Chapter Text
The next day begins without any chance of stopping; a tingling sensation runs through her body. Joy lifts herself up slightly. Why does the ceiling look different…?
Oh, dream duty… Right.
Her back protests when she tries to sit up a little too quickly. Her head was pounding; she hoped no one had seen her. As she lifts her gaze, she notices the cup.
Great.
—Anxiety… —A betraying sigh slips from her mouth.
Joy begins to stretch; her mind drifts back to last night’s conversation. If only she had said something more empathetic…
She presses her lips together. It doesn’t matter.
What Anxiety did wasn’t right, was it? She hurt others, and in the process, Riley too.
So then… why does she feel like this?
She sighs; the images from the night before won’t leave her alone. Maybe it was just a one-time thing, although something deep in her mind told her otherwise…
She stands up quickly.
Now that she notices… what time is it?
She peeks at the living room clock.
4:30?!
How is it possible that it’s so early? Oh, Riley… no wonder no one was awake.
Maybe it would be best to just start the day already; she turns her head toward the table, and there it is.
To make her morning better—if those five minutes she’d been awake could even be called a morning—Anxiety’s cup was right in front of her, reminding her of everything.
—“Ugh.” —She grabs her face dramatically. This can’t be happening. This is my thing; I’m supposed to make people happy. So why can’t I do it with Anxiety?
—What am I supposed to do?…
The sound of a door opening alerts this Joy.
Footsteps can be heard approaching.
“Please don’t let it be Anxiety, please don’t let it be Anxiety…” Joy’s mental pleas are useless when she turns around and finds herself face to face with Anxiety.
—Anxiety! —She feels her face tense as their eyes meet.
Her gaze fixes on how Anxiety looks; dark circles rest beneath her eyes. Her messy hair looks worse than usual. Her hands, always restless, are holding a large notebook, and the rest of her doesn’t look any better.
Wait…
A notebook??!!
—You can stop staring at me… —The tense voice pulls her back to reality.
—Oh— I… yes, of course!
Anxiety walks toward her cup; Joy manages to notice the slight stiffness in her shoulders.
—So… what’s with the notebook?
The notebook is set down near the cup while it’s picked up.
—Now you’re interested in talking to me? —A faint note of exhaustion slips from Anxiety’s mouth.
—I… I do want to talk to you… about last ni—
“Stop… please.”
The interruption throws Joy off.
—Excuse me? —A small thought that maybe she’d said something wrong crosses her mind.
—Forget it. —Her grip on the notebook looks tighter than before.
The heaviness in the air increases.
The worst part was that she hadn’t even said three full sentences.
Congratulations, Joy. What a way to fix things.
Joy glances at the clock, hoping the others are already waking up.
5:30.
How much time had passed?!
The situation she was in didn’t make her want to continue the conversation.
Without noticing Joy’s discomfort, Anxiety moves.
—Riley should get up already…
What?!
Anxiety’s footsteps crossed the living room; the console lit up in an intense orange.
Before Joy could protest, the screen turned on.
—Why did you do that?! —she looked at her, incredulous at what the younger emotion had done—. It’s only 5:30. It’s way too early for Riley to wake up.
She moved closer to the console, stepping in front of the other.
—Riley needs to be prepared… It’s Monday.
—Sure, but… —her voice faded as she felt the other’s determination begin to waver.
The last thing she needed was another scene like yesterday.
—Joy… Riley needs to study. —Her hands tensed as she opened the notebook.
—She has to be ready for what’s coming. Next week are exams; she needs to get good grades. If she doesn’t, she could fail her classes. Our parents might ground her and forbid her from going to hockey. The coach could kick us off the team. With bad grades, she could even get expelled from school, which would— —Her lips shut abruptly.
—I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. Obviously you think I’m overreacting.
Her hands fidgeted with each other.
What am I supposed to say? That I think she’s exaggerating and none of that is going to happen?
Of course not.
