I Dare You

Chapter 28

I followed Jennifer to our old table, where we say before sitting with Marcel and Louis. I just told her that Louis was mad at me and I didn't want to push him over the edge. It would be rude to tell her about Marcel's cancer.

"So you haven't seen Marcel all day?"

"No," I sighed while peeling an orange,"I think he might be sick." I tried calling him right after the bell for lunch rang. I texted him on the way to the cantina too, but got no reply. "I'm sure he's fine. He might be ditching." I shrugged, throwing the peels off to the side. "I guess Lilly and Georgia ditched us for Louis."

I turned around to see Lilly and Georgia sitting across from Louis, like everyday. "Yeah," I bring my shoulders up and back down again. Maybe she can feel my uncomfortableness without knowing what's wrong with Marcel, so she changes the subject.

"How was the audition?"

"Good," I chirped. "I feel like might sing went really well, except for one note that was a little shaky. But it was fine."

She nods her head at me. "You'll get a part. I'm sure of it." I smile back at her encouraging comment. I could always count on her to be there for me.

"You know Liam?" I asked randomly.

She gave me a weird look and replied,"Yeah. But I don't talk to him." I nodded my head, thinking about what to say next. "He is in my French class."

"I think you told me that."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she giggled. I wasn't sure where I was going with this conversation so I didn't talk about Liam anymore. Thinking about Liam reminded me of Zayn, who wants to spy on me. I think. I listened, well heard, Jennifer's story about her uncle going to rehab. To me listening and hearing are two different things. I can hear my heartbeat, but you choose to listen to my heart or not. What it really wants, not just a pounding noise that it makes to let me know I'm alive. "Here comes Louis." Those were the words that I listened to. I turned my head to see Louis walking to us, hands in his pockets, glaring at a table as he passes them. "Where's Marcel?" He asked. He kept his hands in his pockets and looked at me impatiently, a look of disgust on his face. "How am I supposed to know?" I didn't think about the words before they left my mouth. So they came out sassy and annoyed. The fact that I couldn't look him in the eye also gave a sign of accidental carelessness. "Didn't you see him this weekend?" I noticed he didn't mention the band, maybe because Jennifer was listening to us. "Yeah," I said quietly. "That explains it." He sat down on the plastic bench with his back facing the table. His leg bobbed up and down quickly as he sat.

"What did you do?" He stared straight ahead, into an unknown land that only he could see. "I didn't do anything."

"Sure," he said. "Look," he turned to me and looked me in the eye for the first time of our conversation. "Marcel never misses school. He wouldn't miss it unless he was dying or something." Louis just threw the word out nonchalantly. If he only knew what Marcel was going through. Worry started to gather up inside me. 'Unless he was dying'. What if something happened yesterday? What if he fainted in his car and no one could help him? "So you must have done something pretty screwed up to make him miss school." I sat lifeless, trying to process his words. I still couldn't process the fact that he was talking to me. I was sure he would ignore me all day and maybe even "run into me" in the hallway.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm surprised you're talking to me."

"Yeah, so am I. It's not really a choice. I'm trying to be a good friend and look out for one of my best lads." I heard him mumble something that sounded similar to "unlike you" under his breath, but I ignored it.