Maureen wasn’t at school for two whole days. When she finally arrived, her small group of friends were ecstatic to see her return. Person after person clambered against her, trying to get the juicy details of where she had been. I’ve noted since middle school that Maureen wasn’t really “popular,” she was just friendly—and therefore made a lot of friends in the process.

“I’ve just been busy,” her short and simple reply was all her audience needed to start assuming. Small rumors started to sprout up, and I tried my best to squash them the best I could.

“Vincent!” One girl ran up to me in the hallway. Almost stumbling over the other bodies in her vicinity, she straightened up and walked alongside me.

“Where do you think Maureen was? Do you think she was on vacation? Sick perhaps? Or maybe her cat died, or—”

I shook my head, chuckling as I stopped at the door that led into my next class.

“What is this, elementary school? Rumor spreading is so not cool. It shouldn’t matter to you, it’s none of your—” I stopped for a moment, realizing that I had put too much emphasis on the ‘your.’

“—business to know about Maureen’s business. Maybe she’s just going through something, that’s all I’m going to say.” The other girl gasped and sped off, quickly shouting through the hall:

“VINCENT KNOWS! HE’S JUST NOT TELLING US!”

My eyes widened in fear, my legs acting independently from myself and scurrying into the room of my second period class.

The bell rang shortly after I had set down my things down on my desk. Bookbag on the left side of my desk, books in the left corner… everything seemed to be the way I liked it. Other students took their seats slowly and groggily as usual, as no one was truly awake until after lunch. Meanwhile, I’m the opposite—although I was pretty tired this morning, I invited the challenge of waking up at five-thirty in the morning with open arms. However, when it gets to be around eight, nine, or even ten o’clock at night—I’m faster asleep than a heartbeat.

“Vincent,” I traced the calling of my name back to the one and only Maureen, who took the seat next to me. A grin formed on my face, feeling glad that she was fine and well. She shifted a bit in her seat, turning her full attention to me.

“You’re not going to ask where I was or anything, right?” she quickly stammered out. I could tell that she was seriously nervous about the whole dilemma.

“What? Of course not. In fact, I was out in the hall trying to stop rumors from spreading. I know that whatever the reason you were gone, it was probably for something important. I’m not spreading any rumors myself. I got your back, remember?” Maureen breathed out a hefty sigh of relief, placing her head down on the desk. I reached over to place a hand on her back, seeing if I could relieve Maureen of her troubles. She noticed my action and gave me a smile in return. She was about to open her mouth and say something before the teacher stepped into the middle of our two desks, breaking the bridge that was my hand away from her.

“This class is about history, not physical education, Mr…” Although feeling confident about his statement, the teacher of the class, Mr. Waddell, was failing to remember my last name.

For about the sixth time this year.

I don’t blame him—not everyone is truly proficient at remembering names.

“Mr. Sybil, sir,” I muttered loud enough for him to hear, retracting my arm back to my side. I continued to looking up at the board for the projected notes to light up my eyes, causing me to jot them down with quick yet sharp accuracy. Maureen did the same next to me, but I could already see it in her muddy-brown eyes that she was going to need a tap on the shoulder every now and again during class.

I couldn’t blame her for being tired at all—it was only second period, which was being taught in a dark room with the main source of light displaying boring notes about the Ming Dynasty. But nevertheless, I still helped her as a friend, having the duty of shaking her awake about every ten minutes of the fifty-five-minute class. At the speed of which I was taking my notes, I didn’t mind doing it.

-~-

Towards the end of the day, it had seemed like Maureen was beginning to receive less and less attention. She wanted it that way, after all, and so did I for my friend. I didn’t want her to see her go through the pain of gazing eyes or harsh rumors.

Whatever she was dealing with truly was her own business.

When the final bell rang, I zoomed over to my locker in my usual fashion. I wanted to go home.

“Are you walking home today? Or are you going to drive home with your parents?” Maureen questioned me as she approached my locker. She already had her bookbag on.

“I think my parents are picking me up today, for whatever reason. They must want to take me somewhere,” I spoke as I kneeled down in front of my locker. I proceeded to stuff my bag full of books and other belongings, not caring which went where.

“Oh, alright then. I… hope you make it home safe,” Maureen looked away for a few seconds before refocusing her attention on me.

“I will. Thanks, Maureen,” I paused for a moment. “Did you want to come over for dinner or something? You know my parents love seeing you,” I mentioned slyly, almost laughing to myself just thinking about it.

“N-No, it’s fine. I should probably be heading home now, anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow,” the girl zipped off before I could say anything else. Looking in her direction, I got up and hoisted my bag over my shoulders, checking my phone to see if I had any new notifications. It turns out I did—my parents were waiting for me outside. I frowned, pausing for a minute to assess the situation.

There had to be something weird to be going on.

Or… it could be…

Oh no, not again…