What You're Missing

Chapter 7

Henry and Charlotte strolled out of class together, talking and laughing as if nothing ever happened. But they each knew what the were doing, just not what the other was doing. Here, an explanation:

In the moments of Charlotte's confrontation and her caring words, Henry could not bear himself to force her out of his life, realizing he'd not only be hurting himself, but her as well. So when he had convinced her to trust him, he believed he was off the hook. She'd stop questioning him about work, quit worrying about his sleeping habits, and they'd be able to move on with their relationship (it's getting there) without any trouble with Ray. How could she find out his secret if she trusted that he had none? The blond believed there was no serious harm being done.

He'll just ignore the guilt growing in the back of his mind from lying to her for now.

"Hey, Jasper," Henry said as the two approached Jasper's locker. Jasper looked at the two with narrowed eyes.

"Hi." He shut his locker a little harder than necessary. Henry and Charlotte looked at each other with looks of confusion.

"Everything okay, Jasp?" Charlotte asked her best friend.

"Peachy," he responded dryly. "I gotta get to class." He turned away from them and started down the hall.

"Wait!" Charlotte called after him. "Henry, I'll text you later, okay?" She smiled up at him as he nodded, then ran after Jasper.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was still set on her plan of helping Henry without his permission. She figured he was in a tough spot at work, involving some level of blackmail. Of course he wouldn't take her help. The consequence must be severe. Whatever the situation was, she was going to get him out of it.

With a little bit of curly-haired help.

"Jasper!" she called again, finally reaching his arm. "I need to talk to you."

"I can't, I have this big physics test-"
"Right now."

She tugged his arm with all the strength she could muster while he tried to keep his ground, eventually dragging him into the nearby janitor's closet. She let him through the door first, then shut the door behind them.

"Are you crazy?" Jasper yelled.
"Yes," she answered simply. "I need to talk to you."
"You said that already," he replied in a tone of annoyance.
"Okay, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I think Henry's being blackmailed at work," she began. Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"You're kidding me, right?"
"No, I really think that-"
"I mean you seriously brought me in here to talk about Henry?" He wore a look of disbelief.

"I'm just worried about him, Jasp," she responded. "And I know something's not right here. He's not just working for the money."

"And what do I care about this?" Jasper crossed his arms in front of his chest. Charlotte punched his arm.

"He's our friend," she said matter-of-factly. "We should help him."

"No, you're his friend," he replied in the same tone. "I'm just a victim by association."

"Will you please just help me?" Charlotte pleaded. "I have a plan, but I'll need your help." Jasper shook his head.

"No way," he answered. "Not gonna happen."

"Why not?"

"I'm busy." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, as if she didn't believe him.

"I am!" he repeated defensively. "If you must know, I've had robotics everyday for the past two weeks and I've been really stressed because our competition is coming up, plus I've been struggling with physics lately so my mom got me a tutor and I've been meeting with him every other day after school. Maybe you would know that if you weren't so far up Henry's ass lately." Jasper let out a deep breath following his rant, then crossed his arms firmly in front of his chest. Charlotte's lips parted in surprise at her best friend's words, immediately being hit with guilt and a little hurt at the harshness of his tone. When she didn't say anything, Jasper turned towards the door to leave, placing a hand on the knob until he felt her small fingers wrap around his other hand, holding him in his tracks.