As Tom walked towards downtown, he started to feel kind of weird. The best way he could describe it was as a gradual generalized sadness. He really wished it would go away, because it was distracting.
He looked up at the sky, seeing that it was darker now that the sun was going down, and he was glad. With the cover of night, he could get around easier without being seen. That is, if he had a specific destination in mind. For the last half hour he had been wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood. He only just decided to head towards downtown, but he wasn't exactly sure why.
By the time he made it to the 7-11 mini-mart on Main Street, he had a nagging urge to see Derek. He had no idea where that desire came from, and he was very disturbed by it. He hated Derek, especially after he did this to him, however he was able to do it. But part of him started to not hate him. He didn't want to be friends, but he felt a sense of understanding towards him, if that made any sense.
He walked to the payphone outside of the mini-mart, then grabbed and opened the phone book chained nearby. He then looked through the pages, searching for the name Lettman. Fortunately, there was only one, listed under the name Carla. Maybe that was Derek's mom? The house was on Oak Street, a road that ran through one of the poorer areas of town. Tom knew where it was. It wasn't too far away. He ...
Suddenly, Tom heard a bunch of girls giggling. He turned his head and saw three girls exiting the mini-mart, all holding slushies. He recognized them as Amber Levine, Melissa Smith, and Jessica Davis. All three were members of the cheerleading squad and they all knew Tom.
They looked over in his direction, then stopped giggling. Two of them suddenly turned away, but Melissa kept looking a moment longer. Then she made an expression of disgust and turned away too.
They thought he was a freak. And who could blame them? Even Tom himself thought he was a freak. But at least they didn't recognize him. They may have even thought he was Derek, since until today he was the only emo around.
Tom closed the phone book and started his walk towards Derek's house.
