only on pizza, please

xii.

the next morning at breakfast, emma and eleanor and max and nick exchanged many nervous glances at the empty seat where tk should be.

"uh, is there something i should know?" ellie looks up at the four expectantly. eleanor starts choking on the hot milo she reluctantly drinks, and emma stares at the table. max runs off to talk to yash, leaving nick awkwardly looking at ellie. again.

nick clears his throat through the silence between them. "well, i should probably, you know, look for tk or something..." he trails off, exiting the great hall stealthily so as to not get caught by the teachers prowling the area. ellie abruptly stands up and follows him.

they walk together to past the climbing wall, all the cats roaming around until they reach the road.

"what is actually going on?" ellie asks again. nick scratches his neck anxiously.

"i'm not too sure..."

ellie throws up her arms in frustration. "why won't anyone tell me—"

"stop!" nick grabs her hand and pulls her back off of the road that she had been storming off into. she ended up against his chest and she immediately backed away. however his hand was still clutching hers.

"uh, there weren't any cars."

"i know, but since—like—what happened to max and tk i was scared," nick started to explain.

"thank you," ellie looks at him sincerely. then she narrows her eyes and walks back across the road.

"wait," nick runs to catch up. "i'll tell you. but, tk might not want you knowing so don't tell anyone, ok?"

ellie nods her head.

"over here." nick directs ellie over to a huge tree with a gap at the base of it. ellie sits down at against the trunk and nick does the same.

"basically, tk came out as gay and that he has a crush on max."

ellie raises her eyebrows, waiting for more. nick shrugs in reply.

"that's it? i already knew that!" she exclaims, laughing. "tk told me ages ago."

nick looks confused. "oh."

ellie's still laughing and nick smiles at her.

"i still need to find him," nick states, standing up and helping ellie up, too.

"right," she agrees. "good idea."

nick walks up to the door of the dorm and gestures for ellie to wait outside. she shakes her head and strolls in beside nick. they both head towards the bed in the centre along the left wall. he seemed to still be sleeping.

"thomas?" ellie lightly called. nick went beside tk and shook his shoulder.

"go away," he turns away from them. ellie looks at nick, both of them wondering if the other has an idea. they give up and sit next to him until they hear a knock at the door. max enters, followed by eleanor who's holding a box of pop tarts.

"i don't know what's wrong, but hi," max greets everyone. eleanor hands the box to tk after taking a packet out for herself. she keeps on looking between max and tk before nodding her head at ellie and nick to leave. the three of them walk outside of the room and ellie spots john and kate. she runs over to them, and emma walks up to say hi to ellie before joining eleanor.

"is he okay?" emma asks both of them.

"well," eleanor starts.

"he's not the best," nick says slowly. "to be honest, i don't know why he's sad.

"yeah, why is he so upset? he should embrace his gayness. i mean, homosexuality."

eleanor looks between them in disbelief. "are you joking? isn't it obvious?"

emma seems lost and nick is thinking about anything he missed. it suddenly dawns on him.

"of course," nick nods his head. emma waits for an answer. nick points to eleanor to explain.

"he thinks that max is straight. he loves max, right?"

emma puts her hand up to stop her. "wait, max isn't straight?"

-

the three head over to the abandoned dorm and sit outside of it on the concrete path.

"so, max came out to you, admitted to a crush on tk, and now tk is sad about nothing," emma recaps. nick shakes his head in disagreement.

"that doesn't make sense, why wouldn't max just tell him?"

eleanor ponders this for a second. "because max doesn't know that tk came out."

nick sighs. "this is like some messed up reality tv programme. except, it's not very entertaining.

"i second that," emma pipes up. the rest of year eight starts to come back from the breakfast they had left early from.

"i don't," eleanor states. the other two look at her, puzzled. "well, it's quite ironic, don't you think? it's perfect for a tv show. neither of them know, it's brilliant. but, unlucky."

emma takes a minute to think about it, and nick is too busy looking at the door of the dorm, waiting for either max or tk to emerge.

"we should probably get ready for our activity today. i don't even know what it is," emma laughs, standing up.

"yeah, see you guys," nick disappears into the dormitory while eleanor and emma collide with the rest of the posse (minus john) and into the dorm.

-

ik ik pls forgive