I'm sorry it's been so long. But I was gone for a whole week at a camp and I wasn't allowed to have any of my devices. I decided I'd rather wait and not post a rushed chapter.
Anyway, thank you to all the people who favorited and followed and reviewed.
Also, read the A/N at the bottom for some semi-important stuff.
Thorne POV
Sunday was slow. He had finally convinced himself that if Cress wanted to talk she would call. He told himself he wouldn't call, made a promise to himself even.
But he had never been particularly good at keeping promises. He called her twice. Once at noon, again around 5:00. Both times he was declined.
He had been texting Winter all day as well. Occasionally she would answer. When he mentioned he had called Cress she had freaked out. How many times have you called she asked. He had guiltily sent a screenshot of his call log. Winter had told him not to call again.
Thorne didn't know what else to do. He anxiously paced for a good 2 hours at least, though not all at once. His parents didn't notice of course. Oh no, Mr. and Mrs. Thorne were much too busy planning the party they were hosting next weekend.
He had even given a half hearted attempt to help out. Then he had become fed up with his Mother's critiques of his floral arrangements and had given up.
Since it was still light out after dinner he walked to his neighborhood's park. It was nice, filled with many waterfalls and fountains along with a top notch playground that he had loved when he was younger. He was reminded of the gardens outside of the pizza place. And the walk he had taken with Cress.
He sat lost in thought for a while. Then he realized that he was depending on her going to school so that he could talk to her. But it was a possibility that she would just stay home.
He really hoped that she wouldn't. He thought about calling her again, but this time to ask if she was going to school the next day. He remembered both his promise to himself, which he had already broken, twice, and that Winter had told him not too.
Instead he texted her.
Thorne:Hey, Cress, are you going to school tomorrow?
Cress POV
Her phone buzzed once again, and once again she told herself that she should silence it. She already knew who had texted her. It was probably Thorne. While he hadn't called as many times as yesterday, he had still called twice.
She picked up her phone, and it was confirmed that yes, it was Thorne. She read the text, and for the first time did consider going to school the next day. She wanted company other than her dad and her own anxiety. And she didn't want to lose the relationship she had made with her new friends. But what if something happened while she was at school?
She decided at the very least that she would answer him. She had ignored him for a while and was feeling a bit guilty. Hadn't she said that she would call him last night?
Cress:I don't know, what if something happens while I'm in school?
His reply was almost instantaneous despite the length.
Thorne:Well, what else can you do? Is your dad gonna let you stay home? I don't know a lot about him but that would seem a little out of character.
Cress: You're probably right. But what would I even miss in school? It's one day.
Thorne: I don't know about actual useful stuff like education… But you're gonna miss your friends. And someone will probably do something stupid and you probably want to be there to see it happen.
Cress:I really don't care about watching someone do something stupid.
Thorne: But you do care about your friends? Cuz same. I want to know what's happening and I know Winter's worried too. What's going on?
She found that she had been forgetting her circumstances when she texted him. Distracting herself. But all of the stress, worry, and anxiety came crashing back when he brought it up. The comfort of knowing her friends cared was minimal in comparison.
She set her phone down not feeling like texting anymore. The sterile white walls of the hospital stared back at her. Nothing had happened today, really. Aunt Amanda had woken up for a few minutes. She had seen both Cress and her father, but they weren't allowed to talk or even be near her, for fear of the disease spreading.
It was terrible. Knowing she could die, but not being allowed to at the very least give her a hug goodbye.
Thorne POV
He was frustrated to say the least. He had finally gotten not one response, but multiple, then as soon as he might be able to know what was going on, she went AWOL again. He knew he probably had the easy end of the deal. His aunt wasn't in the hospital. On the broader scope, he still had both of his parents. His family was very well off. He should be grateful.
All he wanted though, was to make sure his friends were okay.
Cress POV
She figured that she should probably let her dad know that she wanted to stay home from school. He was after all her guardian and responsible for her.
But when she approached him, he was adamant that she should go. Just like Thorne had said. It irked her that he was right.
The conversation went like this:
"I know your aunt is important to you. But you can't miss school just to sit in the hospital. Your education is too important." Or some other crap like that.
"Dad, it's one day. I won't miss hardly anything," she protested.
"It starts out as one day. Hopefully your aunt will be here awhile while she recovers."
"What if something happens while I'm in school? I want to be here so I don't miss anything." Her biggest fear, what if her aunt died while she was in school doing pointless assignments?
"I promise I'll come pick you up if it looks like anything will happen. I'll text you with updates."
She didn't feel like that was good enough, but knew her dad would never budge. She was stuck going to school.
She picked up her phone out of habit, to read or something, but when she unlocked it Thorne's text was looking up at her.
She decided to at least kind of answer his text.
Cress: I'll be there at school tomorrow
She was a little tired from staying up so late at the hospital, but she felt confident that she would be able to make it through the day. If she couldn't, she would just go to Ms. Gosnell's room.
She got ready slowly, as if she could put off going to school. Her dad wouldn't allow that though. He always made sure she was punctual.
Arriving at school she was filled with a sense of dread. She didn't want to see any of Thorne's friends or Thorne himself. She felt like if she told them what was happening it would somehow jinx her aunt. And she would die.
She checked her near vicinity to make sure nobody she knew was there. When nobody was, she made a dash into the school and found a place to hole up until first period.
