. Morty made a note to himself to pack earplugs tomorrow. He made it to the last class of the day before the serum ran out. Math was his worst subject, and now he had to do it with a freaking mountain sitting on his head. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't like something crushing his head, it was more like something tearing it apart from the inside.
(Don't call on me don't call on me don't call on me…) Morty thought.
"Morty? Can you answer the problem?" Mr. Goldenfold asked.
(Aaaaand he called on me. Dammit.)
"Umm." Morty tried to make sense of the random symbols on the board. The pressure in his head grew. Did he even learn what that one meant? The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. He couldn't stop thinking; his mind was moving at a million miles an hour and kept getting faster. He put his head on the desk and tried to calm down. Everyone was looking at him. He didn't know the answer. There was a fucking alien worm inside him. He was being torn apart. He could hear everything they said.
(Is he okay?) One girl said.
(What a weirdo.) Some guy commented.
(Overdramatic, much?) The popular girl snapped.
(Is he stressed out or something?) Was that Jessica? Fuck. As if this weren't embarrassing enough.
They wouldn't stop. They wouldn't be quiet. Everything was moving, even when he tried to stay still. (Just stop. Just stop.)
"Just quiet down..! Just, just STOP!" Morty screamed.
Everything stopped, and Mr. Goldenfold fell to the floor. Morty knew without thinking that he was dead.