Day 6: (Ab)normal Days

He smiled at Eloise and waved. "Hey, feeling any better?" he said while walking over to her. He noticed Herbert and stiffened up a bit - he couldn't exactly do nothing. He had to do...something!

"Herb, come over here! C'mon, don't sit over there all by yourself." he called over, standing next to Eloise. "We ain't gonna bite. Promise!"

Monobear's expression shifted to a smile as he left the nurse's office.  Even with his stubby legs, he quickly returned to the main office, where he sat down in his chair before reading out the name of the next student to visit.

"Adda Geist to the main office, Adda Geist," he couldn't suppress his chuckles towards the end.  He was in such a good mood today.

Adda clenched her fists.
"Dam-dangit," she sighed, catching herself.  She put her bag back on, then smiled to Marci.

"I've got no intention of humoring the bear, so I should be quick."

With that she quickly covered the distance to the main office and entered.

"W...w-what?!" Marci gasped. "U-um, elaborate please?" Was this a ghost thing? Could they summon Oscar or something? Was that even the moral thing to do in this situation?!

The bear's voice rang out, and she looked up at Adda.

"...I think you have to go." she said simply. "Er, we can talk about this after my meeting?" she said warily, not sure of what on earth Adda was talking about, but curious nonetheless.

Laura furrowed her brow as Monobear left the infirmary. She wasn't going to let his mind games get to her. She had made her decision, and there was no way that the one who got her into the whole mess would convince her to throw her future away. She stuffed her face into her pillow and tried to fall back asleep.

Herbert stood up stiffly and quickly, as if David's voice was a cue he was waiting for. he laughed a little. God, did he look like a tool.

He walked over, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Er, sorry 'bout that. M' a bit sore from last night, see?" His eyes flicked to David. It was a tacit little cue.

David peered at Herbert curiously, then shrugged. "Really? I'm fine, I think." Of course, he knew exactly what they were talking about this time - it was one of the things he thought about while pacing for what appeared to be hours. 

"...sorry," he mumbled quietly, "let's not do that again." He scratched his neck, making sure to not touch the blood there. He looked down, then to the kitchen.

 "So, I'm starving," he said to no one in particular, "I'm gonna get myself some food. Be back in a cinch." with that, he walked off to the kitchen, excusing himself and  giving neither of them another look.

"Oh, well, a little." Eloise lied. It wasn't horrendous, but the real pain had only just caught up with her now. She squinted against the harsh cafeteria light, which she could've sworn was a lot a softer before and then finally took notice of Herbert. She was in such a rush getting the breakfasts that she didn't notice him.

Something seemed a bit off
"You two okay?" She turned to Herbert, most concerned for the guy who had lost an eye the day before, "The eye's alright, right?" David left and she shrugged, now daring to take a bite of the apple.

Adda stalked out of the room, furious for once.  She couldn't believe that Monobear would try something so low, something that he shockingly knew would resonate deep with her.

"Marci Gracidon, please report to the main office."
This time he tried to use a British accent.  Just like Shakespeare.  He wrote a little poetry, Monobear thought.

She got out of her chair and walked down to the main office. She tried to remain relatively calm, but when she saw Adda storming away, she second guessed herself.

She opened the door, looking in anxiously.

Herbert tried to give a good spirited chuckle. "Ah, yhea... Perhaps not for a while. S'not... good to do that too much..." he trailed off as David walked away.

He decided to turn to Eloise. "Er, s'fine. Tho yer worse off. Are you... ok? Better?"

As Adda was about to enter the library, she remembered leaving her notebook with Laura.  She blushed a bit, thinking of how foolish it was to leave something so personal lying around.  She quickly backtracked to the nurse's office and entered slowly, like before.

Eloise couldn't help but betray an eye of complete suspicion. Something was up, and was going to find out what.

"Eh, better," she lied again, "But an eyes a bit more than a few brain cells. You sleep well?"

Suddenly, Laura remembered the food that Adda had left on the side of the bed. A bagel and a bottle of water. It was no feast, but Laura wasn't incredibly hungry. She munched on the bagel while thinking about what Monobear had said. How could he call her weak?

Not only that, but Laura had come to realize that she didn't just need to be strong for herself. Her classmates needed her to be strong as well. They wouldn't be able to ever escape this messed up school otherwise. Monobear was wrong. Laura had made the right decision. 

After finishing up her meager meal, Laura laid down the empty water bottle on the side of her bed. She noticed Adda's book next to it, and figured she might as well read something. Or at least try to, since her vision was getting better. She grabbed the book and began flipping through the pages, not noticing Adda walk in.

He grabbed a bagel and buttered it carefully. As he was walking back, he took a bite. It was pretty good, surprisingly. He reached them without a word, just listening to their conversation about injuries. He buried his head into his shoulders, trying to hide his oddly placed cut - he hadn't quite come up with a reasonable cover for it yet. Which was a very risky and bad idea.

"Hm? Oh I sleeped jest foine. Mebbe only four hours? I was wit David." Herbert said, shrugging.

"Tho... er... ya ain't outta tha bush just yet with tha concussion. Still not good to have that...." He mumbled. "My eye's not as bad, loike it ain't loike I'm gonna get any stupider."

At first, Adda assumed Laura was rereading the conversation.  She soon noticed, however, that Laura was reading no where near the end of the book where the conversation occurred.  Her face reddened, a mixture of embarrassment and shock, as she stepped closer.

Eloise's eyebrows rose further, she wasn't entirely sure if he just called her stupid and she was too tired and concussed to really figure it out.

"Well, I tried not to sleep. Can't sleep with a concussion, but I did a pretty bad job. I guess, watch out for infections. And stuff," she turned to David now, seeing his return.
"Are...you okay?" she noticed his odd posture, trying to think back to the explosion. Was he there? She couldn't recall.

Laura noticed Adda walk in and was slightly startled to see her classmate appear out of nowhere. "S-sorry!" she stammered, shutting the book closed. She figured she didn't need to write out her apology. "I didn't read anything. Just flipping through 'cause I was bored." It was true, Laura didn't get a chance to look closely at any of the pages. And she wasn't entirely sure she could read them anyway.

Adda waved dismissively, taking the book back gently.  She tore a page out and wrote out a quick note.

"I'm sorry, I need to meet Marci.  And don't worry about the book.  Whether you read it or not doesn't matter- it's a dad's job to embarrass his daughter."  She wave as she left, and she began to run down the hall, determined, once she cleared the nurse's office.

She walked out of the main office calmly, looking around for any signs of anyone in the hallways.

"David River, to the office please!  Your ride is waiting."

Laura blinked. It was the second time Adda ran out of the room without waiting for a response, and Laura felt a little bit unsettled. She read over the note and figured that maybe Adda was just busy. She hoped so, at least. But she hadn't even gotten a chance to ask for the favor she had been planning on.

If another person came in to visit, Laura would be sure to ask them to retrieve it for her.

"Me? I'm fine, don't worry!" he scoffed. "Worry about yourself, a'ight?"

He looked up at the speaker. "My turn, then. Have fun, you two. Don't miss me that much!" with that, he walked towards the Main Office and walked in.