Cress barely made it to the class on time. Ms. Gosnell didn't say anything, thankfully. However, she did have to sit in her regular seat next to Thorne. She could feel his eyes on her but she didn't turn to meet them.
In an unfortunate turn of events, today they were starting a project that they would work on with a partner. Ms. Gosnell was giving them a few minutes to find one.
Thorne immediately turned to her, and this time she couldn't make herself look away.
"Are you okay?"
She didn't know how to answer. Tell the truth, which was a definite no. Or lie, and say that she was fine. Being indecisive, she just shrugged.
"Is that a no… I feel like that's a no."
She forced herself to speak. "My aunt is in the hospital. She has Letumosis, nobody really knows a lot about it. There's only been one other case in America and that person died. They don't know…" She stopped herself. If she kept going, she would probably cry or something like that.
"I'm sorry. You know I'm not good at this stuff, you know comforting. My go to line is don't cry, it's dehydrating. And as you've previously pointed out, that isn't the best."
She gave a half hearted smile at the attempt at humor. The class began before anything else could be said.
Going through the rest of the day sucked. There wasn't any other way to put it. Thorne met her at her locker right before lunch.
"I'm going to eat lunch in Ms. Gosnell's room today. I don't feel like being around a lot of people," she told him. She was a little worried he would be upset, but at this point she also couldn't really care about anyone besides herself.
"Okay… do you want me to come with you?" He seemed worried.
"No. Sorry-"
He cut her off, "Don't apologize. I'll be with the group. Do you want me to say anything to them?"
She nodded mutely. When she was about to turn away, Thorne unexpectedly pulled her into a bone crushing hug.
"It'll be okay." He told her, then let go of her just as quickly as he had pulled her into the hug.
Thorne POV
He was the last to arrive at the group's table. It looked as if everybody was anxiously awaiting him too. Well, not him. Cress.
"Where is she?" Winter asked.
"She doesn't feel like being around people." He was starting to feel the same way. A new feeling for him, he had always been an extrovert.
"What's going on?" Jacin asked. Out of all of them he would probably understand the most of the medical stuff. Unfortunate really, because Thorne was probably the worst person to explain it to him.
"Her aunt is in the hospital."
"Is she close to her?" Winter inquired, seeking further illumination.
"I don't know-I think so. She didn't really want to talk much about it."
"Do you know why she's there?" Jacin asked.
"Cress said something about Letumosis-I'm not sure-"
"Letumosis?" Jacin's eyebrows were drawn together in worry. "I read something about that in a recent medical journal-"
"You read medical journals?" Iko let out a snort of laughter that was extremely inappropriate for the conversation.
"Iko, I love you, but right now there's some issues you need to fix. One, stop interrupting people, Two, not the time for jokes. Read the room." Cinder cut in.
Iko grumbled incoherently for a bit while Jacin continued. "There's only been one case in the US. Her aunt must be the second."
"What is Letumosis though?" The question was followed by many people seconding it.
"We don't know a whole lot, but so far fatality rates are 100% in and out of the US. It started in some rural places in Africa in the Sahara Desert. Helen Curtis was the first case in the US. She was 90 years old and not in great physical shape with a few underlying health conditions. She died within a few days of being admitted to the hospital. All of the other cases didn't have any medical professionals except for one, but the best they were able to do was draw some blood samples which is how we know Letumosis is what Helen Curtis had."
"You said 100% fatality rates. Is there any way she could survive?" Cinder questioned.
"There is hope. America has better equipment then where some of the other cases were. There's more hope if she is younger and in better shape than Helen Curtis. But still, nobody knows a lot about this disease. We only know a few symptoms and know even less about what they mean."
"But still not a lot." Kai's voice was quiet and dead serious.
"Guys," Thorne's voice was also uncharacteristically serious. "Don't lie to her, but when Cress is around, be optimistic. Stay on the bright side."
Cress POV
Ms. Gosnell had asked her what was going on. She had just said she didn't want to talk about it. Ms. Gosnell hadn't pressured her and let her eat her lunch in silence.
She anxiously checked her phone every few minutes but still only had the two updates from her dad.
Aunt Amanda had once again woken up, but for longer this time. When she was sleeping her brain was more active than the day before.
Cress thought this was a good thing. She desperately hoped that it was.
She told herself that she just had to make it to the end of the day. Anything else seemed too hard. She told herself everything would be fine, but first she just had to make it to the end of the day.
So I'm writing a one shot for The Lunar Chronicles. I'm not going to say a whole lot, but if you have any ideas for soap names that you think Thorne would name them please review hear with them. It could also be names for Shampoo, Conditioner, lotion, that kind of thing.
I'll post that one as soon as I get three name ideas from y'all. Or if it's been a week I'll just post it.
Anyway, random bit of trivia that I really hope is true, but it was on Wikipedia so... Flynn Ryder was created by the "Hot Man Meeting" Long story short... they had meeting where people described what made an attractive man and Flynn Ryder was created. Just think about how that relates to Thorne though-because really the only major difference between the two is that Carswell Thorne would happily jump on a table and sing.
If you need a laugh, you should google "Studio C Hunger Games Songs" There are three of them and you should watch all of them.
One time, my old English teacher played Peeta's song in class. I would say she was my favorite from that year... but nobody can beat my math teacher. She'll dress up like a dinosaur when she teaches the quadratic formula.
Anyway, please review. I hope you enjoyed this.