fragile [PREVIEW ONLY]

Chapter 13

The next few days at school was better than I could've expected. In a magic twist of events on Wednesday, Mr. Rutger had to leave less than ten minutes into class, so we spent the rest of the AP Bio watching a video under the not-so-watchful eye of the basketball coach. My next two classes were a blur, and - before I knew it - I was exiting the cafeteria with the rest of my schoolmates headed toward my fifth period class.

I took my sweet time in the hallway, partly to avoid the post-lunch rush and partly to delay the inevitable torture known as Calculus, and when I rounded the corner to my locker, I collided with a very solid chest.

My hand flew up to my chest, forming a fist, and rotating in a clockwise motion for a few seconds - signing 'sorry' out of sheer instinct - while I looked up to see what kind of man-mountain I crashed into.

"Are you okay?" Theo asked, his brown eyes wide as he held me upright.

I nodded, adjusting my backpack over my shoulder and pushing a strand of blonde hair out of my face. It was lucky I ran into him instead of someone else, like Zach, otherwise I would've ended up on the ground for certain.

Instead, Theo took his time before letting go of my upper arms. He stepped back, increasing the distance between us to a more socially acceptable one, before giving me a half-hearted smile.

"Good," he said. "Sorry, I should've been paying more attention."

I shook my head. It's not his fault that I can't hear anyone coming around the corner. Normally, I know better than to walk close to the walls. It's a recipe for disaster, and I've been in more hallway collisions than I could possibly count, but today I was distracted.

Reaching for my back pocket, I started to pull out my tiny purple notebook to tell him otherwise, but he placed a hand on my arm to stop me. When I looked up at him, his brown eyes were dark as he frowned.

"I've got to go to class," he told me, dropping his hand and sidestepping me. "Sorry."

He was gone as fast as he appeared, and I was left standing next to the lockers like an idiot. At least two students crashed into my shoulder from behind, and I nearly lost my bag the second time, before I finally headed toward my locker to grab my Calculus textbook.

My encounter with Theo felt...off.

He seemed distracted, almost apathetic, and his chocolate eyes lacked their signature warmth. Granted, I've only talked to him a few times in my life, so it's not like I'm an expert on Theo De Vries, but I thought he was different than everyone else. All signs pointed to that being true, and even if he did run off on me, that didn't necessarily mean he was intentionally being a jerk. Maybe he had a test, or a project, or...something.

I couldn't forget about it for the rest of the day, and by the time photography rolled around, Theo didn't show up in class. He never skipped school, so I may or may not have panicked a little bit when he didn't appear. For the entire class, I tried to focus on rolling and developing my film for the latest project, but I kept expecting to see him walk through the door to the classroom. He never appeared, however, which made me think that something was definitely wrong.

Theo was one of the smartest students in school. He never missed class, he never cut school, and his grades were phenomenal. He had already missed school on Friday, which was definitely out of character, but cutting photography class? It's not exactly a mentally strenuous class. Most students loved having Mr. Buchanan at the end of the day because it meant they could end the school day on a high note, and his classes always filled up quickly.

So why wasn't Theo here?

With the last ten minutes of class, I pulled out my phone. I didn't use Facebook, and Twitter was dedicated to my blog, so I used Instagram to keep tabs on everything going on in school. I followed Theo just like everyone else, so I opened up the app and typed in his username.