The ways we lost him(completed)

Chapter 10

Angie stared at the empty seat as she walked into French class. She ignored the teacher's burning gaze on her back as she was the first one to arrive.

She sat down by herself, her eyes roaming over the little drawings Sebastian had left on the desk in sharpie. She put her head down on the desk to drown out any noise as gradually the rest of the class began to filter in.

People passed her until she sensed someone standing before her desk, her eyes lifted to meet Karma's.

"Can I sit here?" He motioned towards the chair and she shrugged, she didn't want to say no, because it would just stay empty and maybe that was lonely but something about the situation made her feel like she was betraying Sebastian.

"The kid, did you know him?" He asked quietly, aware of the eyes on them.

She nodded somberly, before turning to meet his gaze. His eyes were so intense she almost wanted to look away.

"He was one of my best friends."

He nodded, in thought.

"I thought about what you said earlier, it makes a lot of sense." She admitted in a begrudged manner, before adding.

"You're almost like a detective."

He let out a small chuckle. "Well not far from it, my dad is a detective, that's why we moved here, and the first case he got.."

His sentence fell short and a shudder ran though Angie.

"Oh."

They fell into an awkward silence then.

The teacher started the class, calling out the roll, she went through all the names and Angie didn't really pay any attention.

"Sebastian?"

Her eyes snapped up as realization dawned on the teacher.

"Sorry."

She continued on as if it hadn't happened.

———
Angie made her way down the hallway, to the art room. For some reason that was where they always met at lunch, even when Seb was there. The art teacher was chill and didn't mind, he loved Sebastian.

Sebastian was amazing at art, Angie secretly envied his talent. He'd get lost in it and block out the rest of the word when he immersed himself in it. They wouldn't even see him in art, he'd disappear to the back of the class and work for the hour, he really liked that class.

She pushed the door open, Dalia was the only one there yet. She offered her a small smile, her hands were shaking, Angie saw it but didn't bring it up.

She made her way over to the table and threw her bag onto the table, pulling her lunch out. They fell into a uncomfortable silence until Angie finally broke it.

"Karma's dad is the one working on Sebastian's case." She finally choked out just as Luka had entered the room.

"What case? Isn't it closed now?" She said sullenly, a bitter sadness laced into her words.

Angie shrugged. "You guys heard what Karma said and honestly, it makes a lot of sense."

Dalia hesitantly looked up, her eyes slight under the glimmers of sunlight that flicked through the open window.

"Dean would know."

Just on cue, the door pushed open and he strolled in, nodding at the group as he sat down at the table. It wasn't strange, he had been around them with Sebastian before but now that they had lost that mutual connection, something felt wrong about him being there, maybe because he was someone they associated with Sebastian.

"Can I stay here? Just for lunch? It's loud and crowded out there and I feel like my head is going to burst."
He sat down without waiting for a response, not that there was one.

The group fell silent, an uneasy atmosphere settling in.

Finally, Luka had enough of the silence. She decided to come out with it, no point beating around the bush.

"Dean, did Jaxon have a motive to target Sebastian. You know, a serious one?"

He fell quiet and for a long moment hesitantly opened his mouth to reply.

"Of course not." Came a dark response behind him as Clint stood at the doorway, eyeing his friend intensely.

"Cmon, coach called us for practice."

Dean got up to follow him out as Luka sent me a look from across the table. I hung my head, before looking out into the green fields that ran for miles from the art classroom window.