Louis entered his house, startled when he saw Harry sitting on the sofa, playing chess by himself.

He looked up once he noticed him, and gave him a welcoming smile.

"Hello, mate. How was your day at the police station?" He asked, his concentration focused on the game.

Louis cocked his head in confusion. "How did you know I was there?"

Harry bit the inside of his mouth. "Isla told me."

"She's home?" He raised his brows, asking.

"I called her." He answered, pursing his lips in concentration as he continued to play.

"Oh, well alright then. Do you want anything to eat? I have some leftover fish and chips from yesterday night." He offered.

"I don't eat these days....you also know I don't like leftovers." He reminds him.

"Alright. Well, Isla said to let you know that your shift was in an hour. I tried calling you but you didn't pick up."

"My mobile died." He explained, and sighed deeply, giving the board a blank expression, before dropping what looked like the king, onto it.

"Do you wanna play more video games?" Louis asked, taking a seat next to him.

His eyes showed blankness for a second, whilst he stared at the wall.

"No." He frowned deeply and lowered his gaze to the floor.

Louis immediately began to worry about his friend. He's never seen Harry this down before.

"You can stop worrying about me, I'm fine." He denied, the frown still on his face.

"Are you sure? You don't seem fine." Louis acknowledged, looking at his friend in concern.

"I'm fine." He said again, but Louis didn't believe him.

"Do you wanna talk about anything? Did something happen today?" Louis continued to question.

Harry huffed. "When does stuff not happen? You're having a normal day and then things just go wrong!"

That's when Louis instantly knew something was up with Harry, and it scared him.

Harry sighed again and said, "Just had a bad day, is all."

"Wanna talk about it?" He shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Louis edged on, just concerned.

"Yep. I'm gonna go now. See you later, mate." He said, before getting up and walking towards the door.

He gave him one last glance, before opening the door and leaving.

Louis stood there for a moment, thinking about what just happened.

That was odd.

____

"I won't tell you again, Mason, switch paintings with me!" Noah aggressively demanded,
grabbing onto Charlie's hand.

"If you don't let go of me right now, I swear to god—"

"Hey!" Louis yelled, noticing the tense interaction.

"The both of you, detention after school. I know this isn't secondary school, but it's called an Art School, with the word 'school' in it, so it still counts!" He snapped.

Charlie and Noah glared at each other for a second, before getting back to their tasks.

"Adults these days." He mumbled, shaking his head and continued reading his book.

My Sister, The Serial Killer, a book that Harry recommended to him the other day.

It was a great book about a woman whose sister was a serial killer for men who fancied her, and the woman tried to cover her sister's crimes.

As Louis read further, he began to get
intrigued, and planned to read the whole book in one day.

The day soon came to an end, and so did detention. He tried avoiding his colleagues like usual, and saw Noah head into the toilets.

"I'm done having this conversation with you Ms Anderson, please leave my office." Louis stopped in his tracks once he heard the familiar voice.

"You know what? Fine! And as a matter of fact, you deserve that ugly rash on your face!"

Louis didn't know what was going on, but feared that James just gained a new victim.

He watched as Ms Anderson, the Digital Arts teacher, stormed out of the room past him, her face red with anger.

Should I warn her? He thought.

He does have her email, so he figured he would let her know as soon as he gets home.

Then again, he was still unsure whether or not James is still even responsible for the murders. Sure Nicholas taunted him all the time, but he genuinely doesn't seem like the type who would hurt anyone in general.

He noticed Charlie in the exit doorway, his body pressed against the wall, his phone in his hand. He then turned it off and placed it in his trouser pocket.

He looked up once he noticed him, and smiled brightly.

"Hello, sir!" He greeted, his eyes sparkling.

"You seem too happy to see someone who gave you detention." He smirked suspiciously, crossing his arms.

"Oh no worries, sir! Sorry for my behaviour. It won't happen again. I'll make sure of it." He replied, an unfamiliar smile on his face.

"It wasn't your fault, Noah can be a little wanker sometimes." He defended.

"Yeah...." He stared at him for a moment, before looking away and down at the floor.

Louis swore Charlie liked him, because he always blushed whenever he talked to him; and that's exactly what he was doing right now.

"I just recorded that argument by the way.
Could be useful just in case." He tells him.

"You did? Hm, you're a smart man, Mason." That made Charlie blush even harder, proving Louis even more that he does like him.

Noah came out of the bathroom and gave Charlie a smug look, before walking out to the car park.

"Well, I'm gonna go now. See you later, sir." Charlie declared, then walked out to the car park as well.

Louis shook his head at his student's not-so-subtle behaviour towards him, and walked outside to get to his car too.

____

"Here you go!" Isla chimed as she entered the sitting room, carrying a tray of butter chicken and naan, a face mask on her face.

"Oooo that looks delicious!" Louis exclaimed, his eyes not looking away as she placed the food onto the table in front of the sofa.

Louis wasted no time digging in. "Mmmm." He hummed in delight as the creamy flavour melted in his mouth.

"Isn't it gonna get on your mask though?" Louis asked, his mouth full, chewing.

"Oh, right, it's been a few minutes already." She realised, and peeled the mask off of her face and rubbed the excess in.

"So, Harry quit yesterday." She told him, folding the naan bread and dipping it into the butter chicken, then took a bite.

Louis looked at her in perplexity. "What? Why?"

"He didn't say, just said he's quitting and that he hopes all goes well with the bakery." She explained, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"So he just went there and quit? No explanation?"

"He sent it in an email. I went to his house to ask him why he quit, but he wasn't there. I even tried calling him and he didn't pick up."

Louis didn't understand, this wasn't like Harry to just quit a job with no explanation. He has been acting pretty weird lately, and he barely sees him now.

To say he was worried was an understatement.

He just hoped his best friend was okay.