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Ronan was pretty sure you could die from boredom and he was on his way. He wandered from class to class at Aglionby like a zombie both from lack of sleep - his insomnia at full throttle - and from the ridiculousness of this institution. He just fought with Declan last night about wanting to drop out and he was back in the same place he had been a month ago. He wasn’t allowed to drop out until he turned 18. That was the deal. So in the meantime he will die of boredom.
Gansey was distracted today too and Ronan didn’t know why. He had been that way since last night. Ronan didn’t ask. Well, that's not true, he asked, but Gansey played aloof. Nothing is wrong with me. Did you study for the chem test today?
He assumed it had something to do with Adam. He hadn’t seen Adam today. Adam Parrish was Gansey’s new friend and not someone Ronan had spent much time with. That was by design. Any time they did spend with each other was spent arguing or with slammed doors.
It wasn’t unusual for Adam to miss a day. From what Ronan knew he had three jobs and was extremely busy trying to afford to go to this hellhole. But what worried Gansey were the bruises that Adam spent time and care to hide or let fade long enough so people wouldn’t ask questions.
But regardless, Adam never missed a test. And that afternoon they had a midterm in chemistry. Gansey fidgeted in the seat beside him, knee bouncing erratically as he eyed the clock over the door. The bell rang, their professor passed out the test and still no Parrish.
Ronan fumbled through his test, he hadn’t studied, but was fairly decent at test taking. He was about halfway through the first page of the exam when the door opened. All eyes were on Adam Parrish, purple mottled bruise on his cheek, head ducked down, made his way to his seat diagonally in front of Ronan’s. He put down his messenger bag and sat down.
“Mr. Parrish.”
“I’m sorry I’m late, sir.”
“You’ve missed the exam.”
Adam blinked. “No.”
Professor Holman stood up from his desk, glasses perched on the end of his nose in the pretentious way he always did, looking down at his students with condescension. “Yes.”
“No! I’m not even ten minutes late.”
“Rules are rules, Mr. Parrish,” Holman said. “You were not here at the start of the exam and so your tardiness-“
Adam stood up abruptly. “But I studied all week. Every night.”
“You’ll have to wait in the hall.”
Most of the students continued to stare as Holman approached, attempting to corral Parrish to the door, but he stood firm. Ronan was shocked to find Adam talking back to a professor, one he continued to call “sir” while telling him off. Adam never spoke back to a professor, but then Ronan had never really seen him panicked like this before.
“And I have the highest grade in the class,” Adam continued. “You even said that when you had to curve the last exam and-“
“Well then, this shouldn’t hurt your grade too much,” Holman said with a curt smile. “Get back to work everyone. Parrish, come with me.” Holman grabbed Adam’s bag from the floor.
“No, I’m taking this test.”
“Detention, Mr. Parrish.”
Adam laughed bitterly. “For wanting to take an exam I studied for?”
Holman straightened up, face red from embarrassment. He was never a confrontational person, but like every Aglionby professor, he seemed to live and breathe by the code of conduct.
“For insubordination.”
That’s when Gansey couldn’t help himself and stood up. “Hey now, that doesn’t seem-“
“Would you like detention as well, Mr. Gansey?”
Adam huffed, slinging his bag over his shoulder, suddenly the panic left his demeanor in exchange for complete and utter acceptance as if Adam Parrish was doomed for moments like this, for obstacles to keep him behind. His jaw was clenched with the rest of his unsaid argument and rage, his eyes showed disappointment and despair.
“Certainly not, sir, but Adam is right. He does have the highest grade in the class and-“
“Enough,” Holman said, hand raised. He looked around the room at all of his students. “You all came to class on time, yes? Back to work. There will be no extensions despite the distractions from today.”
“It’s bullshit.”
Ronan’s eyebrows raised at Adam’s mumbled profanity, too quiet for Holman’s ears, but loud enough for the rest of the class. The other students snickered, Holman puffed up in annoyance, slamming his fist down on Adam’s empty desk. Adam flinched.
“Enough! Mr. Parrish, take yourself to the headmaster’s office. The rest of you, get back to work!” he shouted, face red as a tomato as he huffed and puffed like a cartoon character. Adam walked to the door with his head down, bag slung over his shoulder as Holman asked, “Or would anyone else like to join him?”
Ronan caught Gansey’s warning glare before it happened, but really it was like muscle memory - completely unconscious decision making, you couldn’t blame him. Ronan tossed his test off his desk and stood up, looking at Holman with a sharp smile.
“Yes, Mr. Lynch?”
Ronan caught Adam’s eye as he turned around at the door, looking less than thrilled that Ronan was standing up for him or not. Still, Ronan looked back at the professor and scrambled for something to get him out of taking this stupid test for this joke of a professor.
“Uh… motherfucker.” That was the best he could come up with.
Holman sighed, exasperated. “Headmaster’s office, Mr. Lynch. Take your belongings.”
