CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

Monday had arrived and that meant that Brent would be returning to school. The bus ride to school was interesting, to say the least. Ivy's stomach had twisted into a ball of worry. She knew that Finn had been heavily involved in what had happened, and if things came to it, Brent might go after Finn. The rest of her friends shared the same fears and glanced cautiously at Lionel and Finn. Both boys were unusually silent.
"Finn?" Ivy nudged his side. "You alright?"
Her friend nodded and flashed a grin. "I'm great. How about you?"

"Good." Ivy chewed her lip, unsure whether to believe him.
Cinder spoke up. "What do you think will happen?"
Lionel shrugged. "No idea. But if he does something, I won't let him get away with it."

Ben laughed nervously. "That's comforting."
The rest of the bus journey was spent in silence until they reached the school. Ivy and Finn walked shoulder-to-shoulder. Dana had disappeared with Ben. A pang of guilt hit Ivy but she pushed it away. It was Dana's fault for eavesdropping.

"What do you have first?" Finn asked.
Ivy sighed. "Science."
"Wait, doesn't Brent have that class with you?" He narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I can handle myself." Ivy rolled her eyes. "I should be asking you the same question."

Finn smiled. "Yeah, yeah. Tell someone if something happens."
"I will." Ivy waved a goodbye. "Don't do anything stupid!"

The boys had started to get changed for sports and there was an air of awkwardness. Thankfully, Brent did not have the lesson with them. Ben hovered in the corner, trying to stay away from those that might trample him - namely Lionel and Tyler. He spotted Finn and weaved his way through the boys until he reached the redhead.
"Hey." He tugged at his shirt. "Have you seen Brent yet?"
"Nope." Finn scratched his neck. "Thankfully. Have you?"
Ben nodded. "Yeah, I have. He did not look happy."

Finn crossed his arms. "What sort of not-happy? Angry?"
"More like furious." Ben pushed a hand through his hair. "I would not want to have the same class as him."
"No..." Finn started moving away. "Tell the teacher that I'll be back soon!"

Tyler caught sight of Finn getting away and raised his voice. "Oi! Finn! Where are you going?"
The redhead kept moving. Ben glowered at Tyler and shouted back, "Shut up, Tyler!"

Ivy had found herself increasingly nervous as she scrambled to her Science class. When she arrived, Brent had not gotten to class yet. She hoped that he would not come back to her class and started the lesson with high hopes. But her wish was not met, when Brent wandered in with Mr Heavern behind him. The principal spoke to Mr Terrell and then gestured for the dark-haired boy to go to his seat.
Brent took his place beside Ivy and avoided her stare. Mr Heavern left and Mr Terrell took to the front of the class.

"Right, let's all say a 'welcome back' to Brent!" The teacher pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Today, we're going to do an experiment-"
The man met the eyes of Ivy and Brent, and then wringed his hands. He cleared his throat.
"Uh, actually." He scratched his head. "That might not be a good idea. How about a quiz?"

The class shouted in protest and Mr Terrell pressed his lips together. "Okay. We'll do an experiment..."
Everyone got the experiment set up. Ivy had just finished pouring the chemical solution when Mr Terrell came to their table.
"Please, please don't set my lab on fire again." He grinned. "I get that you are enthusiastic but I'd appreciate it if you didn't."
Ivy nodded. "I'll try not to. But you never know. I might be unable to contain my excitement about, uh, chemistry."

Mr Terrell clapped his hands together. "That's the spirit, Ivy. Chemistry is obviously the best Science subcategory-"
After that, Ivy zoned out. Eventually, the enthusiastic teacher left them to their experiment and she was finally able to focus on Brent and the lesson ahead.
"Pass me that test tube." Brent gestured for the tube.
Ivy stretched out her hand and passed it to him. "So, what was that fight all about?"
"Nothing." Brent gritted his teeth. "Can you get the Bunsen Burner set up for me?"

Ivy shrugged and began to set the equipment up, when a clatter of footsteps came from the hallway. Mr Terrell furrowed his eyebrows and a second later, the familiar redhead flew into the room. He came to a sliding halt and searched the class until he found Ivy, who glowered at her friend.
"What is wrong with you?" Ivy spat. "Why are you here?"
Finn flashed a goofy grin and leaned awkwardly on the table. "I, uh, needed to ask you about where we were meeting, so that we could, uh, walk home."
"What?" Ivy blinked. "We're not-"

Finn jabbed a finger in her direction. "Yes, we are. Remember?"
"Um." Ivy leaned forward. "Tell me why you're here, now. Don't you dare lie to me, Finn."
The boy scratched the back of his neck and hissed back, "I heard that Brent was here."
"So?" Ivy snapped.

The boy cleared his throat. "Has he done anything sketchy? Said anything? If he has-"
"Finn." Ivy rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you need to stop being so protective. And, no, he hasn't done anything. He's actually being nice, sort of."
"Nice?" Finn narrowed his eyes. "It must be a clone. Brent doesn't do nice."

Mr Terrell waved at Finn. "Come on, you need to go now. Otherwise, I'll have to call the principle and he doesn't want to see you again."
"Aw, but I was just starting to enjoy our little meetings." Finn grinned. "Right, I'll see you later, Ivy. Keep an eye on him."
"Yeah, yeah." Ivy pushed him playfully. "Go away, you little meddling kid."

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