Be My Soldier

Chapter Five

"Hey Kendall," a familiar voice says. I look up from my notebook and see Jason.

"Hey Jason. What's up?" I ask him. He sits down in the chair next to me.

"Are you still working on that bass line?" he asks. I shake my head.

"I sort of left the band," I sheepishly say. His eyes widen.

"Why?" he asks.

"Well, between more schoolwork, a relationship, music, and midterms next week, I had too much stress, so I dropped music," I say.

"Why didn't you just break up with Toby?" he asks. I look at him.

"Well, if I broke up with him, that would make band practice awkward, I would be dealing with a break up pretty badly because I love him, and music took up more time," I say.

"Oh," he says, and he looks kind of sad. I shrug it off. The bell rings, and we part. I have English first.

I walk into English, and Toby isn't there yet. That's weird. I sit down in my seat and take out my notebook. I continue working on what I was working on in homeroom. It's a letter to the guys.

The bell rings, signaling that first period has started, and Toby still isn't here.

"Ah, welcome back, Kendall. Toby told me that you weren't feeling well," Mrs. Douglas says. I nod my head. She starts the lesson, but I can't pay attention. Toby always tells me when he's going to be absent. He knew that if he didn't tell me, I would be worried sick.

The rest of the day is like this. I can't pay attention to anything, and there's no text from Riley or Toby. Natalie isn't here either. I sat with Jason in study, and Caroline didn't try talking to me.

"So Kendall, there's a basketball game tonight. Are you coming?" Nick asks after the last bell rings.

"I don't know. I haven't talked to Toby all day, so I was going to see if he and his brother are okay," I say.

"Okay, but if you change your mind, the game's at six," he says with a wink, and he walks over to his buddies.

On my way home, I call Toby. During the second rings, it goes to voicemail. He declined my call.

"Hey Toby, it's Kendall. I just wanted to make sure they you were okay because you weren't in school. Call me when you get this message. Bye," I hang up. He never declines my calls. What's going on?

I hit "decline" and throw my phone into one of the cup holders.

"What's wrong?" Riley asks, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Kendall just tried calling. I forgot to call her this morning, telling her that I wasn't going to be in school," I say.

"Why would you call her? I thought we were going to give her space," he says. We pull into our driveway.

"Even when we were in our stupid little fights, I would call or text her to tell her that I wasn't going to be in school, and she would do the same thing. It was like an unwritten rule. If I didn't call, she would get worried like crazy," I explain. We get out of the car and walk up to the door.

"Well, I know that part. I do the same thing, but we're trying to give her some space," he says, opening the door. Connor runs into the room.

"You guys are in so much trouble!" he shouts. His face is red.

"What's wrong?" Riley asks.

"When Mom and Dad went to work, I got a call from the school. They said that you weren't there. Where were you?!" he shouts.