Popular Outsiders

Panic Mode

Panic Mode

Tuesday

Calvin disappeared...past the stage curtain. That meant he was now on stage.

Calvin was a techie, not a character. He was not in a costume. Calvin was goth to add to it. To make it chaos, he was an outsider. When all attention was focused on him and only him, he went into panic mode.

And suddenly, I was trusting Calvin again. Suddenly I realized he was and always had been on my team. Why? Because I knew Calvin since freshman. The first time we met I was bullying him and never talked to him, but like all my bullying victims, I watched more closely since the first bullying scene.

I knew that unless he and Will had been planning this since freshman year and Calvin wasn't really an introverted goth, Calvin had always been on my team. I forgot about Willow then. Calvin was on stage now.

"You get Calvin, I'll get Will," murmured Jesse and he ran over to Will, grabbing him by the arm. Jesse wouldn't kill him. I would have.

I ran to the curtain and peered through it slightly. The crowd looked confused and they were murmuring. The cast was doing a great job of continuing with their show like nothing had happened. Calvin was no longer on the stage. I blinked and looked over the stage again, afraid I'd missed the lanky goth somehow.

"Come on!" I called to Jesse. It was an instinctive thing, and right now there was no time to take it back so I just added on to it by giving him the info. "Calvin's missing! He's gone!"

Jesse immediately let go of Will and followed me like a dog follows its master. We raced out of backstage and off campus. I was in the lead until I stopped behind the auditorium, where my backpack and skateboard lay. Jesse came to a stop a foot past me.

"So where would Calvin go?" Jesse asked, realizing we'd be splitting up to look for Calvin, who could be anywhere by now.

"First, I need to grab Carrie. I'll check his house. You check the mall. We'll meet up at his work, Sienna's. You know the animal store?" I said quickly, readying my skateboard and stepping on it.

"Yeah, I know," Jesse said and then I boarded away.

~

I jumped off my board when I reached my house. I ran inside, and checked up on Carrie.

"Ray?" Carrie asked.

"Yeah? You okay?" I replied.

"Yep! Is something wrong?"

Why is it that as you get the older, you tend to get less genuine? Where does the innocence go? Does it just dissolve or melt away? Why can't everyone, including me, be as easy to get along with as Carrie is? What happened to the times I never cared what others thought? ...Rachel, stop getting distracted! I mentally scolded myself.

"Carrie, I have to go, but I'll be back-and with Calvin," I promised her.

Carrie cheered as I ran back out of the house. I raced to Calvin's house, the one place I dreaded going anywhere near the most.

I left my skateboard on the sidewalk. Mr. Eaton wouldn't be able to get it before me, and it would provide and fast, easy escape.

I scratched my forehead and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. Mr. Eaton opened it. For a moment, I thought he was drunk. However, there was no hint of that foul smell of liquor.

"I really need to see Calvin...if he is in there," I demanded before Mr. Eaton could say anything. "I am not here for you, your wife, or Carrie. I know Calvin, and we are friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, if you care about your one and only son even the tiniest bit, you will tell me if he is in the house, or if you know where he is, then where he'd be. I will not leave until you give me the kind of answer I am looking for."

"I will-" he began.

"Call the cops? Do it. I'm sure they'd love to hear about the case of domestic abuse going on too," I threatened.

Mr. Eaton looked flustered and as red as a cherry. For a long moment, he thought about what to say. I could tell he was debating on whether or not to tell me something. His eyebrows and the corners of his lips twitched as he frowned. His fingers tapped on his thigh.

"I've been following him. He goes to the hospital a lot these days, but I never go in to see why," Mr. Eaton finally admitted.

"Are you scared why he goes in there?" I snarled and Mr. Eaton remained silent. "The kid who loves humiliating him, that kid's cousin is dying of cancer. She doesn't have very long. This is Calvin's jnior year of high school. He's barely home because of you. Once he leaves for college, he's never going to come back if you don't do anything soon."

It just might be too late too, I thought, but held my tongue.

~

I jumped off and grabbed my longboard as I reached Jesse.

"Didn't find him," he said. "Where's Carrie?"

"She's fine. I'd made the mistake of going to her first before I went to their house," I murmured.

"Huh?" Confusion crossed Jesse's face.

"Another time," I said. "Come on, we're going to the hospital."

"We?" Jesse's face lit up, but I rolled my eyes.

~

"Um...Is that just a coincidence?" asked Jesse as we stood in front of the hospital room.

I gulped. "I seriously doubt it."

Jesse whistled. "Whoa."

"Let's check," I murmured, and knocked on the room's door nervously.

Jesse and I glanced at each other. The door opened.

* So, is Calvin there? Who opens the door? Let me know what you think! Please inform me of any kind of mistakes. I try to catch them all, but I do miss them sometimes *