In Love With A Warbler

Chapter 7 : Trying to investigate Jeff

Chapter 7

Sunday...

Alex POV

Nick and I were both anticipating Jeff's return. We were both pretty quiet all weekend, and we barely talked because we were both concerned about him.

Suddenly, there was a quiet knock on our door. Nick was sitting on my bed because we were doing homework. He got up to answer the door.

"Sorry. I forgot my key..." Jeff mumbled.

Jeff went to his bed, and laid down. I looked at Nick, sort of confused. After how Jeff had acted all week, I wasn't expecting him to be so calm and everything.

"I guess his visit went ok then," Nick whispered to me as he sat down to continue his homework.

"Yeah, I guess so..."

Later...

Alex POV

Nick and I were downstairs in the cafeteria for dinner. And I wanted to talk to him about some things I'd noticed about Jeff.

We got our dinners, and then sat down.

"Hey... So you know how we thought Jeff was ok?" I asked.

"Yes...?"

"I don't think he's ok."

"Why not?"

"He looks like he's in pain."

"What do you mean?"

"He moves slowly and I can see the face he makes when he moves. He's in pain. Something hurts when he moves, and I can't tell what."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. He's hurt."

"Well... What should we do?"

"We could try talking to him."

"You know he's not going to tell us anything."

"He might. He asked for help, remember? Maybe he'll tell us something. It's worth a shot."

"Fine."

We finished our dinners, and then we went back up to our room.

Here we go...

I sat down on the end of Jeff's bed.

"How was your visit at home?" I asked.

"Fine..."

"Are you ok?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? You look like you hurt something. Is it your back?"

"N-no, I'm f-fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"I j-just um... I f-fell d-down the s-stairs."

"You fell down the stairs?"

"Y-yeah. I j-just wasn't l-looking w-where I was g-going."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I-I'm f-fine!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

I got up, and sat down on my bed, where Nick was waiting for me so we could do homework.

"He's lying," I whispered.

Later...

Alex POV

Jeff was in the shower right now.

"Nick, we have to do something."

He looked down at me from his top bunk.

"Do what?"

"We need to find out what happened to Jeff over the weekend."

"How? He won't tell us."

"Go sneak in the bathroom, and steal his clothes."

"Why? What good is that going to do except upset him?"

"He'll have to come out and get his clothes, so since he'll only have a towel, we can see if he has like a bruise or something and see where he's hurt."

"I'm not stealing his clothes."

"Fine. I will."

"Alex, no don't! I don't want him to be upset!"

"He won't be upset. He'll just think he left his clothes in here."

I walked over to the bathroom door.

"Alex."

"I'm doing it. Now shut up so we don't get caught."

I quietly opened the door. I could hear the shower running. I quickly grabbed his clothes and left.

"Just put them on the dresser. He'll think he forgot them," Nick said.

I shut the bathroom door, and put Jeff's stack of clothes on the dresser. I sat down on my bed, and continued doing my homework with Nick's help.

A little while later...

Jeff POV

I stepped out of the shower, and wrapped my towel around myself.

My stomach dropped when I realized I forgot to bring my clothes in here.

I started pacing around the bathroom. I was starting to panic because I didn't know what to do! So I just sat down on the floor.

I was probably sitting there for 15 minutes before there was a knock on the door. I got up, and opened it a crack.

"Jeff, did you forget your clothes?" Nick asked.

"Y-yeah..."

"Here."

I grabbed my clothes from Nick, and shut the door. I quickly changed into my pjs. Luckily, I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, and it covered up the bruises on my back and my arms pretty well.

I left the bathroom, and went out to my bed. Nick and Alex were whispering about something over on Alex's bed. But they had homework spread out all over. So that's probably what they were talking about.

I got under the covers, wincing in pain as I laid down. My back really really hurts...

Alex POV

I pulled Nick out into the hall.

"You should've waited until he came out."

"No! I didn't know if he was crying or something!"

"Crying? Because he forgot his clothes? Who would cry over that?"

"I don't know! But I just didn't want him to be upset."

"Ugh!"

We went back in the room. Jeff was curled up in bed. Nick and I finished our homework, and then we went to bed too.