STATIC; JR [2]

5.4

We were all quick to get to school to find Saskia, hopeful to get Jake back to normal as inconspicuously as possible. I stayed with Jake near the school office while the other two boys made a move to track down the new girl, anxious legs carrying them down the hall at equally high speeds.

Jake groaned beside me and I hurried to soothe him, worry filling my stomach as his face contorted in pain. "Is there anything I can do?" I asked him, reaching out sympathetically. I dropped a careful hand over his own trembling one as his knuckles gripped the edge of the chair we were sat down on; they turned white in all his strength. In an attempt to calm him, I gave a hesitant squeeze that he didn't respond to.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Dylan that day." He suddenly blurted out, turning to look at me with droopy orbs. The apology shocked me for two reasons; it was so out of context for him to bring it up now, and I never thought he needed to apologise. "I knew I should have just stayed calm and talked him down, but it just made me so mad."

"Why are you saying this?" I whispered, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Jake, it's okay." I said, feeling nostalgic for the boy I used to know.

He shook his head and rested it against the wall behind us. "It's not okay. I overreacted instead of protecting you. It was stupid."

I scooted closer to him on the blue chair, bringing a shaky hand up to his face. He nuzzled into my palm slightly, letting out another murmured apology. "It wasn't stupid. Getting angry means you care." I told him, offering him a soft smile before he looked away and closed his eyes, never replying.

It wasn't long before the others returned, Saskia in tow. She stared down at the pale boy with large eyes, concern coating her quirky features. She sighed his name and took a step closer in her panic, but a speedy glance toward Jake's fingers intertwined with mine stopped her.

Felix squatted down beside him, assessing the situation with a hard gaze. "You doing okay?" He mumbled, his eyes also flicking to our touching hands. He said nothing and his face didn't so much as twitch, but the ignorance made me sense that he would have something to say about it later, for whatever reason.

Jake winced again and then leaned over to grab the hem of his pants, pulling it up with a shaky hand. The orange dust had moved higher up on his skin, now settling on his shin and attacking it with tiny cracks. I had never seen anything like this before and I hoped I would never have to again.

Saskia gasped. "That looks terrible."

Jake smirked a little, quirking an eyebrow in her direction. "Thanks." He mentioned, chuckling quietly as they shared a lingering gaze.

I let go of his hand.

"Can you walk?" Felix asked him, now standing up. His voice was clipped, tone eternally frustrated. The boy barely nodded before the office doors burst open and Roland strolled inside expectantly, Bates closing the door behind him.

"Morning, students." He greeted us, a foreign warmth to his tone. It wasn't hard to tell it was fake, and when he continued to speak it only confirmed my thoughts. My heartbeat grew faster inside my chest, mouth dry at the notion that Roland was going to grill us once again.

Infuriatingly enough, I was right.

"We're all off to reconstruct the scene of Andy's disappearance. No classes for you lot this morning." The man told us, whipping his head around to smile at Bates. Our faces all fell at his words, each brain between us trying to work up some excuse to get out of it and help Jake. Being a federal agent, he was sure to have noticed our shifty eyes and so he spoke up again. "I checked with your parents and they all signed off on this site visit. Time to go."