cheap bodies

47

when jacob got to school the next day, his heart was pounding nervously in his chest out of fear. fear that troye wouldn't be there, fear that someone would tell him that he's in the hospital.

because a number of things could've happened to troye. but then again, maybe he just simply didn't feel like replying to jacob's continuous messages.

but there troye was, across the crowded hallway, grabbing some things from his locker.

jacob froze for a moment, sadness and regret swelling inside his heart. so that's it. troye just didn't feel like talking to him.

his sadness quickly sunk into anger as he pushed his way through the sea of students, across the hallway towards troye's locker.

meanwhile, troye was flipping through his math booklet, his eyebrows furrowed. he'd understood maybe three of the questions in total. there's no way he's going to get a good grade on his homework...

someone slammed his locker shut, and troye jumped, causing the math book to fall out of his hands and messily onto the floor.

jacob was leaning against the locker beside troye's, an unimpressed look on his face.

"i'll have you know you worried me half to death," jacob stated, crossing his arms over his chest. troye quickly bent down and picked up the book, brushing its cover off and not looking at the older boy in the eyes.

"don't you have the decency enough to even reply to me with a simple "i'm okay"? or can you not function fast enough to do that?" jacob continued, and troye opened his mouth to say something, but was hastily cut off by jacob. "you would've replied to your boy toy carson in a split second if he texted you, but if i do, i don't get a reply."

"but, i-" troye started, but got cut off yet again.

"you do know how to reply to a text, right? you're not that dumb, are you?" jacob spoke sarcastically, and troye's eyes widened, his heart pounding in his ears. why was he saying these things?

"or is this because i called you a fucking liar? because that's what you are."

troye's lower lip wobbled, and he readjusted his backpack strap on his shoulder, just as a way of distracting himself.

"all i'm saying is, it would've taken you two seconds to actually let me know you're okay, but you decided to play it dumb and not reply. or are you playing dumb? because i think it comes pretty naturally with you..."

"jacob! stop!" troye cried out, his tone pleading. jacob stopped his rambling when he saw tears spilling onto troye's cheeks.

"m-my mum saw me texting you a-and she doesn't want me to so she took my phone away! i should've t-tried to get it back but i never even thought of that, i'm so sorry, please don't hate me, i didn't mean to..." troye blubbered, taking uncontrollable shaky breaths as tears ran down his face.

"oh," was all jacob said.

maybe he should've listened to troye's explanation before he went off on him.

a tall guy, with short, brown hair, came walking over to the two, a confused look on his face.

"uh, what's going on here?" he questioned, his eyebrows raised.

troye quickly wiped his eyes with the heel of his palm, a nervous grin settling on his face. "n-nothing, carson."

jacob froze. so this was carson.

"and who's this?" carson asked, motioning towards jacob.

"that's m-my friend, jacob. i told you about him."

"nice to meet you, jacob. now why are you crying, angel?" carson asked softly, wrapping his arm around troye's shoulder and pulling the small boy against his side.

"it's nothing. i'm fine," troye lied, looking up at jacob with an apologetic look in his eyes, but yet, an almost dismissal look was there, too, as if he was telling jacob, you can go now.

so jacob left to go to his classes, feeling awful for what he'd just done to troye.

and carson got to comfort him.

maybe it was for the best that he and troye weren't together, after all.

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