cheap bodies

23

jacob walked into school the next day, expecting to see troye at his usual spot by his lockers, staring off in the distance, his eyebrows furrowed.

but troye was no where to be seen.

jacob sighed, shaking his head as he walked over to his group of friends.

"-and i heard that he was in the hospital," his friend, jonas, informed his other friends, shrugging.

"who's in the hospital?" jacob asked, glancing over at them while he put his books in his locker.

"that sivan kid. don't know what happened to him, though," jonas sighed, shrugging. jacob froze.

"w-wait- what?"

"oh! you're friends with him, aren't you? sorry, dude."

"yeah. i was," jacob said quickly, knowing full well that he was the reason why troye was in the hospital.

he pretended like he didn't care, but he did. too much.

and that scared him.

-

troye hated being stuck in the hospital again. he hated having that stupid oxygen tank hooked up to him. this was the third time this year he'd been back at this place, and he'd quickly gotten sick of it.

the nurse,  his parents, and sage came into the room, and troye quickly pretended to be asleep so they wouldn't question him as to what brought this all on.

"do you know what caused his breathing problems?" the nurse whispered, and troye could hear his uncle sigh in distress.

"he was on his phone and- he just stopped talking and being fun!" sage commented, and troye squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

"could it have been something on the phone?"

"maybe you should look through his phone," the nurse suggested, and troye's eyes immediately shot open. they couldn't look through his phones, they'd see the texts, no...

troye snatched his phone off the small table beside the bed and clutched it to his chest protectively. "it wasn't because of anything-" he hesitated, his mind searching for the right words, but sometimes, they just weren't there. "o-on my phone. wasn't because of my phone."

his aunt looked at him suspiciously. "but tro! that boy you were texting-" sage protested, and troye's eyes widened.

"what boy?" his uncle asked, a confused look on his face.

"no one, she doesn't know what she's talking about," troye muttered, sinking back in the hospital bed slightly.

"troye, let me see your phone," his aunt requested calmly, holding her hand out.

"no!" troye gasped, holding the device impossibly closer to his small chest. they couldn't read through all those messages with jacob. they'd take his phone away.

they'd know he likes boys.

his aunt groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "then why were you having breathing problems?"

troye was speechless. his mind doesn't work fast enough for him to think of a lie. "u-uh-"

"it's because of that boy! he called troye stupid!" sage wailed, tears streaming down her pale face. she was simply concerned for her brother, she wasn't trying to get him in trouble.

troye's aunt snatched his phone out of his hands. troye's heart dropped, tears filling his blue eyes.

now they'll know everything.

you fucking idiot, his mind told him.

if you weren't so fucking dumb, jacob will still like you now, and you wouldn't be in this mess.

it's all your fault.

-