Writing On The Wall (The King Brothers Duology #2)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

IVY

My routine is changing once again—this time for the better. After school on Friday, I bought the cheapest inflatable mattress I could find and set it up in the cottage. Then I collapsed into my squeaky new bed as the bone-tiring effects of the last week finally caught up to me. And it’s a good thing I finally caught up on some of the sleep I’ve been missing, since the rest of my weekend was filled with wedding planning and made-of-honor duties.

I woke up this morning with the luxury of peeing in my own toilet and climbing back under the blankets. It was heaven. Well…almost heaven, since my air mattress is a bit noisy. But once I get my real furniture from Carl, I imagine it’ll be pretty darn close.

The house has yet to be fully explored, but I plan to remedy that after school. First, I need to hurry my butt up if I plan to get to work on time.

My body feels sluggish with the aftereffects of all the changes I’ve been hit with over the past few weeks. I’ve had to vacuum pack each new stressor I’ve faced and shove them out of sight to be dealt with later. Now that the stakes don’t seem quite so high, I can sense that seal breaking. Apparently, my body’s way of dealing with all this is to catch up on sleep and ignore the many alarms I set for myself.

As much as I hate it, I’ll have to forgo the shower this morning. I dig through the two duffel bags I have yet to unpack and pick out the least wrinkled clothes. The rest of my stuff, as Ethan called it, is still piled in my car. Again—I’m too exhausted to care whether my car looks like a troll has been living in it for one more day.

By the time I dump my teaching tote behind the desk in my classroom, I’m out of breath and hungry. I may have a house, but I haven’t ventured to open the fridge since it probably needs disinfecting before I can fill it.

I grab one of the mystery bars from the staff lounge on my way to Toby’s class. I take a cautious bite as I walk in to find Toby writing what looks like a quote from The Lord of The Rings on his whiteboard.

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future,” I read aloud. “Is that one just for me?” I point, grinning at my friend.

“For all the vertically challenged,” he affirms proudly.

“This vertically challenged friend also has a favor to ask.” I bat my eyelashes, trying for humor since asking for help feels so unnatural to me.

“Hit me with it.”

I remove Stef’s hieroglyphics chart from my pocket and hand it to Toby. “Can you help make sense of this?” I chew on my lip as Toby takes the paper, a sinking feeling settling in. It’s just another reminder that my ambitions to further my education might just be unrealistic dreams. What’s the point of aiming higher when something as simple as reading a chart feels like an insurmountable hurdle? How could I possibly handle more years of study?

Toby unfolds the paper, silently frowning in concentration. He doesn’t ask why I can’t understand the information on it for myself.

“It looks like Stef organized the groups of your field trip into time slots. She added a heart next to her name,” He adds with a smile before clearing his throat and continuing. “Most of the groups are all together, but two require different groups to go to certain locations…” He continues verbally breaking down the schedule for me as I nod, committing as much of it to memory as possible.

“You want me to type this up with bullet points?” he asks, like it’s no big deal. It isn’t often that I need to ask for Toby’s help like this. I don’t encounter too many documents of this format—numbers and letters at war with each other, interspersed and trying to assume some form of order, but they won’t stay still. And when I do, I usually get Ember to help if we’re together.

But the way Toby offers to go above and beyond what I’ve asked him to do just to make my life easier threatens to crack a piece of my heart wide open. I desperately want to confide in him about my struggles. I don’t fully know why I hold this particular battle so closely, like a shield. Maybe it’s become a habit, or maybe it’s my pride. I’m probably making things harder for myself, but lowering the guard you’ve held up your whole life is daunting. If I let go, I’m not sure I’ll know what to hide behind or hold onto anymore.

Toby’s kindness makes that shield feel a little heavy though. Without answering, I step forward and wrap my arms around him. He pulls me close, giving me the brotherly embrace I so desperately need.

Footsteps shuffle past Toby’s door, and I let go of him, casting a glance at the doorway as our koala hug ends and finding it empty. “Thank you, Bee,” I say, dabbing at my eyes. “That would be amazing. I’ll grab it from you after school.” I offer him a watery smile before jogging back to class.

Then again, there’s no need to tell anyone about this, right? Toby seems to understand. Besides, I’m managing just fine.