Chapter 4 In the hallway..

EIGHT MONTHS AGO

I was still sorting through my locker when Daniel walked up, his history textbook tucked beneath one arm as though he’d been carrying it around all morning, waiting for the first chance to corner me. His hair was slightly messy from rushing between classes, and there was already a crease forming between his brows.

He stopped beside me with an exaggerated sigh, leaning one shoulder against the neighboring locker. “Please tell me you actually understood yesterday’s homework,” he said, sounding genuinely distressed. “Because I read the same paragraph about the Treaty of Versailles four times, and I still don’t know what it wants from me.”

I couldn’t help laughing as I crouched to rescue my chemistry notebook from the avalanche of papers crammed into the bottom of my locker. “It’s not that bad once you stop trying to memorize every date,” I told him, brushing a few loose worksheets back into place. “Just focus on why it made everyone angry, not when.”

His entire face brightened with relief. “See, this is exactly why I need you.” He shifted the textbook beneath his arm before accepting my notebook with both hands as though I’d just handed him the answer key to life itself.

“You explain it better than Mr. Hendricks does, and he’s literally paid to do this.”

A smile tugged at my lips despite myself. “Low bar.” It wasn’t the first time he’d borrowed my notes. It was probably the fourth this week alone, and every single time he reacted with such dramatic gratitude that it was impossible not to find it funny.

We lingered there for another minute, letting the time before first period slip away as the conversation drifted from history to chemistry, then somehow into debating whether the cafeteria’s pancakes could legally be called food. It was easy, comfortable, and for a little while, I almost forgot how rare it felt to simply exist without waiting for something to go wrong.

Then his voice drifted across the hallway.

“Mouse.”

The nickname drifted through the hallway with impossible ease, quiet enough that it should have disappeared beneath the chatter of students and the slam of lockers, yet somehow it reached me with perfect clarity. It always did. Tobias Thomas never needed to raise his voice. People listened before he even finished speaking, as though the entire school had silently agreed that whatever came out of his mouth mattered more than everyone else’s. The warmth that had settled inside me vanished instantly. My fingers tightened around the strap of my backpack, and for one foolish second, I considered pretending I hadn’t heard him. Maybe if I stayed where I was, if I kept talking to Daniel, this time would somehow be different. I knew better.

“Pretty sure I’m talking to you.”

Around me, conversations faded one by one. Locker doors hung open mid-swing, and even a teacher passing by slowed just enough to glance over before deliberately looking away. I drew one steadying breath and turned. Tobias was exactly where he always seemed to be before first period, leaning against the trophy case with Justin and two other boys nearby, his motorcycle helmet hanging from one hand while the other rested in his jacket pocket. That same lazy half-smile sat on his face as he lifted a finger and crooked it toward himself.

“Come here.”

Every sensible instinct begged me to walk away, but experience had already taught me how that ended. If I ignored him, he’d only call again, louder this time, until the entire hallway was watching. There was no escaping it. So I walked toward him instead, students shifting aside as though they already knew where I was headed. I stopped a few feet away, refusing to close the remaining distance. Tobias studied me for a long moment before his gaze drifted over my shoulder.

“Friend of yours?”

I glanced back. Daniel was still standing beside my locker, clutching my notebook to his chest, looking like he regretted walking over in the first place.

“We were talking.”

“I noticed.” His eyes returned to mine. “You smiled.”

I frowned. “What?”

“You smiled.” His voice was almost thoughtful. “Wasn’t aware you knew how.”

A ripple of laughter spread through the hallway. It wasn’t loud enough to be called cruel, not yet, but it was enough to send heat rushing into my cheeks. The sound wrapped itself around me all the same, familiar enough now that my body almost knew what came next before my mind did.

“It was a conversation,” I replied evenly, refusing to lower my eyes. “People usually smile when they’re talking to each other.”

Tobias tilted his head ever so slightly, considering the idea as though it genuinely puzzled him.

“I guess.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’ve only ever seen you looking like you’re apologizing for existing.”

The laughter came again, louder this time. It settled heavily inside my chest, pressing against my ribs until even breathing felt strangely difficult. Beside me, Daniel shifted awkwardly, his discomfort almost tangible, and of course Tobias noticed. He always noticed the exact moment someone became uncomfortable.

His attention drifted lazily toward Daniel.

“You two close?”

Daniel looked caught somewhere between honesty and self-preservation.

“We have chemistry together.”

“And?”

“And… I needed her notes.”

Tobias nodded slowly, almost thoughtfully, like he was piecing together a puzzle.

“Oh.”

A brief silence stretched between us.

“So… charity.”

The hallway burst into laughter.

Someone actually clapped.

Daniel’s ears flushed a deep shade of red as he hurried to explain himself, but Tobias dismissed him with the smallest flick of his hand before a single word could leave his mouth.

“You don’t have to explain,” he said smoothly, almost generously. “I’m sure she appreciates the company.”

