Don't Believe Everything You Hear

"Jonathan, you suck," I told him as I walked out the door. He was 'sick' again and I got to walk to school on my own. I wish that I could stay home, but I'm not as good as Jonathan at faking it.

I walked to school quickly, seeing as I was a bit off schedule already. Once I got to school, the warning bell was just now ringing. I ran to my locker, grabbed my books and ran to class.

I got there with time a minute or two to spare and sat down in my seat. I waved to Caleb and sighed, sitting down.

I looked out the window until I heard somebody sit down next to me. I looked over to see Austin sitting there, staring at the door.

"Hey Austin," I mumbled to him. He didn't say anything. "How's it going?" I asked, knowing that it was loud and clear enough for him to hear me.

"Austin," I said, waving my hand in his face a bit. He turned his head away from me a bit more. I sighed loudly. "Come on, you were doing good, don't start this again," I mumbled. He turned his head and glared at me.

Normally, I would've just sighed and forgot about it, but today he was sporting a nice black eye. I gasped a bit.

"What happened?" I asked, eyeing the bruise around his eye. He kept his glare and turned his head back away from me.

"Come on Austin, tell me what happened," I said and nudged him a bit. He didn't pay attention to me, he just kept sitting there and ignoring me. I sighed.

"Please," I said in a low tone.

"Just be quiet before you get me in trouble again," he said harshly. I didn't know what he was talking about. I don't remember ever getting him in trouble. Besides from a few stupid remarks, I don't remember ever doing anything wrong to him.

"What are you talking about, what do you mean again?" I asked him. He didn't answer. I'm not entirely sure if I expected an answer, but I was hoping for one. I was going to ask again, but Mr. Marks walked in and immediately put us all to work.

For the next couple of my classes, I had no clue what was up with him, or what I did. I never really knew what was up with him, but he was doing so well about actually talking to me, and I guess this just came from nowhere again.

"Hey Kyle," I said blankly to him, as he sat down next to me.

"Hey, what's up with you?" he asked.

"Austin," I mumbled.

"What now?" he asked. He showed sympathy in his eyes, and I sighed.

"It's a long story, and I don't even know, he's just back to ignoring me," I mumbled.

"You have no idea why?" he asked. I shook my head. Just then Caleb walked into the room and I had an idea.

"Caleb, can I talk to you?" I asked. He looked at me and nodded. He started to walk over, but the bell rang and the teacher walked in.

"Caleb, take your seat before I give you a tardy," he said. Caleb sighed and nodded, giving me that same look of sympathy.

"Okay, everybody, sit down, shut up, answer the questions, and leave me alone," Mr. Johansson said bitterly. Everybody did as he said and for the whole class, everybody was eerily silent.

The bell rang and I ran out of the classroom, but waited by the door for Caleb.

"Hey Selena," he said, smiling.

"Hey Caleb," I sighed.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" he asked.

"Do you know what's up with Austin?" I asked.

"It'd be easier to tell you what isn't wrong with him," Caleb laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, seriously now" I said. He laughed and nodded.

"I don’t, he came home yesterday with that black eye, he wouldn't tell me what happened," he said. I could tell that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Come on Caleb, what happened?" I asked.

"He didn't tell you?" he questioned. I shook my head. Caleb sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"I can't tell you, I promised him I wouldn't," he said. I sighed and didn't push it. I knew that he shouldn't break that promise.

"You think there's any chance of him telling me?" I asked.

"Not in public or during any daylight hour," Caleb sighed. "That's part of it, he just can't,"

"Is this 'Austin and I being friends' thing ever gonna be easy," I asked. Caleb just shrugged.

"I don't know," he said to me. He put his hand on my shoulder for a second and then walked away with no more than a small goodbye.