The Art of Getting Better

t w e l v e || him

⌈t w e l v e⌋

1.2 || trouble
difficulty; a cause of worry or inconvenience

• • •

The sun had just started to rise by the time he had returned home from his run. He was having a typical night, one filled with overthinking and overplaying his favorite vinyls. But once he had exhausted all possibilities of actually getting sleep, he decided that if he would be up for the rest of the night he might as well go for a run.

   Running was one of the only things that muffled the tsunami of thoughts that always plagued his mind. His bare chest was slick with sweat, and he jogged into the kitchen with rosy cheeks and bloodshot eyes.

   "Achim, appa." {Morning, papa} He breathed out while he poured himself a cup of coffee. His grandpa sat at the head of the table, his shaking palms wrapped securely around his mug. He briefly looked up from his tablet, smiling his toothy grin before returning to the book he was currently reading. His grandfather was a reader, really the only one in the house.

   "And where were you? Gone!" Sora, his grandpa's visiting nurse said from her place at the stove. She was a short, Korean women with the palest blue eyes and a wit as sharp as can be.

   "I went for a run, you know, to clear my head." He confessed, grabbing a few pieces of the previously cooked bacon. Sora nodded, moving on from the teen to the man sitting at the table. She placed his plate of food in front of him, closing and taking the tablet from in front of him. His grandpa mumbled something in Korean, sending Sora a quick side eye.

   "Where were you?" His grandfather asked, his heavy Korean accent blanketing the words he spoke like a fog.

   "I went for a jog, why?" Theo asked from his place at the table.

   "Y-You smell..." His grandfather snapped his fingers, not able to think of the word he was searching for.

   Sora came up from behind him and waved her hand over her nose. "Disgusting," She finished. Theo scoffed, but smiled nonetheless. He still had an hour before he needed to start getting ready, but decided that he'd leave the table anyways. He bid his grandfather and Sora goodbye, walking down the narrow hallway that led to his bedroom.

   It was still tough for his to process that only three days ago, Samantha Holmes had been in his house -his room, even! He closed the door behind him and took in the state of his room. The dark grey walls were covered in posters and photos that he had collected over the last years that he had been in America. His bed was in the middle of the room, unkept and really one of the only pieces of furniture he had in his room. That and his many bookshelves that were filled with boxes of records and memories. His closet and dresser were organized, but were treading close to the line of being untidiness.

   His room was a mess, but so was his mind.

   They say that your personality reflects the person's environment, which would say a lot about why he was the way he was.

• • •

Lunch was probably his favorite time of day, not just because he finally got to indulge in his grandmother's excellent cooking, but he also got to see his friends. Yet, when he sat down at their table, he could tell that something was wrong. They were all tense, sending caution- filled glances to the empty seat beside Sebastian.

"She wasn't in the Art room." Wesley breathed out when he returned to the table.

"Who wasn't?" Theo asked.

"Dammit! I swear to God!" Sebastian nearly yelled. He was pissed, which didn't help ease Theo's growing anxiety and confusion. He looked at the empty seat beside the twin, then finally remembered.

That was Samantha's seat.

Over the past month he had known the twin, she was either one of two places during lunch: the Art room or with them.

Wesley had just confirmed she was in neither.

"Maybe she just had to go to her locker? Or her class took a trip outside for lunch?" Athena tried to soothe the boiling boy across from her. When no one tried to back her up she simply looked down at her tray and tossed around her salad.

"Uh... guys?" Jammie's voice carried down the table, their voice grabbing the attention of everyone sitting there. They all looked at him, but Theo saw it first.

Shit was the only word that he could think of that fit the situation. Standing at the front door of the cafeteria was Samantha, but standing in front of her with his arms nearly caging her in was Gabriel Walker -in all his narcissistic glory. His Varsity jacket was for once off his body, yet where it was made Theo's blood start to boil.

His jacket was in Samantha's hands, draped over her arm to prevent crinkles in the material.

But the very thing that made Theo nearly want to jump up and tackle the jock was the way he leaned down slowly, close enough that if she jerked slightly there noses would brush.

But he didn't have time to, because soon enough he had to help hold back Sebastian from doing the very thing he wanted to do to Gabriel.

guest list || welcome to the show

l e e s o o n - j a e || cho jung-so ❛ papa ❜
j e n n a u s h k o w i t z || sola

dedicated to dandielions
➝ author of after poppy