"He's not going to ruin it. I promise. I'll see you at lunch."
Racing to class, I burst through the door expecting to see Dean but he's not there. The bell rings as I make my way to my seat in the last row. It's odd not having Dean here, not having to step over his giant legs to get to my desk.
"Everyone take their seats," the teacher says. "We're starting with a pop quiz."
The class groans as he hands out the quiz. I take a pencil from my backpack, my eyes watching the door, waiting for Dean to arrive. Why is he late? Maybe Jake's sick and he stayed home to take care of him. But Dean would've told me that.
"Do you know if he's coming?" the teacher asks me as he stands by Dean's desk.
"I'm not sure," I tell him.
"I'll leave it just in case." He sets the quiz on Dean's desk, then hands me mine before walking back to the front of the room. "Ten minutes. Starting now. Eyes on your own paper and no phones. If you have questions, come talk to me."
Looking down at my quiz, I begin filling in the answers. It's an easy quiz but takes me longer than usual because my mind keeps drifting to Dean. Why isn't he here? Did he change his mind about announcing we're a couple and is avoiding me so he doesn't have to tell me? I could see him changing his mind, especially since having a girlfriend is such a huge deal to him, but if that's true, he needs to talk to me, not avoid me.
As the teacher picks up the quizzes I get my phone out and text Dean.You okay?
He doesn't text back. I'm getting worried. He texted me this morning before school. He didn't say he'd be late or that he's staying home with Jake or any other excuse for why he wouldn't be here.
Ten minutes later, I text him again. When I get nothing back, I send him another one.
When class ends, my worry mixes with anger because he still hasn't texted me back. I need him to tell me what's going on, or at least just send a text to say he's okay so I can stop worrying.
Out in the hall I see Danny walking by.
I race up to him. "Have you see Dean today?"
Danny turns to me and smiles. "Hey. How's it going?"
"Hey, have you seen Dean? He wasn't at class."
"Haven't seen him. Maybe he's sleeping in."
"He's not. He texted me before school."
Danny continues down the hall, not seeming the least bit concerned. "He's probably doing something for Jake. Maybe it's one of those parent-teacher conference days."
"He'd tell me if he was doing that. We had plans. Today we were supposed to—" I stop before saying it.
"Supposed to what?" Danny asks.
"Nothing. Could you text me if you see him?"
"Um, yeah, I guess. What's your number?"
I give it to him, then hurry to class. AP Physics is next and we have a test. I prepared for it but now I'm so stressed I feel like I forgot everything. I can't focus when I'm worried about Dean.
"Nervous about the test?" Evan asks. I look over at him and see his eyes on the pencil I'm nervously tapping on my desk.
"No." I stop tapping and set the pencil down. "It's Dean. I can't find him. He wasn't in class or at his locker this morning."
"Did you text him?"
"Yeah, three times, and I haven't heard back. I called him and it went to voicemail."
"Maybe he went back to sleep."
"Maybe, but it's not like him to not tell me that."
