⋘ 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦... ⋙

High School
|noun|
Where self-esteem, innocence, and dreams come to die.

          Sitting at their dining room table, Delilah ate her breakfast quickly, a consistency of toast and jam. Her mother sat across from her, plate already empty as she had woken up earlier than Delilah. It had been silent between them all morning, neither looking at the other for too long. That was until Delilah was ready to get up and start getting ready for the day.

"Open your mouth after," Raina demanded from her seat across the table, staring Delilah down as she halted her reading of the newspaper—which today's one ended up on their front porch. Her eyes narrowed at Delilah as her daughter looked up from her breakfast.

"What?" She asked, confused by the sudden question as she got ready to stand. Her hands clammed up as she waited for her mother to elaborate further, fingers tightening every second that passed by where the older woman didn't.

"Your pills," Raina said like it was common knowledge. "After you take one, I want to see that you actually swallowed it." She spoke slowly, making sure her point was set across as she still held the newspaper in one hand, the other gravitating told a steaming mug of tea she had prepared earlier.

Delilah stilled, looking at her mother like she had seen a ghost. "What brought this on?" She requested, not denying her mother just yet, even if she longed to shut the idea down now, Raina pushing at the topic until it ultimately went her way.

"After last week, it's become clear I need to keep you on a tighter leash," Raina said, eyes fierce as she stared at her daughter.

Brows furrowing together, Delilah stood up from her seat, grabbed her plate and utensils, taking them to the kitchen where they rest in the sink before she goes to her room, grabbing her already packed bag and the pill bottle she had resting on her nightstand before she makes her way back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

She stopped by the dining table, Raina barely moving an inch, her eyes only flickering down so she could continue reading her newspaper. When her mother didn't look up at her arrival, Delilah hastily opened the pill bottle, the item falling from her hand and spilling across the table. The rattling sound of that got Raina to look up with a scowl, watching the mess Delilah was creating unfold.

Grabbing onto one of the spilled pills, Delilah brings it up to her lips, putting it into her mouth before she takes a large gulp. She had been able to swallow pills without water for a while now, she just preferred to do it based on a sensory thing. Sticking her tongue and opening her mouth wildly, she shows that there was nothing left in her mouth.

Raina stares for what felt like ages before she gave her daughter an approving nod, looking back at the newspaper in her hand like nothing had happened. In annoyance, Delilah left her pills where they were, storming out of the house as she makes her way towards her bike.

When the front door slammed shut behind her, she looked towards her neighbour's house, making sure there were no prying eyes before her hand reached up, taking the pill from underneath her tongue and throwing it into one of the nearby bushes before she finds her bike.

It doesn't take long for Delilah to make her way to school, growing used to the route she had to take every morning and afternoon, the shortcuts standing out and acting as an easy giveaway. So by the time she arrived, she was locking up her bike and heading to her first class, hoping that she could just forget about it all with Bruce by her side. Or at least for the periods, she could talk to someone.

When she arrived at the class, Bruce wasn't there yet, only a few people stood outside even though the bell was meant to ring in a minute or so. It worried Delilah since the boy had never been late to a class before, always showing up a good few minutes before he would have to go in. But the longer Delilah stood outside waiting, the more she was certain Bruce might not be coming today.

Miss Steen let her and the rest of the class in shortly after her arrival. Without Bruce by her side, egging her on to sit at the front of the room, Delilah took one of the seats near the back, getting comfortable next to the wall where she turned her back so she could lean against it and set her feet up on the chair next to hers, making sure no one could try and sit next to her.

Her teacher wasted no time getting into the lesson, drawing multiple things onto the chalkboard, explaining the process of figuring out the angles of each corner, the process of elimination and more, writing multiple notes that would be important for future tests. Delilah wrote down everything, her handwriting slowly getting messier the more she wrote even if she tried to keep it under control. Most of the information wasn't settling very well with her, more or less going through one ear and out the other, but she still did her best to pay attention.

Halfway through the lesson, a certain dark-haired boy with slightly curly hair walked into the room, a note in his hand as he handed it off to Miss Steen before he sits down in the first seat he spots, not sparing the rest of the classroom a second glance. Delilah watches the boy as he sits in the front, hastily getting a pen and book out as he tries to catch up on what was written on the chalkboard.

