"Has he answered yet?" Token asked, leaning against the lockers with his bag slung over his shoulder. His dark eyes were settled onto Clyde, whose eyebrows were knit together as he stared down at his phone in annoyance.
"Nope," Clyde muttered, shoving his phone back into the pocket of his jacket.
"I don't see why you're so worried about him skipping," he commented. "This is Craig we're talking about. He always does stuff like this."
"But he hasn't skipped in awhile and he usually lets us know," Clyde pointed out. "Also, don't you find it kind of weird that he randomly asked you for advice with no explanation and now he's skipping?"
Token shrugged. "I don't know, man. I think you're looking too much into it."
"Also, he's been acting different lately," Clyde reminded him. "You have to at least admit that."
The other boy opened his mouth, only to be cut off by the loud ringing of the first-period bell. After it ended, he muttered, "Damn, I have to do my history presentation."
"And I have to go to Ellerby right away," Clyde groaned, rolling his eyes.
Token smirked and said, "Good luck with that," before turning and leaving the boy alone at his locker.
Clyde opened up his locker and stuffed his bag inside. His locker was a mess, filled to the brim with crumpled up pieces of overdue assignments or old food wrappers that he'd been too lazy to throw away. He pulled out his phone once again, unable to resist checking to see if Craig had replied to his numerous amount of texts. Of course, he hadn't, so he slid his phone into his locker and shut the door.
With a sigh, he started to make the short walk down the hallway to Mr. Ellerby's office, fidgeting with the hem of his letterman jacket in an attempt to make sure that the top half of his body was fully covered.
As Clyde made his way down the hallway, he couldn't help but glance into Bebe's first period classroom. He could see her on one side of the room, writing something down in her notebook at her desk. He averted his eyes and kept walking, trying to forget about all of the times he'd walk her to her classes or about how they'd sometimes pass notes in class. God, it felt like he'd never get over her.
***
"Hello, Mr. Donovan," was the first thing that the counselor said, as Clyde shuffled into his office, closing the door shut behind him. "Take a seat."
There were two chairs in front of Mr. Ellerby's desk and Clyde took a seat in the one that was closest to the door. He glanced up at the clock, already wishing for the session to be over with. This was his third time meeting with the counselor and he still didn't understand why he had to attend sessions with him.
Ellerby wasn't too bad of a guy. He was nice enough and considering his job was to listen and help people, Clyde figured he must've been pretty empathetic. He also seemed to love his family, as his office was decorated of pictures of a woman and two little children.
"So, tell me," started Ellerby, clearing off his desk and studying Clyde's face, "what's been going on with you?"
"Nothing," he droned, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back in his chair. "Just like usual."
"Do you remember what you told me last time?" the counselor asked.
Clyde thought for a moment before giving a bored shrug. From what he remembered, he hadn't said much the second session, but he definitely remembered the first. He was asked thoroughly about his home life, asked if he was having any troubles, even asked if someone from school was being violent towards him.
Clyde had answered honestly, for the most part. He said that he wasn't fighting with anyone at school and that he didn't get along with his parents, so he didn't spend much time at home. That was true, but he conveniently left out that whenever he did see his parents, he physically fought with his father a lot. But no one needed to know about that, as far as he was concerned.
"You talked to me about your friends," Ellerby reminded him. "And you also admitted that you're having a hard time because of a breakup. Do you want to tell me a little bit more about that?"
It was almost amusing to Clyde that someone was asking him to talk about Bebe. Token and Craig definitely weren't keen on listening to him talk about her.
"Yeah, I am," admitted Clyde, "and it really sucks, but I don't see the point in talking about it with you."
The counselor gave a small, patient smile. "I know you don't want to be here - really, I understand that - but it's been brought to my attention that someone is very concerned about you and it's my job to make sure all of the students here are safe and mentally stable."
"You've been saying that since I started coming here and still, I don't understand why someone would tell you that," Clyde said, becoming agitated. "I'm not mentally unstable and I swear that I'm safe!"
