20 ~ Thomas
The loud cafeteria was drowning me. Conversations floating around, laughter, cutlery scraping against trays of food.
I glance over Luke's shoulder, to the table I always sit at only to find it empty.
Valerie and Calum should be here by now, questions force there way into my mind.
What's wrong? Something must be wrong he's not here.
I lick my chapped lips, mumbling to Luke and Michael that I needed to use the bathroom.
I pass the still empty table as I go to throw away my tray that what still full with food.
Silence presses against me as soon as the doors to the crowed cafeteria closed, leaving me in the deserted hallway.
I check every class room that I have before lunch, the ones Calum should have attended to, but they all turned up empty.
I sigh, not knowing where else to look. I stiffen at laughter echoing down the once quite hallway and I turn to see Seth and Reagan with the rest of their friends.
They hush down to a whisper as the pass me, probably because they still think I'm Calum, but my ears perk up hearing the phrase 'locked in the locker room' being tossed around as a joke.
I can feel a hot sweat break on the back of my neck. Locker rooms equals gym which equals first period which equals almost 4 hours ago.
I gulp, trying to ease my mind. They could be talking about anything-anyone, a show, a movie, they might not be talking about Calum, about real life.
However, my nerves get the best of me and my bottom lip is tugged between my teeth in an attempt to regulate my breathing.
I wait until they turn the corner before jogging to the exit at the end of the hall.
I'm slapped in the face with a cold wind that immediately made my body earn for a jacket as heat left it.
4 hours.
"Where are you going?" A thick Irish accent yelled, causing me to freeze in mid step.
I whip around to see Niall and Liam, they were walking on the side walk the wraps around the school building.
"Have either of you seen cal- Thomas?" I ask frantically.
Niall and Liam glance at each other. "Ya know," Liam says his face twisting and confusion. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since 1 first period, he wasn't in maths."
"Nor chemistry." Says Niall, also concerned now.
"Oh no" I breath out, feeling me heart drop at this information.
"What?" Niall asks, his voice an octave higher.
"I-Seth said- trapped- locker rooms-" my words fumble over each other as panic spreads across my tongue.
I spin around, my feet fumbling down the hill towards the field and the locker rooms. Foot steps behind me were following intently, the mud sloshing under our feet.
I gasp as my foot sinks into a hole causing me to tumble down the hill with a small scream.
"Are you okay?" Liam called out, rushing to the bottom of the hill where I lay.
I groan, opening my eyes only to realize one was extremely blurry. I blink but nothing happened.
"My contact!" I yell, rolling into my hands and knees. "My contact,
It fell out!"
"You wear contacts?" I hear Niall asks as I run my hands through the grass.
I ignore his question, forgetting about my contact as I am reminded why I came down here in the first place.
Throwing open the locker room door, I'm met but a still coldness. It was different than outside where the wind harassed you, it was silent.
Silent, that's not good.
"Calum?!" I scream, not caring that Niall and Liam will probably put the pieces together.
The only sound that returned to me was the soft echo of my voice and the drip of a shower.
A shower. I distinctly remember a time were Peter and Seth had tried to shove me in one at the beginning of the year, however I slipped away and ran out before they could.
My shoes squeak as I turn to the showers, on was obviously recently been used, there were water droplets and pools of murky brown water at the bottom.
There was a chair to the side that seemed oddly out of place, but my brain pieced it together before I could question it anymore.
My half blurred vision was giving me a thumping headache behind my eyes, making all this information hard to process.
"What happened?" Niall asks, peering over my shoulder at the shower.
"Seth and Reagan must have locked Calum in here..." I pause, "with the water on and they had to of used the chair to block him in, why else would it be here?"
Liam takes a step forward. "From the looks of it he got out somehow."
I nod, but that didn't help my nerves what so ever. "No, if he had been able to get out himself he would have beaten Seth and Reagan." I say knowingly, Calum has a temper much like dads, I'm sad to say. "So he had to have been helped out...that means who ever helped him would have found out we switched, his makeup would have run off," I rush out my thoughts pouring out of my like a broken dam.
"So whoever helped him must have taken him home?" Niall suggested with a small shrug.
My eyes widen.
"What? That's a good thing isn't it?" Liam asks, his face falling at the notice of my sickened features. "Thomas?"
"N-no that's not good." I state simply, stumbling back before turning and running out the door.
This was a bad idea. I shouldn't have let Calum talk me into it, now he's hurt and going to get in trouble if mom and dad are home.
Im surprised at how fast a ran across the field and to the parking lot. I bend out wheezing as soon as my feet hit the asphalt.
It was hard to catch my breath as my breathing was already ragged with anxiety.
Niall and Liam soon catch up with me and Liam offers a ride, with I great fully except.
The heat coming from the vents was welcoming, but it did cause my finger tips to sting and tingle for a bit.
The car ride to my house seemed to stretch for an eternity. The silence was helping either, it was a awkward one, the only Noise was when I would tell Liam where to turn.
"I'm sorry." I say, my leg bouncing rapidly and my face heating up slightly.
The silence stretched on and I knew they were sour at me for not telling them I wasn't actually with them all day and it was Calum.
"It's just." I breath out, "He didn't understand what it was like to be me. He didn't know what Seth or anyone else did," I pause turning around to look and Niall in the back seat. "You of all people should understand, he gets to you too, I know he does."
If he was blushing I couldn't tell, his face was already red from the cold pressing to his face.
"It's alright." He says, removing his gaze from the window to my face. "I get it, I just wish you would have told me..." He pauses to bite his lip. "Your brother is not you, and what if I had told him something that was meant for only you? That would have been embarrassing."
" I know, and I'm sorry."
He nods, which was a sign of forgiveness. I turn to Liam. He glances at me before looking back to the road.
"What, you expect me to forgive you too?" He raises an eyebrow.
"Well yeah... I mean, you're my best friend." I say a small smile on my face.
"Hey!" Niall places a hand over his heart. "I thought I was your best friend."
I laugh, leaning back into my seat. "You both are."
Liam looks to Niall through the review mirror, smirking before saying "he just doesn't want to hurt your feelings."
Niall huffs and I laugh.
My laughter was cut short, it getting caught in my throat as we pull to a stop in front of my house.
"Oh boy." I mumble under my breath.
I glance to my friends, their faces where confused as to why I was so hesitant to go inside my own house.
Sometimes I envy my friends. Sure, Niall struggles with money and never has news things but he has a strong family. He would tell me stories of him and his brother, his mother and father, of his grandparents and cousins visiting him.
The only time I see relatives is on stiff holiday visits. Nobody wants to be there, it just makes everything harder to be honest.
Maybe Liam doesn't have the most relaxed family, he does have to live under that shadow of his older sister, but at least his parents still expect his mistakes.
Only one tinny mistake can ruin your whole week, shake the house hold, for me. You have to be careful, mindful of everything you do in my house.
And if anyone finds out that Calum and I and both out of school at the moment, It won't be just a tiny mistake.
It'd be the end of what little peace we had.
A|N
I decided to update again!! YAY!
I always feel like my writing and annoying and over dramatic, but hopefully it's not!
What do you think?
Love y'all!
❤️❤️