There's something odd about him

Elevator

When James came home that day, he was met with an email from Subway. He had an interview the next day. The entire next schoolday he was nervously preparing what he was gonna say. It was his first ever job interview. He was so distracted that he didn't even notice a certain dark haired boy being absent until Rebecca pointed it out during lunch.
'Do you think something happened to him?' Jaiden asked.
'He's probably just sick.' Maaz responded.
'Could it be because of our conversation yesterday?' James asked nervously.
'Nah, Adam's a good student. He's absent pretty often, but I don't think he's skipping or he's missing classes without good reason. That's just not like him.' Rebecca said.
'I thought you guys didn't know him that well?' James asked.
'We don't, but he's been in our classes for a couple of years. You learn who the good students are and who would and wouldn't take the chance to skip classes. Besides, it's like Becca said: he's absent pretty often.' Maaz replied.
'He said something about taking care of his dad. Maybe that has something to do with it.' James suggested.
'Anyway, it's none of our business. We can ask when he's back and if he doesn't want to answer, so be it.' Jaiden said.

That evening
James came home with a big smile on his face.
'And?' Sarah asked.
'I got it! I got the job!' James said excitedly.
'That's amazing, kid!' Dexter exclaimed before rubbing his fist over the blonde's hair, making it spike up into different directions.
'We should celebrate that.' Sarah proposed.
'It's just a little job at Subway.' James said, not understanding what all the fuss was about.'
'It's your first ever job, kid. We're just proud.' Dexter said smiling.

Monday
James felt tired as he walked up to his friends. He was always tired on Monday's, but he felt less annoyed with the fact that he had to go to school today. He was pretty excited for the field trip. It was always better than classes. When he approached his friends he saw Maaz almost jumping up and down in excitement.
'Calm down, Maaz. You're overreacting.' Jaiden said.
'I know but I'm just really excited. Do you now how interesting this is going to be? Think of everything we're going to learn about being a doctor.' Maaz exclaimed.
'I know you want to be a doctor one day, but you're still overreacting.' Rebecca replied.
'Yeah, to be honest, you kinda sound like a nerd right now.' James said.
'You don't have to be a nerd to be excited to learn. But I know I can be nerdy sometimes.' Maaz replied.
'Hey, look who's back!' Jaiden said as she pointed towards the entrance. James looked over and saw a familiar boy with dark hair and a red hoodie. Adam had been absent the entire rest of the week. He looked okay now, but James couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't been in classes.
'Should we ask him why he wasn't at school last week?' James asked.
'Knowing him, he's not gonna answer anyway. Maybe he was just sick.' Rebecca said.
'And it's not really our business.' Maaz added. The bell rang and all the students walked up to the two big busses that were waiting to take the students to the hospital. James took one last look at Adam before getting on the bus and sitting down next to Maaz.

