13. Loop

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"Has he answered yet?" Token asked, leaning against the lockers with his bag slung over his shoulder. His dark eyes were settled onto Clyde, whose eyebrows were knit together as he stared down at his phone in annoyance.

"Nope," Clyde muttered, shoving his phone back into the pocket of his jacket.

"I don't see why you're so worried about him skipping," he commented. "This is Craig we're talking about. He always does stuff like this."

"But he hasn't skipped in awhile and he usually lets us know," Clyde pointed out. "Also, don't you find it kind of weird that he randomly asked you for advice with no explanation and now he's skipping?"

Token shrugged. "I don't know, man. I think you're looking too much into it."

"Also, he's been acting different lately," Clyde reminded him. "You have to at least admit that."

The other boy opened his mouth, only to be cut off by the loud ringing of the first-period bell. After it ended, he muttered, "Damn, I have to do my history presentation."

"And I have to go to Ellerby right away," Clyde groaned, rolling his eyes.

Token smirked and said, "Good luck with that," before turning and leaving the boy alone at his locker.

Clyde opened up his locker and stuffed his bag inside. His locker was a mess, filled to the brim with crumpled up pieces of overdue assignments or old food wrappers that he'd been too lazy to throw away. He pulled out his phone once again, unable to resist checking to see if Craig had replied to his numerous amount of texts. Of course, he hadn't, so he slid his phone into his locker and shut the door.

With a sigh, he started to make the short walk down the hallway to Mr. Ellerby's office, fidgeting with the hem of his letterman jacket in an attempt to make sure that the top half of his body was fully covered.

As Clyde made his way down the hallway, he couldn't help but glance into Bebe's first period classroom. He could see her on one side of the room, writing something down in her notebook at her desk. He averted his eyes and kept walking, trying to forget about all of the times he'd walk her to her classes or about how they'd sometimes pass notes in class. God, it felt like he'd never get over her.

***

"Hello, Mr. Donovan," was the first thing that the counselor said, as Clyde shuffled into his office, closing the door shut behind him. "Take a seat."

There were two chairs in front of Mr. Ellerby's desk and Clyde took a seat in the one that was closest to the door. He glanced up at the clock, already wishing for the session to be over with. This was his third time meeting with the counselor and he still didn't understand why he had to attend sessions with him.

Ellerby wasn't too bad of a guy. He was nice enough and considering his job was to listen and help people, Clyde figured he must've been pretty empathetic. He also seemed to love his family, as his office was decorated of pictures of a woman and two little children.

"So, tell me," started Ellerby, clearing off his desk and studying Clyde's face, "what's been going on with you?"

"Nothing," he droned, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning back in his chair. "Just like usual."

"Do you remember what you told me last time?" the counselor asked.

Clyde thought for a moment before giving a bored shrug. From what he remembered, he hadn't said much the second session, but he definitely remembered the first. He was asked thoroughly about his home life, asked if he was having any troubles, even asked if someone from school was being violent towards him.

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