Hard To See (Gawsten)

twelve

"Hey! Heads up, I heard Kellin is mad at you," Otto says quickly as he stops Geoff in the hallway.

Everyone is on their way to the last period of the day, so students- some excited, some tired- mill around the two still figures in the middle of the hallway.

"Why? From who?" Geoff asks, startled. Kellin is a small guy, but he packs a punch. He has a temper, and when he starts on a warpath, it's hard to get him to calm down. He always fights fair, but he's always passionate about his cause- whatever it may be.

He isn't someone you want to be on the bad side of.

"I have no clue. Tyler mentioned that he overheard him telling Gerard that he's gonna have to handle a situation with you. Tyler said he sounded mad," Otto explains, relaying the conversation he'd had with the other boy during their last class together.

"Well shit. At this point, what else could go wrong?" Geoff responds sourly.

"Wrong thing to say, buddy! Out back, quick!" Jawn, who seemed to materialize behind Geoff, spits out and shoves the other two boys toward the stairwell.

They rush down the stairs, their steps echoing. After bursting through the double doors at the bottom, Jawn takes the lead and jogs toward the back door. Otto and Geoff follow him.

The cool air hits them, and the doors quietly shut while the three try to catch their breath.

"What the fuck is going on?" Geoff asks Jawn, who is leaning on the brick wall beside the door.

"Kellin is mad. Like mad mad. He's asking everyone where you are and he has a thunderstorm look on his face that tells me he is absolutely going to shove his foot up your ass. What did you do?"

Otto blinks. "Tyler didn't say he was that pissed. He made it sound like he was gonna read you the riot act, not kill you."

"What does Tyler have to do with this?" Jawn asks, confused and still slightly out of breath.

"Nevermind. Why are we out here? This is like, Kellin's number one hang out spot," Geoff asks, itching to go back inside before the raven-haired boy pops through the door and curb-stomps him.

Kellin is a bit irrational at times, but he's saved Geoff's ass more than once. Ultimately, though he may not know exactly what's going on, Geoff does know that Kellin has his reasons. The brunet trusts the angry boy with his life, and that isn't going to change just because he's hunting him.

Maybe that's flawed logic.

"Because he's looking for you, and you're never out here, so why would he look here? And, if he's clued in to the fact that you're avoiding him, he's smart enough to know you'd never go somewhere that he would commonly be," Jawn explains.

The two nod at the red-haired boy's logic. He's right. This is the best place to be.

"I caught a glimpse of Awsten, and I have a feeling our two predicaments are related. He and Kellin were together," Jawn continues.

Otto cocks an eyebrow and Geoff sighs.

***

"Will you sneak me out so I can go home?" Awsten asks Kellin, who's about to walk into his second to last class of the day. The blond boy seemed to suddenly appear, and Kellin is taken aback by his directness.

"Uh, sure. Is everything okay?" The raven-haired boy asks. Awsten has the look again, and Kellin can't find a word to describe it. He looks like a kicked puppy, but also an older dog that's used to the violence.