The New KISS High School

Ch 9: Where You At? (Peter)

I pulled into the parking lot, letting out a sigh as I looked at the empty space next to mine. I was still able to see the comet streaking across a planet that Ace had painted there over the summer since we finally got to decorate our parking spots this year, since his car wasn't parked there. Hoping that he had grabbed a ride with someone else and was already here, I grabbed my backpack and stepped out of my car, locking it behind me as I walked to the picnic tables where I could see Gene, Paul, and Eric waiting.

"Oh there you are! Where the hell is Ace?! He's supposed to be my lab partner in physics, I thought he was getting a ride with you today!" Eric cried as soon as I sat down at the table. I gave him a confused look. "No, he said he was gonna drive himself to school today. Why, is he not here yet?" I asked. "No he's not. He better show up soon, we've got physics first period today and we're only halfway through our lab," Eric grumbled. "What time is it?" Paul asked, shifting to let Gene get more comfortable as he slept on his shoulder. "Uh, 7:53," I said, glancing at my phone. "He's probably just running late like usual then. I'm sure he'll get here on time," he said.

Nodding, I sat at the bench, feeling a small ball of worry knot in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't exactly unlike Ace to be running late, but it was strange he hadn't told me he was. Sure no one knew that we were dating, not even our closest friends, but he still usually sent a good morning Snapchat. And he loved Eric, it wasn't like him at all to essentially screw him over by not showing up to their lab. "Has anyone heard from him?" I asked after a pause. Paul and Eric exchanged glances before shaking their heads. "No, but he doesn't usually text me in the mornings," Paul said, and Eric nodded in agreement. 

"Has Gene?" I asked, trying not to panic. Paul frowned, looking at Gene. "I dunno. I don't wanna wake him up, he was working late last night again. Dumbass took a graveyard shift. Hold on," he said, carefully pulling Gene's phone out of his pocket and unlocking it, scanning the messages. "Nah, hasn't texted him since yesterday. I'm sure he's just running late. He skips school all the time." "He better not today! I'm not finishing the lab by myself," Eric muttered. "Do you think he's okay?" I blurted out suddenly. "He's probably fine. My money's on him getting drunk last night and oversleeping," Paul said with a shrug, shifting Gene as he moved. "Who're we talking about? Ace?" Gene asked, letting out a yawn and sitting up. 

"Oh sorry, did we wake the sleeping beauty?" Eric asked, giving him a grin, but Gene just rolled his eyes. "Nah, just Stan did. Anyway, I'm sure Ace is fine. He was probably absent for a quarter of junior year overall if we tally it up, I'm surprised he wasn't late at some point last week." I chewed on my lip, looking at my phone. Nothing from him, not even an apology for running late. We didn't text about anything suspicious but he always did Snapchat me in the mornings that he loved me, since there was no chance of anyone being able to read those. But he hadn't messaged me at all. "You sure he's okay?" I asked, looking at Gene, trying to hide how freaked out I was starting to get. 

He shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he is." The first bell rang, ending the conversation. I shot a glance at his empty parking spot, sending him another message asking where he was and trying to push aside the worried feeling in my chest as I walked off to music. "He's got fifteen minutes to get here, otherwise I'm gonna be pissed at him," Eric muttered, giving me a wave as he turned down the hall. "I'm sure he'll be here," I murmured to myself, looking at my phone, but there was still nothing from him.

I kept looking at my phone throughout class, hoping desperately for a text from him, or even that he'd just leave me on read, but there was absolutely nothing. Finally the bell rang and I practically ran to econ, sliding into my desk next to Eric. "So did he show up to physics?" I asked breathlessly. He shook his head, frowning. "No he did not. So I had to finish the lab by myself." "I'm sure he just overslept," Gene said, taking his seat behind Eric. "Or maybe he's sick and sleeping in or something," Paul chimed in, sitting next to Gene. "But what if something happened?!" I asked. "Like what?" Gene said gently.

"I don't know! What if something bad happened, what if he died?!" I asked. Gene put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Peter, he's not dead. Alright? I'm sure he'll either show up halfway through school or he'll just show up tomorrow." "I know but he hasn't texted me back yet, that's not like him! We're really close, we're best friends, it's not like him to do that," I said, trying to get him to understand how close Ace and I were without outright admitting that we were dating. "I know. But I'm sure he'll be alright," he said, patting me on the shoulder before turning to his notes as class started.

I could barely focus on economics as Mr. G ran through the lesson. I just spent the entire class running over the worst possible scenarios of what could've happened to Ace in my head, checking my phone under my desk every two minutes without any luck. "Dammit," I whispered under my breath, heart racing. I kept getting more and more worried, so anxious I felt sick, glancing at the clock and my phone and waiting for any word from Ace. Eventually the bell rang, signaling break, but I couldn't actually relax. 

The day just kept dragging on and on, going by agonizingly slow, but there was still nothing from him.