Tense Morning

John shook his head, then rubbed his face before he climbed onto the bus. He trudged his way down the bus going towards his usual spot at the back when in his peripheral vision he spotted Frank glaring at him.

’Welp, looks like this morning is going to be fun,’ John thought, begrudgingly walking towards where the bully sat.

John knew it was coming, but getting punched in the gut still sucked big time. He grunted and stumbled back a little as the bus quietened.

“Can you seriously not go a day without being a brute?” Vanessa scoffed, not bothering to even look up from her phone.

Frank seemed to get annoyed, which prompted John to quickly move to his seat while the jock was distracted.

“Why? You don’t want me hurting your new little boyfriend?” Frank grumbled.

Vanessa locked and put away her phone before turning towards Frank, glaring at him. “Don’t even fucking start with me; with the shit you pulled yesterday, you are lucky I even let you sit next to me.”

“So, it was him? If it wasn’t, you'd've defended yourself,” Frank chided, seemingly getting annoyed again.

“Why would I defend that? It was a moronic accusation. No one with half a brain cell would ever even entertain that idea, though I guess you’d need to have half a brain cell for that, wouldn’t you?” Vanessa scoffed. “Just remember for next time not to talk out of your ass about things.”

Frank’s anger had vanished, replaced with confusion. “Wait… What? Was that a yes?”

Vanessa huffed and pinched her nose. “Just look at me, and then look at him, and tell me if you could imagine me even spending time around the loser for longer than I have to. Now, I’m seriously tired of hearing your voice, so if you say another word while we are on the bus, you are going to SORELY regret it, I hope you can figure out what I mean.” She then turned around to John. “And you! Maybe you should use your brain and not make it obvious when you are eavesdropping; I’m starting to think that you deserved that punch now.”

John quickly looked down, not really wanting to be dragged into their drama. Vanessa muttered something under her breath as she turned around. John pulled his phone out and stared at the text he’d sent Ellie. ’Why hasn’t she texted back yet? Usually, it’s almost instant… Maybe she’s sleeping in this morning? But what if something happened? What if one of her experiments went wrong, and she’s hurt? What if the pheromone thing attracted something?’ John’s mind raced.

< J: Hey, are you okay? Xxx >

A moment or so passed and he sent another text.

< J: if you need me for anything, just say and I’ll skip school and come as quickly as possible xxx >

He waited, but still, nothing came back. ’Fuck, even if something is wrong, I can’t get into the Lab without a key… There’s nothing I can do… But what if she is just sleeping in? I shouldn’t think the worst right away, maybe she’ll text back soon… If she hasn’t texted by lunch, I’m going. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do anything, but I have to try.’

< J: Text me back as soon as you can xxx >

The rest of the bus ride, John was tense. His brain flip-flopped between continuously cycling through different things that could have gone wrong or chastising himself for assuming the worst and trying to reassure himself that she’s just busy or asleep.

He entered physics and headed to his seat. John mostly listened to what needed to be done in class before taking out his phone.

< J: Hey dude, I’m getting a little worried about Ellie. I texted her this morning and she still hasn’t texted back. I probably sound like a needy and clingy bitch right now, but it just doesn’t feel right >

John soon got a text back from Robin.

< R: I think you might be overreacting, but I could head over to wherever she’s staying and check up on her >

< J: Yeah, I’m not sure if you’d be able to do that though, she’s kinda staying in like a pocket space type thing >

< R: And you didn’t get a spare key? >

< J: I don’t think it came with one. Should it have? >

< R: Nah, they do sometimes come with one, though. It’d be a good idea to have an extra key made, I know a place I can show you. Maybe after we do what you had planned? >

< J: I mean that all sounds great but I don’t exactly have the spare cash for something like that. >

< R: Don’t worry about that, bro, I got you. Call it a welcome to the Abyss gift. Where’s the door anyway? You said she had family here or something? Is it at their place? >

< J: Well, not exactly. We didn’t really have anywhere she could use the door, so we asked an acquaintance if she had somewhere and she offered a maintenance door that’s obscured. It’s honestly not the best place but it was the only one we could really get >

< R: Dude, you serious? Why’d you not offer her your place? >

< J: I already told you, I haven’t introduced her to my mom yet and I’m not ready for it. >

< R: Who said you have to introduce her to your mom? You have a garage, don’t you? And a backyard? You could easily choose a location that would allow her to have a safe place close to you while still having control of this whole not introducing her to your mom thing >

John almost dropped his phone as he face palmed himself. “How did I not think of that myself? What the hell is my intelligence score for if my brain doesn’t work for great ideas like that?” he muttered under his breath.

