He stood there looking at John sleeping and then went into one of the rooms that was empty, lay down on the bed in the corner, although it was narrow. Thomas suddenly wondered what his mother would say when she saw John on the couch. But he thought she would understand it.
His arm almost didn't hurt anymore, but he couldn't sleep. He just lay on one side and on the other, then put his hands behind his head and lay on his back. He was still thinking about Richard and why he got up and left so quickly. With these thoughts Thomas closed his eyes and was able to fall asleep, although he didn't sleep very long. It was already dawn.Thomas woke up and went into the living room to see if John was still asleep, but he wasn't even there.
"How are you, Thomas, is something wrong?" asked his mother.
"I just couldn't sleep here" Thomas said calmly, still looking at the couch.
"These cookies" mom suddenly walked over to the table and picked up a plate of cookies.
"I was just hungry".
She looked at her son suspiciously but didn't say anything.
Thomas sat down on the couch.
"I'll cook you something now, and you can sleep until school will start".
"School, right" Thomas remembered only now that he hadn't finished school yet.
"Did you forget that you have to go to school today? "
"No, I remember perfectly well, but I don't really feel like going" Thomas said, thinking of Ethan and Julia.
"Don't worry, I think everything will be fine, it's the last month of your schooling and then you'll have your exams".
"Listen, mom, can I not go to school and just find a job somewhere? "
"Interesting, where? " Mom asked, leaning her hand on the table.
Thomas shrugged and looked at his mother and only now noticed that she looked quite young, she always looked after herself.
"Don't think too far ahead, Thomas, you still have school to finish".
Thomas streighten up and went to wash his face, then to his room and in a few minutes he was dressed in a T-shirt and pants.
"Wow, you're fast" his mother smiled as she looked at her son.
Suddenly Thomas noticed a piece of paper on the table. He picked it up and read it from John.
"You found this note, which means you noticed I was gone, but don't worry, I just decided to leave quickly so your mom wouldn't ask too many questions, so I'll meet you at school. " There was nothing else written.
"What is this?" his mother asked, looking at the note in her son's hand.
He turned to her and then said:
"It's homework, but it turned out to be wrong" he said, and with that he tore the note into two pieces, then into four and threw it away.
"Sit down at the table" his mother said calmly and threw an omelet on his plate.
"Thank you, mom" he said and gratefully began to eat.
"How is your arm?"
"It's fine, stop worrying"
Thomas suddenly felt anxious in her.
"Has something happened? "
"I hope it wasn't your... "
"Dad?" Thomas raised his eyebrows "No, don't you know him, he's never laid a hand on you or me".
"Yes, I'm sorry, I just thought maybe you two had a fight or something".
"No, we didn't fight, I just yelled at him and he didn't say much".
The mother didn't say anything.
"Don't worry, he won't hurt us, I'm sure of it, he was offering me help and I agreed to help him make amends".
"Help? " Mom was amazed "But what kind of help? "
"When I was traveling with John, I came across a girl and decided to help her, so I asked my father to find her a job" Thomas explained.
"Who is this girl? "
"Her name is Carol and she is very nice, but her life wasn't very fun, in fact it was terrible".
"Oh, but why? ".
"She was selling herself for money".
Mom looked at Thomas with horror and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Thomas, that's so terrible, and how old is she?
"She's only fifteen".
"What did her parents think about that?"
"She has no one, her parents are dead".
"And where does she live now?"
"My father promised to rent her an apartment".
The mother was silent for a while.Thomas felt excited in her.
"Look, maybe we could take her in to live with us".
Thomas almost choked on his omelet.
"Are you serious? "
Mom shrugged "I think the three of us will get along".
"You're the best" Thomas said, walking over to his mother and hugging her.
"Now I'm gonna go to her and tell the great news" Thomas said excitedly, still not believing his ears.
"Why are you so happy? " his mother suddenly asked, looking at her son.
"She will finally have a house and she won't have to pay for it".
"But you'll be late for your first lesson".
