**ON HOLD** More Than Meets the Eyes (Patrick Stump FanFiction)

Chapter 4

        The happiness was extremely short lived. Both of our smiles faded while Mr. Stella was giving her the same old speech he'd given us because we both looked at her standing there. Her usual pink lips had started turning blue, her nose and cheeks were bright red, she wouldn't stop shivering, her jeans were soaked, she was breathing very heavily, and her eyes were empty. She was definitely not okay. Anna and I both looked at each other and then back to her when she was handed her packet and then headed to sit in the back of the room. On her way, she brushed up against me slightly and she was freezing cold; she felt exactly like ice. When she'd reached her seat at the back corner chair, she turned to see everyone was staring at her, which made her sink down into her chair as far as she could. In the three years I've known her, the one thing I picked up on the most was that she hated being the center of attention.

        I quickly turned around and nudged Anna. She did the same and she took the note off my lap, unfolded it, and started writing again. I tried to act like I was working, but I found myself peeking back and looking at Christa a lot. All of a sudden, Anna's hand brushed up against my leg and deposited the piece of paper into my lap.

        She's not dead, but she looks awful. Should we move back and try to see if she's okay? I mean, I think you should, you've been friends with her longer than I have anyways. I don't want to make her anymore upset. I'll keep working on this stupid busy work, you go back and talk to her. I looked up and saw Anna staring me directly in the eyes. She gave a small nod and turned to continue working on the packet. I shifted in my seat, I didn't want to make it too obvious and get called out by Mr. Stella, or make Christa uncomfortable.

        Mr. Stella's phone rang and I moved back a seat. It was a subtle move and the only person who really noticed seemed to be Anna. I looked around cautiously and moved back another. Just two more until you're right next to her. I looked back to see if Christa had noticed, but she had her face buried in her jacket and almost on top of her desk. I moved back another. One more, go now. I started inching my way into the last seat and got there just as soon as the phone call ended. Luckily whoever called frustrated the teacher to the point where he indulged himself in his computer. Good.

        I turned to look at Christa, it was definitely the worst I've seen her. She's really a beautiful girl, she still is right now, but her hair is in tangles and sopping wet from the storm she walked through, her hands won't stop shaking, and that's just the outside of her that I can see. I reached my arm out and paused halfway to her, I didn't know how she'd respond to someone randomly grabbing her. So I gently laid my hand on her forearm which caused her to jump slightly and stop writing, the only movement you could see she was doing.

        “Hey, you okay?” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention towards us. I stared, for a minute she just sat there, frozen, until she gave a slight nod. I looked towards Anna who had been watching the whole time. We both knew she was lying. “C'mon Christa, you and I both know that's a lie.” I scooted closer to her and started rubbing my hand up and down her arm. She shifted slightly in her seat and sat up a little but still didn't show her face.

        “You haven't been yourself all day; you've been sneaking around the halls and avoiding everyone,” I grabbed the cuff of her shirt, which caused her to grab my hand to stop me. Holy smokes, she's still super cold. I grabbed her hand and held it, trying to warm it up for one, and just because I thought she needed to know someone was here for her. “And you're wearing a long sleeve shirt with jeans? Not to mention the McDonalds thing, and now you're sitting all the way in the back of class. Something is definitely wrong, none of these things are like the cute, fun, bubbly girl that was here just yesterday.” I reached up and pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. Cliche I know, but I was hoping that it showed her my affection.

        She finally straightened up in her seat, although she still hung her head down and wouldn't show her face. I glanced over at Anna and saw her working on the packet so only I would be witness to whatever was said or done now. I needed to see her beautiful blue eyes, just once. I sat there, staring at her, trying to wait for her to move in some way, but the only thing that moved was her hand. Her hand wasn't writing on the packet though, instead, she had her sketchbook opened up and laying underneath her hand that wasn't being held by mine. I inched closer to her and started looking at what she was drawing; it was not a pretty sight.

        She was always one for drawing animals, occasionally drawing humans, and on the paper was a bunch of animals. Just not the cute and beautiful ones she always does. Instead, in there place were tons of animals beaten, maimed, and being tortured. I noticed that there were many spots that had been hit with drops of water and I looked at it some more and found that she'd written little things next to each little picture. The one that caught my eye was the one she was working on however, next to it read: I'd be better off dead, just like you said.

        “Christa... what's wrong?” I asked her in a stern voice. I regretted doing that right after I had. She finally turned to face me and that's when I saw what her face looked like; her lips were an odd shade of magenta from trying to turn back into their normal light berry color after turning blue from the cold, her cheeks were red and stained with tears, then I looked at her eyes and found that they were red from her crying, and the usual bright blue color they contained was replaced by a dull blue that had a dead look to them. She must have noticed my staring and my jaw slightly hanging open because she quickly turned away and started bawling. I didn't know what to say so I ended up grabbing her hand even tighter for a few seconds until she wrenched it out of my grasp.

        “Nothing.” She said it so quietly that I could just barely make it out. All of a sudden, she got up out of her seat and ran out of the room, calling out the word “bathroom” to Mr. Stella as she reached the door. What did I just do? I looked at Anna and realized the whole class was staring at me. I had forgotten I moved back here without anyone noticing.

        “What? When a lady has to go, she gotta go!” I said trying to lighten the mood. It received a few giggles from some of the classmates and a look from Mr. Stella so I guess it kind of worked? I looked over at the spot that used to seat her. I knew I had to move back up so things didn't get anymore awkward in the room so I quickly grabbed the sketchbook that laid on the desk and moved back to my original seat.

        “So, I'm guessing there wasn't much luck in getting to the problem?” Anna asked just to break the silence between us.

        “No, but she was crying, and she was drawing this..” I flipped open the sketchbook and aimed it at Anna, who's face filled with disgust and worry as soon as she saw what was happening.

        “Oh my god..” was all she could utter out.

        I decided to flip through the book and see if there was any clue as to what was happening, but flipping to the page before that only an amazing painting of her dog. I flipped to the next page and it revealed an extremely photo realistic picture of... me? I looked down at it. Yep, that's me. Right down to the mole on my forehead. I felt Anna's eyes on me as I read the tiny caption at the bottom that read “I wish you were mine.. I need you now more than ever”