< J: Know what. You’re right. Should have thought of that sooner myself. Also, fuck you. This is all a lot for me, you know >

< R: Fuck me yourself :P Also, this is why I’m the brains of the group, and the muscle, and the hacker, the thief, the driver and the face >

< J: Did you seriously just run down the list of classes from our last ttrpg? That still doesn’t help with my current problem though, what if something bad happened? >

< R: You get a morning and lunch break, right? Call her instead of texting >

John took a deep breath, calming down a little.

< J: Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea. I’ll do that. Thanks >

< R: What are friends for? Anyway, I gotta do something and you’re in class; you’d better get focusing, wouldn’t want those grades to slip >

< J: Yeah yeah, I’ll text you later >

Miss Sharp was still explaining things and showing a PowerPoint about the subject, so John took a few notes so that he wouldn’t fall behind.

Once the class had ended, he headed for the door and momentarily thought about casting his new Observe on Miss Sharp, but then thought about the last time he’d observed her and wasn’t sure if he wanted to really delve into that again or not.

Instead, John continued out of class and headed to the IT suite, where he spotted Mr. Baird setting out a bunch of different wires on the front table. After realising what he was doing, John rolled his eyes.

’Damn, where’d he find most of these? I mean, yeah, some of them make sense, show students who’ve probably never seen a SATA cable or a Molex connector what they are, but VGA? AND PS/2? Half of these are either already not used anymore or are being phased out,’ John thought to himself as he slumped into his chair.

John felt bad and a little embarrassed that while explaining more than one of the connector types, he’d had to raise his hand and correct his teacher. Once each cable had been explained and written out in front of them, Mr. Baird invited all the students to come over and take a look, to get some hands-on experience with them.

John remained seated, took out his phone, and checked his and Ellie’s chat log which caused his brow to furrow. He took a breath and opened up the chat log for Robin.

< J: Still no response from Ellie :( >

< R: Did you call her? >

< J: Well, no, there wasn’t much time on the way to this class, but I’d have thought I’d have heard from her by now >

< R: Okay time for me to do a rundown of some things to try and put your mind at ease. You said she’s smart, so it’s unlikely she’d do anything out of her skill level, and if she did, she’s got alchemy so she could use a healing salve or something. She’s also in a pocket space so it’s not like anyone could break in and do anything. For all you know, she was working late last night and only went to bed a few hours ago, there’s also the possibility she just decided to have a lazy day and either had a lay-in or got in the bath or something and tuned everything else out. >

John read over the long response, it did make sense. ’Ellie has worked late a few times before… but wouldn’t she have just taken one of those long night rest potion things? Maybe I’m worrying too much?’ he thought as he pinched his nose.

< J: Yeah… I hope she texts back soon, but you are right. I keep stressing about it and it could be anything, I guess… it’s just the first day that I’ve not received a good morning text from her since we’ve been together, it just feels wrong >

< R: wow, who knew you were such a sentimental sap :P Just get on with your day, call her on your break, then at lunch. If she doesn’t answer those, then you can start worrying >

John sighed as he looked at the message. ’Yeah, he’s probably right. Maybe she’s getting me back for vanishing yesterday while we were in the middle of a call… Nah, she wouldn’t do that… I don’t think. But Robin is right, she’s not an idiot and there is no way anyone could get to her to do any harm.’

< J: Thanks, I’ll talk to you later >

< R: No problem, dude, later >

He leaned back in his chair, letting his head fall back. Closing his eyes, he took several deep breaths to calm himself down which seemed to help. Then he heard his text tone.

He stiffened, sitting up straight, and then looked down at his phone, before sighing in exasperation.

< V: Locker 147 >

< V: Now! >

He looked at the time and saw there was hardly any time left of class. Sighing, he stood and walked over to his teacher’s desk. “Hey, sir. I know it’s only like ten minutes until the end of class, but would it be possible for me to leave a little early?”

Mr. Baird put a finger to his cheek and pressed his lips against the rest of his fist in contemplation, humming for a second. “Well, you’ve already shown you know the different cables and what they are or were used for. So sure, I’ll let you out a little early this time.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you on Thursday,” John said, walking towards the door.

John heard someone begin to complain about how he got special treatment but didn’t pay much attention.

He spent a short amount of time trying to figure out where the locker could be before coming to one of the main stretches of the hallway. The lockers here were those of upperclassmen, and as such, they were significantly bigger.

It was easy to spot the locker as it was wide open. He sighed and walked towards it. Looking inside, it was completely empty, save for a sticky note on the back of it which read, “Watch out behind you!”

“Hey there, loverboy!” was all he heard before a pair of hands pressed against his back and pushed him into the locker.

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