The Next Death; Chapter 5

My counselor looks at me, shocked. Not sure of what to say. He blinks shaking his head. "You want to drop three of your classes? You do realize that doing that could cause you to fall in class rank?" he asks.

I nod. "I do, but frankly, I'm still technically recovering from the accident, I feel like I'm going crazy with all the work I'm doing, and I'm kinda rethinking my life plans."

He looks at me with a considering face, trying to figure out what to say. I wish that I could have been this chill when telling my mom about this whole dropping classes thing.

"Are you sure? If you have any reservations, I would suggest keeping the classes until you're sure. If you go through with this then change your mind later, it may be too late to go back," he warns.

"I know."

"Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"Yep. They are okay with this."

He sighs. "Alright. Which three do you want dropped?"

- - - - -

I drop my three unneeded classes and reconfigure my schedule so that the empty slots all fall at the end of the day, all the while hating myself. Every bit of me that had been aiming for a future after college was screaming at me to change it back, but every practical part of me keeps silently whispering that we passed the point of no return the minute I had accepted the deal.

An hour later, I walk out of my counselor's office with my new schedule in hand, effective as of tomorrow. Now to face Emma and Riley.

I walk into AP Chem and take my seat next to Emma and across from Riley. There's a minute before class starts.

Emma turns to me. "Where were you last period? You missed the review for the gov test on Friday."

"I was with my counselor," I say, pulling out my notebook.

"Why?" Emma presses, her brown eyes boring into me.

"I was rearranging my schedule," I say slowly turning through my notebook, to where I left off.

Now it's Riley's turn to ask why. As she does so, she leans across the table.

I quickly glance at her, then at Emma, then back to my notebook. I silently prayed that they would forgive me. "I dropped some classes."

"What?!" they practically yell at the same time.

"Voices," our teacher warns from her desk.

I hold up my hands in defense. "Please don't hate me, but since the accident, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I came to the decision to start with dropping my unneeded classes."

"But, El," Emma implores, "What about our plan?"

I shrink down in my seat, wishing I could vanish.

"El, no!" Emma begs. "We've had this planned for years. Come on girl! It's us versus the world. Remember?"

Riley springs further across the table and catches my hands. "El, you know we're here for you. If you need help to make it, all you have to do is ask. You don't have to give up on the plan."

"What plan?" James asks, taking his seat at our table.

Riley snaps her head towards him. "This doesn't concern you," she snaps icily.

James holds up his hands as if to ward her off. "This is why I didn't want to be in a group with only girls."

The bell rings and Riley looks back at me. "We're continuing this after class," she says sitting back down.

- - - - -

As soon as we've exited the classroom, Riley grabs my arm and pulls me to the side with Emma at my heels. "Spill, now," she demands.

I shrug. "I'm just not sure what I want to do anymore, and I wanted more time to think. I also got a job."

Emma spins me towards her. "Since when?"

"Since yesterday after school," I reply.

Emma waves her hand, prompting me to go on.

"I went to the address on the card after school out of curiosity. They were nice and they were hiring. The manager offered me a job and I said yes. That sorta cemented my decision to drop some classes." I once more feel like a terrible human being.

Riley walks around me so she's standing next to Emma. "Why didn't you tell us sooner how you were feeling?"

"I've just been really- gah- lately," I say throwing my hands wide.

"Aren't you nerds supposed to be good with words?" Olivia asks from behind me.

I close my eyes in frustration. Olivia. Literally, the only person at this school that I wouldn't mind going mysteriously missing. Well, her and her cronies, Heather, Veronica, and Mildred. On the bright side though, in comparison to them, I'm not a terrible human being.

I turn to face her. "Seriously? Do you have nothing better to do than bother me?"

"I do, but I can't just ignore my favorite hobby. Well, second favorite. Nothing can beat cheer."

I turn back to Emma and Riley. "I'm going to class now," I say, walking past them.

- - - - -

Our lunch is oddly silent. It doesn't help that I know I'm the reason for it.

"I would prefer you guys yelling at me to this silence," I say.

Emma sighs. "Sorry. I'm not mad at you. Well, maybe a little. I'm just still trying to process the bomb you dropped on us."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I say.

Riley clears her throat. "So, what's your new schedule?"

I look up at her and smile in relief. She smiles back. That's Riley for you. The peacemaker.

I pull out my new schedule and hand it to her. Emma is immediately at her shoulder, reading over it with her.

In seconds, everything feels more or less back to normal. For now.

- - - - -

After school, I try to convince Dan that he doesn't need to pick me up from the shop, that I can walk back to school, but he puts his foot down. He insists that there's no point in my walking back as Old Merchants Lane is basically on the way home from school already.

When I arrive at the shop, there's a customer inside. An old lady stands at the counter as Agatha rings her up. Agatha looks as bored as ever.

I don't see Neal or Mr. Mors, so I stand quietly waiting for the old lady to leave. Agatha doesn't say a word until the door shuts behind the old lady. Even then she doesn't say anything. She just looks at me.

Finally, she opens her mouth. "Were you that small yesterday?"

My brows furrow in confusion. "Are you asking me if I shrunk since then?"

Agatha shrugs dismissively. "I didn't care enough to really pay attention. Anyways, today, I'm supposed to go over shopkeeping with you for the purpose of keeping up the front." She turns and pulls a book from the shelf behind her, places it on the counter, and pulls out the merchant's copy of the receipt. She points at the book. "This book has a function, but I didn't care enough to pay attention, so just do what I do." She opens the book to the first page with blank entry lines. "It's Neal's job to go over the book and make sure everything is correct anyway, so just put the receipts at the end of the entries." She places the receipt in the book and shuts it. "Every now and then just look over the shelves and make sure everything looks orderly. If there are empty spaces get something from the back and put it there. Price stickers are somewhere, just put one on and write the price."

"What determines the price?"

"I don't know. How ever much you'd pay for it."

"Do you actually know anything about running the shop?"

"I don't care enough to actually learn."

I nod. "Right."

"Neal mentioned something that had to get done today, but I never listen to him when he's talking, so just make sure everything looks orderly."

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing. Oh," she picks something up from behind the register and holds it out to me. "This is your name tag."

I take it from her. As I pin it to my shirt, I notice she isn't wearing one. "Where's yours?"

"I threw it out. It looks hideous. Anyways, typically everything will be kept in order, so there will usually be nothing to do because your main task is going to be training. However, in light of the fact that you're still very much alive and have to keep up other appearances, there will be days in which you won't be training so you can actually do work or whatever else you have to do to play human."

"So, what am I doing today?"

"Nothing, unless something falls over."

"So I can do homework?"

"That sounds boring but yeah, whatever. I don't care. Just stand behind the counter."