In Our Heads

Chapter 20

*****

Theodore lifted his phone above his face to look at the screen and sighed seeing no new messages before he dropped his hand back down onto his abdomen, still clutching the phone as his gaze shifted to the cloudy sky above.

It was currently lunch, and he was on the roof, alone as always but it felt different. He did not want to be. Earlier, no one had been on the football field he figured maybe Cassian would come to the roof, but that had not happened.

Theodore did not really know why he thought Cassian would come to the roof to see him when they had not spoken to each other in days. Cassian just stopped answering his messages, but what was weird was that his last seen was five days prior, on Sunday evening which was also the last time they talked. Maybe he had broken his phone...

They didn't speak at school either, though.

Whether Cassian's phone was broken or not, there was something up with him. He had been hyper-focused in class, which was a good thing, Theodore guessed, but it seemed like odd behaviour from Cassian, based on how he usually acted. He was not as talkative in class, focusing more on his work even when his friends were joking around and when their teachers began asking questions, he seemed to avoid being called on by focusing on writing notes and keeping his eyes down.

Maybe Theodore was just reading into it too much. Maybe he was just upset about Cassian's sudden silence towards him. Had he said something that made the guy want to stop being around him? Did Cassian notice something about him that he did not like? Why did he care whether the guy liked him or wanted to talk to him anyway?

He did not transfer to the school to make friends. He should have been relieved not to have someone constantly running into him and wanting to hang out with him and his brother now. There was no risk of Cassian seeing drugs in the car or hearing his parents fight and maybe Cassian's group of friends would stop glaring at him and shoving him around... well, they would not stop but he wanted to bet they were extra aggressive because he was hanging out with their 'President'.

Theodore sighed as he rolled his eyes away from the sky. People were always so much effort to deal with. But Cassian usually wasn't... Theodore found it easier to speak to him without overthinking every word he was going to say. He really missed their conversations despite it only having been a few days.

He shoved off his back as the bell rang. He had been lying on the bench because when he attempted to sit on the ledge, he heard Cassian's disapproving voice in his mind telling him not to. Grabbing his bag and checking his phone one more time, he began to make his way back into the building towards his next class. He did not share it with Cassian and was a little bummed by that but shook away the feeling. He should not be thinking about the guy so much, he had work to focus on.

He jogged his way down the stairs and immediately turned to head down the hallway on his left despite his class not being that way when he spotted a few of Cassian's friends. He did not want another run-in, even if avoiding them meant having to walk around the entire school building to get to a classroom that would have been just down the hall initially.

He walked through the increasingly crowded hallways, avoiding stepping too close to anyone or making eye contact as he kept his eyes on the ground before he paused at the library suddenly looking up when he remembered finding Cassian in there the other morning. He raised his brows in surprise, spotting Cassian packing away some books near the front of the library, his bag already on his shoulders to head to class. He had been in the library during their break?

Theodore began walking again when Cassian turned to head towards the doors. Maybe he had just been too busy to check his phone. He frowned at himself. Once again, he was thinking about why Cassian was not checking his messages.