//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8. Moving Forward 
// Story: Help 
// by WittyNameTFM 
//------------------------------//

Indigo sat up to the darkened walls and familiar feel of unease. She was back home. Her heart sank, her eyes widened. "No. Nonononononono!" She pushed off the bed, the familiar pain in her torso firing up. She seethed, gritting her teeth as she rushed to the door and tore it open. The hallways of her old home, familiar arguing in the distance.

"No, I-I was out- Sunny!" She turned to run back to her room, and found herself on the rooftop again. She stared down from the ledge, her CPA letterman jacket on, and her hair pulled back. Only fingertips kept her in place. She felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu and glanced back to see herself on the rooftop, reaching out.

"Wait-!"

She felt herself let go.

Indigo jolted awake, pain in her side, and confusion in her eyes which darted from side to side as she took in her environment. The room was clean and tidy, still dark from the time of night, but this was not her old house.

She tried to calm herself as she heard footsteps approaching the door, a knock following. "Indigo, are you okay?" Sunny's voice asked, cracking the door to peek in.

Indigo was backed against the headboard, looking directly at her. Hugging her knees, she held a look of fear in her eyes.

"Indigo!" Sunny rushed in and took a seat beside her. "Hey, shh, talk to me. What happened?" She asked, putting an arm around her. The girl was shuddering, but she didn't shrink away.

"Nightmare." She managed.

"They were this bad?"

Indigo nodded.

"Well, I'll stay here until you fall asleep again."

"Huh? N-No, you don't have to do that."

"Of course not. But I'm going to." She said simply. "I can't leave you like this."

"How'd you even know to come check on me?"

"I don't know. I was asleep and just, I guess, felt something was wrong. I swear I heard you call for me."

"Sorry. You should go back to bed." She mumbled.

"I will, when you're okay."

Indigo wanted to fight her over it, but couldn't find the energy to. She didn't want her to leave anyway. She was proof that she wasn't dreaming. Her anchor. 

After a while, Sunny felt the girl beside her get heavier and soft snoring gave her away. Indigo was clearly still exhausted, and her fears kept eating at her, but she wouldn't be alone if they came back.

Morning rolled around and Sunny woke from her spot beside Indigo. She'd dozed off as well it seemed, her mother poked her head in. "Girls. It's time to get up." She said.

Indigo jolted at the voice, holding her side from the sudden movement. "I'm up!" She said before looking around. "Oh, r-right… I uh. Thank you Mrs. Flare."

"Easy there, kiddo. Go ahead and get ready for school, we'll have breakfast done here soon.." She said with a warm smile. Indigo couldn't bring herself to look up at the woman, something about this still felt unreal.

"I'll get changed, uh," She looked over to Sunny. "Thanks for having my back."

"Anytime." She smiled, standing to leave the room.

"What happened, honey?" Her mom asked as they left to give the girl privacy.

"Nightmare, it was bad. She looked so scared."

"Well, we could set her up with some therapy, but you might need to broach the subject with her." She said with a sad smile. "I hope she can loosen up here."

"Me too."

Sunny parted ways to get changed for school herself, exiting her room to call Indigo for breakfast.

"You guys actually eat breakfast." She said with a small smile as she followed behind her. “I usually just grabbed something on the way out.”

"If you consider mom's cooking as food, yes."

"Hey!" The woman pouted as they turned the corner.

"I-I'm sure it's great…" Indigo mumbled, Sunny made a note of how Indigo’s demeanor changed when her mother spoke to her. It wasn’t a one off reaction, she spoke quietly and nervously.

"She always teases me about my cooking, sweetie. It's just poking fun." She clarified. "I wish Sunny was as nice as you are though."

"I'm really nothing special-" Indigo tried before the woman and her daughter went on to tease one another more, it was such a different dynamic. Talking back or even negatively in general would earn another bruise. Another reminder of how screwed up she was.

Sunny glanced over, catching the girl lost in thought again. "Indigo? C'mon, let's eat and head out."

"Oh, right, sorry." She nodded, joining them at the table and glancing at the girl beside her, "Hey Sunny, would you mind giving me a ride home later? I'll probably have to call because I don't know when I'll be done with my clubs."

"Of course, but why are you still going to so many clubs? Shouldn't you recuperate first at least?"

Indigo paused as she began to reply. Her father wanted her to be in all of the sports clubs. "I dunno what I'd do if I wasn't doing sports stuff, I guess." She shrugged.

“Well, dear, maybe it’s time you figure that out?” The woman suggested with a smile. Indigo let the suggestion sink in. She didn’t need to push herself as hard as she had been. Maybe this would be a good time to think about herself…

“Maybe.” She managed, feeling compelled to at least acknowledge the adult’s words, not out of fear but more out of respect.

Sunny led her to her car, part of her enjoyed the surprise from the girl. "I offered you a ride before. You thought I was gonna call my parents?" She teased.

"So you have a nice car, big deal." Indigo shot back with a smirk.

"You're impressed, it's okay to admit it."

"Maybe a little."

"I'm used to the bus. We'll be there way faster. Why do you leave so early?"

Sunny opened her mouth to answer, but caught herself. She left this early to catch Indigo before class and it was just a habit at this point, but she couldn't admit that now.

"Just eager to get there?" She shrugged.

"Uh huh…" Indigo said skeptically.

Sunny pulled in and parked, the two of them decided to head to the cafeteria to wait for classes to begin. They found a table and took a seat, just content in waiting out the time.

“We’re leaving later tomorrow…” Sunny assured, looking at her smart watch. “We have a half hour.”

“What happened to being ‘eager’?”

“Shut up.” She pouted, crossing her arms.

