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The smell of sickness permeated in the air as I stepped into my father's room, eyeing the bundle of a man huddled up underneath the duvet. He'd fallen ill last night with a high fever, and terrible cough. Though he'd tried to keep me away from his 'germ-fest', as he'd so eloquently phrased it, I could hear him coughing his organs out through the walls and had kept him company late into the night until he'd fallen asleep. Granted that meant I hadn't gotten anything short of a wink of sleep but when it came to my old man, I didn't mind it one bit.

"Makayla," he half-croaked, half-snorted through an awfully nasal voice. "You should be in school."

"And you should be at work." I set the tray of food down on the bed, helping him get up as he coughed heavily and blinked away the tiredness in his eyes. "I made you a healthy breakfast. And your pills are right there," I said, pointing at the night stand where I'd left his cold medicine. "Eat up, rest well and don't even think about sneaking off into your office room."

"But, I have this thing-"

"I'm sure it can wait," I snapped, sternly. "The reason you're sick in the first place is because of all those extra shifts you've been taking on!"

Dad flinched at my tone and withdrew deeper into his blanket, refusing to meet my eye. I sighed, realizing that despite his age, he had the heart of a five year old: loving, but super sensitive. I sat down next to him and took his hand, not caring for the whine of protest he made for 'infecting' me.

"It's just the two of us, dad. I need for you to be okay just as much as you need me. Please, just get better okay?" I leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. "I have a free period before lunch so I'll come home and fix something up for you."

"Are you sure?" Dad's eyebrows furrowed deeper together. "I've already made you miss your first class. You won't get in trouble right?"

"Let's just say it pays to have the student council president on my side." I grinned and stood up, giving dad a little wave goodbye and reminding him, for the last time, to stay in bed and rest well before backing out of the room and hurrying into mine. As much as I wanted to stay behind and help dad get better, with exam pressure piling up on us as seniors, missing my AP classes came at quite a cost. My eyes flickered to the clock on my table. I still had twenty minutes left before second period started. I should be able to make it.

**

"Ms. Summers. It's awfully nice of you to grace us with your presence minutes before the bell."

I panted by the open doorway, my bag hanging haphazardly off my shoulder and nearly touching the floor as I slumped against the side and breathed loudly through my mouth, earning quite a few laughs from my fellow classmates. Luckily for me, I had managed to make it earlier than expected for the start of the second period but unfortunately, that meant bumping into Mrs. Hammond before the end of her class. Judging by the way she was sizing me up with her beady black eyes, the old crow was not pleased.

"How many more classes of mine are you planning on cutting for this semester?"

"This is just the one, ma'am," I replied, not sounding as sassy I had hoped.

Her eyes narrowed. "It better be, if you want your final grade to look any better than the future of the so called Literature your fellow degenerates produce."

It'll look better than your future if you don't get out of my face, that's for sure.

I bit down the retort as a couple losers at the back wolf-whistled at Mrs. Hammond's low-blow at me. With a final pained smile in her direction, I stepped aside from the doorway to let her out and closed my eyes in restraint as she slammed the door shut behind me.

"Something tells me if Mrs. Hammond had a death note, your name would be the first to make the cut."

Damien's voice, his teasing jab at the little spectacle caught me by total surprise. I followed the voice to the first row, where he sat with his notebook lying on an open, filled page and a smile breaking across his face. Masking my surprise with a laugh, I disregarded his joke and pointed out the irony of where he was sitting.

"First row? Since when?"

"Since my grades started to drop for missing a couple classes."

I smirked. "Hold the couple."

I turned to the nerd sitting next to Damien, who, frankly, seemed awed to be in our very presence. Color flooded into his cheeks when he realized I was looking at him and he stumbled for words before I even had anything to say.

"Hey. Freddie, right? Would you mind finding another seat? I really want to sit next to this sore loser over here," I said sweetly, jutting my thumb over at Damien who pouted at me.

"Oh y-y-eah, s-sure. Anything for you." He practically tripped over air as he stood up and gathered his things in one arm messily, leaving the desk unoccupied for me. I gave him a warm thanks and set my bag down on the floor, sliding into the now free desk but not before giving Leo and Nick, sitting in our usual spots near the back, a small wave. Nick waved back. Leo gave me an imperceptible nod. I didn't make much of it as I turned to face the smiling Damien.

"So, feeling better?" I asked, noticing the color that had returned to his face, and his now bright and upbeat mannerisms. It was nice. He was okay, or as okay as he could be right now. But something told me in the way he grinned that he wasn't faking his happiness.

"Loads. It's good to be back."

"It's good to have you back."

"Awh," Damien cooed, leaning in with a flirty grin. "Did the princess miss her loving stable boy?"

Normally, I would have flicked him for bringing up that running joke but this time, all I could was smile and nod, causing Damien's dancing green eyes to widen.

"Yeah. She missed her stable boy a lot."

Before Damien could say anything to reply to that, Mr. Waters walked into the room with the kind of strut that told me he was up to no good. For one, our History teacher looked far too delighted to see us. He seemed even happier to see Damien and I in the front row, as he shot us both a sparkly white grin. Yeah, something was definitely up.

"Alright, everyone, settle down!" He waited for the class to buzz to a quiet before continuing. "Now, as much as I'd love to get the ball rolling and start on the new chapter, I'd first like to make a tiny announcement regarding your next project."

The groans that rose through the air could have brought the building down. No wonder Mr. Waters was in a good mood. He loved bringing us news that would kill any chance of us having a social life and replaced that with hours spent at the library for research.

"Stop with all your booing!" he snapped. "This is a fun one, I guarantee it!"

"History's never fun, Mr. Waters! I bet it's going to be research about a few more dead people."

Mr. Waters frowned at the snarky whine but he didn't say anything, pretty much confirming that that indeed was exactly what we were going to do. Clearing his throat, he said in a less-excited tone, "Partner up, and check your Moodle accounts when you get home. The details of the project will have been sent to you all. And yes, Mr. Williams, it is about dead people. Get over it."

He turned his back on the next chorus of groans from the class, but I for one, did not participate in their sorrows. Instead, I saw this as an opportunity and turned to Damien who was already looking at me with an expectant grin.

"Takes you back, doesn't it?"

I chuckled at his words, recounting the first time we'd worked together on a history project. Back when all I wanted to do was murder the self-proclaimed 'stable boy'. Feeling my lips curl up into a soft smile of its own, I realized just how much things had changed. Reaching out, I took his hand and shook it.

"Let's do it, partner." 

--- CHAPTER END ---

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