Louis held his hand on his chest as he watched Harry laugh hysterically.

He slapped his leg and clutched his stomach, his face red.

"It's not funny, mate! I nearly shot you!" Louis angrily yelled at him.

"Wait, did it hit you?" Louis asked, realising he did shoot at him, but didn't see if the bullet caught him or not.

Harry calmed down a bit, his laughter dying down. "Yeah, but don't worry mate, it went right through me." He said jokingly, trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard.

Louis just stood there staring at him as if he had two heads.

"Funny." He scoffed, and threw a cushion at him, but quickly dodged it.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

"For scaring me like that! I thought you were a burglar!" He exclaimed, upset

"Alright, I'm sorry, okay? I just uhhh...wanted to surprise you, is all." He explained, scratching the back of his neck.

Louis scoffed again. "Well, that's one way to surprise one. Not! Don't ever do that again." He said sternly, and Harry nodded.

"I promise, never again."

Louis looked at him for a moment, deciding whether or not to hug him after he just scared the shit out of him.

"Fuck it, come here, mate!" And he went to hug him, but Harry suddenly stopped him by stepping back.

"Uhhmm..."

Louis gave him a concerned look. "What?"

"I, Uhmm.....broke my back trying to get my luggage back into my house before coming here." He explained, reaching behind his back and twisting it a bit.

"Oh, do you want anything? Painkillers? A massage?" Louis offered, and Harry shook his head.

"Alright, then. So why did you come back so early? It's only been a week." Louis asked, sitting down on the sofa, Harry doing the same.

"I uhh— the hotel I was supposed to stay at apparently didn't look like the one from the picture. There were bed bugs, stains on the wall, and the loo was just— I can't even explain the disgusting nature of how the loo looked, it was just–" He shivered at the memory, a disgusted look on his face.

"I just couldn't stay there any longer, I had to leave." He finished explaining.

"So basically you got scammed?" Louis raised his brow, asking.

"Yep." Harry replied simply.

"Shit, mate, and you probably spent hundreds of dollars on plane tickets to go there."

"More like £2,000 pounds." He corrected, pushing his hair back.

"Oh wow...

"Yep...but at least I'm back! I've missed you." He said, a genuine smile on his face. Louis could see something else in his smile, but couldn't tell what it was.

"I missed you too." Louis replied, smiling back.

"Sooo....remember that game rematch you promised me?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"Ahh yes, because you couldn't help the fact that you lost." Louis teased him.

He fake gasped, pretending to feel hurt by placing his hand on his chest. "The audacity of you, Mr Tomlinson! Rematch, right now. You better not make me win this time."

"Keep dreaming, mate, I'm better than you at this game and you know it." Louis boasted, getting up to grab the game sets.

"We'll see, Tommo!"

Louis just chuckled at his friend, finding his behaviour adorable.

_____

The atmosphere in the school was chilling the moment Louis stepped inside.

Everyone already heard what happened, and no doubt feared for their lives as this now counted as the 8th murder this year by the same person.

But that wasn't the most terrifying part for Louis. It was what he was looking at on the wall.

MISSING STUDENTS

And it showed at least 5 of them, but one made his breath hitched.

Nicholas Smith.

Louis almost dropped the coffee in his hand when he read the name.

The last time he saw Nicholas was on Wednesday, the day before Daniel's death. That day, he was taunting the vice principal, Mr White.

Did he do this? Louis thought.

If he did, why Daniel and the other students? Then again, Louis has seen him being
disrespected by the others as well, but mainly because he was just doing his job and they weren't happy about it, but he's never heard of anyone missing before. He's also never seen Daniel behave in any rude way towards him.

He doesn't know him well, but if he's capable of doing such things, then Louis only hoped he would get caught.

Louis began his class, but couldn't focus because of everything on his mind, so he assigned a simple project to his students.

He would get in trouble, since he knew that's not what he was instructed to give the students, but he didn't care at this point.

He couldn't help but notice Alicia, who didn't seem to be doing anything.

He saw a glimpse of sadness in her eyes, her face gloomy. She lifted the paintbrush to the artboard, but kept it there, making no effort to move it.

She sighed deeply and set the paintbrush down. She turned her neck, and Louis knew she was trying to hold back tears, as he could see her back shaking slightly. She turned her neck back around, and he could see the prickle of tears in the corner of her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away once she caught him staring.

Louis wanted to go up and comfort her, but knew it would be inappropriate, so he decided against it.

He knew how she was feeling though. She just lost her boyfriend. The one person who probably made her the happiest. He could feel her pain, even though it wasn't his pain to feel.

When class ended, he wrote a note to her and left it on her art board.

We're all here for you if you need to talk. Ms Evans, room 12. She's the school Counsellor. I'm so sorry for your loss.

He pondered on rather or not to keep it there. He thought it was a good idea to do it this way, considering how inappropriate it would be if he just went up there and started talking to her like that.

He gathered his belongings and exited the classroom, closing it with his keys.

He was about to head out, but not before taking a glance at Mr White's door.

He still kept wondering if he did it. He knew that he would be thinking about it the whole week.