"Clyde - "
"Just tell me who told you and I'll talk to them about it."
Mr. Ellerby sighed. "You know I can't tell you who it is. That's confidential information and we have a policy that if - "
"That if a student reports something to the counselor, they are to remain anonymous - I know that!" Clyde said exasperatedly, repeating the phrase that he had been told over and over again. It felt like he had heard it hundreds of times already and he was tired of it.
"Clyde," he said slowly, trying to remain as calm as possible. "I know this can be frustrating for you. Just try to take a deep breath and we can have a civil, calm conversation about whatever is going on in your life, okay?"
"I can't do this." Clyde jumped up so fast, that the chair he was sitting in almost fell backwards. He felt the anger pumping through his veins and he tried everything in his power not to shout at him. He turned his back, facing the closed door of the counselor's office.
"Clyde - I know this may be stressful, but - "
The slam of the door behind Clyde cut off Ellerby's words and he stormed away from the room, footsteps thundering down the hallway and turning a corner towards the boys' bathroom. He threw open the door and checked under the stalls to make sure nobody else was in there, before locking himself into a stall.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, was all that ran through his head as he felt the familiar feeling of tears prickling up in his eyes. His vision grew blurry and he furiously wiped them away. This isn't fourth grade anymore. Stop being such a wuss.
Clyde had always been a cry baby. It was no secret and everyone knew it, but as he had gotten older, he desperately tried to thicken his skin. He would get teased by other kids for being sensitive, but it wasn't until he had started fighting with his father that he realized he needed to "man-up." After all, he didn't like locking himself in his room and immediately bursting into tears after every fight he had with Mr. Donovan.
He shut his eyes tightly and tried to focus on something that made him happy, but all that came to his mind was Bebe. He remembered how they would laugh together and she could always calm him down. But now she was gone and he couldn't do anything about it.
Clyde unlocked the stall door and trudged over to the grimy bathroom sinks. He peered into the mirror and he hated the eyes that stared back at him, the whites of them tinting pink. His brunette hair was a mess, but that didn't bother him too much.
He switched on the faucet and cupped the cold water into his hands, before splashing it onto his face. If only the water could wash away the dark bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep he was getting.
With a sigh, Clyde turned and exited the empty bathroom. He glanced up at the clock in the hallway to see that he had twenty minutes until next class period started.
He began the walk to his locker, but he stopped when he saw a piece of paper poking out of one of the slits in Token's locker. It looked as if someone had halfway shoved it in there while he was in class, but it had gotten stuck. With a raised eyebrow and a glance around to make sure no one was watching him, Clyde pulled out the note and unfolded it.
Token,
Meet me after school by my locker. It's important. We need to talk about Craig. I'll explain more later.
- Wendy
Confusion washed over Clyde as he reread the neat handwriting that was sprawled across the slip of paper. Why would Wendy want to talk to Token about Craig? As far as Clyde knew, Wendy and Craig weren't even friends.
Clyde always felt like he was stuck out of the loop, like everyone knew something he didn't. He would always see Craig exchanging looks with Token whenever he'd mention Bebe or he'd see people desperately trying to avoid eye contact with Craig for seemingly no reason. He just wanted to know what was going on with his best friends, but he knew that if he asked either of them about it, they'd deny it or make up some other excuse.
Clyde refolded the note from Wendy and slid it back into one of the cracks in Token's locker, still wondering what the note meant.
Maybe someday I'll figure out what's going on with them, he thought, but he couldn't wash away the hopelessness in his chest.
He just wanted to know why everyone was always acting weird, like there was always some unspoken tension between them. He wanted to know why Craig was always distant now and why he seemed like he knew something about why Bebe broke up with him. Everybody knew something he didn't and all he wanted was answers.
***
Hey, guys! I hope you didn't mind the POV change. I think I might do that for some chapters to make things more interesting and to give a different perspective on things, but let me know what you guys think about it. Also, thank you very much for over 100 votes! I can't believe it.
Thanks for reading!