"It's okay" Thomas said, washing his plate.
"Let me wash it" said his mother, but Thomas had already put the clean plate on the counter.
He kissed a mom on the cheek, grabbed his backpack and ran. He quickly got to the restaurant and saw that Carol was already at work.She was standing in front of a young man and writing something in a notebook.Thomas approached her.
She noticed him and looked down. Something was wrong with her.Suddenly all Thomas's amusement disappeared.
"Hi Carol, we need to... "
He suddenly looked at her. Her lip was cut and her cheek was bruised.
"What happened, Carol? "
"I'm sorry, Thomas, I have to work " she said, recoiling from the answer.
Thomas grabbed her elbow. A young man sitting nearby watched them.
"Who did this to you? "
"I don't know" Carol replied sadly, pulling her arm away "But yesterday when I was coming home from work I was attacked, but I didn't see who, and if it wasn't for one man I don't know what would have happened to me".
Thomas looked at her and she looked scared.
"Maybe we should go somewhere and get help" Thomas said.
"For instance".
"The police"
"No" Carol said sharply "I don't want to get them involved, but I think it was that man" she said, lowing her voice.
Thomas's eyes widened.
"You mean the man who tried to kill you? "
Carol nodded "Yes, but I'm not sure".
"Don't go anywhere alone, Carol, I'll walk you home when it's too late and I will try to always be near".
"No need to" Carol said, and Thomas felt a deep sadness in her and felt sorry for the girl.
"Why? "
"You can get hurt again and I can't let that happen".
"Carol" Thomas touched her chin and she looked at him.
"I'll protect you and I won't let you get hurt by anyone".
Suddenly Thomas' hand dropped and he was a little surprised by the words he said.
Carol looked at him again and then walked away.
"This man really wants to kill her so badly, what for? " Thomas reached into his pocket, but the diary was not there, he must have been wearing a different shirt. Carol brought the young man some soup and Thomas looked at her from a nearby table. Carol walked over to him.
"We should talk" Thomas said, looking around.
Carol sat down across from him.
"About what? " her lip twitched strangely.
"I want you to live with me. "
Carol looked at him in surprise before saying something
"My mom doesn't mind, by the way. "
They were silent for a while and then Carol said:
"Live with you, but why?"
"Because I want you to live with us, aren't you glad? "
Carol looked down, bit her lip, and then said:
"I will be a burden to you".
"No, you won't" Thomas said calmly, sensing the girl's concern. "No one will be able to hurt or attack you, you'll be with us and it will be safer".
"I told you not to worry about me. "
Thomas touched the girl's hand and looked at her face, which was pale and bruised from the sun.
"I just want to help you".
Carol looked at Thomas in surprise and he lowered his hand.
"Alright, if it wasn't for you I would still be working in that club or would have been already killed, thank you". Carol smiled at him and walked away.
Thomas smiled happily and went to school where he was met by John.
"Hello, Thomas, why are you so late?"
"I had something to do" Thomas said, sitting down on the bench next to his friend.
"What's up?" John asked, but then Ethan walked up to them again, smiling.
"It's not good to be late, Tachful, don't you know that?"
"What do you want McRane" Thomas snapped.
"I saw you sitting with some girl".
John suddenly looked from Ethan to Thomas in surprise.
"So Thomas Tachful is dating a girl" Ethan said out loud. Some of the people standing next to him laughed. Burke and Harry were among them, and only now Thomas noticed that Julia was also standing next to Ethan, but she was looking somewhere else, but when she heard what Ethan was saying, she turned around.
"We're just friends and it's none of your business" Thomas said, standing up.
"Really? At least females are interested in you unlike someone" Ethan smiled crookedly, shoving hands in his pockets and looking at John.
"What do you care anyway?" John suddenly said, and Thomas felt the anger in him again.
"I'm not talking to you, idiot"
John suddenly reached out and tried to grab his collar, but Ethan beat him to it, squeezing his hand in his own and glaring at him.
