The thing about Troye

1

Shielding my eyes from the blinding sun with one hand, I shove the other into the pocket of my uniform and walk a little quicker. Beside me, Korey does the same, checking his watch and glancing briefly at the face before slipping his hand back in his blazer.

"We have literally two minutes until history Ty, we need to hurry so we're not late again," he mutters. "Mr. Balch said it would be detention this time."

I frown. I don't want more detentions and history is on the other side of campus. Unfortunately, we both need things from our dorms. Our high school layout isn't very convenient.

Breaking into a jog, we reach our dormitory and practically fling ourselves inside. We part to our separate rooms, scrambling for our stuff and probably forgetting a textbook or two. Oh well.

After half walking, half running for what seems like eternities, we reach the classroom and fix our appearances. Naturally, I put on a bored expression and push through the heavy wooden door of the classroom, slinking to the seat at the back of the class all while ignoring the teacher's burning gaze.

"Mr. Oakley, Mr. Kuhl, class started 10 minutes ago." His voice is sharp and his words are clipped. He studies us through tiny glasses balancing on his nose.
"Do you have a note?"
Even though I didn't plan on answering his question any time soon, he interrupts me anyway. He doesn't wait for a response from either of us before slapping the familiar red slip on my desk, then onto Korey's. Fantastic.

"Don't expect to see us there," I say with an eye roll. Balch huffs. Excited chatter ensues behind us.
"God only knows how many detentions you two have skipped. I've called the principal, I've contacted administration. What am I supposed to do with you two, huh?" The short man waddles himself over to my desk, placing his hands on the side of it, and leaning over towards me.
"Maybe leave us alone, have you thought about that?" Korey's face stays slack as he speaks. The class oohs, generally losing their shit, thankful for a distraction from learning- and an interesting one too.
"Neither of you care, do you?" The class is no longer snickering, but now just whispering in anticipation, ready to egg on another fight. Balch continues on, face reddening.
"You're both just spoiled little boys who have their mommies and daddies bend over backwards to grant your every wish. Well it's not like that in the real world, boys. It's not." I grimace as his voice spits dangerously near my face. He pushes himself away from my desk and inside anger bubbles inside me as I mull over his words. I step forward aggressively, opening my mouth to speak but getting rudely cut off once more.

"You're practically begging for suspension, Oakley," he drawls. The small man leans against his desk and I glance at Korey. My best friend's knuckles were white, gripping at each other underneath of his desk, jaw tense. We both share the same thoughts and I'm positive of it.
"I bet your mommies wouldn't want their little boys to be in trouble, now would they?" He crosses his arms, staring at me, and then at the boy beside me. My classmates are murmuring. Hot blood is rushing through my face and my ears, turning my skin some shade of pink. The room was still dead silent, nobody dared make a witty comment at the moment. At the moment, I think everyone knew.

"Goof thing I don't have one, right?" I deadpan. The silence is deafening. I stand and glare at the teacher, pushing away from my desk and stuffing the red paper into my jacket.
"You...bastard..." Korey draws out lowly.
Mr. Balch furrows his eyebrows, corners of his mouth turning down every more than usual.

"Oakley." he pauses, stuttering. "Oakley, don't you walk out on me, I'll..."

I pause on my way out. "You'll what? Call my mom?"

"Look what you've done." I hear Korey interrupt on my way out the door. "Eat shit!"
I briefly hear the class spiral into hysteria.
"Tyler!!" The door slams and the noise rings through the empty courtyard. Beside me, there's a sigh. The taller boy's hand rests on my shoulder solemnly. I don't look behind me.
I clench and unclench my fists at my sides, trying to take deep breaths and to regain my composure. I straighten my glasses and smooth out my jacket, sighing. Korey's hand falls from my shoulder and I turn to face him.
"Thank you."
He just nods.
I briefly fidget with my tie, not wanting to face the facts that we would indeed have to come to the detention unless we wanted to be in big trouble once again.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks,  facing me. I bite the inside of my cheek; a habit of mine.
"Let's walk," I suggest.
The sun shines on the brightly colored trees scattered all around, changing colors in the fall. Brittle leaves fall from the trees and they calm me. My eyes follow a trail of thin Crimson leaves on the ground until they notice a dark contrast in color. Someone's dress shoe. The shiny black shoes belong to a dark hooded figure, not in uniform I don't think- leaning against a bare tree. I can't tell where the guy is looking, and I hope he can't see me staring. I concentrate my gaze elsewhere and try to focus on walking in a straight line, following my friend to wherever we might be going. I struggle to keep my eyes looking at the backs of Korey's shoes as we walk. I try to busy my kind with the sound of crunching leaves or the feeling of the chilly wind though my hair, but in the end my mind was captivated with what I had seen.
Hoping to get another glimpse of the stranger, I stop for a moment to peek behind me at the tree again, but the boy I saw was long gone. I doubletake and Korey looks down at me quizzically.
"You saw him too, right? Hood kid?" I ask, eyebrows furrowed, confused. Korey looks around, bewildered. I guess not.
"Tyler, you can't just call people hood..." he starts. I crack a small half smile, rolling my eyes.
"No no no, not like that, I mean a literal hood."
My best friend just shakes his head and shrugs.
"I got nothin, Ty." We continue our walk.

How? Did anyone else see him? He couldn't have left that fast after I had seen him the first time just moments ago. How had Korey not seen him?

A weird feeling takes over my body and I shiver, not liking how this day was turning out one bit.

I must have spaced out for a long time, because before I know it, Korey is tugging on my blazer.

"Are you okay? Are you thinking about her? About Balch?" His voice is laced with worry.

"No..." I clear my throat and adjust my book bag around my shoulders, then straighten my glasses. "I'm okay, lets go."

The picture of the hooded man is still in my mind as my best friend nods and seemingly drags me along the cobblestone path. We stumble down the pavement to the dorms. Korey stops me before we go our separate ways. He claps a large hand on my back and it startles me a little bit.

"Looks like we'll be hanging out later...in detention...again." He deadpans.

I shrug and shake my head as if trying to shake off the bad vibes.
"See you there, yeah."
"Nothing we haven't done before." He replies, cracking a small smile.
"I'm sorry about Balch today. That was shitty." He adds. I nod. He clears his throat, turning on his heel after giving me a last smile.
"See you in detention."
We continue on down our separate hallways, and before I go inside, I glance out the main floor's window and glancing suspiciously at the tree the hooded person was at earlier. Nothing. Again. The sinking feeling was back.

As I slowly walk to my room, I check out each and every window. What did I see? For a second I think there's a flash out of the corner of my eye, but now I think I'm just seeing things. Today has been a day.

Once into the safety of my dormitory, I shake my head and dump my school stuff in a shelf in the corner of the surprisingly tidy room. I'm glad I don't have a roommate.

I flop not so gracefully onto my bed. I grimace into my pillow, replaying the events of the day. I still feel the bad vibes, honestly.