Empty Desk

Alice scanned the room after entering since she figured that something was wrong from the get-go. She couldn't figure it out, and Claudia caught her attention from the side of the room. Alice sat down at the desk next to her closest by the window and propped her hand up with her chin in her open palm.

She turned her legs in to let a classmate walk past her down the aisle to get to their seat. Alice fixed her skirt before turning back to Claudia. Claudia mirrored Alice in the way that they were sitting with their knees almost touching. They bent their heads together to exchange their words without the nosy people nearby.

Claudia was able to pick up on Alice's odd feelings fast. "What's wrong, girl?" 

Alice hummed. "I feel like something is wrong."

"What?" 

"Something is off."

"Darling, you need more sleep."

Alice lightly slapped Claudia on the side of her arm. "No, Claudia. It's different."

She scanned her eyes through the classroom once more before clapping her hands together when she realized the familiar presence that she got used to wasn't there.

Normally, she could feel his gaze on her back, but he wasn't in class today. Glancing at the clock, there was a minute left before the bell rang, and Alice just knew that Noah was sick.

After leaving him yesterday, she got home dry and listened to his instruction for her heading straight home, because she was going to follow him back to his place otherwise.

She had never been to his house. It was a bit intimidating after hearing about how his family functioned, but he made her go home before she could dwell too long on the thought.

The way that he wanted her to go home safely was what she wanted for him as well, but unfortunately, it seemed as though the wish didn't reach him. The rest of the day went fine, however, she would never admit to Noah that she was bored during lunch without him lounging about and talking with her.

She needed to go check on him, but there was no reason for her to. Alice fretted about the idea all day, and couldn't bring herself to ask for his address from Noah's friends or even Claudia. He was going to be alone, and when she finally made herself call Noah, he didn't answer. That was new, and it made her worry further.

The day ended with her getting called down to the teacher's office. She was confused but went anyway since a teacher likely wanted her to help with something. Alice took her time to get over to the office that had a large personal cubicle for each teacher, and she found Mrs. Saito who got up to get her.

"Hi, Alice. Come here. I have some papers for you."

Alice went over to her desk with her hands interlocked, and Mrs. Saito sat down in her grey office chair, spinning over to her left-hand side to grab a stack of papers that were neatly tucked into a large brown envelope. The teacher placed the envelope on the empty desk space that was in front of Alice.

"Do you mind giving this to Noah? Some worksheets that are overdue, and homework papers."

Alice carefully picked up the envelope as she breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Of course, Mrs. Saito. Hopefully, you don't mind me asking why the papers couldn't be sent digitally?"

"Some of the information in there needs to be mailed. The rest are just for Noah's convenience since there were already some sheets in there," Mrs. Saito said kindly.

"Thank you," Alice said. "I" ll go ahead then."

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Alice bowed her head once more before leaving the teacher's office since she found it extremely awkward every time with the teachers present in there, peering over their cubicles to figure out what was happening. In some ways, the teachers were just as nosy as the students. She hoped that the teachers didn't take any offense to that.

She got the address from Mrs. Saito, and as Alice put the address in her phone, the walk was quite long. She would need to get a taxi, but it was fine. It was just surprising to hear that some other male friend of Noah's didn't go instead. Perhaps they were all busy. She had no idea, but she could send the envelope safely.

It was likely that the teachers had been seeing them together more often than not lately, and they were known as a pair now which was crazy for her to think about. In all honesty, it was funny how they were like that. When Alice came into a room, the teacher there wouldn't think twice about asking where Noah was.

Despite having a reason to go over to Noah's, Alice knew that even if she didn't have the task, she would have eventually gone anyways.