My face burned, though not because of what he’d aimed at me directly. It was because I already knew exactly how this story would spread. By lunchtime, nobody would remember Tobias interrupting an ordinary conversation. Nobody would remember Daniel borrowing my notes. They would only remember Mouse mistaking basic kindness for friendship. Again. Somehow, that would become the joke.

I lowered my eyes for only a moment, not because I was embarrassed anymore, but because something inside me had simply grown tired. Deeply, endlessly tired. A quiet laugh escaped before I could stop it.

There wasn’t a trace of amusement in it.

When I looked back up, Tobias was already watching me. The lazy confidence was still there, but something else had crept into his expression too. Curiosity.

“What?”

I shook my head.

“Nothing.”

“No.” His smile lingered, though it no longer looked quite as effortless as before. “You laughed.”

“I did.”

“Why?”

For the first time since walking toward him, I met his eyes without looking away.

“I was just thinking about how exhausting this must be.”

His expression barely shifted.

“What must be?”

I gestured quietly between us.

“This.”

My voice remained calm, almost conversational.

“I’ve spent weeks trying to understand why someone like you keeps interrupting perfectly normal conversations just to embarrass someone you insist you don’t even care about. At first, I thought I’d done something to deserve it. I kept replaying every conversation we’d never had, wondering what I’d missed.” I paused, studying him with the same quiet attention he’d been giving me all morning. “But today… I think I finally figured it out.”

Something changed in the hallway.

The laughter disappeared so completely it almost felt as though it had never happened. Justin straightened against the trophy case, the amusement slipping from his face, while the students pretending not to stare gave up the act entirely. Tobias slowly folded his arms across his chest, his expression unreadable now.

“I’m listening.”

“I don’t think this has ever really been about me,” I said quietly. “I think you need people watching you. All the time. You walk into a room and everyone looks at you without thinking. They laugh when you laugh. They stop talking when you start. They move out of your way before you’ve even asked.”

My eyes flickered briefly toward Daniel before returning to Tobias.

“And I think you’ve gotten so used to that… so completely used to being the center of every room you walk into… that the second you notice people paying attention to something else instead of you, something inside you reaches for it before you even realize you’re doing it.”

Nobody interrupted.

Nobody even shifted.

“I don’t think you called me over because I was talking to Daniel,” I continued, my voice quieter now but somehow carrying farther than before. “I think you called me over because, for thirty seconds… not everyone in this hallway was looking at you.”

The silence that followed settled over the hallway like a held breath. It wasn’t uncomfortable. It was stunned. Heavy. The kind of silence that arrives when someone says the one thing everyone else had somehow overlooked despite seeing it every day.

I held Tobias’s gaze for one final moment.

“The strange part is…” My voice softened. “I don’t even think you realize you’re doing it.”

I shook my head gently.

“That almost makes me feel sorry for you.”

No one spoke.

The hallway remained frozen, every pair of eyes fixed on us. Even the usual clang of lockers and distant chatter seemed to fade beneath the weight of what had just happened.

Tobias never looked away.

The lazy smile that had rested on his face all morning was gone. His jaw tightened so hard I could see the muscle jump beneath his skin, and something dark flashed across his face before he buried it again. It wasn’t the easy arrogance he always wore, or the amused confidence that usually carried him through moments like these.

It was anger.

Sharp. Quiet. Controlled.

The kind that looked far more dangerous than if he’d shouted.

Beside him, Justin glanced between us with an expression I’d never seen before, while the others waited for Tobias to do what Tobias Thomas always did, laugh, shrug it off, tear me apart with another clever remark that would put everyone back on his side.

He didn’t.

For the first time since I’d known him, Tobias Thomas had absolutely nothing to say.

My pulse hammered so heavily against my ribs that I was certain everyone around me could hear it. The rush of adrenaline that had carried me through every word was already beginning to drain away, leaving nothing behind but a sickening knot twisting itself tighter and tighter inside my stomach.

Before I could convince myself to look back at him again, I tightened my grip on my backpack, forced my trembling legs to move, and walked away.

The crowd parted in silence.

Nobody tried to stop me. Nobody laughed this time. I could feel every pair of eyes following me as I crossed the hallway, each step somehow heavier than the last.

My heartbeat refused to slow, pounding against my chest so hard it almost hurt, while the heat gathering behind my eyes burned with humiliating persistence.

I blinked hard, refusing to let the tears fall. What have you done, Lisa? The question echoed louder with every step.

What were you thinking? Tobias Thomas wasn’t just another student. He was Tobias Thomas.

People didn’t embarrass him. They certainly didn’t psychoanalyze him in front of half the school. My stomach churned as one awful realization followed another.

By lunch, everyone would know. By tomorrow, the entire school would know. And if humiliating him in front of an audience hadn’t been enough…

I had the terrifying feeling that this wasn’t the end of whatever had just begun.

It was only the moment everything changed.