Dawn Hollow

XV

Today was a strange day. Throughout walking from class to class, passing faces, he was so used to seeing every day; faces of people he didn't even know the names of. People he had no classes with or knew nothing about, there was something different about all of them today. It was the looks on their faces. Or, more so, how they looked at him.

PJ didn't have to be told he looked like a mess; he felt like one. As he had predicted, he received no sleep during the previous night. He wasn't even sure if he closed his eyes once throughout the night. Well, that couldn't have been true, as he had completely missed the bus this morning due to finally falling asleep as the sun came up. And running to school is never a good look on anyone. His hair got mangled in sweat mixing with the black under his eyes and popped blood vessels near his right iris. He knew he didn't look too good.

That was beyond his level of care though, he wanted answers. About his father, about the doctor, about all of it. Nothing else mattered to him, not at school anyway. He had failed a math test 45 minutes ago since he had only stared at the assignment. He had almost already forgotten about it.

His tightly strung body continued to float around the school like a ghost. His mind was still in a deep-sea space while his body directed him to where he needed to be. Everything felt numb, not real, or dead. Adrift in the sea of hyper-socials when he just wanted to be left alone. Constant questions with no answers and drove him wild. Why? Why couldn't it just make sense or be accessible?

He pushed into the cafeteria around a long hallway. Out of all the places in the school, this might've been his least favorite. It was constantly buzzing; whether it was with students who actually had lunch during that time, students passing the time, or students playing hooky, no one was ever not there. But this was where he decided to meet.

In the darkest corner of the room was his aim, knowing exactly who would be there. It was where they always sat whenever they did have to go to this dreadful place. It was the quietest place, tucked away from all the drama they dealt with in their everyday lives that sickened their stomachs.

The twins were there, quietly talking amongst themselves at the table. Only when PJ pulled out a seat and put his backpack in the middle next to him did the twins finally see him, both of them taking in a harsh breath upon the look of him, "What?"

"Ongelofelijk, PJ! What the hell happened to you?" Joseph remarked at the boy's strange appearance.

"Wow, he wasn't that far off," Noah absentmindedly started getting a quick smack from his brother.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" The twins looked at each other, Noah eventually sighing.

"Well, uh, Zayn may or may not have posted to his blog comparing you to a feral, rabid cat this morning...?" PJ rolled his deep brown eyes and leaned back in his seat. Of course, this had to happen too. The twins pulled up the article on his phone and slowly slid it in PJ's direction. Sure enough, Zayn managed to get a half-shot of his face with their chemistry classroom in the background. The comments were even worse than the words Zayn wrote himself; at one point, Joseph just pulled the phone away.

"Well, just great, huh? They say bad publicity is still publicity, though, right?" He joked in a pained manner.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Joseph questioned intensely to watch him shake his head, "So you barely slept last night, and you got up early yesterday?"

"Hold on, how do you know when he got up yesterday? It was Sunday; we didn't have school!" Noah interjected. Joseph's face flashed panic at the words spilling from his mouth. He took a breath and pressed his hands into the table with nervously tapping fingers.