The next few days at school was better than I could've expected. In a magic twist of events on Wednesday, Mr. Rutger had to leave less than ten minutes into class, so we spent the rest of the AP Bio watching a video under the not-so-watchful eye of the basketball coach. My next two classes were a blur, and - before I knew it - I was exiting the cafeteria with the rest of my schoolmates headed toward my fifth period class.

I took my sweet time in the hallway, partly to avoid the post-lunch rush and partly to delay the inevitable torture known as Calculus, and when I rounded the corner to my locker, I collided with a very solid chest.

My hand flew up to my chest, forming a fist, and rotating in a clockwise motion for a few seconds - signing 'sorry' out of sheer instinct - while I looked up to see what kind of man-mountain I crashed into.

"Are you okay?" Theo asked, his brown eyes wide as he held me upright.

I nodded, adjusting my backpack over my shoulder and pushing a strand of blonde hair out of my face. It was lucky I ran into him instead of someone else, like Zach, otherwise I would've ended up on the ground for certain.

Instead, Theo took his time before letting go of my upper arms. He stepped back, increasing the distance between us to a more socially acceptable one, before giving me a half-hearted smile.

"Good," he said. "Sorry, I should've been paying more attention."

I shook my head. It's not his fault that I can't hear anyone coming around the corner. Normally, I know better than to walk close to the walls. It's a recipe for disaster, and I've been in more hallway collisions than I could possibly count, but today I was distracted.

Reaching for my back pocket, I started to pull out my tiny purple notebook to tell him otherwise, but he placed a hand on my arm to stop me. When I looked up at him, his brown eyes were dark as he frowned.

"I've got to go to class," he told me, dropping his hand and sidestepping me. "Sorry."

He was gone as fast as he appeared, and I was left standing next to the lockers like an idiot. At least two students crashed into my shoulder from behind, and I nearly lost my bag the second time, before I finally headed toward my locker to grab my Calculus textbook.

My encounter with Theo felt...off.

He seemed distracted, almost apathetic, and his chocolate eyes lacked their signature warmth. Granted, I've only talked to him a few times in my life, so it's not like I'm an expert on Theo De Vries, but I thought he was different than everyone else. All signs pointed to that being true, and even if he did run off on me, that didn't necessarily mean he was intentionally being a jerk. Maybe he had a test, or a project, or...something.

I couldn't forget about it for the rest of the day, and by the time photography rolled around, Theo didn't show up in class. He never skipped school, so I may or may not have panicked a little bit when he didn't appear. For the entire class, I tried to focus on rolling and developing my film for the latest project, but I kept expecting to see him walk through the door to the classroom. He never appeared, however, which made me think that something was definitely wrong.

Theo was one of the smartest students in school. He never missed class, he never cut school, and his grades were phenomenal. He had already missed school on Friday, which was definitely out of character, but cutting photography class? It's not exactly a mentally strenuous class. Most students loved having Mr. Buchanan at the end of the day because it meant they could end the school day on a high note, and his classes always filled up quickly.

So why wasn't Theo here?

With the last ten minutes of class, I pulled out my phone. I didn't use Facebook, and Twitter was dedicated to my blog, so I used Instagram to keep tabs on everything going on in school. I followed Theo just like everyone else, so I opened up the app and typed in his username.

Pressing his latest photo, I pulled it up and scrolled through the comments.

Damn. Theo's senior picture made him look like a male model. Not that he needed any help in that department, but he definitely made the average high school male look insignificant by comparison. Sorry, guys.

There were tons of likes and comments on the photo, mostly girls sending him heart eyes emojis and kissy faces. There was even a debate between three girls over whether or not Theo was the ultimate 'bae' in Lincoln High School, and someone suggested that the student body should put it up to a vote.

Gag me.

I know girls have to deal with this kind of shit all the time, but it's absolutely horrific to see it happening on someone's Instagram feed. I mean, it's not like these were random strangers. These were Theo's classmates for goodness sake, which meant he would have to face the people who made these comments on a regular basis.

If I were one of these girls, I wouldn't have the balls to do it. I can't even bring myself to leave a compliment on Sebastian Stan's Instagram, let alone someone I actually know, because it just made me feel so awkward. Then again, I'm not the person receiving the compliments. It's gotta be different if you're used to the attention. Hell, it's probably second nature to guys like that to know how attractive they are, so why shouldn't people tell them?

I thumbed through a few more of Theo's Instagram photos, searching for who knows what, but I couldn't find anything that would give me a clue about where he was. Even the comments from today didn't say mention a reason why he might skip school, and - from what I gathered - it wasn't like Theo had a reason to be missing out.

Online, his life seemed perfect. He was model gorgeous, 6'2", and incredibly smart. His family was loaded, he was the star of the track team, and his friends were the most popular kids in school. Everything about his Instagram feed screamed perfection. Most of the pictures were of other people, random things, and his dog. Even his dog looked perfect.

Plus, his Instagram didn't scream "look at me" like most people in our school. Out of his last thirty posts, there were only three photos of him. The first was his most recent post, sharing one of his senior pictures, while the second was a photo of him on vacation with Zach and Jackson.

His only selfie? Posted over a year ago.

Class ended before I found anything useful, and I sighed as I tucked my phone back into my pocket and slung my backpack over my shoulder. Theo never showed, and - from what I've gathered (aka, nothing) - it's not obvious why he skipped class.

I scolded myself for worrying about someone I barely knew as I headed out of the school, but I couldn't get over the pit in my stomach telling me that there was more to Theo than meets the eye. After our conversation at the park this weekend, I got the sense that something was going on with him that he was trying to hide.

What or why?

I didn't have a clue.