Belong - an adopted by Hamilton fanfic [Hamilton]

35. To hear

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Rue's POV
"...Niñita, call us if anything happens and remember, you're only going until lunch and then I'll pick you up-", Lin began at 7.45 am two days after being back home.
"And reply to all of our texts", Vanessa remarked. "Even if you're in class"
I nodded, trying to comprehend every little thing they said.
"I'll be fine, you guys. Seriously. I just want to be back in school, really", I rambled, checking the content of my backpack for the fourth time.

It was true. I didn't want to be there and find my only friend talking about all the hundred of stories I missed, and I couldn't tell Via why I'd been gone in the first place. I just wanted to minimize the time away.

Although, finding my old step siblings from my past placement home wouldn't be a joy - I'd be frozen by fright.

"SHE'S ALIVE!", Via shouted, happily smiling, as she ran towards me through the isle of bookcases since she'd been at her early meeting  with the speech & debate club. The librarian 20 meters away shushed us harshly, which made Via drastically put her hand over her mouth. I giggled as we crashed into a hug.
"Gosh, I missed you", I said, as her frizzy hair would tickle my nose.
"How could you not miss me?", Via giggled as we let go of each other. I nodded, agreeing with her.
And, so she quickly rambled about anything & everything, as we walked towards the first class of the day.
Burr's casual advice to Hamilton was something I never wanted to happen to Via. Her power of speaking, of speech, was to fight for. I wanted to hear the hundreds of stories she was telling me.
The familiar halls were quite scary, because I knew people were staring at me when I was knocking on each and every locker.
I looked down as I saw Ansel approach us from the other side of the hall, rather arrogantly.
His voice, quietly saying something.
"So you're back, Ruthleigh? I actually hoped that you killed yourself", his tone that was so confident, making me feel like I was so small, while everything around me was so big.
Blink 23 times 4.
"Go into space and take your helmet off, idiot. Tho, I am positive that you've got no idea about the consequences. Just back off from us, instead", Via snapped easily, and she seemed to be pretty satisfied with her choice of words.
She wasn't here for him.
I laughed inside.
The baffled Ansel just walked past us.
"That line was amazing", I breathed, so tempted to look back at him leaving towards his class.
"There's a reason I'm in speech & debate, Rue"

I sat down, fixing the order of my things in front of me for two minutes in a strict way of doing it as it was my last class before lunch. My last class of the day.
Do it for more times.
Although, that wasn't an explanation to why I was organising.
When I was done, the class had already started.
So, I did it another four times because of that.

I forced my hands to stay still after that, almost staring at the maths teacher as he went through what I assumed was algebra. I started to scribble down everything she'd written on the whiteboard, just to be sure.
Even if I'd done the work I'd been assigned, I still felt like I'd missed everything. Even Via had been talking to the guy behind us, that we barely knew.
Overthinking the situation, and letting my mind take over again.
Tap.

"...and apparently a certain student is still on vacation", my teacher said. I'd never felt so targeted in my entire life.
Blink. 72. Rhythm. Now. Or your family will die.
The bell rang, making my maths teacher sigh.
I quickly started to collect my things, in the right order.
"Homework for next Monday, and I want to talk to Ruth", and by that, the arrow hit the target once again.
Wait, did I do something wrong? I must've done something wrong? Did I forget to arrange my things? Or tap?