I really don't like it, but I can't think of how to fix it, so there you go. The next one will be better though.
When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Tristan sat on top of one of the picnic tables in the quad at lunch on the second to last week of the semester. Rick, Kyle, and Stewart were sitting on the benches, all of them studying for their exams next week. He rolled his pen between his palms, looking from the book in his lap down to his feet planted on the bench. "Hey, Rick?"
"Yeah?" he didn't look up from his Calculus notes.
"Does anybody stay here over the summer?"
"Yeah. A lot of guys do for different reasons."
"Like what?"
He shrugged, "If they're court ordered to come, then they can't go home for a certain number of months. Since some students are here year round, some teachers have to stay, and if they have kids who go here then their kids stay..." he was quiet for a moment, "...other times people just don't want to go home...or their parents don't want them around." Tristan nodded, and Rick continued, "Why?"
Tristan shrugged, "I might not go back this summer."
Kyle looked up, surprised, "Why?"
He shook his head, "Unless I'm going back for good I don't want to go back at all. Besides, I doubt my parents want me around."
The other three were silent, all of them knowing that his parents not wanting him around wasn't the real reason for his not wanting to go home. It had been more than two weeks since the night of Tristan's drunken confessions, and no one had mentioned it. "That's aight." Stewart said awkwardly, "Me and Rick stay over the summers too."
HARTFORD
Rory sat across from Paris at lunch, tapping her pen on the table nervously as she stared at her notes. "So when do you guys leave?" she asked quietly.
"The second." Rory answered without looking up. Paris glanced over at the calendar hanging on the cafeteria wall. It was the eighteenth of May. They would be leaving in fifteen days.
"What day do you get back?" Madeline asked.
Blake looked over at his girlfriend from his place next to her, "July twenty first." She bit her lip and looked away from him.
Rory pulled another textbook out of her bag and laid it on top of the first one. She inhaled shakily and ran her fingers through her hair, getting it out of her face. The book fell open and she flipped quietly through the pages, unable to understand anything on them. Adam touched her elbow lightly and she jumped. "You okay?" he whispered, concerned.
She blinked quickly and nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine. Just really stressed."
"Do you want to do something tonight to take your mind off of everything? We could go out. Stay at my house. Do whatever you want."
She opened her mouth to accept, but then closed it and shook her head, "No. I actually have something I have to do."
AFTER SCHOOL
Rory bit her lip as she pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. She glanced down at the wheel, closing her eyes and shaking her head lightly before pushing the door open. She climbed out slowly and closed the door, checking to make sure it was locked...but she knew it was. She always locked it. She just needed something to take up time so that she could wait longer to go inside. Looking up at the cold steel and glass building made her stomach clench. Her mother was in there. She'd been in there for months.
Rory looked around and began walking towards the hospital slowly, not wanting to have to go inside. But she needed to see her mom. She hadn't been since the day of the accident. But she'd told herself that before she left she would visit...and here she was. The woman working at the desk told her the floor and room number of Lorelai Hayden, and too soon Rory found herself outside of the off-white door.
She bit the knuckle of her index finger and closed her eyes tightly, resting her other hand on the door. The people walking by didn't even spare her a glance. She guessed that it wasn't unusual to see someone hesitant to go inside on these rooms. Her hand slid from halfway up the door, down to the handle and she gripped it tightly before letting her finger fall from her mouth and twisting the cold metal. The handle clicked and she was able to push the heavy door open easily.
She was able to open it, but didn't want to. It slowly fell open, though, and she felt her stomach tighten as she walked into the room and clenched her fingers together, keeping her elbows straight and her arms in front of her. The room was painted a sandy color and there was a large chair sitting in one corner. A TV sat inside a cabinet across from the bed and there was a vase of flowers on a shelf below the TV. A small table with two chairs sat against the same wall as the television cabinet. On the wall across from the door was a large window with the curtains open to let the afternoon sun stream in. That made her smile. Her mother would have preferred a room with a window to one without.
And that was when her eyes fell on the woman in the bed. Her dark hair looked even richer when laid out on a white pillowcase. Her face had been covered in scratches from the wreck, but they were almost all healed and it didn't look like there would be any scarring. She tucked her own straighter, lighter hair behind her ear and pulled one of the chairs from the table over next to the bed. She slid into it slowly and clasped her hands together, staring at her mother's peaceful face. You would almost think she was sleeping, with the gentle rise and fall of her chest.
Rory bit her lip and scratched the back of her head, sniffing lightly. "Uhh, hey mom." she said quietly. "I uh, I don't really know why I'm here. I just haven't come in a while." she fell silent and looked away, swearing under her breath. This was ridiculous. She almost stood, but stopped herself. She'd said she would do this and she was going to. She looked back over at her mother. "The boys are good. Dad's been working a lot, but he needs something to do with his time now that you aren't around the house to play with him anymore." she choked on her words and swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing, and her voice cracked, "Shane broke up with his girlfriend, but that's okay cause we never really liked her. Blake and Maddy are still together though."
