The Bell Doesn't Dismiss You. (Tedgens high school AU)

A Good Morning

Beep beep beep
I whack my phone, turning my alarm off. I hope that didn't wake Ted too unpleasantly. It might not have woken him at all. I don't know how heavy of a sleeper he is.
I sit up and look over my bed to the rug.
He's not there. What? He's not there? It's fucking 5 am, he got up that early, why? He's ashamed. He left and went god knows where.
I stand up and walk out of my room.
His sleeping bag wasn't there anymore. He would leave. I spent most of last night getting to know him. I think I know him well enough to know he wouldn't just dip.
I hobble down the stairs. I turn the corner and there he is. Poking around my kitchen. He doesn't notice me, so I watch him for a bit. I lean up against the wall silently.
He looks a little panicked. He's looking for something. I'm assuming it's something to eat. What's going on in your gorgeous head?
"Good morning." I decide to announce my presence to him.
He shoots up, looking a little startled.
"Morning." He smiles but there's still a panicked gleam in his eyes. I don't like it. I liked the other way his eyes look.
"Whatcha looking for?" I walk closer.
"Something to eat." He stops rummaging around the kitchen.
I know that there's more to it than just breakfast. Something is wrong, I want to help him. It's very early though and diving deep into his problems might not be the best right now.
"Well what do you want to eat?" We have a lot to eat here.
"I guess cereal." Well he obviously wasn't looking very hard because there is a drawer filled with cereal just to his left.
I open the cereal drawer. And gesture to it in a very presentational way.
"Take your pick." We have a ridiculous amount of food in this house. I don't know why. Mom and dad are out of town every other week and it's just me otherwise.
Ted sheepishly grabs the box of Frosted Flakes. I go get him a bowl and a spoon. Then the milk front the fridge. SI'm not hungry yet so I don't get anything for myself.
"Thank you." Ted pours the milk in after the cereal. Good, he's human. He starts to eat. I'm still not used to seeing him so nervous. It's endearing.
"No problem." I kiss his forehead. He seems release some of the tension. That's good. "I'll be upstairs if you need me."
I leave the kitchen and walk back up the stairs
I have to fucking take a shower with him in my house. Shit. Just don't think about it Henry. This is only weird to you. You're the one making this weird!

After my shower I stand in my robe in my closet trying to pick out something to wear. I closed the door to my room, so Ted won't come sauntering in while I'm practically naked in the closet.
Note to self: Practically Naked in the Closet should be the title of my memoirs.
I don't want to go too flashy but I also want to look good. There are stakes now. I have to impress Ted. Well maybe flashy would impress him. I don't really know.
I mean he's wearing clothing that's coming from a plastic bag from the trunk of his car. It's not like he is going to dress to impress. But he knows he doesn't have to dress all nice to be attractive.
"Whatcha looking for?" Ted's voice comes from so place outside of my closet. Shit shit shit.
He's in my room and I'm just wearing a robe.  I know I must be blushing like crazy. God damnit you stupid fucking hormonal body.
I try to form words but all that comes out of my mouth is panicked nonsense.
"Oh sorry I should have knocked." How is he so calm? Meanwhile I'm having a mini heart attack over here. There's a moment of awkward silence. "So what are you going to wear?"
I seriously have no idea how he's calm right now.
"I-I don't know" manages to flop out of my mouth.
Ted looks over my shoulder at the clothes in my closet. He seems to be studying them. He steps closer. I get out of his way and step out of the closet. He looks around some more.
Why am I letting the guy in race car pajamas pick my outfit?
"These pants and this shirt. Combat boots." Ted pulls out the black and white checkered jeans and my black turtle neck, and points to the boots. He sets them down on my desks and leaves the room.
What is happening?
I change quickly and hop down stairs. I actually really like how this looks. I wouldn't usually put these together but I think I actually look good.
Ted wearing a nice plaid shirt and some jeans, very lumberjack like. God he's hot.
"How do I look?" I do a little twirly thing. I can feel his eyes one me. I turn around.  Was He's smiling, his eyes are soft.
"You look great." Ted smiled. His smile is adorable.
"So do you." I wink. I think that's the smoothest I've ever winked. I stomach growls. I should eat breakfast. I walk into the kitchen and grab a pop packet of pop tart.
"What you have pop tarts!" Ted sounds so excited. I can't help to giggle. He's like a little kid!
"Yup." I toss over another packet of pop tarts to him. His eyes light up as he opens the packet. He's so adorable. He starts nibbling one of them without even toasting it. To each there own I suppose. "Come on we should head to school."
"What it's so early." Shit. He doesn't have a zero period. Well we're not really doing anything super important in debate right now. I'm sure he could just hang out. That won't work.
"Yeah I have a zero period. But I'm sure you could hang out." I feel a bit bad. I don't want to leave him on his own, especially with whatever's going on with his family.
"No it's fine." Ted shifts awkwardly, "I should go check in with my mom." The nervous look returned to his eyes.
"Oh ok yeah." I don't want to leave him. I just want to hang out with him. I kiss his cheek. "See you at school."
Ted wraps his arms around my waist. I'm still slightly in shock if all of this. I he kisses me lightly.
"See you at school."
The two of us head out. He gets in his car and drives away. I hope he's ok. He said that it wasn't safe at his house, but that's where he's going. I trust him though. He'll be ok.

Class is boring. I can't keep my mind off of Ted. I don't know what any of this means. Like is this a thing now. Are we telling people? DAMNIT we should have clarified. Maybe I can clear this up with him at break.
The bell rings and the break period starts. I walk out of the classroom and see Emma, Paul, Bill, and Charlotte frantically looking around the courtyard.
"Hey em. What's wrong?" I tap Emma on the shoulder. She turns around.
"Henry! How are you? I've been worried sick." Emma ignores my question. She hugs me quickly. She's a good friend. I want to tell her everything but I don't know if that's a good idea yet.
"I'm doing great." She still looks worried. The group isn't all worried about me, something else is going on. "What's wrong?"
Emma takes a deep breath.
"According to Charlotte, Ted wasn't in first period. And he's not answering Paul's texts." She takes another deep breath, like she's trying to calm herself down. I start to panic slightly. "Apparently his family life is... really bad. We're worried that something happened to him."
I'm so stupid. I let him go to his house. He said it wasn't safe. HE SAID THAT. Why didn't I insist he come with me. Fuck I'm so stupid.
"Shit. This is my fault." I mutter to myself.
"What. No it's not anyone's fault."
Except for mine.
FUCK. God, read between the lines you dumb bitch.
He could be hurt. He could be hurt, and I could have stopped this from happening.
The world feels like its spinning at a million miles per hour. I'm terrified.
"Hey guys." Ted. It's ted. I spin around. And there he is.
His flannel looks dirtier than it did when I left. He's wearing some sunglasses he did not have when he left my house. Something happened to him, but he's here.
"Ted!" I hug him tightly. I'm not letting go. I don't want to. He's ok. He's ok. He's ok.
"Hey Henry." He smiles and hugs me back weakly. I should probably let him breath. I loosen my grip on him. He heavily exhales, almost like that hurt. Shit did I hurt him.
"You look like shit." Emma sounds a little nonchalant for someone who seemed super nervous a minute ago.
"Always a pleasure Perkins." Ted lowers his voice slightly. "I'm ok Henry."