The longer Delilah watches the boy, waiting for him to turn around and try to spot the girl, but when he just sits tightly, scribbling quickly in his book, Delilah grew bored of waiting for something to happen. Flipping to the back of her own book, she rips the last page of the book out, careful to not make the tare too loud. Scrunching it up in her hand, she throws it over at Bruce, watching with a satisfied grin as it hits the back of his head, ruffling his hair slightly.

Raising a hand to rub at the back of his head, Bruce doesn't turn, leaving Delilah's smile to drop, the boy not doing what she was supposed to. A small huff escapes Delilah's lips as she tore another piece of paper out of her book, checking quickly for the teacher before she throws the paper at Bruce's head once more.

This time he looks back. His eyes scan the classroom for a few seconds, trying to find the culprit before his eyes land on Delilah, a large grin plastered on her face as the boy finally takes notice of her. Now that his eyes were on her, Delilah pats the open spot next to her where her feet had previously been.

Bruce raises his brows before his head turns to the front of the class where Miss Steen was writing some problems on the chalkboard, one of five that they would have to complete, giving him time to scurry to the back of the classroom. He gathers his things quickly, checking the teacher one last time before he quickly stands and rushes after Delilah, the girl pulling the seat out in preparation.

As Bruce neared, he all but crashed into the open seat, throwing his things onto the desk as Miss Steen turned around to quickly check on everyone, making sure everything was in order before she got back to work on writing the equations up.

"Hey Brucey," Delilah said with a large smile spitting across, welcoming the boy to their table as he tries to act as natural as possible.

Pushing his bag to the ground, he sends Delilah the usual scowl when she calls him by that name. "We've talked about that nickname." He says with a small grumble, flipping his book open to a new page as he gets ready to complete the work, briefly looking at Delilah's messy page to see if there was anything on it that he wasn't able to write. "If you get to call me Brucey, I get to call you Lila."

Delilah had to refrain from scrunchy her face at the name, Bruce purposely looking up to try and catch the girl in the act, raising a brow when she didn't react in complete disgust and throw a fit at the name she hated just as much as Bruce hated his own.

"So, why was our resident Golden Boy late today?" Delilah asked, throwing out another nickname to peeve the boy off, knowing how that name got to him more as it was used more completely and he was more widely known as it.

"Aren't you a creative name called today." He states dryly, still copying work out of Delilah's book. "Amy projectile vomited across the kitchen table so we were a bit preoccupied with that this morning." He says tiredly, probably being forced to whip up the mess while his parents helped Amy clean herself up.

Delilah felt a pang of sympathy for the younger girl. Delilah hadn't thrown up now in a few years, not getting as sick often and when she did it would only last a day or two, nothing too major. "I hope she feels better soon."

"Same, I don't know how much longer I can handle her whining." He says as he rubs the bridge of his nose, having heard the girl complain all morning after the incident.

The pair of them didn't have to stay in the classroom for much longer, the bell ringing ten minutes later, leaving them to pack their things and get ready to head to their second classes of the day. "I'll see you at lunch," Delilah calls to Bruce as they both step out into the hallway, getting ready to head in different directions.

"Yeah, see you then." He waved before he's adjusting his bag on his back and walking through the hallways. He wasn't left alone for long as a few boys his age came and found him, walking with him as they disappeared down the corridor. Delilah didn't have as much luck as she walked the remainder of her route by herself, not seeing anyone she knew until she arrived at her classroom.

Billy was leaning against the wall, fiddling with the straps of his bag as he waited for Miss Tholson to come and open the door, letting them in for the day. When the woman does finally alive—after ten minutes of making them wait in the hallway—she casts Delilah and Billy a sceptical look, not yet used to having the two so close to one another without angered glares or hushed yelling.

So when the two of them tried to sit next to each other, Miss Tholson fixed them with a stern stare. "What are you two doing so close to one another?" She questioned from the front of the room, getting ready to walk through the different tables so she could talk directly to them by staring down. "I want you two as far away from each other at all times. If one of you is here, the other needs to be on the other side of the classroom." She says, trying to leave no room for argument.

