Double Or Nothing // C.T.H

20 ~ Thomas

The loud cafeteria was drowning me. Conversations floating around, laughter, cutlery scraping against trays of food.

I glance over Luke's shoulder, to the table I always sit at only to find it empty.

Valerie and Calum should be here by now, questions force there way into my mind.

What's wrong? Something must be wrong he's not here.

I lick my chapped lips, mumbling to Luke and Michael that I needed to use the bathroom.

I pass the still empty table as I go to throw away my tray that what still full with food.

Silence presses against me as soon as the doors to the crowed cafeteria closed, leaving me in the deserted hallway.

I check every class room that I have before lunch, the ones Calum should have attended to, but they all turned up empty.

I sigh, not knowing where else to look. I stiffen at laughter echoing down the once quite hallway and I turn to see Seth and Reagan with the rest of their friends.

They hush down to a whisper as the pass me, probably because they still think I'm Calum, but my ears perk up hearing the phrase 'locked in the locker room' being tossed around as a joke.

I can feel a hot sweat break on the back of my neck. Locker rooms equals gym which equals first period which equals almost 4 hours ago.

I gulp, trying to ease my mind. They could be talking about anything-anyone, a show, a movie, they might not be talking about Calum, about real life.

However, my nerves get the best of me and my bottom lip is tugged between my teeth in an attempt to regulate my breathing.

I wait until they turn the corner before jogging to the exit at the end of the hall.

I'm slapped in the face with a cold wind that immediately made my body earn for a jacket as heat left it.

4 hours.

"Where are you going?" A thick Irish accent yelled, causing me to freeze in mid step.

I whip around to see Niall and Liam, they were walking on the side walk the wraps around the school building.

"Have either of you seen cal- Thomas?" I ask frantically.

Niall and Liam glance at each other. "Ya know," Liam says his face twisting and confusion. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since 1 first period, he wasn't in maths."

"Nor chemistry." Says Niall, also concerned now.

"Oh no" I breath out, feeling me heart drop at this information.

"What?" Niall asks, his voice an octave higher.

"I-Seth said- trapped- locker rooms-" my words fumble over each other as panic spreads across my tongue.

I spin around, my feet fumbling down the hill towards the field and the locker rooms. Foot steps behind me were following intently, the mud sloshing under our feet.

I gasp as my foot sinks into a hole causing me to tumble down the hill with a small scream.

"Are you okay?" Liam called out, rushing to the bottom of the hill where I lay.