Chapter Text
TJ woke to his little sister shaking his arm. Opening his eyes, he glanced at the clock on his desk. 1:03 am, it read, taunting him with its jarringly bright red numbers. The night was dark and cold as he pulled his heavy, warm blanket closer around him, finding himself face to face with Molly's bright blue eyes.
"Molly?" he asked, sitting up in bed. "What's wrong?"
"I had an accident," Molly whimpered. Her eyes were watery as she spoke, like frigid oceans, complete with salty waves of tears brimming at her eyelids.
"Oh," TJ sighed. He sat up, swinging his feet over the side of his bed and wincing as they touched the cold wood floor. "What about Amber?"
"She's getting rid of my sheets. She told me to come ask you for extras." TJ nodded groggily, rubbing his eyes and padding across his small room as quietly as possible. Something in him vaguely registered that the old habit was long since obsolete, and he reminded himself that their dad was long since gone, but he tiptoed regardless. He shivered as he pulled out all the extra bedding in his closet. Clearly, his dad had gotten tired of paying their heating bill again. No, he was just cold. Dad wasn't around anymore, he reminded himself. They'd moved months ago.
"Here you go, kiddo," he said, handing Molly most of the extra blankets and sheets, save for the extra comforter he threw on his bed. "Give those to Amber, okay?"
Molly nodded and quietly padded out of the room, swaying under the weight of the bedding clutched in her arms.
Sighing, TJ lay back down in bed, resting on his back with his eyes trained on the ceiling above. However, he was now coherently aware of the cold seeping under his blankets, and could seldom find it within himself to take even a deep breath, let alone to fall asleep.
TJ spent the rest of the night similarly, tossing and turning in a vain (and in the end fruitless) attempt to stay warm. His alarm went off at exactly 6:30, and TJ didn't so much as flinch. Instead, he blinked. Once. Twice. Three times.
"Yeah, okay," he sighed, sitting up in bed. His eyelids were heavy, his ears red with cold, and his room was flooded with nearly Stygian darkness as he stood up.
He padded silently into Amber and Molly's room, flicking the lights on to wake them. Molly woke immediately, whereas Amber simply rolled over, throwing a pillow in TJ's general direction before rolling back over.
"Go get breakfast, Molls. I'll wake Amber up," TJ whispered to Molly. She nodded, making her way out of their room and leaving TJ to deal with Amber.
"I hate you," Amber mumbled.
"We have to be at school in two hours," TJ reminded her, raising an eyebrow pointedly.
"Fuck, you're right."
"I thought so," TJ teased, walking back out the door and closing it behind him.
"I still hate you!" Amber called after him.
"You always will," TJ assured her with a chuckle, before turning down the hall. He found Molly on her toes, straining to reach for a box of cereal someone had accidentally put on a higher shelf than normal. Smiling, he pulled the box down, handing it to her. Molly grinned, clumsily pouring it into a bowl.
"Hey, kiddos." Their mom said, having just stepped into the kitchen. She kissed Molly's head and ruffled TJ's hair fondly. "Where's that sister of yours?"
"Getting ready," TJ laughed.
"I should have known," Jennifer responded, nodding. "Molls, you almost ready to go?"
"Mhm," Molly mumbled through a mouthful of cereal. She quickly downed the rest of it, before rushing off to get dressed for school.
She came back after a few moments, dressed slightly haphazardly but dressed nonetheless.
"Ready Freddy?" Jennifer asked. Molly nodded with a smile, picking up her pink backpack from the couch. "Alright, TJ, I have parent-teacher conferences after school today, and I have to grade students' tests in between. Can you two pick Molly up after school? Get her a snack, get her to bed, make sure she stays alive, you know the drill."
"Yeah, of course. I take it you won't be home before you have to get to Sam's?"
"Sorry kiddo," Jennifer said, nodding. "Unfortunately, customers at 24-hour diners wait for no man... or woman. Fridays are always the worst."
"It's fine," TJ chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, or tonight if I'm up late enough."
"Perfect," Jennifer said, kissing the top of TJ's head. "Tell Amber I said goodbye, will you?"
"I always do.
TJ sat down in his usual place next to Cyrus just as the bell rang, signaling the beginning of health class.
"Just in time," he sighed, slouching against their table as he plopped his books on it. "Locker got stuck."
"Ugh, I hate that," Cyrus sighed sympathetically.
"Alright class, may I have your attention please?" Mrs. Bailey asked, clasping her hands together. "Now, I know you've all heard me mention your big end of tri project, and the time has finally come to execute it." A chorus of groans spread through the class. "Now, don't get too excited, I haven't even told you what you're doing."
"Please tell me we're not protecting an egg, doll, or bag of flour," someone groaned.
"No, nothing like that, Adam," Mrs. Bailey assured, waving a hand dismissively. "You are going to pair up, and until the end of the trimester, one of you will learn everything about theother. At the end of the trimester, you will turn in a paper on your partner and their life. Questions?"
"What does this have to do with health?" a student asked.
"This is the social part of social health," Mrs. Bailey chuckled.
"Are we supposed to be, like, stalking our partner?" Ella McMasters asked from the back of the room.
