Chapter 26
The ride home from school was the most awkwardly silent ones that Wally West has ever experienced in his life time.
He sat in the back waiting for his uncle to bring up anything about a call from the school or say anything discretely but nothing was said. In fact, Barry didn't even look like he knew.
Maybe he had gotten lucky and they hadn't called home at all and maybe they wouldn't.
Nothing was said when he walked in besides the words shared with Iris who was busy finishing dinner. Even if they were waiting to bring it; Wally didn't want to stick around and wait for them to make a decision.
He quickly made his way up the stairs and into his room, an easy way of avoiding the conversation.
With pulling his homework from his bag he stared at it; pretending to be working in case they came up here to talk.
The worry and pressure of them maybe holding this back was killing him though. He didn't like it at all, did they know or didn't they know?
Green eyes glared down at the math homework before he gave up and face planted onto his bed. Why was it so hard for them to say anything?
A lecture or shouting or something would be easier than the silence that surrounded him and ate away at his soul.
Too soon he had to leave his hiding for dinner; he peaked his head around the all cautiously to see his uncle smile at him as he put the drinks down.
The silence at the table echoed off the walls, Wally was coming to the conclusion the school never called at all and they weren't waiting for a good moment to spring it on him.
Sadly he was wrong as Iris was the one to take the lead in this and set down her cup, "I got a call from your school today Wally, and I know you aren't in trouble but I do want to ask you something."
Green eyes looked up in alarm as his uncle averted his gaze.
"Why didn't you tell us? We need to know these kind of things."
Wally stared down at what was left of his meal; he felt ashamed but he really didn't see how this could be bad.
"I-I…they weren't hurting me…s-so I…I didn't see the reason."
Barry looked over at his nephew with a frown, "If they are taking advantage of you, even without physical pain, you should tell."
Wally shifted in his seat uncomfortably, "…I'm sorry…"
Iris sighed and set down her fork, "Nothing to be sorry for dear, you didn't know and it takes mistakes to learn new things."
Wally just nodded and zoned out of the rest of the table's conversation; as his uncle tried to lighten the mood in vain.
With May coming up in a week he had started to count down the days till school ended in a silent happiness. Though today had crushed that, but it didn't mean that tomorrow wouldn't be happy.
One thing he had learned in this house was that tomorrow was always a little brighter; plus with the pressure off of him and them coming out and saying something he felt a little better already.
Sleeping that night was harder than Wally thought it would be but he guessed it was just one of those nights it was hard to turn his brain off.
His investigation of the house had come to a standstill thanks to distractions like school and homework.
Still it didn't mean he didn't mean he hadn't thought of reasons why so much food was consumed, and how they got the money.
Though none of the possibilities seemed likely.
How could they even be secret billionaires it made no sense.
Still Wally did notice something that seemed off, Barry would sometimes answer the phone before going into another room or in the middle of dinner or a movie he would get up and say he had to do something before disappearing for hours.
It just seemed fishy and with no hypotheses that made sense Wally was at a standstill.
The eight year old sighed in annoyance and kept his eyes locked onto the ceiling before he glanced over at the clock by his bed.
A bright red eleven shone back at him.
Closing his green eyes once more he turned his back to the time piece as he tried to get some sleep.
Next thing he knew his aunt had pulled down his covers and opened the curtains.
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bake."
Still it was a mystery on how his aunt was such a morning person; not that he was thinking of it now, he was more concerned on searching for his missing blankets.
Iris sighed and shook her head, sometimes it was hard to believe Barry and Wally weren't blood related.
She crossed her arms before pulling the blankets back off of him, "Come on Wally, up and at 'em. I have work to get to and you have school so come on."
Her nephew whined but still sluggishly rose from his bed and made his way down stairs dramatically; just to show his utter protest of waking up.
The eight year old was still tired from his light sleep but still willed himself to make his way down.
He slumped down by the table where his cereal sat waiting; his senses slowly waking up.
He looked around and sniffed the air; it was unusual for Iris to not have cooked breakfast but there was not a trace of the sent.
Iris came down and smiled at him, grabbing her coffee mug, "Barry was called in early so he said he would pick up something to eat for himself."
Wally only nodded and ate what was in front of him as quickly as he could.
Once finished it was a mad dash to get everything together in time as he mentally cursed himself for taking so much time waking up.
The car was already running by the time he got out of the house and into the crisp air of a late spring morning.
Iris gave a quick glance at him when he got into the car before heading off toward the school building.
It was just a normal morning, like nothing had happened yesterday.
Even after being with them for almost a year, Wally still was surprised by the littlest things.
A/N: … *ashamed corner* I typed and retyped and it all comes out to this. The shortest chapter yet. *sigh*