—Anxiety… try to calm down —she says, attempting to keep her voice steady—. There’s still time before the exams.
—Of course you’d say that… —Her hands snapped the notebook closed; a deep breath could be heard—. I just… I want Riley to be better. Joy, you take everything calmly, but my job is to plan for the future.
There’s a pause where Joy can hear Anxiety’s erratic breathing and the sound of her heartbeat.
—I always have to think about the worst-case scenario… I always need to stay alert to the things that could hurt her, the things she doesn’t see. Try to understand, Joy… —Anxiety says in a pitiful attempt at a plea.
Her words get stuck in her throat.
—I know what you do, Anxiety, but I—
She stops abruptly when she hears the voices of the other emotions.
—Why are we up this early?!
Both emotions shrink slightly at the sound of Anger’s voice.
—You just interrupted my sleep; I hope it’s for something important. Do you know how dark Riley’s circles get when she doesn’t sleep enough? Ugh. —A sound of disgust follows.
—Maybe something happened? I hope it was just a nightmare… I’m glad I wasn’t the one assigned to dream duty.
“Fear, can you shut up? You’re giving me a headache.”
Fear flinches at Anger’s threat and hides behind Disgust.
As the rest of the emotions gather in the living room, Joy can’t stop thinking about what she would have said if they hadn’t been interrupted.
Her gaze shifts to Anxiety, who is already handling the console.
A button here, a lever there, the orange glow of the console…
And that notebook, now open.
Anxiety glances at her from time to time; she can’t help the doubt creeping in.
What does she have in that notebook?
The day continued calmly—some exchanged looks between Anxiety and Joy, though it didn’t really matter since the former was ignoring her. At school, Riley’s teachers announced what they had all feared…
Exams were approaching.
Joy kept a forced smile on her face.
A quick glance at the console and a small input here and there. Her body tensed at the sight of orange on the shelf; a faint grimace followed.
Now that she thought about it… where was Anxiety?
Her eyes scanned the area; she caught sight of Anxiety showing her notes to Envy. The two emotions looked… happy.
Joy turned away; there were more important things she could focus on than that.
Outside, things weren’t going great either.
When classes ended, Riley felt drained, though at least her friends were waiting for her in the hallway.
She quickly stood up to meet them; the less time she spent in the classroom, the less she’d have to worry about.
Exams could wait; happily, that was all there was to it.
—I can’t believe you’re older than me and get out earlier —Riley teased.
—Don’t be dramatic, Minnesota. We had to go through that too. —Dani nudged Riley with her elbow, earning a laugh.
—Then you can understand my point that exams should be made illegal.
—Totally!
—Save that energy for practice. —Val gave them a smile at their nonsense.
—Yes, ma’am, Captain! —Dani added a mock military salute.
A laugh Riley didn’t even realize she’d been holding escaped her lips; her body relaxed. She copied Dani’s salute.
—Yes, Captain! —Riley shouted.
She and Dani locked eyes and couldn’t help but laugh.
The trio of girls walked toward practice.
—Come on, guys! Our girl is strong and smart; a few exams won’t defeat us. —The smile on Joy’s face encouraged the others.
Sounds of agreement came from the rest of the emotions.
—She’s right. Riley’s done this before.
—She’s the best in her class; this will be nothing for her.
Amid the cheerful chatter, her attention focused on a muted murmur.
—We just need to prepare better…
Her gaze settled on Anxiety; her distant look vanished the moment she noticed Joy staring at her.
She quickly turned her face back to the console, focusing on it instead.
She couldn’t look at her.
A dramatic sigh escaped Joy’s lips.
She really didn’t understand her.
Coach Roberts’ voice makes her snap back to attention.
—“From now on, practices are going to increase. We’re getting close to playoffs; we can’t afford to relax right now.”
The low hum of the console was the only thing that could be heard.
Erratic breathing.
And before anyone could react, everything was painted orange.
Of course.
Exams were the only thing to worry about.
Joy avoids thinking about it with irony.