Where is Louise Bauman? + Original, Book 1 ✔

5

"And now that you don't have to be perfect,
you can be good."

"What's going on?" Charlie asked, looking at the boy who sat next to her in her science class. She glanced around to see everyone rushing around to gather their things together and stand up, already piling out of the classroom to head to the gymnasium for the unplanned assembly.

"I think it's got something to do with... with Louise." The boy replied, his eyes sad as he spoke the girl's name. Charlie's eyes widened in surprise and she stopped, dropping her books completely as she hadn't expected to hear that name. At least not at the moment.

Of course, the first thing that came to her mind was that Louise had been found dead. Was her body found? Was she in pain when she died? Did someone kill her? Those were the first thoughts that rushed through Charlie's mind, and she couldn't seem to find the strength to move as other students began to just trample over her things, not caring as she had dropped them on the floor.

When she finally came to the realization she'd probably get her answers at the assembly and that she needed to get herself together, the classroom was completely empty and she was all by herself minus the teacher who didn't seem to care too much about the assembly.

Charlie bent down and began gathering her messy books up off of the floor, her mind just as jumbled as the crumpled papers in her hands. She knew that deep down it was probably better off she skipped the assembly and part of her didn't hear what was going to be said, but at the same time, she needed to hear what was going to be said. She needed to know if Louise was gone, or even better... alright.

"There you are!" A familiar voice exclaimed, and Charlie glanced up to see Ren rush into the classroom as he saw her gather the rest of her things up off of the floor. "What's going on? Are you alright?" He questioned her, grabbing her arm gently to help lift her the rest of the way up. "I waited for you a while in the hallway but began to get worried when you didn't show. I wasn't sure if you forgot we were meeting after school or if things changed because of the assembly, or-"

"No, yeah." Charlie cut Ren off, messily shoving her things into her backpack. It was unlike her to be messy in that way, even Ren noticed and frowned at her unusual behavior. He didn't comment on it though, and instead just watched as she quickly zipped her backpack up and threw it on her back. "I just- I dropped everything on the floor and had to pick it up. That's what made me late." She explained, taking in a deep breath as she realized it was time to head to the gym. "We should go before we're late."

"Right. Let's go then," Ren said, sending her a worried look. He watched as she pushed her loose dirty blonde hair behind her ear, taking in another deep breath as she began walking out of the classroom, an expression on her face he couldn't seem to decipher. Of course, the two had known each other long enough to where he could easily read her, but at the same time, he didn't know her well enough to read her that well, and that killed him that he couldn't read her like a book.

He wanted to be able to tell what was wrong with her just by looking at her, so he could help her and give her what she needed but he couldn't do that in this awkward in-between stage. Surely it's the same for her that it is him, he's sure, but either way, it still sucks to the max.

Ren found himself wrapping an arm around Charlie's waist unintentionally, neither of them commenting on it as the two walked in the hallway together behind the giant swarm of students heading toward the gymnasium. It made Ren nervous as he couldn't tell whether Charlie was okay with him doing this or not, but he calmed down when Charlie scooted slightly closer to him and he wrapped his arm tighter around her comfortingly.