Chasing Pavements

When Friday finally came about, I was more than relived. Not only was it test day, but this meant I wouldn't be seeing Seth outside of school anymore. I had low expectations on whether or not Seth would actually pass Mr. Kyle's test this afternoon, but either way, I was still getting my bonus points.

"Sky! Hey!" I turned to see Alexis plowing down the hallway, knocking in to almost everyone. She bounded up to me, breathless, and tried to muster out what she wanted to say, "Seth is a total no show. Haven't seen him all day! You spent all that time with him for nothing, how do you feel about that one?"

I couldn't believe the things she was telling me at first, but then again, this was Seth she was talking about. His attendance record is part of what got me in to this situation in the first place.

"I can't believe it," I shook my head, closing my locker, "Whatever, I'm not even worried about it. His loss, I guess." And I walked off without another word.

~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

Mr. Kyle had just passed out the tests when the door swung open, everyone stopped to see who had come in. It was none other than Seth Green. His head was down, his hands covered by his hoodie sleeves, and he said nothing. Not a single word, nor sound, came from him. He trudged over to his desk and slowly sat down.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Green." Mr. Kyle stated, grabbing a spare test off of his desk and delivering it to Seth, who still hadn't said a word.

That's when Seth looked up and I swear you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Seth's face was littered in bruises as if he had been brutally beaten. My stomach dropped and churned. The sight of him made me sick, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Sure, Seth had come to school with bruises and scars before, he liked to fight, but it had never been this bad before.

"Alright, begin your tests!" Mr. Kyle interrupted

I tried to focus on my test, but my eyes kept darting over to the bruised boy a few seats over. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him. Had he been jumped? No. He had been jumped several times according to the gossip and he never looked this bad. It looked like he didn't even try to defend himself, which was unlikely in his case. I shook off the thought, I needed to focus on this test. Making the grade was what is important, not him. His life is none of my concern.

I still couldn't help but wonder.

~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

Naturally, I passed the test and with the bonus points added on, I had the highest grade in the class, which wasn't anything new. As for Seth, well, I hadn't yet learned his grade and I was hoping he did well, too. After all, I did help him study, I wouldn't want him to fail on my behalf.

"Hey." I heard a small voice behind me.

I turned to see that the voice belonged to Seth. He stood before me, still looking down, his hands still covered, holding on to his stomach with one arm.

"I just, uh, wanted to say thank you for helping me study. I passed the test, eighty nine percent. Higher than I've ever gotten before," He looked up, his sad eyes meeting mine,"So, thanks."

"Your welcome, Seth." I couldn't help but to reach out and touch him, just lightly on the shoulder for reassurance. I didn't expect him to flinch away, "Seth, what happened to you?"

He just shook his head, muttering a quick 'nothing' and walking quickly off. I was worried, to say the least, and surely planned to get to the bottom of this.

He was hurting and for some reason, I cared.