Midnight Birdsong [Dreamnotfound AU]

Chapter 34: Secrets

Sapnap was getting impatient.

There hadn't been any news of George or from George, and he was ready to make something happen.

After the meeting with Grian they finally had an organized search going on, with over thirty students split up into groups that searched different areas of the town on their bikes every afternoon.
Sapnap found out that the "Hermits" in Grian's club had already been doing this but with Clay they knew where George was more likely to go. The other guys seemed happy for the help.
I am happy for the help, but it hasn't helped yet.

He started wondering to himself. Who even has a motive to do something to George. No one else cared about George, he was just a nerd. He wasn't in the way of anything.

Wilbur approached him at the end of lunch on Wednesday.
"Hey do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, of course," Sapnap answered.

Sapnap followed Wilbur to a quieter place.
He seemed hesitant.

"What is it, Wil?" Sapnap asked.

Wilbur brushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Did you know Techno left school?"

Sapnap frowned. He saw Techno get a phone call in the middle of second period and rush out of the room, but he didn't know what it was about nor had he seen Techno again.
He told Wilbur this and he nodded.

"I noticed he was missing, but he didn't say anything to me." He sighed.
"Of course not though, I haven't spoken to him since the party."

Sapnap paused. He wanted to ask Wilbur about his fight with Techno, but that probably wasn't what he wanted to talk about. So instead he asked about Techno's abrupt absence.
"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." Wilbur bit his lip. "It might be that nothing is wrong."
There was a pause where Wilbur looked like he was deciding whether to tell Sapnap something or keep it from him.

Eventually he opened his mouth.
"I think he might be up to something."

Sapnap's response was immediate: "What do you mean?"

Wilbur sighed. "I'm going to tell you what we fought about, but you have to promise to keep your cool, okay?"

Fuck no.
"Yeah of course."

"Okay. All of us guys on the soccer team, we're nice to each other right? Most of us are close friends, I know you kinda also became friends with George, even though he's not on the team, and that's fine. That's fine, but Clay was also kinda- not as social as he is now- but he's always been a talented soccer player. Anyway, Techno always saw him as an obstacle for the top spot on the soccer team."

Sapnap nodded. That's obvious, why is he telling me this when I already know it?

Wilbur took a deep breath. "Well, before all this stuff happened with George, Techno didn't like him."

"But I thought it was friendly competition," Sapnap said.

"Yeah, it is. I didn't- I mean, Techno definitely respects Clay, but I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about someone he doesn't respect."

"Wil, whatever this is, just tell me already."

"Techno used to bully George."

Sapnap's fist slammed into the wall. Then he turned around and started to walk away from shell-shocked Wilbur, who ran in front of him and stopped.
"Whoa- Sapnap- wait- where are you going?"

"Where do you think?" Sapnap growled. "I'm going to Techno's house to beat him up for bullying my friend."

"OK that's valid but if you wait just a minute I can expl-"