"But Miss, Delilah and I are cool now. We figured it out over the weekend." Billy states, offering the older woman a smile as he gestures to the girl sitting next to him, who was staring up at the woman with a glare on her face as she still had some bad blood with her. Miss Tholson didn't look like she believed the boy either, raising a greying brow at the two of them as she waited for some sign that would justify separating them.

"How about this Miss," Delilah started, ready to bargain with the woman to get her off their backs. "You give us the lesson to prove that we're reformed. If all goes well, we can sit with each other whenever we want. If all goes wrong, we won't ever sit together again in this class." She set down the terms, ready to have the most boring lesson of her life just so she could sit with Billy in the future. "Does that sound fair?" She finally questioned.

Miss Tholson still looked rather sceptical, but she had a winning edge to her. "Fine. If there is any ruckus from this side of the room, you two are getting split quicker than you can say two peas in a pod." She announced bitterly before she is getting ready to teach the lesson.

"Two peas in a pod." Delilah mocked with an over-the-top high-pitched voice as she turned to face Billy, blasting grin on her face as the two of them got to stay together for a little while longer.

"Don't let her hear you say that or it'll all be over before it even started." He chided, hushing her as Miss Tholson started today's lesson. And like Delilah had predicted, it was boring. The woman in front of her could barely teach, going off into stories about when she was younger and actually had a life, not forced to teach high school students because she had no other qualifications.

And during this time, through all the rambling and refusal to actually teach the class, Billy and Delilah sat perfectly, listening to everything the teacher had to say, engaging in class conversation and even asking her to them more about herself. Both wasting time while also trying to get the old woman to see they could be fine sitting next to one another.

So when the bell went and there wasn't a single incident for Miss Tholson to report, she let them go with a grumble, allowing them to sit next to one another in any following classes they had with her. But the warning that she would be constantly on the lookout was still up in the air.

Geography was more enjoyable in the sense Delilah could now talk to Billy freely, not having to worry about prying eyes watching her every move, but the class itself was just as bad, making her want to stab her eyes out with the pen in her hand. Billy made it more enjoyable, but not by much.

At the end of the period, neither of the two teens wasted any time with packing up their things, ready to get out of the stuffed room and into the cafeteria where they could relax for a while, not having to worry about answering any questions or getting proper work done. As they walked into the large room, they were the first two to sit at their normal bench, claiming it before anyone else could try and steal it from them.

Robin came shortly after the two of them, sitting down quickly as he got his lunch out and wasted no time digging into it. Bruce was the last to arrive at the table and also being the one who looked the most exhausted as he quickly laid himself across the table, not bothering to get any of his food out yet.

"What happened to him?" Delilah questioned around her sandwich, staring at the deflated boy with a raised brow, not used to seeing him anything but energetic.

"He's going through the withdrawal of not playing baseball," Robin stated, sounding like he had made the thing up when he gave Delilah and Billy quick nods, acting like Bruce wasn't there. At the odd stares he got in return from the people across from him, he tried to elaborate further. "I've seen it in Finney. Since they're not playing baseball at the moment, they have all this pent-up energy and they don't know what to do with themselves so they act like this most days."

A muffled groan comes from the boy with his head down, confirming Robin's words which came as a surprise to Delilah as she had never heard the other boy say anything other than nonsense.

Eventually, Bruce rose from the dead, moving sluggishly as he tried to pull himself together for the rest of the day. The rest of lunch moved on rather quickly. Delilah finished all the food she had packed in the first fifteen minutes so she was left to just talk with the others, finding distraction through that instead of anything else. But the longer she sat there, the more fidgety she became.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom. Robin, I'll see you in class, Bruce, Billy, I'll see you whenever." Delilah states as she stands abruptly from the table, pulling her bag onto her back as she gets ready to leave the cafeteria. The others bid her their goodbyes as she walks away, letting her go so they could get back to their own conversations and food.

As Delilah walked through the school hallways, she didn't really need to go to the bathroom, just wanting to get up and stretch her legs, do something in the last few minutes before the bell would go and she would be back in the classroom for the next three hours. But as she walked, she came across a familiar set of curly blonde hair with an unknown face.

