Last midnight

Secrets hidden behind an aura of sunshine

Location: nurse's office

He felt so light headed, so fragile and so cold. He couldn't remember what happened, except seeing Seb standing over Miss Jenn when he regained consciousness.

Oh God, the fear he could see in Seb's eyes broke his heart.

"I called your mother; she'll be here shortly to take you home. Have you eaten breakfast this morning?"

"Yeah, I just... don't know what happened."

The nurse pursed her lips together before handing him a cup of water. "Drink up, I'll be back shortly."

He did, but nothing happened. Well, he knew that it was just water and wouldn't heal him, but he still felt so torn apart inside.

"God, what is wrong with me?" He muttered and looked to the ceiling. "Why am I acting so weird?"

Why was he? Was he sick? He felt fine this morning! Where was the nurse?

Knock, knock

He glanced at the arrival and felt his heart warm up. Seb stood there with his bag, a warm smile was etched across his face.

"You feeling any better Los?" He asked as he came in and sat down next to him, Carlos felt so secure in Seb's presence. "I got your stuff! And Miss Jenn said that she hopes you feel better!"

He smiled. "Thanks for that Seb."

"Also!" He pulled out a bag of chips from his own bag. "I got you these from the vending machine! I just thought that you may be hungry."

He expected Carlos to be grateful for what he did, but he didn't even take the chips from him. He just shook his head no and turned the chips away.

"I'm not hungry sweetie."

"You aren't?" Seb was confused and suspicious at the same time. "Are you sure?"

"Positive-"

His hunger pains clawed him at that instant, making him clutch his stomach in an attempt to silence them, but Seb heard them. His suspicions were confirmed, which made him forcibly put the chips in Carlos's hands.

"Please eat Carlos, I really don't want you to hurt yourself like that."

"I'm not hurting myself-"

"You are actually. Last time I did research, not following the three meals a day with snacks in-between isn't exactly... safe."

"Don't worry about that Seb! I will never go down that path!" He didn't even believe his own words, he just needed Seb to believe them.

"Are you sure? I just... really don't want you to go down that path..." Seb seemed genuinely concerned for him, breaking Carlos's heart even more. He didn't deserve Seb Matthew-Smith, he deserved someone who had no imperfections within them.

In his eyes, Seb was perfect and had zero flaws. He was everything that Carlos wanted to have, but knew that he would never achieve.

He never even knew Seb's past, which was something Seb would never speak about.

He grabbed Seb's hand and forced a smile. "I promise, I'll eat the chips Seb."

Seb smiled and transferred a soft kiss onto his lips. "Get better alright? I love you, Carlos."

"Love you as well Seb."

He waved him goodbye and left, leaving Carlos alone in the office once more. He looked to Seb's generous gift and sighed, he opened the packet and began to reluctantly eat them.

He had to eat them; Seb would know if he had thrown them out. He didn't want to imagine the heartbreak, he never even wanted to imagine what he would say.

~~~~

As Seb made his way down the hallway however, he stopped at his locker. He didn't know what possessed him to do this, but he dug through the heaps of books and spare jackets until he found it.

What was it? He could never speak of it aloud, especially to his friends as it was a dark period in his middle school lifetime. That was why he buried that thing into the depths of his locker, as it was far too risky to let his parents be reminded of that time in his life. They already still worried about him; they didn't deserve to be reminded of it as often as he did.

He closed his eyes when he felt it in his grasp, took a deep breath to calm his senses, and opened his eyes.

It was a royal blue book, engraved with journal on the front with silver lettering. It did seem normal from the outside, but his haunting memories were pounding from the inside, inviting him to reopen the book and be haunted by the memories of his middle school years.

He could do this; he was a stronger person now.

~~~~

Location: Math's (2nd period with Miss Deetz)

Ricky Bowen could care less for Math's. He just didn't care for all the thousands of formulas and numbers; he would rather be put in Mr. Mazzara's wood tech class and watch someone get their hand sawed off, while Mr. Mazzara would sigh and then use that incident as a warning for being around tools.

Mr. Mazzara and Miss Jenn were so different, yet so alike. No wonder why they were dating, opposites really do attract. The same could really be said for him and E.J.

"Richard?" Miss Deetz snapped him back into reality, all eyes were on him now. "Are you following us?"

"Positively!"

She didn't believe him; he could just tell from how unimpressed she looked. He expected a lecture, but she just sighed and continued her ramble about something (he really wasn't listening).

As he continued to daze off into space, he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. While Miss Deetz wasn't looking, he quickly pulled his phone out and hid it under the desk.

> Big Red

Big Red- Carlos apparently fainted

Ricky- How can you be so chill about that?

Ricky- He fainted 💀

Big Red- Aren't you chill about sex scandals?

Ricky- That's different as I'm just joking with my boyfriend

Big Red- You have a point

Ricky- Why are you texting me? I'm in class right now

Big Red- I just wanted to know if you can check in with Carlos later since he was talking with you earlier

Ricky- Why?

Big Red- Look, he is much closer to you than he is to me and Kourtney. Can you just check in on him to see what he was researching about?

Ricky- How do you know about the research?

Big Red- Kourt told me

Ricky- Fine, I'll help clean the vandalism though first after school, then go to his house

Big Red- Great! Thanks Ricky!

"Richard! Don't make me come back there!" He had to wrap up this conversation, he didn't want to risk his phone being taken again.

Ricky- You're welcome! Got to go now!

As he pretended to pay attention again, he only had one thought that was consuming his mind.

What did Carlos know?