In Our Heads

Chapter 42

*****

The empty seat in the front of the classroom seemed unusual and out of place.

Theodore did not normally skip school. Cassian remembered him mentioning that he never did, because he didn't like having to depend on asking anyone for help catching up.

He was pretty sure Theodore had some level of social anxiety, or general anxiety because he was worried about everything. It probably helped sometimes. Theodore's caution resulted in him being quite mature and serious all the time. Cassian smiled at the thought of Theodore's stern, intimidating resting face before his smile fell when he remembered they had not spoken to each other in days.

It had been about a week since they met on the roof. Theodore didn't even look his way anymore...

He swallowed looking back down at his desk, but Theodore didn't stray from his mind no matter how much he tried to focus on his book, instead his mind went back to wondering why the desk was empty.

When the bell rang, he lazily gathered his things and began to head to the door. He was exhausted, despite having taken more than one sleeping pill at a time lately. They did not seem to be helping him sleep through the night and he usually only got a couple of hours in.

He had spent most of his time keeping busy to keep his mind occupied and all he did when he was home was study and exercise if he did not have a lesson, meeting or practice.

He was just going through the motions. He didn't feel like doing anything and didn't really care about doing anything; even soccer felt like a tedious task.

A hand grabbed his arm when he entered the hallway and Cassian smiled at Amber as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm so tired," she mumbled.

"Me too," he replied with the same flat, exhausted tone she had used while leaning his cheek against the top of her head.

"What's up with you two?" Lance chuckled as he joined them on Amber's other side.

"Yeah, why are you tired?" Cassian chuckled as he asked his cousin.

"I thought I would watch an old episode of Heroes and then: bam! An hour later it was 3 AM."

Lance and Cassian laughed at the answer as they made their way into the cafeteria.

It was a chilly day, so they figured everyone would opt to stay inside and that was where they would find the rest of their friends. They headed to the table near the centre of the room and Cassian followed Kian's lead; climbing onto the bench so he was sitting on the backrest while his feet were on the seat as he greeted everyone.

Cassian focused on just listening to everyone talk and joke around as he didn't feel like interacting much while taking small sips of the only thing that didn't make him too nauseous: water. It seemed everyone didn't mind his silence, that was until someone called out to him.

"Hey, Cassian. Where's the scholarship? You two are close, right?" David asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Lance replied.

"Just concerned," he was joking.

Cassian didn't react even though he felt slightly annoyed. He didn't think he should have felt that way. They weren't together anymore. As long as his friends left Theodore alone, they could joke.

Cassian shrugged as Lance gave him an apologetic glance before he turned his attention to the can of Coke being handed to him by one of Amber's friends, Ella.

He thanked her while placing the full bottle of water on the table. Lifting the tab caused the can to let out a satisfying hiss before it popped as he completely opened it. Just the smell of the soda made his stomach turn.