I wake up at half twelve in the morning, my stomach rumbling loudly and making me feel very sick. I debate staying and trying to get back to sleep, thinking maybe I can ignore it, but I come to the conclusion that I can't. I'll throw up before I get to sleep. So I unlock the door and pad downstairs quietly to the kitchen, opening the kitchen door to come face to face with Rod.
"Hungry?" He asks, holding out his bowl of noodles. I take them off him slowly and nod. "I'll make more" He turns to the hob and grabs another packet whilst I eat his. "Feelin' o'right?"
"I guess" I shrug, forking in some more noodles before he could ask anything else.
"I went for a run to clear my head; not done that for a while" He attempts a low laugh, but it comes out as a happy kind of sigh. "...It'll be ok" He adds.
"I have this really bad...gut feeling that things aren't going to be OK at all" I mumble, setting the quickly finished noodles to the side and leaning on the counter. "I think im going to go back to bed" I turn to leave. "You should too. These midnight meetings are becoming too freaky" Rod laughs.
"You just ate my noodles, I'm not goin' to bed till I've eaten a decent dinner" I leave him to it and trudge back to my room, flopping on the bed and easing myself into a deep slumber, without bothering to wrap myself in my blanket, in the hopes that it'd swallow me whole.
Tuesday 15th December.
Rod doesn't fail to remind me in the morning about my anger management. Neither does Skyar as he drops me off at school. Again. I skip my chocolate cereal and have water instead of hot chocolate; I feel sick again. The feeling doesn't go away throughout the whole day; I leave my A.M session early because I feel like I'm about to throw up. Be it nerves, suspense, irritation or simply just sick¸I didn't feel myself. The day ends surprisingly quickly. The police are still hanging around, asking people things, eyeing me, BB and A just as suspiciously as before.
It's hard not to look guilty when you're terrified of the end result.
Wednesday 16th December.
Tiredly, the week continues. I sluggishly wake, desperate to stay in bed just an hour longer. Rod wakes me today, sitting on my bed and saying things that I'm too tired to listen to or to understand, so I just grumble as he talks about something to do with (probably) something unimportant. I sit up, my hair a mess and my body feeling weak.
"This thing is doing your health in" Rod frowns. "I can get you the day off" I shake my head.
"BB n' A need me" I yawn. "I think its a slob-day for me" I shift off the bed and shuffle over to the wardrobe, leaving the curtains shut as I tug out a pair of old jeans and a baggy black T-shirt. I scan for my old converse, they're probably a size too small. I find them and I'm slightly pleased to find I'm right. However this doesn't stop me from wearing them anyway. Rod is downstairs when I'm showered, washed and clothed. Skyar looks at me like a stranger and I smirk, proving that I'm still me.
"I don't need to wear leather to be a sexy bitch" I attempt my usual sarcastic face, but I fail. "Whatever" I mumble to myself as Skyar laughs, getting my bag from the bottom of the stairs and following him out the door. He's driving me again.
I receive critical, analytical and highly mortified looks as I pace through the building for the third time this week. I was sure that these people I called my fellow class-peoples had seen me not in leather before, however it seemed like I was something similar to an alien. None the less, I take my usual place in the main hall next to BB and A until the bell rings.
"You look normal today Melly, and for some reason, it's odd. You look odd, normal"
"Thanks A" I huff lightly, smiling away the none-existant offense.
"I fail to see how your sex appeal has been affected by this; Mello still looks his old bad-ass self without his whorish leather" I gape at BB, wondering if he actually just said that. "Just sayin'..." I sigh and fall back into my seat. 'Well, whilst we're taking digs at eachother...'
"I love your shirt BB, I mean, it's awesome all black and black – look at those colours!" I mock childishly. "And those shoes? So incredibly fashionable"
"Mock me all you want Mello, I am not the one being followed by the paparrazi"
"He's right Melly, they've been hanging around the school since half seven this morning y'know" I blink.
"You hadn't noticed?" BB chuckles. "There I was thinking you were observant, noticing my incredibly fashionable shoes and my colourful shirt" I leave the comment lone, texting Rod as a warning. A warning for himself, if they happen to pop around, and just in case I do something stupid, like hit the camera man or the photographer or the reporter (like last time); it'll be justified if I text him first.
Lessons begins and I'm separated from BB and A once more. It's math, so I plod along quicker than the others. I've finished the whole section in the first half an hour, and with an hour to spare, I spend the next half an hour thinking about everything. I look out the window a bit, half expecting a reporter to jump up and go "boo!" and snap my picture or something. Need I remind you that this school wasn't just an average high school, it was well respected and very very very hard to get into, so you can imagine the types of people that make up the population of the place. They're mainly rich snobs, probably myself included, who have well off parents who can afford to send them to such a place. BB and A were an exception; they were under scholarships, so as long as they maintained their high grades (which they always did, whether they missed a week or not), they kept their places. So having reporters around wasn't exactly something new for the school, or for me (having a teenage model sister kinda' changes things), but it didn't make it any less annoying than I already found it. Half an hour into my thinking and the teacher looks over my shoulder.
"Mello, have you finished?" He asks quietly. I hand him my work and he smiles gratefully. "I'll look it over, though I'm sure I don't need to. Do you have anything else you can be doing?" No.
"Yeah"
"You get on with that and I'll get this back to you when I can" He walks off with my sheet and I pull out a spare piece of paper, pretending to write useful things on it. Really, I was doodling random circles.