"Don't stick your nose in, Derkins, you're weak and you can't do anything to me" Ethan scoffed and let go of John's hand. "I just smeared my hands on you. " After these words he went away with all others.
John went to run after him again, but Thomas held him back.
"He's right, there's nothing you can do to him".
"Damn it" John shouted and then noticed that Julia was still there.
"I wanted to talk to you" she suddenly said, looking at Thomas.
John looked at her stunned.Thomas could sense her concern.
"So you're really dating someone" This question surprised Thomas and he opened his mouth in shock.
"I'm... "
"Yes, he's dating someone, and what do you care? " John growled.
Julia looked down sadly and then whispered.
"I'm sorry. " She quickly ran into the school.
"Why did you talk to her like that?" Thomas asked.
"Don't say you feel sorry for her, she is insolent that dares to ask such a question.
John was mad, but Thomas could sense the excitement in him.
"I don't feel sorry for her, she is just a girl, who dates that asshole Ethan".
John streightened up.
"I wish I could be strong enough to fight him".
"Don't worry about it, I think you'll be able to smash his face, but I don't know if you should deal with such a person ".
"You seem surprisingly calm" John said, looking at his friend "By the way, who is this girl Ethan was talking about, are you really daring someone?".
"That's Carol, I told you about her before, she's a good girl and she's going to live with us".
"She's going to live with you" John said and then laughed slapping Thomas on the shoulder. " You're already offering a girl to live with you, didn't expect that, to be honest".
"What's wrong with that? "
John smiled sarcastically and bit his lip, still thinking about Julia.
"Maybe it was too much" John said suddenly.
"What do you mean? "
"Julia".
"Calm down, buddy, I'm sure she's not mad at you".
"Well, she don't care about me anyway" John grumbled.
"What class is it now?" Thomas asked after silence.
"P.E. "
"Look, maybe we shouldn't go in there what do you think?".
"Are you sure?" John arched his eyebrows.
"Yes, I'm not going to go there, let's go to the cafeteria instead".
"There will be no P.E. " suddenly came a voice from behind. It was Molly. She adjusted the glasses on her face and looked down somehow sad. Before that, Molly walked without glasses, so Thomas and John looked at each other in surprise.
"She must have been doing it for Ethan" John whispered in Thomas's ear.
"What's going to happen instead of P.E.?" Thomas said, approaching the girl.
"I don't know" she grumbled "Mr. Taylor is sick".
John suddenly smiled triumphantly.
"He deserved it".
"What are you on about?" Molly suddenly said angrily, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief.
"I'm sorry, but why are you crying? "
Molly turned away.
"Is it because of that bastard Ethan again?" John snapped.
"He's not a bastard" Mollygrowled "It's Julia, it's all her fault. He doesn't even look at me" feverishly added Molly and burst into tears again. John put his hand on her shoulder
"Calm down, Ethan's not that perfect".
Molly pulled away and looked at John in disgust.
"You don't know anything about him...Julia just bewitched him to her".
"Bewitched him" John repeated skeptically.
Molly nodded affirmatively, wiping her face with her handkerchief again.
"Why are you wearing glasses?" suddenly John asked.
Molly took them off and threw into a nearby trash can.
Thomas looked at John in surprise and then at Molly.
"You threw them away" John said, dumbfounded.
"I realized they didn't fit me" she said, fixing her brown hair.
"Don't worry, Molly, you're beautiful doesn't matter with them or without".
Molly suddenly beamed.
John and Thomas went to class.Thomas was suddenly grinning.
"Why are you laughing?" John was outraged.
"Did you say that on purpose or do you really think so? "
"The first of course, but she's not a bad girl, so I don't know why you pick holes in what I said".
" Not a bad girl who is still willing to die for Ethan" Thomas added.
"I don't know what they all find in him".
"I don't either, he's got money, that's all I can think of".
"I think Molly likes everything about him, she denies the fact that he is a jerk."
"It's a fact that Julia would deny too".
"But he is a bastard, isn't he?"
Thomas nodded and the two of them went inside.