Whoever Vance was with was short, only reaching up to Delilah's shoulders at the most. He seemed to be yapping angrily at Vance, flailing his arms around slightly as the taller boy didn't seem to show much interest in what he had to say. He had slight curls in his hair, a very light shade of brown that was cut short on his head, probably only being cut recently since it was the start of the school year last week.

"What are you doing with that kid Vance?" Delilah calls out to the taller boy, walking over to him slowly as she was in no rush to be roped in too far with whatever was happening here.

"He's my step-brother," Vance says with a tired sigh, staring down at the boy with a scowl that would have most other kids running off in seconds.

At the same time as Vance's tired murmur, the short kid yells out "I'm not a kid, your a kid!" Staring at Delilah with a red face. It looked like steam was about to come out of the boy's ears with how annoyed being referred to as a kid had made him.

"Aren't you like five?" Delilah questions slowly. She knew that his real age was probably thirteen or something, but she couldn't help but rile the little boy up a bit, not when he was making it so easy.

"He fucking acts like it," Vance says, not helping his step-brother's case.

"That's what I thought. Stand the fuck down and let the grown-ups talk." Delilah says with a smirk, turning to Vance slightly, acting as if there was an invisible barrier between them. "Who married who?" She questions instantly, never imagining Vance to be an older brother, even if it was only by marriage.

"His dad married my mum." He states, looking down at the other kid for a second with a small glare before he looks back at Delilah with a softening gaze. "What are you doing out here anyway, why aren't you sitting with your friends?" He questions, used to seeing Delilah with at least one of them now that they were always at school and not left to wander the outside world by themselves.

"They're in the cafeteria." She states with a shrug. "I left because I needed to move around a bit. Get out of the crowded room." Delilah didn't know the exact reason as to why she had to leave the cafeteria, just that the corded room was getting too much for her, having so many people constantly surrounding her.

Vance stared down at her with a knowing look, not elaborating why he had such a look on his face, but it was still there. Oddly enough, Delilah didn't feel like he was staring at her with pity like most people did when she shared something like that. There was almost an understanding behind his eyes.

"Well, I'll catch you and the two-year-old later," Delilah says with a raise of her hand. She was meant to wave it but couldn't be bothered so it just hung in the air for a second before it dropped to her side. She ignored the angered screeches coming from Vance's step-brother as she walked away. "Wait I never got your name." She said, turning on her heel and walking backwards as she looked at the boy.

"Griffin." He said in a grumble, crossing his arms as he watches Delilah leave.

          "Okay class, today we are going to be learning how to use Bunsen burners." Mr Elinson announced to his class once everyone had settled into their seats. "You will need to be in pairs for this lesson since each desk can have one burner on it, so I'm going to give you the next minute or so to get up and move around the classroom so you can find someone to work with."

Science was one of the classes that Delilah fell short in. She didn't know anyone in the class. Sure there was the boy she would sit next to, Ash, but they weren't close and he already had other friends in the room. He only continued to sit next to Delilah because everyone would return to the seats they sat in from the first lesson, those who didn't would either have someone glaring at them or the persons whose seat they stole would throw a hissy fit.

But now people all around the classroom were standing up, quickly dashing around the room, trying to find their friends and get a table before anyone else could. That left Delilah standing from her seat, the chair sliding against the titled floor backwards as she looked around the room, trying to find someone she could go to. An oddly familiar face stood out from everyone else, in a similar predicament to Delilah as they looked around the room trying to find somebody to group with.

"Hey, your Finney Blake right?" Delilah asked the shorter boy after she walked up to his table, dodging past other kids as they took her table quickly. Now that she was closer to the boy, she could see the curls that lingered in his fluffy hair, the honey-tan colour that it took on.

"Uh, yeah." He said quickly, standing so he stood so he could properly talk to Delilah. "Your Delilah Carlton right? Gwen's told me about you a few times." He said, stuttering over his words a little.

A small smile graced Delilah's lips as she looked down at Finney. "That's me." She said slowly, trying not to linger on the part where Gwen speaks of her. "Do you want to be partners? I don't really know anyone other than you in this class thanks to your sister." She says, small rambles following her words as she awaits Finney's answer.

