Chapter Text
The last thing Thomas needs before his first day at Labyrinth Academy is junk food and a sugar hit.
Twenty minutes before arriving at said academy, Teresa's mum pulls into In-N-Out Burger and blows twenty bucks on burgers, thick shakes and chips. "Come on Thomas, I'm not going to see you for another ten weeks! Let your Auntie Cat treat you to lunch, I know you two are always starving..."
Thomas sinks his teeth into a Double-Double Animal Style and moans. "Thanks Aunt Cat". Sauce dripped into the paper bag on his lap. "Gotta get my fuel somewhere."
Teresa laughed. "Yeah, keep those energy levels up, huh, Tom? Wouldn't want you falling asleep on our first day."
Thomas laughed. He had a tendency to daydream or even doze off during class at their middle school, and in one particularly memorable incident had fallen asleep in the library to be found the next day by a surprised janitor.
"Hey, it's not my fault Mrs Hartley barely knew the curriculum herself! New school, new start this year, T. I promise."
Teresa shook her head, blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "I'll believe it when I see it, Tom."
They bickered back and forth for a while, the banter flowing as easily as it always did, washing away their first-day nerves and worries, and before Thomas knew it the car was pulling up in the parking lot of Labyrinth Academy. Students and parents milled about on the grand front steps, lugging heavy suitcases and playing in the slightly overexcited, loud way of nervous freshmen.
Thomas and Teresa shot each other a quick, panicked look.
"This is it, Tom. High school. The real deal."
Thomas turned back to the window. The flurry of activity outside seemed to quieten. This was it. A niggling kernel of doubt seemed to itch in Thomas's brain. It seemed like only yesterday that he was making mud pies and catching tadpoles with Teresa, taking bubble baths together and catching pop up balls in the outfield, meeting his mum at the school gates and walking home in the afternoon sun with Jerry, the old springer spaniel they'd had when he was little. In a sudden rush of nostalgia he wished he could be back at home with his mum and Jerry and even his dad, before he'd left for good, with grass stains on his knees and not a care in the world. He turned back to Teresa.
"Come on," he said, and shot her a smile. "I think it's time we find out what we're really up against."