[Otto's POV]
"Ready to leave, Jessy?" Otto yelled as she exited the toilet-booth and started washing her hands. But no answer came. That was strange. Hadn't Jessy heard her?
"Jessy?" she called again as she turned of the water, dried her hands and walked to the door to exit the toilets but froze in her tracks when she saw Thomas wait for her instead.
"I have to talk to you!" he said as soon as their eyes met and came to stand in front of her.
"Thomas? But where's Jessy?" Otto asked confused as she quickly scanned the surrounding area but didn't see her anywhere.
"She ran away," Thomas scoffed as if he couldn't believe it himself.
"What?! Why?" Otto asked, taken aback. What had he done for Jessy to run away?
"How should I know what goes on in that crazy girl's head," Thomas scoffed again. "Listen to me! You need to stop hanging out with Alex. He's dangerous and I don't want you anywhere near him."
"Alex? Dangerous?" she mumbled to herself as she took a step backwards. It wasn't the first time that Thomas tried to convince her to drop male friends. It was, however, the first time that he claimed that someone was dangerous. But why Alex of all people? They might not have started off on the right foot, but she had never picked up crazy vibes from him.
"I know you don't believe me," Thomas said when she hadn't answered after a while, his face twisting in frustration. When he took a step forward, she took a step back again. "And I only have myself to blame. But please, I beg of you. If our friendship was ever worth anything to you, stop hanging out with him!"
"You expect me to just take your word for it? To just stop talking to him even though he has been nothing but kind to me?" Otto asked incredulously as she took another step backwards and noticed she'd ran out of room to take yet another one.
How did she always end up cornered when Thomas confronted her? This wouldn't do, so she started looking for a way out. The wall behind her prevented her from stepping backwards, Thomas before her prevented her from stepping forward. And Thomas would stop her if she'd try to go around him, so that left the toilet booths. It wasn't ideal as she would have to wait until Thomas left, but at least there would be a door between them.
"Don't you dare run away from me!" Thomas barked in a loud voice. Sadly enough, Otto had already started reaching for the closest door before Thomas had finished his sentence. Had she known that he was onto what she wanted to do, she wouldn't have risked angering him. But it was too late now. He slammed his fist against the door, effectively preventing her from running away.
She looked up at him worriedly.
"Am I that scary?" he asked as he loomed over her.
"I'm sorry!" she yelped as she shrunk to a little ball in fear, holding her hands protectively over her head.
"Otto...?" Thomas asked, sounding surprised. She could see from his shadow on the ground that he was reaching out a hand to her, but before he could touch her, someone had jumped in between them.
The next thing she knew, Thomas was lying outstretched on the ground, groaning in pain.
Otto stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of her and then looked up to her saviour when he turned towards her.
"Alex!" she gasped as she stood up straight so fast it looked like she had jumped.
"Thank God! I made it in time!" he said, breathing heavily, and smothered her in a hug.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" he asked as he released her from the hug, grabbed her shoulders and held her at arms length to look her up and down worriedly.
"I'm fine. Thanks to you," Otto giggled. "But why are you here? I thought you'd left?"
"Jessy came to get me," he said, still a little out of breath, and smiled. "It was actually funny to see, now that I think about it. She was completely out breath and it took her three deep wheezes before she could utter the words: Thomas-... with Otto-... at school!"
Otto laughed at his imitation of Jessy and Alex smiled at her so tenderly that it almost made her blush.
Then he turned his attention towards Thomas, and only now Otto noticed that he hadn't gotten up from his outstretched position on the floor at all.
"Why are you still lying on the ground?" Alex asked. "Come on, Thomas. I didn't throw you that hard, now did I?"
"No, don't mind me. I'm fine down here. In fact, I think I'm gonna stay down here a little longer. Maybe people will find me less threatening this was," Thomas grumbled in a mopey way.
"Huh?" Alex asked, his eyes wide in surprise.
Otto couldn't help the snort that escaped her. The both of their reaction combined was just too funny.
Thomas' moping had reminded her of the first time they'd met.
He was a bad boy with a mean reputation. She was late for class that day and they happened to need to pass through the same door at the same time. Otto had yelled something along the lines of "Excuse me! Coming through!" and Thomas had reacted by moving aside and holding the door open for her. It wasn't until they coincidentally met again later, that he'd told her she'd surprised him with her boldness. Apparently, people automatically cowered in fear before him because of his big posture, and he hated it.
She suddenly felt unsure of why she'd reacted the way she had.
"Sorry," she said to Thomas. "I've been acting really cruel lately, haven't I?"
Thomas scoffed at her words.
Alex watched cautiously as Otto walked over to Thomas, smiled apologetically, and offered him a hand to help him get up. Thomas took her hand, reluctantly, and got up with a lot of huffs and groans. He suddenly looked more like a grumpy teddy bear than a mean bad boy.
"I did hurt you," Alex stated after observing him. Thomas flashed him a furious glare.
