Sam was sent home that day. When Lancer came back to class half an hour later, it was without her. She wasn't in the next class she shared with Dash either.
The whispers of what happened started circulating through the school after she left. Everyone was wondering what happened. Did Dash really do something? Where was Danny? He never missed this much school at one time, did something really happen to him? Was it Dash's fault?
He was ready to go home when his last hour came around. He walked into class about to heave a sigh of relief when he remembered something.
Tucker was in his last class of the day.
He was going to quickly walk to his desk and avoid the other boy, but as his eyes landed on the spot he usually sat in, he saw Tucker already sitting in it waiting for him.
Tucker was no doubt waiting for Dash to get there so he could continue Sam's interrogation. He had seen the whole thing happen. Sam probably asked him to finish prying any information out of him.
Dash walked up to his desk and cleared his throat. He shifted before speaking.
"Hey, Tucker, that's my spot."
Tucker nodded. "I just wanted to talk to you before class started, if that's okay?"
"As long as you don't plan on yelling at me like Sam did." Dash mumbled.
Tucker shook his head. "I'm not going to try and pry anything out of you. Sam is scared and so am I. But I know you're scared too. Yelling at you isn't going to help if you're already afraid of something."
Dash looked around them. Other students were starting to file into the classroom. " I'm not scared. I just want Danny to be okay."
"Me too." Tucker looked down at his feet. "Whatever it is you're scared of telling us, I know it's not your fault. That you didn't do anything to Danny. Anyone with half a brain cell can see that you both are head over heels for each other."
"Then why is Sam acting like I don't care what happens to Danny?"
Tucker shrugged. "Like I said, she's scared. She doesn't like to admit it, but she can be really hot headed sometimes and so she says things that she doesn't mean."
"Ah." Dash said flatly.
Tucker was quiet for a few seconds before he lifted his gaze to meet Dash's again. "I'm just scared that we're never going to see him again, Dash." Tucker's voice broke as he spoke.
A chill went through Dash and his fingers went numb. He clenched his hands into fists so Tucker couldn't see them shaking as he stood up.
"We'll be here if you feel like sharing whatever has you scared shitless. But we're not going to stop until we find out what happened to Danny."
Tucker walked back to his own seat and Dash could finally feel the eyes of the other students on him. No doubt they were going to start whispering about it after class ended, but the teacher started speaking and Dash was never more glad to learn about math.