Thorn [Farkle Minkus]

[01] Back at School

It was the first day back at school from Christmas break and Ellie left for school with her brothers.

Ellie walked in through the halls, wanting to get to her first period class.

Some many of her peers greeted her as she passed. She greeted them back and waved as she did, but she was processing what was happening around her.

"Ellie," she heard Aaron say her name. "Ellie. Ellie!"

The third time he said her name made her snap out of it. His name sounded so distant and far away.

"Huh?" she said.

"Are you okay?" Aaron asked.

"Y - yeah, I'm okay," Ellie said.

"Are you sure?" Anthony asked. "You seem..."

"Spaced out," Aaron said.

Anthony nodded.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I guess I'm just out of it."

"Where did you disappear off to back at the New Years party?" Anthony asked.

"Yeah, you were there when midnight hit, but disappeared when we went back into the apartment," Aaron added.

"I left," she said, scratching her forehead. "I just wasn't feeling it."

"Are you okay?" Anthony asked. "Like, really okay?"

"I - I don't know," she said. "I think I'm okay."

"You know you can tell us anything, right?" Aaron reminded her.

"Yeah, I know," she said. "I... I don't want to talk about it."

Anthony nodded and Aaron looked at Ellie, with concern written on his face, but didn't say anything.

The bell rang and everyone went to class.

***

After school ended, Ellie went to school. She spent the entire day in her bedroom.

Thankfully, Ellie didn't have any homework for today and she was able to spend the day not doing anything.

Anna checked up on Ellie more often than usual. She knew that there was something wrong with Ellie and made sure that Ellie was okay and made sure that Ellie ate something.

"Do I have to go to school tomorrow?" Ellie asked Anna.

"Do you feel sick?" Anna asked, placing her hand on Ellie's shoulder.

"No, but... I'm just not up for going to school," Ellie said. "I dont have a reason but..."

Anna looked at Ellie concerned. Ellie may not be admitting what was wrong, but Anna knew something was up. She had a feeling that there is something going on that Ellie doesn't want to talk about.

"Alright," Anna said. "You can miss school tomorrow."

"Thank you," Ellie said, smiling weakly.

Relief washed over Ellie when Anna agreed to let her skip school the following day.

Ellie spent the rest of the day in her bedroom, not leaving her room much. She asked Anna to bring up her dinner to her room. 

Justin and Tyler came up to her room to see what she was doing and keeping her company. Tyler brought his deck of Uno. He, Justin and Ellie began to play Uno for an hour. Anna joined them an hour in.

After playing Uno, Ellie felt better know she has her brothers and Anna there for her, but that didn't give her the motivation to got to school the following day. 

She didn't think she was the in the right state of mind to go back to school. She just needed another day off from school to properly to school. She knew school was important, especially now that she was in high school, but she still needed to skip a day of school and just to get herself together.