Darn Stupid Brother You Are by Mairee

Chapter 13

(Hendrix's POV)

I finally decided to leave my room, after days of hiding away. My health had been a convenient excuse to avoid everyone, but I knew I couldn't stay hidden forever. I made my way to my therapy session, hoping to avoid any encounters with Angel. I wasn't ready to face her yet, to answer her questions about what happened at the infirmary.

As I walked out of the dorm, I ran into Eddie, one of my roommates coming into the room. Instead of getting in as intended, he followed me instead. He was a careless guy with a crude sense of humor, always making jokes and causing trouble. "Hendrix! What's up, man?" Eddie exclaimed, surprised to see me leave the room.

I didn't respond, just nodded and kept walking.

"Whoa, okay, dude, no need to be rude," Eddie said, falling into step beside me.

"I'm glad you're finally out of hibernation!" Eddie said and laughed at his own joke.

"We all thought you were going to hide in the room forever and start growing mushrooms or something."

I rolled my eyes, not responding. Eddie was trying to be funny, but his jokes were falling flat today.

"Seriously, man, what's going on?" Eddie asked, his tone a little softer. "You've been MIA for days. We've been worried about you. Well, maybe not worried, but we've noticed you're not interested in when we talk about girls anymore or even leaving the room."

I shook my head, trying to ignore him.

his arm down on my shoulder. I shook him off and I quickened my pace, trying to lose Eddie.

When I remained quiet he probed, "Seriously, is that it? What's going on? You're really not still sulking about that

to face

raised his hands, backing off. "Okay, okay, no problem. Be that way," Eddie said. "But I'm glad

glared at him, but he just

talking. But seriously, dude, you need to get out more. You're

finger at him, and I hastily walked leaving

Even if you don't, I'm still here, and I'm

someone you told secrets to. Half the center could know by

towards the therapy room, I couldn't help but think about Angel and how I would be able to avoid her. I knew she would have a lot of questions, and I wasn't ready to answer them yet. I needed more time to process

I heard muffled voices coming from inside. I frowned, wondering who could be there at this time of day. Breakfast was over, and everyone should be in class or therapy. My curiosity got the better of me, and I approached the door, looking through the glass panel at the top. That's when I saw them - Angel and her roommates, cleaning the cafeteria under Miss Stefan's watchful eye.

the others, her words muffled but her

shot back, "This is unfair! We didn't even do anything that

Okay, that was weird.

as her name implied, an angel. She never confronted authority or spoke back to elders. Even when her mum had unfairly mistreated her, she took it with a grain of salt. What was going

"Unfair? You think breaking the rules is unfair? You're lucky I don't suspend you

anger. I could see her

with the sloppy job? You call that cleaning?

of sympathy for Angel and her roommates.

eyes scanning the door as if she sensed my presence. I quickly bent my head, not wanting to be seen. I heard