MONDAY: A Hard Day's Night
The rest of the school day goes steadily downhill. Lance is distracted, mind drifting every couple of minutes to the boy he left detached and disassociated to a severe degree. At least he didn't leave him there on his own. No, he reminds himself bitterly over and over, he left him with another kid who shouldn't have to deal with something like that on his own.
Brian drops off the keys to Kevin's office before lunch like promised, but he hands them off to another teacher so Lance doesn't get to see him and ask what happened. If AJ went to the nurse, or went home, or just...
He goes to the detention hall during lunch to do paperwork there, and he doesn't even pretend that he's not hiding out. Kevin will want to know what happened, but there's nothing Lance can say without breaking confidentiality. Kevin knows that, so maybe he'll just ... be there, sit there with him because he knows what it's like. Or he'll run into JC, who will make him smile again or suggest something he knows will make him feel better.
Lance wants all of that. And he shouldn't, because he can't.
So of course it's today of all days that Lance exits the room hours and hours later, after several attempts to focus on his paperwork and failing every time, and sees both Kevin and JC round the corner and head towards him. Lance's head is pounding, and he squints because the migraine is definitely making him see things. "What are you doing here?" he asks them both before they even fully reach him.
Brian drops off the keys to Kevin's office before lunch like promised, but he hands them off to another teacher so Lance doesn't get to see him and ask what happened. If AJ went to the nurse, or went home, or just...
He goes to the detention hall during lunch to do paperwork there, and he doesn't even pretend that he's not hiding out. Kevin will want to know what happened, but there's nothing Lance can say without breaking confidentiality. Kevin knows that, so maybe he'll just ... be there, sit there with him because he knows what it's like. Or he'll run into JC, who will make him smile again or suggest something he knows will make him feel better.
Lance wants all of that. And he shouldn't, because he can't.
So of course it's today of all days that Lance exits the room hours and hours later, after several attempts to focus on his paperwork and failing every time, and sees both Kevin and JC round the corner and head towards him. Lance's head is pounding, and he squints because the migraine is definitely making him see things. "What are you doing here?" he asks them both before they even fully reach him.