"I'm fine with that." He nods quickly, eyes flickering down to the free seat to his left, offering it up for Delilah to take. With the same small smile on her face, she rounds the table and sits down next to the boy, Finney sitting at the same time as he so he wasn't the last one in the room to be left standing.

"Looks like everyone has found someone to work with." Mr Elinson said with a large smile, eyes momentarily focusing on Finney before he was lifting a tray off of his desk, picking one of the Bunsen burners off of it as he showed it to everyone in the room for a few seconds. "We will only be lighting these today, making sure we all do it safely so we can do more with the equipment in the future." The teacher lectured as he began to walk around the room, setting one between two on every desk.

Once Mr Elinson got to Finney and Delilah's desk, Finney was ready to straight away plug the burner into the gas chamber switches, ready to work quickly before Mr Elinson shakes his head quickly at the boy. "I know you've done this in the past Finney but we need to go through this as a class. Try to be patient." He said with a kind smile.

"Sorry, sir," Finney said quickly, letting his hands fall as he waited for Mr Elinson to begin teaching. The interaction made Delilah realise that these two must have been in the same class last year.

"Do you like science?" Delilah questioned as Mr Elinson left their table, handing some of the last Bunsen burners off.

Finney's head turned to face Delilah quickly, not expecting the girl to speak to him so soon. "Uh, yeah. It's one of my favourite subjects." He said with a grin, scratching the back of his neck as he informed the girl.

"Really?" Delilah asked, smiling at the large nod Finney sent her way. "What's your favourite part of it?" She asked moments later, ready to learn all about Finney in the time in between they had when Mr Elinson wasn't speaking.

"Mainly space." He said quickly, barely a second after Delilah had finished her own sentence. "I'm really into rocketships and the stars." He says, puffing his chest out slightly as he got to talk about the topic. Other than his sister, he didn't have anyone to talk to about his interest, so he was jumping at the opportunity to do so now with Delilah.

"Do you want to go to space one day?" Delilah questioned, resting one of her elbows on the table so she could lean her head against her upturned hand, staring at Finney as she waited for his answer.

"Maybe, I haven't really thought about it too much." He said with a small shrug, his curls being jostled by the sudden movement.

Delilah was getting ready to ask the boy another question when Mr Elinson began to speak again after making his way back to the front of the classroom. "Now we are going to make sure our hair is tied back and that we have our safety goggles on. There should be some getting passed back now." He explained as small cardboard boxes filled with clear glasses were handed out to the front row, meant to be passed back when each student had taken one for themselves.

It didn't take long for the box to reach Delilah and Finney. Delilah was the one who got handed the box so she took both pairs of glasses out, offering one to Finney before she dropped the box by the side of her desk where they would need to dispose of the glasses later. She didn't bother to tie her hair up, most of it was already pulled back while the rest of it can just be tucked behind her ears or thrown over her shoulder.

"Can I light the flame?" Delilah asks, watching as Finney plugs the pipe into the gas chamber like Mr Elinson instructed, purposely slowing his movements down so he would stay in time with Mr Elinson's orders.

His head snapped over to Delilah before it was turning back to what he was doing, getting ready to turn the gas on as Mr Elinson walked around the room and handed matches to those who were ready to light their Bunsen burners. "Sure." He says with a quick nod, getting ready to turn the gas chamber on as Mr Elinson got to the back row.

Once he placed the box on the desk and moved on to the next group, Finney turned it on But instead of using the matches like Delilah was supposed to, she took a lighter out of her jacket's pocket, lighting it quickly before she held it over the top of the Bunsen burner, the flame growing quickly as it latched onto the gas.

"Wait, be careful you might burn yourself." Finney tried to warn the girl as she pulled her hand away quickly. Luckily for the both of them, Delilah hadn't sustained any damage, only Finney as he nearly had a heart attack at that moment.

A small laugh left Delilah's lips as the boy's worried call. "I'm fine. I play with fire whenever I'm bored anyway, I'm used to its sting."

"Unsurprisingly, that is not reassuring."