Nine hours later, Nancy stood outside in the school courtyard during lunch hour, gulping down the last her second can of NOS she'd had that day. She crushed the can between the palms of her hands and tossed it aiming for the trash can, but it only hit the brick wall behind it and landed on the concrete. Nancy cursed herself and picked the can back up and slammed it down into the can, then resumed standing leaned against the wall, gazing up at the bleak cloudy sky that threatened rainfall.
The brisk chill in the air made Nancy zip up her jacket and keep her hood pulled over her head. Even in her jacket, Nancy still continued to shiver. It was so cold out that she was actually the only person that was outside; all the other students remained indoors too keep warm, but not Nancy. She needed the cold, because it kept her nerves raw, kept her on edge, kept her awake.
"Nance."
She turned back and saw, of course, Lance standing there. He was dressed appropriately for today's weather; two layers of jackets, mittens, and a green and black striped wool scarf. The sight of the stripes made Nancy wince and the cut under her shirt sting as they reminded her of where, and who, she had gotten the wound from in the first place.
"Hey," Nancy gulped, "What's up?"
"I was gonna ask the same thing," Lance said, pulling his jackets tighter against his body, "What are you doing out here anyway? It's freezing."
"I like it." Nancy replied with a shrug.
"So… how are you holding up?" Lance then asked, bumping Nancy's arm with his elbow as his hands remained stuffed in his jacket pockets.
'Horribly,'
Nancy had wanted to say. But instead, she just answered, "Fine," sniffing and wiping her sleeve under her nostril to wipe up the runny nose that the coldness was giving her.
"If I were you," Lance then said, "I would've taken an extra day off."
"Heh, that's what my dad suggested," Nancy smirked, "But I said no. I just need to keep myself busy, keep my mind off things, ya know?" And most importantly, keep herself awake.
"How did things go, by the way?" Lance then asked, "At your mom's place?"
"I had to empty my mother's home and box up all her things after watching her being buried," Nancy snapped, sniffing into her sleeve, "How do you think it went?"
"I'm guessing not well." Lance responded, taking a step back, wanting to stay a good distance from Nancy while she was in this clearly hostile mood.
"I'm sorry," Nancy grumbled, kicking away a small pebble, "I'm just crabby. Didn't exactly sleep well last night."
"Nightmares?"
Nancy's heart skipped a beat when she heard that. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Anyone who's been going through what you have would have some pretty gnarly dreams."
"You have no idea." Nancy whispered under her breath, so lowly that Lance could barely hear.
"What was that?"
"Nothing," Nancy muttered, wincing and rubbing her forehead, "Nothing."
"Got a headache?"
"Yeah, I've been getting them a lot lately," Nancy groaned, "They seem to be getting worse."
"Maybe you should go to the nurse and lie down."
"NO!" Nancy shrieked, so loud and shrill it made Lance jump. "I- I mean… n-no, I'll- I'll be fine," she stammered, shaking her head, "I'm sure it'll pass eventually."
"Well, maybe she'll give you something for that headache of yours."
Nancy scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Huh, yeah right. They have to get your parent's permission before they can give you anything. And there's no way they'll be able to reach my dad while he's on duty."
And just then, the bell signaling the end of lunch hour rang, causing Nancy to whine as the shrill noise aggravated her aching head.
"Oh fun, now time for history," she sighed, massaging her temple, as she and Lance made their way inside, "It just keeps getting better."
During the time that she gathered her bags from her locker and made it into her seat, Nancy was aching tell him the whole truth, but self-doubt kept her from doing so. What if, no matter how much she testified, he refused to believe all this was true? He was her friend, the only friend she ever made, but something in her told her that he would not listen; Lance was always the logical, reasoning type, and what was happening to her defied all kinds of logic. She would have to go through this alone.
finally a new chapter
not much, but it's something to tide y'all over :P
