Chapter 51. Schooling sucks

The next morning, I sat in the living room clenching and unclenching my fists as I stared into the unknown abyss called school that was looming in front of me. How much had I forgotten about school? How was I going to catch up at all, and even if I did would it be too late? I could end up failing classes or something if I didn't get everything together in even a couple weeks.

Tohru: "Is something wrong, Taren?"

Man, the people around this house had a sixth sense for if something was wrong with anyone.

Taren: "I..."

Part of me wanted to try and talk about it, but the other half didn't. I ended up stuck between those two choices not knowing what to do, which made the anxiety even worse. I needed some sort of outlet, and talking was the only way to do that.

Taren: "What's going to happen when... someone tries to talk to me, and I can't even remember who they are? There could be all sorts of important things I forgot, and I don't even have a clue on how I could begin again. Not to mention all of the topics and assignments and stuff I don't remember, how should I even begin doing them now? I'm not going to understand anything being taught..."

Yuki: "Oh... I didn't think about that... But, if you need us to Taren, we can try and do everything possible to catch you up. It may be hard, it may take time, but with my free time I could try and go over everything. Just skim it, give you a basic idea of everything so you aren't lost."

Well, in all honesty, that actually helped to make me feel better. Not all the way, but at least a little. We all finished breakfast and headed off together, and after several minutes of walking unfamiliar streets we ended up in front of an unknown school. Was this really going to be all right? I had to wonder that sort of thing as we all headed inside. I couldn't even remember where my locker was, and one of the others had to point me right at it.

Tohru: "Oh, now that I think about it, isn't next week golden week?"

Yuki: "You're right, it is. That should be helpful for you, Taren. You'll have a week to try and catch up. That won't leave much time for anything else though."

I never had much liked studying, but now that I actually had to in order to understand anything, it made me feel very anxious even more. What if I didn't understand something and got stuck on it for a while? What classes was I even taking...? As I followed them through the halls and eventually into a classroom, the anxiety in me got worse. At this point I was glad that I was wearing a higher collar today, trying to hide the vivid marks on my neck. The last thing I wanted was for tons of people to try and ask me about them.

After taking a seat in a place right beside Kyo, who told me that it was my desk, I watched everyone around me, hoping nobody would try talking to me. I didn't know any of them at all. A few minutes later, bells rang and everyone finished heading to classes and whatnot. A teacher walked into our room, a woman with longer hair put back into pony-tail.

Teacher: "Hey, Taren, could I speak to you outside in the hall for a sec?"

She asked, motioning for me to follow. Looking over at Kyo worriedly, he just shrugged and nodded to me. With lots of people looking at me, I left the room, meeting her right outside.

Teacher: "Hey, I, um, heard from Shigure... You... lost your memory?"

She asked, and I looked at her in shock. First of all, how did she even know Shigure?

Teacher: "I don't really know what happened, but... just try and take it easy. I'll see if I can't pull some strings, for now just do your best. And hey, what happened to your neck?"

Not wanting to try and hide anything from a teacher of all people, I lifted my head a little and honestly answered.

Taren: "I... don't know. It was like this when I..."

She kind of started at the bruises for a while, probably thinking the same thing I always did. They looked like hand prints, as if... I had been strangled or something? Shaking her head and looking away, she sighed and went on.

Teacher: "That's... Hrm. Anyways, if you don't mind me asking, how much do you remember?"

Taren: "I'm not sure. In all honesty, I don't even remember when I arrived at this town. According to the others I've lost months, but we have no idea if it's more than that. One of the few things I remember is me and my sister readying to come here. But now, even she..."

The teacher looked at me sadly, putting a hand on my shoulder.

Teacher: "I'm sorry."

She stared at me for a few more seconds, but then we both had to go back inside as the final bell rang. Lots of people looked at me as I went and sat down, and I tried to hide my neck as well as I could. I really didn't want lots of questions today. Kyo looked at me curiously, but I just shook my head and told him I'd talk later.

After that classes began, and even though I tried to understand everything, nothing made sense. At least in math and science, in english it wasn't too bad. I knew what we were studying, but how we got there and how to apply everything we were learning I still had no clue. A few times I just gave up and put my pencil down during lessons, unable to keep up or even to try and go further. It was... kind of scary.