Cobweb Head

f o u r

Two weeks had passed and in that time Leo had snuck out two times. Leaving his bed bare and a room emptied of soft snores. 

Classes were boring, and I'd hardly left the school. I filled my spare time with Effie, although I'd struggled at teaching her football. She barely tried to grasp at the ball half the time, letting it hit her with a glower slapped across her face.

We sat at dinner, Effie across from me, and the time passed slowly. Leo sat at a table a few dozen paces away, with Mae and their hazy-faced group. I couldn't help but stare – I couldn't figure him out, like a ball of yarn I couldn't unravel. I didn't like it.

"Effie," I started, directing my gaze on her. Her hair had fallen over one eye. "Is it weird for students to sneak out at night?"

She looked up, thin lips pouting in thought as she pulled back the curtain of hair veiling the side of her face. She shook her head with a frown and crinkled her nose. "I wouldn't know – probably to go partying in the woods or something."

I looked back up at where Leo was; his eyes were hard-rimmed with drowsiness. "My dorm mate has been leaving at night, it's happened two times now. I just think it's... weird."

She breathed out, and her words drifted through the air as she spoke, like a thin thread of smoke curling up from a candle. "Why don't you follow him, then?"

I arched my brows, chewing against my lip as my mouth soured, and it wasn't because of the food. "What?"

"You know." She pressed her elbows into the table, leaning closer with a slight tug at the corner of her lips. "Follow him – see what he's really up to."

I leaned back in my seat. "Seems shady."

Effie opened her mouth to speak, but the words halted in her throat as her stare turned to something behind me. I felt a hand rest on the back of my chair.

"Will."

I turned, and the copper haired boy took a seat next to me. I visibly scowled, but he didn't move. He was completely placid – eerily so.

"I've just come to see how you're going." He searched my eyes, and then took his hand out. "I'm Oliver, by the way."

I looked down at his hand for a brief moment – pale and thin, fingertips pink. I turned away, looking back down at my food with a fixed glare.

Oliver cleared his throat, for a moment looking both ways. He placed a cupped hand over my shoulder, and I went to draw back, but it was as if his grip had been carved from stone. "Don't take what I said too personally – I like to warn every student who has a more than questionable record."

I looked back at him. His expression was frigid, locking onto my gaze. I scoffed. "Just piss off, why don't you?"

He stood, clapping his hand against my shoulder. I buried my nails into my palms. He stepped back. "Just don't do anything stupid, alright?"

And he was gone again. Effie laughed from across the table, drawing pale fingers to her lips.

I growled. "Pretentious asshole." I looked up at her. "I think I will follow Leo when he sneaks out next – I'm in the mood for something stupid."