"Part of me wants to say yes, just to see how far you'll take this. However, I'm pretty sure I'm not legally allowed to condone stalking, so no. You will ask each other questions, like normal, non-sociopathic teenagers."
"Wait, so one person just has to answer questions about themself?"
"I think you'll find that it's quite a feat in itself to be completely vulnerable with someone."
"Um, who are our partners?" Cyrus asked.
"Oh! Right, here we go." Mrs. Bailey picked up a basket from her desk, handing it to the people at the table closest to her. "Draw a number, and find the other person who has it."
The basket quickly found its way to Cyrus and TJ's table, and they both grabbed a piece of folded paper, passing the basket on to the next table.
"What'd you get?" TJ asked, unfolding his paper and turning to Cyrus.
"Eight," Cyrus said, holding his paper up to TJ.
"No way!" TJ flipped his paper, revealing an eight scrawled on it.
"Oh thank God, that is gonna make this whole process a lot easier."
"We should start after school. Your house?"
"Oh, I would, but the neighbor's house is under construction- it's terrible," Cyrus groaned.
"That's fine, library?"
"Closed this week for remodeling, I tried to study there last week. What about your house?" Cyrus asked.
"O-oh, okay," TJ nodded. "Um, we'll have to walk home with Amber and Molly."
"Molly?"
"My little sister?"
"Wait wh-"
"Alright, that was ample time to find your partner. Now, time for today's reading."
TJ unlocked his front door, letting Amber, Molly, and Cyrus file past him.
"You've got Molly covered?" TJ asked. Amber nodded, opening the fridge and crouching, pulling Molly in front of her so she could pick a snack. "Come on, Underdog."
"I like your house," Cyrus said, following TJ into his room.
"Oh, yeah. It's kind of small, sorry."
"No, it's fine! Um, so, I guess we should get to work?"
"Yeah," TJ said, gesturing to his bed. "Should I ask questions or should you?"
"If you're okay, I'd rather ask the questions. I'm pretty much an open book," Cyrus shrugged, sitting down and pulling his computer from his bag.
"Okay, um, have at it?"
"Alright... Full name?"
"Ugh, fine. Timothy James Kippen," TJ admitted. Cyrus grinned, typing the name happily.
"Immediate family and names?"
"Um, my mom's name is Jennifer, then there's Amber, of course. And my little sister Molly. Oh, um, my dad is Vincent, but he doesn't live with us."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Cyrus said, clearly unsure how to react as he typed.
"No, it's fine, we're better off without him."
"Ah. Still, I'm sorry. Tell me about your mom."
"Oh, um, she's a 6th-grade teacher at the elementary school, and she's a waitress at Sam's at night. She had Amber and me when she was 16, and then Molly 9 years later."
"Oh, I didn't know your mom got pregnant at 16," Cyrus said, looking up from his notes.
"15, actually. She turned 16 about 7 months into her pregnancy."
"That must have been terrifying," Cyrus said sympathetically.
"It probably was," TJ said, as though the thought had only just dawned on him. "I've never really thought about that."
"Speaking of, what's your greatest fear?"
"...Wow, you really are just going for it, aren't you?"
"I want to do well on this assignment!"
"Fine. I'm most afraid of clowns," he lied, making a fear up on the spot.
"That was a lie," Cyrus said, ceasing typing.
"I-I know," TJ stuttered.
"Why would you lie? This whole assignment is to tell the truth," Cyrus said.
"I know that too," TJ said, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting slightly, his gaze dropping.
"TJ. You don't have to lie to me," Cyrus said gently, lifting TJ's chin to meet his eyes.
"I'm just...used to lying, I guess."
"What a lovely way to burn all your bridges," Cyrus deadpanned. TJ scoffed, shaking his head.
"You don't get it."
"What don't I get?!" Cyrus asked, exasperated.
"Sometimes burning bridges is a defense tactic," TJ defended.
Cyrus stared at him for a moment, before typing the phrase into his notes.
"I'm sorry," TJ said quietly.
"For what?"
"For lying."
"It's fine, I get it," Cyrus said, shaking his head.
"No you don't," TJ laughed.
"I really don't," Cyrus agreed.
"I shouldn't have lied, I'm sorry."
"No, it's really fine. It was just a stupid question."
"It wasn't! I just didn't want to answer it."
"You don't have to," Cyrus shrugged.
"I want to, really."
Cyrus looked up at TJ, weighing his options. On the one hand, he could just skip the question. On the other, he could ask it again, and get the truth. Did he really want the truth?
"Alright. TJ, what's your biggest fear?" he asked, taking a deep breath.
Before TJ could respond, Amber rushed into the room, desperately trying to dial a phone number.
"Amber! What's wrong?" TJ asked, rushing to Amber's side. "What are you doing?!"
"Calling 911! I know this is gonna sound crazy, but what the hell is the number for 911?!"
"Amber! What happened?!" TJ asked. Amber looked up at him, panic in her eyes. The second she spoke again, time stopped, stretching like the pale pink taffy pulled in the window of a candy store.
"Molly's hurt."