The heartstopper

Chapter 26

After sitting in the alcove a bit longer, not going unoticed by their teachers who had walked by twice, (Once on the way to speak with a student and once on their way back.) They eventually did decided to call home. Nick offered to go first since Charlie was still reculent on the idea.

Nick took out his phone, -which he did not charge the night before, (it was at twenty five percent)- and selected his mom's contact. The phone only rang for half a ring before his mom picked up on the other side.

{Phone call with 'mum'}

"Nicky, honey?" A worried voice called from the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, mom. I'm right here," Nick replied.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt?" She had been worrying all night long. She, too, did not get any sleep.

"I'm... I'm fine, mom,"

"Have you been sleeping? Eating? Do you need to talk?" She rushed out.

"I've been sleeping most nights," it wasn't a lie, he slept the majority of the nights since they arrived, just not all of them. "I'm eating just fine," Also not completely a lie, he didn't eat that morning, nor did he eat lunch the day before. "I'm alright for now, we can talk when I get home," He didn't want to talk when he got home either.

"How's Charlie? Is he with you?" She asked.

"Yes mom, he's right beside me. He's- he's about the same," Nick said hesitantly.

"Let me speak to him," his mom pleaded.

"Alright, it's on speaker," Aside, he mentioned to Charlie that his mom wanted to talk with him.

"Charlie, you're doing well? You're taking care of yourself?" She spoke in a soft voice.

"Yes, I am," He gave a slight smile. Nick's mom had always been very kind to him.

They spoke on the phone for only a few more minutes. They didn't want to take up their whole day talking and they didn't want to touch down on the topic of the night before. Besides, Nick's phone would have died if they were on call for even a second longer.

Nick encouraged his boyfriend to call Tori, besides, Olly had also wanted to say hi.

{Phone call with 'Tori🥤'}

"Hello," Tori spoke through the phone speaker.

"Tori, hi,"

"How are you? Olly misses you," The sound of gentle tapping on the computer keys could be heard in the background of the call.

"I'm alright... tired. Is Olly there?"

"Sick of me?" She questioned. "Olly's watching TV, but I'm sure he'd rather talk with you," Tori could be heard calling her youngest brother's name throughout the house.

"Olly, Charlie's on the phone!" Hearing this, Olly ran up the stairs, forgetting to turn off the TV. He'd later be told off by his mother for doing so.

"Charlie!" Ollie called, entering Tori's room.

"Hello Olly," Even if his face couldn't be seen, he looked happy.

"Charlie, are you on your way home yet?" The younger boy asked, excitedly. Tori had put the phone on speaker and placed it between them.

Charlie had the realization, when Tori told him his brother didn't know about what had happened, she meant he really didn't know. Their parents hadn't even told him that he wasn't going home yet. Tori felt bad for her brother, she wished he was old enough to not be kept in the dark about everything.

"No Olly, the trip was extended," Charlie explained in a quiet voice.

"Why? How long?" Charlie could tell over the phone that Olly was pouting.

"There's a storm," Nick whispered the lie to Charlie, which Charlie then repeated over the phone. Olly wouldn't know if there was one or not so it would work.

"The roads are blocked from a storm,"

"When will you be home?" Olly questioned.

"We haven't been told yet," They talked for a bit before Charlie mentioned that Nick was also there so Olly insisted to say 'hi' to him as well.

When they hung up the phone, they headed back to their shared room. The night before Officer Mulligan had said her or someone else would go and collect them for more interrogations. She said the same had been done for the couple who found their classmate, Harry Green's body. It was a mandatory routine. Hopefully they hadn't already missed the officer.

They ended up laying in bed. They were exhausted from the lack of sleep they'd been having lately. It was hard enough to get well rested while staying in a hotel. A lot of people were the same though, many of their classmates had eyebags and were walking around like zombies. Their teachers were a whole different story, they looked like they hadn't slept since they arrived. It probably wasn't true, but they were very sleep deprived.

After a bit, they eventually fell asleep, their bodies fully shutting down. Nick was the first to fall asleep, keeping his eyes open was starting to become impossible. Charlie followed nearly an hour later. It was a wonder that their friends didn't enter at that moment and wake them up with their ruckus.

With their morning spent on the phone with family, it seemed to relax them enough and be enough of a distraction for them to get a few hours of sleep.

As they slept mostly soundly, - or at least they did for the first few hours, - there were two sleep deprived teachers in another room down the hall. They had been spending their nights awake and mostly on a video call with Mrs. Singh. They had ended up staying up and spending a lot of time talking with her, keeping her from her sleep, as well as Mrs. Singhs wife who hadn't been able to sleep because of them.

Now, it was day, they hadn't called Mrs. Singh since the night before after they couldn't find three of their students, two of which were found alive and physically unharmed. Nathan Ajayi and Youssef Farouq laid on one bed, on top of the covers. Hours were spent staring at the ceiling, their minds couldn't stop wandering. What was happening to their students as they laid there doing nothing? They felt useless. It may have taken hours, but eventually, they dozed off to sleep. For the first few hours, they slept soundly, until nightmare filled sleeps occurred.