During the tour
James sat down next to Jaiden. They had just entered a dimly lit room with an X-ray machine. The doctor told everybody to sit down on the floor so he could explain how it worked. James looked at the people around him. Next to Jaiden were Rebecca and Maaz. Maaz was carrying a big smile and was really focused on what the doctor was saying. When James looked behind him he saw a couple of teachers leaning against the wall, looking pretty bored. At the end of the crowd of students he noticed Adam. His hands were in the pockets of his hoodie and his hood was covering his dark hair. He seemed interested enough to pay attention to what the doctor was explaining, but not even close to as excided as Maaz. James was pretty sure Adam felt the same way he did. It was interesting, but by the end of the day, most will already be forgotten and there's no way it's going to convince him to become a doctor. Suddenly the doctor's explanation was cut of by the sound of the door opening. All the students turned around, curious as to who would walk in. Curiosity grew as they saw it was the principal that came in. The principal noticed he'd disrupted the group and cleared his throat before saying: 'I'm sorry to interrupt, but can I speak with mister Ortiz for a moment?' All eyes focused on Adam as the dark haired boy looked up in surprise. He nervously glanced back at the class before following the principal out of the room and closing the door behind him. Immediately the students started to curiously whisper about what was going on.
'What do you think happened?' Jaiden asked.
'I don't know. Maybe something happened to his dad.' Rebecca suggested.
'Or his brother.' James added.
'He has a brother?' Jaiden asked.
'Yeah, but his brother doesn't live with him.' James replied.
'Can you guys be quiet, the doctor is trying to continue his explanation.' Maaz hissed.
It took a moment for the doctor and the teachers to get everybody silent again. But even as the doctor continued, James could only wonder about what was going on with Adam. The blonde felt worried, but he didn't really understand why. He hardly knew Adam, why was he so worried about him. After a couple of minutes the principal came back. Without Adam.
'I'm afraid mister Ortiz has to leave early. Would someone be kind enough to go bring him his backpack?' He said.
For a moment the group stayed silent, but then James raised his hand.
'I will.' He said as he got up from the floor.
'Great. Thank you mister Rallison. He's waiting in the breakroom on the second floor. I wished I could go with you but I really have to go.' The principal said before hastily running away. James grabbed the back he knew was Adam's and walked over to the elevator. He pressed the button for the second floor and waited in silence. When the door opened, the blonde started to wander around, reading the words that were written on the doors. Eventually he found the breakroom and carefully entered. Adam was sitting at the table with a plastic cup of water. He seemed to be fine. He didn't look like he just heard some devastating news or something.
'I brought your backpack.' James said quietly. Adam looked up.
'Great, thanks.' He responded in his usual cold and distant tone. He quickly drank the last water from the cup and threw it in the trash before taking the backpack from James and leaving the room. James followed him because they both had to go to a different floor. Only when they were together in the elevator did they say something.
'You need to go up, right? I gotta go down.' Adam muttered.
'You can go down first. I'll wait.' James said politely. Adam pressed the right button and the two waited in silence. Until suddenly the lights went out and the elevator stopped moving.
'What's going on?' James asked, panic sounding in his voice.
'The power probably went out.' Adam responded a lot calmer.
'So we're stuck? And no one even knows we're here! What if they can't fix it?' James started to really panic now.
'Relax! There's a number you can call.' Adam said as he took out his phone and typed the number that was next to the buttons on the wall.
'Hello? Yeah, Hi this is Adam Ortiz. So our elevator stopped moving and this was the number we were supposed to call, right?... yeah in the local hospital... indeed... around the second floor I believe... okay, thank you.' Adam hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.
'They'll be here as soon as they can. Apparently the power is out in almost the entire city, so they're busy with a lot of other elevators that got stuck. It might take them some time to get here.'
He put his backpack on the floor and went to sit next to it, leaning his head against the wall and closing his eyes.
'So what do we do now?' James asked nervously.
'We wait.' Adam replied, his eyes still closed.
James sat down next to Adam, leaning his head against the wall as well. The minutes were passing by as the two boys silently sat in the elevator that was only lit by the flashlight of their phones.
'So why do you have to leave early?' James asked quietly after what seemed like hours. Adam slowly opened his eyes. He glanced at the other boy for a moment and then stared back at the wall in front of him.
'I have to go help my dad with some stuff.' He replied avoiding the blonde's eyes.
'Does it have anything to do with you being absent last week?'
'No, not really. It's just... I don't know. It's complicated.'
'Does it have anything to do with you not wanting friends?'
Adam slowly turned his head to look at James. Scanning the blonde, contemplating how much he could tell him.
'My dad got arrested and need to go get him out.' Adam said eventually.
'Arrested?' James asked in shock.
'Yeah, nothing big, he just got into a fight when he was drunk.'
'And how are you supposed to get him out?'
'Cops tend to go easy on single parents that still have to take care of their child. I just walk in there, act like I'm all worried and scared until they let him go. They don't wanna put him in jail because they want to prevent having to sent kids to the orphanage. He'll probably get a fine though.'
'You sound like you've done it before.'
Adam didn't reply immediately. Instead he waited a little so he could carefully pick his words.
'It has happened before that my dad had just a little to much alcohol and then got himself into some trouble.' He eventually said slowly.
'I'm so sorry. That must be tough.'
'It's fine. I've had harder stuff to deal with in life.'
'Like what?'
'That's my own business.'
There was a moment of silence again between the two.
'At least your dad will get away with just a fine.' James said, trying to break the silence.
'Yeah, but if I could only find a job to help him pay it. We could really use that extra money and I've been looking for ages, but I just can't find a place that wants to hire me.' Adam responded.
'I have a job. I only just got it, but maybe I can convince my manager to give you an interview. They're still looking for more people anyway. That is, if you don't mind working in a subway.' James suggested. Adam turned to the blonde boy and grabbed his shoulders looking him straight in the eyes with his face only a couple inches away from the blonde's.
'You would do that for me?' He asked.
'If you want me to.' James replied uncomfortably.
'YES, PLEASE YES! I REALLY need that job!' Adam said almost in a begging tone.
'If you give me you're number or a social media account I can send you on, I'll keep you updated.' James said, still feeling uncomfortable with how close Adam was and how he was holding the blondes shoulders. Adam let go and grabbed James's phone. He tried to put in his number, but first he had to give the phone back so James could unlock it. Adam quickly put in his number and send himself a message so he would have the blonde's number as well.
'Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me.' Adam said. The cold and distant tone in his voice was gone. James smiled nervously.
'You're welcome.' He said. Adam opened his mouth to say something when suddenly the lights flickered on and the elevator started moving again. With a "ping" the doors opened and Adam walked out. He turned around when he noticed the blonde wasn't following.
'I have to go back up, to our class.' James muttered.
'Oh, right. I- I'll see you tomorrow in class then.' Adam said before waving awkwardly, turning around and leaving the building.