"You think?! You should know better than to throw someone where there aren't any tatami mats, mister black belt!" Thomas huffed angrily. To his words, Alex sucked in a breath of surprise.
"How the hell do you know that?!" Alex asked, in a way that reminded Otto of a startled, hissing cat. But Thomas didn't answer.
"Thomas?" Otto urged when she found herself wondering the same question.
"I'm not supposed to tell," Thomas said as he looked wearily at Alex. "Not with him standing there."
"Not supposed to?" Alex asked, sounding confused and looked at Otto to see if he was missing something. Otto sighed.
"Then, can you tell me why you said he was dangerous earlier?" she asked.
"Dangerous? Me?" Alex asked, but she kept her eyes on Thomas.
"He fucking threw me!" Thomas yelled angrily as if it was obvious.
"Wowa! Wait up there! You were cornering a girl in the girls toilet room. I thought you were attacking Otto!" Alex hurried to defend himself, clearly uncomfortable.
"He makes a valid point," Otto said as she raised a brow at Thomas. To her reply, Thomas pouted for a second.
"Can't you just trust me?" he asked with a pleading look. Otto sucked in a deep breath as she thought. Normally, she would have just taken his word for it. That's how close they used to be. But she couldn't this time.
"Remind me how you know him?" she asked after a moment of silence. Thomas groaned in defeat.
"My mom works with his dad," he explained reluctantly and then turned his attention to Alex. "Your dad boasts about you, a lot. I've been hearing stories about you years before you moved here."
"You have?" Alex asked incredulously. "I'm sorry to say, but he never told me anything about you."
"Of course he hasn't," Thomas said. It sounded like a statement, but it could have been sarcastic.
"I don't know," Otto said. "Don't you think his dad would have told him that the kids of a fellow researcher were attending the same school he'd recently transferred to?"
"No, Otto. Mar Black wouldn't do that," Thomas said gravely. "His dad is as mad a scientist as they come. The guy scares the crap out of me. Not to mention that Alex's mom was capable of leaving the very same day that he was born. Makes you wonder what Alex himself is capable of, doesn't it?"
Otto stared Thomas down. He was lying, right? He had to be? How could the parents of someone as gentle as Alex both be psychos?
But Alex had gasped as if he'd taken a punch to the stomach, and the little voice in the back of her head was urging her to check if he was ok. So she broke eye-contact with Thomas in favour of checking on Alex.
Dear Lord, he looked white as a sheet!
"Alex!" Otto yelped as she raced over to his side, hovering around him as if he was going to keel over any second.
"I'm ok! Just a little overwhelmed..." Alex said until he caught a glance of Otto's expression and did a double take. "Why do you look so worried?"
"I- I thought you were having an attack," Otto admitted sheepishly, suddenly very ashamed of the fact. Alex heaved an annoyed sounding sigh.
"I told you! That rarely ever happens anymore!"
"Wait, you told her?!" Thomas interrupted their conversation. Otto and Alex looked over at him in surprise. She'd forgotten he was still there.
"Well, she had already guessed half of it," Alex said as he shrugged in a non-committal way. Thomas blinked at him stupidly for a few seconds. To Otto, it looked like he was finally realizing that his warning had come much too late.
"Shit, the two of you are even closer than I thought," he mumbled more to himself than to them and then announced in a loud voice: "To hell with it! I'm leaving!"
"Wait Thomas!" Alex called after him as he was walking out of the door of the girls toilet room, making him pause and look back. "I'd really appreciate it if you kept all of my dad's boasting to yourself. Please."
"Of course," Thomas said with a bad boy grin playing on his face and left. Otto knew Thomas well enough to know that he only grinned like that when he actually liked someone. Alex could rest assured that Thomas wouldn't tell a soul. He might even quell a few rumours if he happened upon them.
"He won't tell, right?" Alex asked worriedly.
"He won't tell a soul," Otto giggled. But Alex's worried expression didn't lighten up.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Jessy's voice broke the silence as Otto was about to ask Alex what was wrong and watched as all traces of weakness and worry instantly vanished from his face, to make place for a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Of course not," he said.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Otto asked and his mask slipped for a second.
"I'm sure," he said with a short delay. His eyes were silently pleading her not to press on. Otto glanced at Jessy. It looked like she'd noticed something was off too.
"Come on, sweetheart. It's high time we start that girls-day-out," Jessy said, as she came to stand at Otto's side, put her hands on Otto's shoulders and started steering her out of the room.
"But-," Otto started to say, but Jessy interrupted her.
"He's a big boy, Otto. He'll be fine," she said quietly.
Jessy was encouraging her to get away from Alex? Away, as in, not together? Now she was certain that something was wrong.
"Thank you for rescuing her! See you tomorrow," Jessy yelled over her shoulder as she practically dragged Otto out of the room. Otto barely managed to take a look over her shoulder before she got pushed out of the toilet room completely.
Alex looked grateful. Genuinely grateful, but it still looked hollow...