fragile [PREVIEW ONLY]

Chapter 13

Pressing his latest photo, I pulled it up and scrolled through the comments.

Damn. Theo's senior picture made him look like a male model. Not that he needed any help in that department, but he definitely made the average high school male look insignificant by comparison. Sorry, guys.

There were tons of likes and comments on the photo, mostly girls sending him heart eyes emojis and kissy faces. There was even a debate between three girls over whether or not Theo was the ultimate 'bae' in Lincoln High School, and someone suggested that the student body should put it up to a vote.

Gag me.

I know girls have to deal with this kind of shit all the time, but it's absolutely horrific to see it happening on someone's Instagram feed. I mean, it's not like these were random strangers. These were Theo's classmates for goodness sake, which meant he would have to face the people who made these comments on a regular basis.

If I were one of these girls, I wouldn't have the balls to do it. I can't even bring myself to leave a compliment on Sebastian Stan's Instagram, let alone someone I actually know, because it just made me feel so awkward. Then again, I'm not the person receiving the compliments. It's gotta be different if you're used to the attention. Hell, it's probably second nature to guys like that to know how attractive they are, so why shouldn't people tell them?

I thumbed through a few more of Theo's Instagram photos, searching for who knows what, but I couldn't find anything that would give me a clue about where he was. Even the comments from today didn't say mention a reason why he might skip school, and - from what I gathered - it wasn't like Theo had a reason to be missing out.

Online, his life seemed perfect. He was model gorgeous, 6'2", and incredibly smart. His family was loaded, he was the star of the track team, and his friends were the most popular kids in school. Everything about his Instagram feed screamed perfection. Most of the pictures were of other people, random things, and his dog. Even his dog looked perfect.

Plus, his Instagram didn't scream "look at me" like most people in our school. Out of his last thirty posts, there were only three photos of him. The first was his most recent post, sharing one of his senior pictures, while the second was a photo of him on vacation with Zach and Jackson.

His only selfie? Posted over a year ago.

Class ended before I found anything useful, and I sighed as I tucked my phone back into my pocket and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Theo never showed, and - from what I've gathered (aka, nothing) - it's not obvious why he skipped class.

I scolded myself for worrying about someone I barely knew as I headed out of the school, but I couldn't get over the pit in my stomach telling me that there was more to Theo than meets the eye. After our conversation at the park this weekend, I got the sense that something was going on with him that he was trying to hide.

What or why?

I didn't have a clue.