I was starting to worry about Jamie.  For the past three he hasn’t been to class or meals.  I would occasionally see Thomas eating in the corner of the cafeteria or bringing meals to his room, but no sign of Jamie.  When Thomas came in, he didn’t even get food for Jamie.  Was Thomas starving him?  Was he hurting him?  Thomas didn’t seem to like him very much, maybe he was holding him against his will in his room.

On the third night, I decided to voice my concerns to Rob, “Where do you think Jamie is?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask Thomas?”

“He’s barely ever in here and if he was he probably wouldn’t tell us the truth.”

“Why?” Rob gave me the look he gave me when I was usually thinking something stupid.

“What if he’s holding Jamie against his will?”

“He’s not, but you can ask him now.”  Rob pointed behind me and I turned around to see Thomas walking out of the line with two trays of food.  So he was feeding him.

“Hey, Thomas!” Ok, I can do this.  He won’t beat me up…probably.  “Do you know where Jamie has been?  He never came back for any meals and he hasn’t been to homeroom since his first day here.”

“He hasn’t been feeling well, so he has been resting in his room.  He also burned himself in the shower, so he is stuck in bed.  He wants to return to classes tomorrow, though.”  Phew.  Or he could be lying.  I don’t even know anymore!

“Oh, that’s good!  Do you want to join us?”  What am I doing?  But, if he does sit with us, he might slip up and tell us where Jamie is by accident.

He looked almost annoyed at the thought of even sitting down with us.  “I’m having dinner with Jamie in his room.”

Fine, I guess I can’t hold him here if he really was going to feed Jamie.  “That’s good, that’s good!  Getting to know each other?”

“Something like that,” Something like that?  “I gotta go, see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah, see you tomorrow, and tell Jamie we said ‘feel better’!”

He turned around and walked out of the cafeteria.

“That was suspicious, right?  He said Jamie was hurt, maybe he did it on purpose.  We should follow him,” I stood up, but Rob pulled me back into my seat.

“You’re being stupid, Jamie is fine.  Thomas said he would be back tomorrow.  Just wait until then.  If he really isn’t back, then we can go looking for him.”

He makes a good point.  Rob always makes a good point.  “Fine.”

~~~

I got to the cafeteria right at 6:00 when it opened.  I needed to know if Jamie was alright.  But he didn’t show.  I knew Thomas was lying!  But Thomas didn’t show either, weird.

The morning classes went impossibly slow while I was waiting for lunch to roll around.  Maybe Jamie would be there?

I walked into the lunch room and looked around for Jamie, still not here.  I knew Thomas was lying!  I’m about to storm out of the cafeteria to go find Jamie, but he walks in through the doors.  

He looks upset, as if he was crying all night.  “Hey guys.”

“Hey, Jamie.  Where have you been?  Are you ok?”  Rob studies his face, but doesn’t say anything.

“I haven’t been feeling well, but I’m fine now.”

“That’s good.”

We all sit and eat in silence until Rob poses the unasked question, “Were you crying?”

“Huh?”  Jamie pretends he didn’t hear us.

“Why were you crying?”

“Thomas is an asshole.”  The only context we get.  I knew I was right, Thomas was hurting him!

“Where’d he hurt you?  I’m going to kill him!”

“No, no, no!  He didn’t hurt me.  What happened was kinda my fault, too.”

“Do you want to tell us what happened?”

“Not really.”

“Ok.”

We eat the rest of our lunches in a comfortable silence, all happy to get the weight of that conversation off our shoulders.  At some point a couple minutes ago, I noticed Thomas staring daggers at Jamie.  I hoped he would stop, but he didn’t.

I was about to get up and talk to him, when Jamie stood up.  “I’m going to rest in my room, see you guys later.”

“Ok, see you later.”

“Bye.”

I was relieved to see that Jamie was fine, but then I noticed Thomas following Jamie out of the cafeteria. 

I was about to storm off after him, but Rob grabbed my arm, “Let them work it out themselves.”

~~~

I should not have listened to Rob!

Jamie wasn’t in homeroom that night and I was worrying again. “What if Thomas kidnapped him?  Again!  He could be hurting him!”

“Tilly,” Rob started with a sigh, “Stop freaking out.  He’s fine.  We’ll see him tomorrow.”

“How do you know?  Huh!”

“I know.  Everything is fine.”

~~~

This morning, I got to the cafeteria early, yet again.  I need to make sure Jamie is ok! 

What I did not expect to see was Thomas and Jamie walking into the cafeteria holding hands.