Sinnamon Rolls part 1: Backstory

Ch. 3 - Apple Fritters

Over the next few weeks, Kari and Milo spent all downtime in shared classes discussing their interests. A lot of it was Kari telling Milo about obscure animation he never heard of, showing him on her phone. And the few times that Milo was taking the bus home, Kari showed him videos, sharing her earbuds. It meant a lot to Kari having someone that's as happy to hear her sprout fun facts that most don't care about as she was to talk about them. And as a small plus, the conversations brightened Milo's by-default dreary mood a little from what it was.

Of course, as much as their newfound friendship helped Kari, it wasn't a panacea for Kari's homesickness, and it was far from one for Milo's... increasingly-odd behavior.

One Monday, homeroom ended and it was ten minutes into first period. Milo still hadn't shown up. He's late to classes often, but never this late. Kari couldn't help but wonder if he'd come down with something. Lack of sleep messes with the immune system after all. But just when Kari was thinking she should accept that he wasn't in today, the handle turned, and slowly, the door opened. In came Milo, pressing his body against it, face flushed, breathing heavy. He held his head and rubbed his temples while he tried in vain to get to his desk with no one noticing.

"Milo! You're late again." said the teacher sternly, lowering the dry erase marker she was writing on the board with. Milo froze upon hearing her. Trembling, he turned to face her.

"I-I'm— so— so sorry, Mrs. Barnes... I— um— it's just a long walk, and—"

"I'm sorry, but you're going to need to walk much faster. You missed homeroom and on top of that, you're another ten minutes late?"

Milo's lower lip quivered hearing that and the faint voices of various students teasing him in the background.

"It must take a while to get here from the dump."

"Aye yo 'Stylo' got the guccis!"

"Yeah I'm mad jealous, bruh."

"Oh, shut the fuck up..." Kari mouthed, feeling her blood boil.

The teacher stepped closer to Milo. "This is your last warning, I'll have to write you up if you're late again, understand?"

He nodded. "...Yes."

"Take your seat."

As he lumbered to the empty desk beside Kari, Kari witnessed a guy wearing a red varsity jacket stick out his foot to try tripping Milo, but thankfully he noticed in time and stepped over it. Kari wanted to punt that shit-eating-grinned dirtbag into orbit.

Close up, he only looked worse. He groaned and damn near collapsed into his seat. Not loudly, but just enough for Kari to hear. Mrs. Barnes resumed where she left off.

"Hey... are you okay...? What happened?" Kari whispered to him.

"N...Not feeling good at all..."

That much is obvious...

"You're sick? Why would you come to school like this...?"

"No... just don't feel good."

"You should go to the nurse. Tell Mrs. Barnes that you don't feel good."

He shook his head and he contorted his face in disapproval. "...No. I can't! Uhh— I missed enough already. I'll just... stick this out..."

He turned to the clock and sighed dolefully. He turned his head up, chin on the desk so he could look at the board, with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Kari saw him digging his fingers deep into the flesh beneath where his rib cage is, and observed that his expression, when she looked at his face, was one of pain. He licked his dry lips, with tears glistening in his glazed-as-ever eyes.