Throughout the whole day, I find my concentration slipping. I keep thinking that there's no point in doing this because I get it already, I could be doing something useful and instead, I'm here? Part of me wants to storm out of school altogether, but I don't because I know how much it means to Rod that I'm here. So I sit solemnly in the back and pretend to be ok with it, only finally getting to breathe a sigh of content when I see BB and A in the lesson before lunch, Science. We give eachother a silent nod, though I get a slight smile from A, so I smile back. Feeling drained and tired, I don't bother to take notes on what an atom looks like because I know I have a book on all of this somewhere under my bed. Half way through the lesson, two of the police officers that have been scouting the school for suspects enter, looking official and cocky and arrogant.
"Sorry for the interruption" One says to the teacher, leaving the other to turn to the class and say;
"We'd very much appreciate it if Beyond came with us?" The teacher looked stunned for a second, before echoing-
"Beyond Birthday?" The officer nodded, looking directly at BB. A's eyes widened, and I saw his hand dive for BB's in a desperate attempt to keep him in his seat. BB simply smirked.
"It would be best if you came willingly" The officer encouraged. I couldn't help but notice they were both female. Two (comparatively weak) females wouldn't be able to take BB by force. I grinned at the thought. BB shakes off A's hand awkwardly, shuffling towards them before staring them down.
"And why would you need to talk to silly ol' me? Hm?"
"Outside please, in private" She states, ushering him out of the room. A looks petrified beside me, like a frozen statue.
"They're just looking for someone to blame, don't think too much of it" I try to ease his nerves, but he spends the rest of the lesson (whilst BB is presumably with them) wrapping his fingers over each other with his legs drawn up, breathing rhythmically without so much as giving me a glance. I don't know how A will react if they decide to arrest BB, but I don't want to find out.
BB comes back in before the lesson ends, everyone watching him like a hawk as he opens and comes through the door, shutting it behind him and walking to his seat. Myself included. He sits back down, his face blankly staring at the board, his expression giving nothing away. I watch as A takes his hand in his once again, but BB doesn't shake it away. His thumb strokes over A's pale skin lightly, comfortingly. It's unnerving how much BB's presence can put so much life back into A's eyes; he's smiling now, even doing some of the work with his spare and available hand.
By the end of the day, I feel like I've survived another war. We head out to the limo, as I've insisted that we take BB and A home every day for safety reasons. As we come out of the main doors however, the cameras and the reporters are waiting. A panics and jumps behind BB; I take his hand comfortingly in mine and plaster a fake smile on my apologetic face, mumbling things like 'Sorry, not got time' or 'Not now, sorry' whilst I weave my way through the people.
A's latched onto my hand, in the middle of me and BB, who's on the other end. I hear one reporter loud and clear as she accuses us three being involved with Derricks attack. I stop in my tracks and am fully set on giving her a mouthful, but Skyar appears at my side and directs me away to the limo. I'm still holding A's hand, and he's holding onto BB, so we three get there safely. Just as we're about to get in, the two female police officers from before come over, a few male ones accompanying them. A's eyes widen again, his chest fluttering up and down as his breaths quicken.
"Beyond Birthday?" BB looks up at his name, grinning. "and Mello, of course" I shrug at my name, then she turns hesitantly to the one in the middle. "That makes you, A?" She looks puzzled, as to why he doesn't have a full name. "Would you mind if we talked to you? It'd only take a few minutes"
"You want to talk to A?" I frown, confused. "He has nothing to do with this"
"Nothing to do with what, Mr Keehl?" I scoff and fold my arms over my chest. "A, do you mind?"
"Uh..." A's horror stricken face is evident; he backs up towards BB, his hand tightening in mine. "I-...i don't-"
"He does mind" BB offers. "He won't be going with you alone, put it that way" The officer looks irritated.
"It's important that we question you separately. He will have to be interviewed alone"
"Then you won't be interviewing him" BB counteracts. "I told you what you needed to know on everything, including A. You have no reason to question him"
"Then we'll have to arrest you for obscuring us and take him for questioning by force. Everything you told us was simply your own opinion in your own perspective" BB looks mad and A, the poor thing, looks ready to faint. Skyar steps forward.
"Isn't there somewhere else we can do this?" He glances at the media, still outside the door looking for a shred of information that they could distort and tear to pieces.
"I-I can't go with you" A stutters, tears forming in his eyes. "I won't"
"You're sure?" A gives a definite nod and the police officer steps forwards, pulling out some handcuffs. "Then I'm sorry-"
"Hey! He said no!" BB makes a swing at the officer, more of a threat than an intention to hurt. He dives in front of A and scowls.
"Look, A's scared of being alone, or separated from people he knows – it's a medical condition or something, isn't that in your file?" I try. The other officer checks hesitantly. "No, I'm sorry. A, you'll have to come with us now"
"You're not taking him" BB assures them coldly. "He's not involved"
"Involved in what, Beyond?" The police officer looks fed up now, and makes a move to grab A. I jump forwards, taking her wrist cautiously. Skyar protests behind me.
"Please" I ask. "Let BB go with him – at least to the station; there's no need to arrest him-" Before I can finish my sentence, BB flies at the officer, who falls to the ground pathetically as BB shouts heaven down with curses. I watch helplessly as A begins to cry, begging BB to stop as he threatens the officers. Skyar steps in, moving me aside and grabbing BB, pulling him back. He attempts to apologise, to make up somehow for BB's actions, but they don't listen. They push Skyar aside and move to arrest BB instead.
"You're arresting him?" I blurt, eyes wide, stepping closer to A. BB says nothing, simply grinning that evil grin he gets when he 'thinks too much' and stepping towards the officers. I glance at the media; they're having a field day.