Off to the car they go! Theo is fully clothed with shoes and everything, how convenient.

Much better than being naked in the sand indeed, no matter what Sadde may fantasize about.

Of course.

"So, my mom should be okay with most of this and I'm sure she'll understand why we totally needed to go steal blood and such but she probably won't want to know specifics? Either that or she'll be dying to hear them, I'm not sure."

"Okay?"

"I was just telling you in advance because she might want to talk to you or something." Shrug.

"Should I not tell her things...?"

"Nah, she's fine to know – she'll get it anyway if she's determined enough and it's not like she's going to actively work against us without valid reason – I was just saying that she might attempt to grill you or alternatively she might be weirdly casual about the whole thing, so, might be unexpected behavior for a parent." Shrug.

"Well I told my mom everything and she asked lots of things and is very uneasy about the whole thing but trusts my judgment."

Nod. "I'd be kinda surprised if they were like 'oh sure go ahead feel free everything'll be fine' or whatever, but– my mom might seem like she's like that, is what I meant."

He nods.

They are at the school shortly! It is unfortunately quite sunny, but Theo gets out of the car quite smoothly and calmly and doesn't seem to be in any pain whatsoever.

Outwardly.

It occurs to Sadde people might Draw Conclusions from seeing him arrive with the recently dead.

It does not occur to him to care much.

The recently dead walks into school!

Some people seem quite shocked.

That is to say, quite a lot of them are extremely confused. Tap each other on the shoulder, point at the recently dead, whisper to each other.

Stand still looking confused.

Fortunately it's still kinda early so not everybody is here yet, but it's still– most of them.

Yeah it's probably weird.

"By the way um maybe try to avoid looking at people much?" he says in an undertone.

"Yeah," he agrees, having mostly been looking just where he's going anyway. "Having everyone gossip about how wonderful I am newly back from the dead– doesn't sound like fun."

"I don't think it'd be that noticeable, once you weren't—there."

Shrug. "I unfortunately don't have a way to take back having looked at them, so it's a good idea anyway."

"Yes, that."

On they go!

There is: an office! Theo talks to the secretary-or-receptionist or whatever – who seems quite surprised to see him, apparently even he found out about the death – and requests that he speak to, like, the vice principal or y'know, someone who could try to spread the word he's not dead.

Even though it's the last day of term.

And they're promptly ushered to the vice-principal's room, where she blinks at his presence.

"Hi!" he says, cheerfully, smiling at her. "The hospital still doesn't know what happened, but I'm not dead, so, um." Pause. "Yeah, this is kinda awkward."

She blinks some more. "Yes, so I see. This is—highly irregular."

She doesn't seem to have noticed Sadde there, yet.

That's fine.

"It's the last day of term and I think it'd be a bit confusing for me to come back today – people might get distracted – but I heard that the principal made an announcement about my death? … I was wondering if there could be an announcement that I'm actually not, because I think gossip got around town and people think I should be dead."

"—of course, yes. I—will have to—you're sure you're not coming to class?—I suppose you must not be feeling very well..."