The heartstopper

Chapter 7

It was dinner on Wednesday night and falafels were on the table. At one table was Tara, Darcy, Nick, Charlie, Elle, Tao and Isaac, they were seated at the same table in the corner as they had for each other's meal on their trip.

As they ate, they were surrounded by their chattering classmates who were laughing and joking around at tables nearby, until someone fell out of their seat with a loud 'thump' catching everyone's attention.

The chattering stopped for a moment as people looked around for the sudden disturbance before people started crowding a passed out body lying limp on the floor.

"Someone get Mr. Farouq!" A girl cried.

There were several people who had ran out of the room to find their teachers who had yet to come down for dinner. They didn't have to run far before they ran into them on their way to their room.

The teachers ran into the restaurant followed by the group of students, rushing over to the student to access the situation.

"Who is it?" Asked Nick. The person who had passed out was on the opposite end of the restaurant as the Paris squad so that added to the fact that three quarters of their classmates were surrounding the body made it so they were unable to see the identity of the person.

"Everyone take three steps back," Mr. Ajayi spoke in a loud voice while Mr. Farouq called the ambulance considering he speaks French and the other teacher didn't.

"It's Ben Hope!" A girl yelled as she got a closer glance at who had passed out. The room was filled with more chatter at the familiar name.

"Ben?" Elle mumbled as Charlie and Nick made eye contact.

The ambulance was quick to arrive, and even quicker at taking Ben to the nearest hospital on a stretcher. Mr. Farouq rode in the ambulance with him while Mr. Ajayi stayed back with the students who had yet to settle down.

"You're classmate is going to get medical help, they'll do what they can, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, go back to your meals, Mr. Farouq will notify us once they've arrived," Mr. Ajayi called at the top of his voice while he stood in the doorway of the hotel's restaurant before exiting to most likely get in contact with Ben guardians.

There was still a large amount of concern around the room, Ben had been sitting at a table with Harry, Imogen, and a few other bodies that Charlie wasn't able to identify from far away.

"What if he was poisoned from the food... should we really be eating it?" Asked Darcy.

"I doubt he was poisoned, he probably didn't drink enough water and passed out from dehydration, we did spend the entire day out at the Eiffel tower after all," Elle reasoned.

"Elle's probably right, like always" Tao said in a playful way.

Charlie stared at his plate full of food, he knew he needed to eat but the thought of doing so was nauseating. He had a croissant for breakfast and nothing else all day. Logically speaking, considering the amount of exercise they did today he should be hungry, but he couldn't find it in him to eat.

When Mr. Ajayi entered the restaurant half an hour later after presumably getting off the phone with Ben's family, he informed him students that he heard back from Mr. Farouq and they had gotten to the hospital safely. Upon saying so, Mt. Ajayi gave a look full of sorrow as if he had just heard that someone had died... His sad expression was brushed off as concern for his student, but he knew more than he was telling.

The restaurant stayed full of Higgs and Truham students until they were kicked out as the restaurant closed. No one knew what to do besides talk about what had happened during the meal. People around them were asking the students who sat with Ben over dinner, presumably his friends, whether Ben had some secret illness and was dying or whether or not one of them had poisoned him. They of course denied all accusations and Imogen even shedded a few tears at the incorrect accusations, she eventually had to leave before the meal was done to escape her chattering peers.

Mr. Farouq didn't return until early morning, instead he sat on an uncomfortable chair in the hospital waiting room as doctors attempted to figure out what had happened.

Mr. Farouq would text his fellow teacher every few minutes with updates all through the night but as he was not family, all Mr. Farouq had learned was that Ben Hope had passed away. The reasons were still unsaid and so he had left around two in the morning after giving in and heading back to his hotel room that he shared with his colleague.

The night of the death of Ben Hope was a quiet night. Ben's classmates didn't find out about his death until the morning after when they had come down for breakfast but most didn't get good sleep that night, especially not Charlie Spring.

Whether he liked Ben or not, he still felt horrible. This was the same Ben who had called him a slur just a week before and who had pushed him up against a wall and attempted to kiss him without consent after he had told the other he wanted to stop seeing him. He hated Ben and he didn't feel bad that he had passed out over dinner, he deserved worse, but realizing he felt this way only made Charlie feel like a horrible person.

Beside him was Tao who was fast asleep in their shared bed. He looked at the bed to his right and saw Nick staring at the ceiling, wide awake. Nick, noticing Charlie staring, reached his hand out to hold his boyfriend's, letting their intertwined hands drop between their beds. Next to Nick, Isaac slept soundly. Looking over at the clock, Charlie noticed that it was merely four in the morning, they'd be due to wake up soon but Charlie didn't feel an ounce of tiredness.