“Hey guys!" Lemon waved as she approached. "What are you doing here so early?"

"We left too early is all, what about you?"

Lemon shrugged. "I just get here early. Typically find a corner and listen to music and play on my phone. Sour should be getting here soon too." She said, checking her phone. "She comes in early for archery practice."

"Oh right. Forgot that some clubs do morning sessions." Indigo said, leaning back in her seat.

"You have all of yours in the afternoon right? That sucks. I'm more available to hang after school."

"Yeah…"

"And you have your theater club stuff right, Sunny?"

"I do, but I'm not here too long, maybe another hour or so after school. Depending on if we have a show to practice for."

"How'd the tryouts go?" Indigo asked as Lemon took her seat at the table. 

"Oh, that's at the end of the week, I'm sure it'll go well." She said, bringing a hand to her chest and deepening her voice just a tad, but enough to change her tone noticeably. "To live would be an awfully big adventure." She quoted a line, a hint of sadness dripped in her words.

"Whoa, that's pretty great." Lemon said with a smile.

"Thank you, thank you." She bowed slightly with a grin.

Lemon's phone buzzed and she picked it up to begin typing. "Sour's on her way."

"You two are pretty close?" Sunny asked.

"I think she puts up with me." Lemon giggled. "You know, she's actually really nice when you get to know her."

"Is that so?"

"I can believe it. She's always had that air about her." Indigo said. Sunny's mind drifted back to the conversation she had with Sour Sweet. They seemed to get the same feeling about one another. Maybe there was some kind of kindred spirit thing between them.

"Oh, you two are here early." Sour said as she arrived, taking a seat beside Lemon.

"So we've been told." Indigo chuckled, leaning back as she and Sour began the usual pleasantries. Sunny watched them, it was crazy how Indigo didn't seem out of the ordinary at all, even knowing what happened the night prior. 

She glanced to the rocker beside Sour, catching her in a similar mindset, seemingly just watching Sour interact with someone else.

"I think the archery club is better than ever lately." Sour said as Sunny tuned back into the conversation. "I'm glad I don't have to carry it on my own anymore. I don't know how you manage multiple teams."

"Yeah… It's, uh, it's not easy." She said. "How'd I manage it for so long is the question."

"Past tense? You thinking of dropping some?"

"Not sure." She shrugged.

"What are you four doing here?" Another voice asked as Sugarcoat approached the table.

"Yeah, yeah, we're really early. Got it. Why are you here?" Indigo asked, looking up at her.

"I was planning on studying." She took a seat at the table.

"No one's making you sit with us."

"I know. How have you been?"

"Oh-" Indigo blinked, realizing how all of her new friends had joined her now. "Well, a lot's been going down."

"What's up, dude?" Lemon asked, Indigo looked to Sunny before steeling herself.

"I'm staying with Sunny for the time being, my parents-" She looked down. "Well, let's just leave it at 'I'm staying with Sunny'."

"Alright. Whatever it was, you can talk to us about it when you're ready." Lemon said. "But for now, message received."

"At least you're safe. That's what matters most here." Sugarcoat said with the others agreeing as well. "Take good care of her." She added to Sunny.

"Wh-Why are you saying it like that?" She asked. "I have no say in what she does. She's a strong, independent young woman-"

"You're awfully wordy for such a simple request." Sour teased.

"Yeah, Sunny, you've got her back, right?" Lemon asked, both girls looking to one another.

"Of course I do."

"Good. That's all we wanted." Sugarcoat clarified before the bell rang. "And there's the bell. See you at lunch." She stood and walked toward the exit closest to her classroom.

"Later dude." Lemon stood to walk with Sour.

"Since when did we have people who were understanding at this school?" Indigo asked.

"They've always been around, but maybe you had to reach out to realize they were there? C'mon. Let's get going too."

"Right. Guess we should try to hang out with everyone more often…"

"I'm sure that'd be fun."

The classes passed rather quickly, well some did. Indigo still struggled to stay awake for math, especially with how little she slept the night before. Sunny nudged her awake as the bell rang and they walked to PE together.

The coach greeted the students as they entered, Indigo approaching him and stopping, Sunny halted just a few steps ahead.

"Hey coach."

"Good afternoon, miss Zap. How are you?"

"Hurting. I've been going for a few weeks on some injured ribs. Been doing some thinking too…"

"Wh-What? You jus- why didn't you inform anyone? Are you alright?"

"Not really. I think I'm gonna pull out of most of the teams...except soccer."

Sunny blinked in surprise as the coach stepped back. "A-And you're sure? No talking you out of it?"

"I'm sure. I have some stuff I need to put time into now, and recovering is one of them." She held her side. "I think I should sit out of class also."

"R-Right. Well it's a big loss to our athletics department, but if it's what you need to do, by all means." He sighed. "Rest up and I'll see you for soccer practice when you're cleared." He added with a sad smile.

"Thank you, sir." She smiled back before returning to Sunny's side, lifting an eyebrow at her surprise. "What?"

"You just quit like five teams."

"Yeah?"

"Didn't you do those because you liked them?" She asked as they walked.

Indigo took a deep breath, "Nope." She said quietly, a bit of sadness in her tone. "I really only liked soccer."

"Oh…" Sunny frowned.

"Besides. Can't hang out with you if I'm busy with clubs that I don't wanna be a part of."

"R-Right." She smiled brighter.

"Get changed, Flare. You've gotta put in the work for both of us."

"Huh?!"

Indigo grinned. "Just because I can't work out doesn't mean I can't coach."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"This is your life now."

Sunny rolled her eyes. "If it makes you happy, I can endure it."

Indigo felt that twinge in her chest and grinned. "That's the spirit!"