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Chapter 9:
There is a collective startle as they turn around to see an older female looking down on them, looking rather unimpressed at the sight of them. To be fair, they do make quite the pitiful sight, Shira muses quickly.
The woman's hair is up in a loose bun - light brown like Diego's, though lacking the darker highlights. She holds herself strictly, sharp eyes sweeping the corridor and resting on the door. The frown - which already seems permanent despite them having only viewed it for a few seconds - is accentuated by the frown lines around her eyes; this only serves to emphasise the difference between her and Diego.
There is a similarity in the way they walk and hold themselves though - the same pride, the same gracefulness that suggests an athletic ability that belies their appearance.
The final and almost glaringly obvious difference, Shira notes, is their eye colour. Whereas Diego's is an expressive green which gleamed mischievously when he smiled and darkened dangerously when he was angry, this woman's eyes remain a frigid blue, hiding whatever anger and/or worry she must be feeling.
"Is there something wrong?" Diana intones, arching an eyebrow at the nurse.
"Of course," the nurse stumbles. "I will need to see identification."
Almost immediately, Diana produces a card of some sort. The nurse reads it quickly then nods, opening the door behind her. "He's just here."
Shira tries to get a look in and sees Diego sitting on an unmade bed, his eyes distant and unfocused as his mouth moves soundlessly. Diana is quick to slip in and close the door shut behind her.
"What do you think is up with Diego?" Sid asked. The incident had happened yesterday, and after Ellie had insisted on walking a rather shaken Shira back home, they had agreed - well, Sid and Ellie had agreed, and the latter had strongarmed the other three members of their herd into agreeing - to pick her up again.
Manny shrugs, terrifyingly nonchalant about it.
Ellie sighs, deciding that this wasn't a good time to bring it up with Manny. "Well, I hope he's okay."
Manny shrugs. "He's survived worst."
Elle frowns. "And how would you know that?" She reprimands.
Manny has the decency to look sheepish, shrugging as he keeps his gaze on the floor. Ellie sighs again and looks up, noting that they were approaching Shira's place.
"Shira!"
The young woman was sitting on the steps, gaze focused on nothing in particular as she taps a beat on her knee. Shira looks up, almost startled despite the warning, and gives a reluctant nod. Shouting something back to her house, she sprints down the steps.
"Have you guys heard from Diego?"
"No," Ellie shakes her head. "Have you?"
Shira shakes her head, though she checks her phone again just to make sure.
Ellie grins discreetly, then smooths over her expression again. "Well, we're going to walk to school together."
Shira lets out a dismayed sound, but merely rocks back on her heels. "I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Nope." Ellie shakes her head with a bright smile.
A ghost of a smile flickers across Shira's face, before it is gone almost as quickly as it appears. Eddie and Crash run around the group as they cackle and exchange high-pitched conversations that are beyond their comprehension. As Crash and Eddie find themselves on the roadside, still cackling madly as they recreate some scene - Frankenstein, maybe? - Shira's head suddenly pops up.
"Get out of the way!"
Eddie and Crash startle to a stop. Ellie reacts quickly, pulling both in by their collars - and just in time. A car zooms carelessly by, narrowly missing the two, and crashes into another parked car nearby.
The group freezes as the sound of the car echoes through the quiet neighbourhood. There are murmurs and exclamations as doors start to fly open, wondering what's going on.
"What the hell just happened?" Eddie asks, eyes wide. Crash is equally pale, though he seems to be trying his best to remain upbeat, dancing around Ellie.
Ellie's face is pale as she stares down at her brothers, and then Shira, in rapid succession, before looking down at her hands. If she had been even a second late…
Shira's frown deepens, and she looks back, brow furrowing before she nods, as if seeing something.
"We should get to school. Now."
Heeding her words, they ran the rest of the way to school.
Rumours about Diego and his sister spread like wildfire around the school, including his collapse, which some jerks decide to recreate very dramatically; Soto quickly puts an end to them and nothing more is said, the teachers none the wiser. Ellie listens with an interested ear as more and more details are offered: she and the herd had escaped rather quickly after Diana had appeared, but Oscar, Lenny and Soto had remained behind for some time.
To no one's surprise, Oscar is the source of all these rumours, so Ellie takes them with a pinch of salt.
Apparently, the siblings had begun to argue quite loudly after half an hour alone, to the point that the nurse had went in herself and kicked Diana out on the basis that she was 'disrupting the patient's recovery'.
As far as Oscar was concerned, he didn't care what they were arguing about, only that they were doing so, and very loudly.
Ellie sighs with disappointment she flicks her pen around the table, watching the clock tick down to the start of class. Just as the bell rings, Diego walks into the room, alone for once.
He takes his seat, ignoring the hush that falls upon the students in the room, and pulls out a textbook. The difference between the lackadaisical and charming boy is replaced with this ghost of a boy, who says nothing and answers no questions, merely smiles blandly and nods or shakes his head to any questions.
Ellie notices Soto keep a sharp eye on him, and vows to do the same. She also notes, rather bemusedly, that Oscar had been banished to another table.
Shira runs in a minute late, having had run to the locker to get something. She barely hesitates as she plops down in Oscar's empty seat next to Diego, then takes out her notebook and starts to scrawl something in it.
Ellie frowns.
Both were acting like nothing had happened, though from what she had seen, Shira had very much been affected by what happened. Their jabbing at each other seemed half-hearted at best, and Shira seemed distracted, glancing up and around as if looking for something.
As the teacher rushes in a hurry, flustered and murmuring something about the photocopier not working, Ellie opens her diary. Even if she wanted to keep a closer eye on Diego, that did not mean she would pry into what was clearly not her business. What was in Diego's family and in his relationship with Shira was clearly out of bounds, and she had no right to pry.
It was safer this way.
In music class, Diego remains silent and distant, answering only when directly spoken to. It's almost as if they had moved all the way back to square one, except that instead of snide comments and cold shoulders, they were met with distracted glances and confused looks. Sid trips over a folder strewn on the floor and bumps his head on a stand: nothing serious.
While Diego does crack a grin at that, he doesn't say anything.
Soto seemed equally worried, casting fleeting glances at Diego that one would only notice if you were actually looking for it.
He disappeared at lunch, and Ellie didn't miss how Shira had almost barged her way into line and vanished as well.
Ellie supposed that after suffering a panic attack in front of the whole school, Diego had a right to be withdrawn. But when she thinks back to how Diego had collapsed, the only thing she can't erase from her memory is how pleased Manny had looked when Diego had been practically dragged to the nurse's office.
That disturbed her.
Manny had shown hate, and even aggression, towards Diego since the beginning, but she had thought he was mellowing out, especially after Diego had confronted him. And collapsing just like that, Diego in that condition - heck, anyone in that condition - shouldn't make anyone that happy. She wondered if there was something she was missing, but gave a small shake of her head.
It wasn't her business to pry, though she would confront Manny when she had the chance.