She inhaled deeply, what could she say in this one-sided conversation? "If I do well on my exams then I'll be in the top two percentile of my class. I'm already in National Honors Society." she looked down, "But you knew that already. Blake's been doing really well in school, though. He'd trying more this year."
She sniffed and rubbed her nose, looking around the room for some inspiration, but the walls were silent. "Um, honestly, I don't know why I came, and I don't really have anything to say other than...I ...miss you. I guess. I mean, yes, I do miss you, and I guess that's all I really have to say." she said it uncertainly, looking down at her hands, "I found out why Tristan left. It was because of me. I mean, I know you always liked him even though you pretended not to. I just figured you'd want to know why he left. You won't believe it though. It's crazy. It was because of me. He had to break up with me or leave, so he decided to leave. But that ended with us splitting up anyway, so I guess it was kind of pointless." she broke off, sniffing again.
She looked up at her mother's still form and tilted her head, "They're sending us away. Me and Blake and Shane. They're making us go to England because dad can't handle us anymore...he really misses you." she whispered the last part. "I mean, like I said, I have no idea what I'm doing here. It's just that... I feel like you're always so lonely, sitting alone in here all day. I figured you'd like some company." she was quiet. "Actually, no, you're not always alone. Grandma comes up here all the time." Rory smiled lightly, biting her lip, "She comes and just sits, watching you. She'll crochet or make phone calls or draw up menus for DAR parties. But she's always here. Five days a week. Dad come every once in a while and just watches you breathe. A few years ago he told me that right after you got married he loved to just sit and watch you breathe." she laughed lightly, "He also said that you would wake up and throw pillows at him and tell him that if you didn't love him so much you might think he was a stalker."
She touched the bed lightly, inhaling slowly, "I just...I wanted to say bye before I left." her hand slid up until her fingertips were resting on the back of her mother's hand, "Our plane leaves at five o'clock on the second." she whispered, biting her lip, "So I'll be seeing you." she choked out the last sentence before standing up and running the heel of her hand over her eyes to wipe away the tears that were forming in them but hadn't yet fallen. She laughed at herself humorlessly and shook her head before walking out the door and making her way to the car on autopilot, not really seeing anything.
NORTH CAROLINA
Tristan walked into the courtyard, his surprise and confusion still showing on his face. His three friends looked up and began asking what they had wanted. He'd been called up to the clinic because he had a phone call from home, which was surprising in itself because all of his friends from back north called his cell phone. Only his parents would have called the school, and he hadn't heard from them since he'd arrived five months ago.
He just shook his head, making his way over to them and sitting down. The other three fell silent, seeing that he was obviously confused. Kyle was the first to speak after the silence, "Well?"
Tristan looked over at him as if he didn't recognize him, "My dad called. They want me to come home for a few days."
"What?" Rick asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Yeah. I know. He's a fucking nut. They want me to go back for a week. Just a week and then they want me to come back here for the rest of the summer." he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples to soothe his splitting headache. "And then after the summer he said we'd look at my progress and talk. Fucking talk. He said he might want me to go back to Chilton for my Junior or Senior year." He looked up at the other three to see their surprised faces and he shook his head in disbelief, "He's crazy. I'm gonna call the men in white coats to come check him out. He wants to send me here for half of my Sophomore year, keep me here for a summer and then 'maybe' bring me back next school year." He continued to shake his head, "Fucking crazy."
Kyle and Stewart glanced at each other uncertainly, "Is there a reason he wants you to come back for a week?"
Tristan looked over at him, "Oh, yeah." he said as if suddenly remembering there was a reason for his going back, "My grandfather's birthday is June fifth and he's getting up there in years, so they want me to come home for a few days to visit him since I'm his favorite."
"Psh. You're his favorite?" Rick asked.
"Hell yeah I am. Everyone loves me." Tristan replied, grinning.
The other boy just rolled his eyes as Stewart spoke, all of them knowing how much their newest friend hated his father, "Mm. That'll be fun." he said sarcastically.
He shrugged, shaking his head. "I can avoid my parents all week. And the flight won't be too bad. It's only like, an hour and a half."
"When do you leave?"
He was silent for a moment, trying to remember the time. "The second. My flight's at three, so I'll get there about 4: 30."
Rick just snorted, remembering all the complaining Tristan had done about his father, "Whatever man, I don't envy you." But they all knew the reason he didn't mind going back wasn't because he suddenly like his father. No, they were all perfectly aware that he was expecting to run into a certain blue-eyed brunette.
Tristan shrugged, swallowing the lump in his throat and pushing the thought of her from his mind, "It won't be that bad." he said quietly, as if trying to convince himself. The other three just snorted, not believing him for a second.
When everything is wrong
We move along
Go on, go on
When everything is wrong
We move along
When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Move along