Ronan was just able to sneak out of the classroom of snickering students before Holman smacked the doorframe with his ruler as if it were a gavel. The door shut behind Ronan and Adam, muffling Holman’s shouting for order. Adam sighed and started down the hallway to actually head for the headmaster’s office. Ronan scrambled to follow.
“What happened to your face?”
“Shut up,” Adam snapped, walking faster.
“Didn’t really take you for getting into fights, Parrish.”
“I didn’t.”
“Uh, you have like twenty-five witnesses who could disagree with you on that,” Ronan said, catching up with Adam’s pace, walking backwards beside him. “I’ve never seen Holman get so red and tomato-y. There was steam coming out of his ears.”
“Shut up.”
“I think it’s a bullshit rule, too,” Ronan said with a smirk. Typical of Ronan to always be calm when everyone else was angry and always be angry when everyone else was calm. “I mean you weren’t even ten minutes late. It’s not like we could have-”
“Shut up .”
“But he was right about it not really hurting your grade. It’s just one test and-”
Adam stopped, muscles wound tight, fists clenched at his sides, expression murderous. “It’s not just one test, Lynch. It’s a domino effect. I get a zero on this test and that brings down my grade in the class, which brings down my overall GPA, which means I lose my scholarship, which makes all of this pointless and I’m stuck in this fucking town forever. So you’re welcome for getting you out of a test because you are so fucking desperate to prove that school means nothing to you, but it means something to some people. It means something to me.”
Ronan shut his mouth and thought for a moment before unhelpfully replying, “Gansey can probably fix it.”
Adam laughed, short and bitter before continuing his journey down the hall.
“Why is that funny?”
“I don’t need Gansey’s help,” Adam said, voice dripping with venom. “And I don’t need you using me as an excuse to get out of an exam.”
“I didn’t use you as an-”
“Save it,” Adam said, breathless and tired as they rounded the corner to the headmaster’s office. “Please just shut up.”
They sat outside the office in the most narrow and uncomfortable chairs. Ronan noted Adam’s measured breathing, his posture straight, rigid, tense. He could practically hear Adam thinking, mind racing over his greatest fears of being forced out of Aglionby, losing his ticket out of Henrietta. Ronan couldn’t relate, but he could understand. Life outside of your control, constantly bringing you shit to your doorstep.
It was a stupid rule and Holman was a bastard. But then Ronan was probably a bastard, too, with how he jumped at the chance to get out of the class with Adam. Probably wasn’t the greatest thing to offer Prince Gansey’s help, when he knew that Gansey and Adam fought about unsolicited help and “handouts” before. Ronan didn’t really know Adam, but he was starting to understand him.
“Do they call home?” Adam muttered quietly.
Ronan looked up from his lap where he was tugging at the leather bands on his wrist. “Huh?”
“Sorry, that’s not…”
Ronan wanted to be angry at Adam for asking about his home, when everyone knew that Aglionby couldn’t call Ronan’s home because no one was able to answer. Declan was technically Ronan’s guardian since he turned 18, but even then they didn’t bother.
But when Ronan looked at Adam now, fidgety, nervous, fearful, suddenly everything clicked into place. Where the bruise came from, why he was late, why Gansey was so nervous and antsy all morning at Adam’s absence. Oh .
“They’re old school. Normally write up a formal letter about how disappointed they are in your behavior,” Ronan said, aiming for nonchalance, but not sure if he managed it. How could someone do that to their own child… “But they go with the honor code. Want you to give it to your parents and tell them what you did. But they don’t call home unless you’re a repeat offender.”
“They don’t need them to sign anything or-?”
“Nope.”
Adam exhaled, nodding his head. The relief was palpable. Ronan shifted in his seat. The weight of his realization hit him in the chest. Did anyone else know? Should they tell anyone? Would anyone care? Why was he so adamant to not move into Monmouth despite Gansey’s repeated offers? Obviously living with Gansey was better than the trailer park, especially now that Ronan had this new insight.
“Sorry,” Ronan grunted, not looking at Adam directly. He still caught Adam looking over in shock.
“Huh?”
“You heard me, Parrish,” Ronan sneered, but the bite was tame. “I’m not going to say it again.”
Adam rolled his eyes. “What for?”
“I don’t understand completely, but I know when I’m being an asshole. I’m sorry.”
“You said you weren’t going to say that again.”
Ronan huffed. “Yeah? Well don’t get used to it.”
They sat in silence for a few more moments, the only sound in the office was the secretary’s long nails tapping on the keyboard and the ticking of the grandfather clock. Ronan was once puzzled by Adam, annoyed by Gansey’s immediate affection for him, bored by his vigorous drive for school, confused by his politeness, but yet cutting sense of humor. But now he sort of understood him. His drive to get out of Henrietta, his goals for something more, his need to do it himself, do it “the right way.”
“Mr. Parrish?”
They both looked up to see Headmaster Child standing in the doorway to his office, looking down at the two boys - one in shock and the other not so much.
“Why I always expect to see you, Mr. Lynch, but I was not expecting to see Mr. Parrish here beside you,” Child tutted disappointed, grabbing their files from the folder on the wall and shaking his head. “Who’s first?”