Chapter Text
Balloon felt dizzy as soon as he woke up. He wasn’t even going to try to sit up for a few minutes, instead he blindly reached for the class of water on his night stand. It was lukewarm from being left out all night, but when he took a sip, if felt freezing as it pooled in his (painfully empty) stomach. Once all of his water was finished, Balloon sat up. Fuck, he felt horrible. Bile rose in his throat, air didn’t sit properly in his lungs, and he was so tired.
But he still had to go to school, so he heaved himself out of bed, clutching the headboard in an effort to not fall over. He worked his way to the bathroom to get ready. He didn't properly shower any more, he mostly just sat on the shower floor and let the water trickle over him. Sometimes he would try to wash properly, but the standing under the warm water made his head spin, and he’d had a few close calls with nearly passing out in the shower. Once the hot water started to burn slightly too much, he pulled himself up and stepped up and left the bathroom.
Balloon kept all the lights off when he was showering, or getting dressed, or any time his body wasn’t fully covered. He couldn’t bare to look at himself, all the ugly scars he’d carved into himself, how disgusting he looked. Just thinking about it made him feel sick (although, maybe that would help him resist the urge to eat today). Once he had pulled on his uniform, the lights were turned back on, so balloon could find the relevant books for his classes. Once his bag was backed, he ate a vitamin gummy (he’d managed to convince himself that those would keep him healthy. Deep down, he knew that was bullshit). He sighed, put his headphones on and left the house to start walking.
Despite it being September, it was still around 20 degrees. Walking in a hoodie was fucking torture. He was sweating already, and black spots appeared in his vision. His walk took half an hour, but luckily his form room was on the bottom floor. He was somewhat thankful for that, he would probably collapse if he had to go up any stairs.
By the time Balloon had reached his seat, he was fucking exhausted. He was so lightheaded from being hungry, he chugged half of his water bottle to hope that something in his stomach would keep him going.
Balloon sat down, resting his head on the desk in an attempt to stop the world around him spinning. At some point, he registered the sound of someone sitting down next to him. He didn’t have the energy to turn his head to look. He dozed through most of tutor time, and groaned internally when the bell rang, and he had to stand up. Fuck, he really should eat something today, but instead, he filled up his water bottle again on his way to his first class, English Literature.
Balloon checked as timetable as he walked away from the water fountains, and his heart dropped. His English literature class was on the third floor. Shit. The school has a lift that's usually reserved for physically disabled students, but balloon was terrified of trying to walk up the stairs. So he dipped into the lift, feeling a little guilty, but relieved he wouldn’t need to use half his energy trying to get to his first class of the day.
Once he reached the classroom, he sat in his usual seat near the back, usually it was the only table that no one else sat on. But today, someone sat next to him. Balloon was pretty sure her name was Suitcase. He’d never really spoken to her before, he had seen her hanging out with baseball and nickel, so he didn’t really want anything to do with her., but she smiled and gave him a small wave. Huh.
As normal, the class was painfully boring, Mr Mephone talked at the class for half an hour, before setting an exam question for the rest of the class. Balloon finished it with fifteen minutes to spare. Suitcase looked like she was struggling, her eyes flicked from the board, to her paper, then to the board again. After getting even more confused, she tapped the spot next to Balloon's hand on the table.
“Hey, uhh, do you know what we’re supposed to be doing? I don't think I get it”
“We just have to analyse the passage on the board, and talk about how Lady Macbeth goes against gender roles.”
Suitcase didn’t look any less confused, so Balloon gave her a few of the quotes he used and explained how you could analyse them. Literature always came naturally too him. Once suitcase understood enough to attempt the task, Balloon went back to his own work. He completed the question with ten minutes to spare.
The rest of the day dragged on, he was too tired to focus on any other classes. He downed water to try to suppress his hunger (it never worked). The final bell made him sigh with relief, but he was also dreading the walk home. He almost considered asking his mother to pick him up, but walking for half an hour would burn enough calories that he could eat something when he got some, so he decided on walking. Even if it would make him feel like shit. He tried to blast upbeat music in his ears, to keep him awake. He was walking slower than he would have liked, but he knew if he went any faster he would potentially pass out.
By the time he stumbled through his front door, his limbs felt like jelly. He had one last (excruciating) trudge up the stairs before he could finally crash on his bed. He closed his eyes to try to calm his spinning head, it didn’t work.