---

In the Last Chapter…

After helping Nicole through one of her episodes, Adam leaves the house and realizes her parents now despise him. Adam becomes intensely aware his friend group are segmenting – Zelda and Megan are flirting in secret more, and Carson and Sabrina are in a relationship. Sabrina even denies ever having feelings for Adam. Adam, luckily, enjoys a stress-free friendship with benefits with Athena. At a Council meeting, Mr. Scott is forced to hold a confidence vote on Adam staying in the Council, and he passes. Adam goes to the Valentine’s Day dance, enduring the awkwardness of Sabrina and Carson together, but realizAdam visits Nicole in the hospital, and demonstrates he truly understands and empathizes with her situation. She and he improve their relationship, with Nicole coming over to Adam’s house to visit his parents and promising to call him if she’s ever feeling one of her moods approaching. Carson and Sabrina stop showing up to the friends’ table at lunchtime, seemingly at Sabrina’s request. Megan and Zelda are regularly sneaking off to kiss before school, but get caught by Nicole. Megan, scared straight, doesn’t want to hang out with Zelda much anymore, and Zelda is so upset she yells at Salvador during drama class. Athena admits to Adam that she feels guilty for breaking Adam and Nicole up, and also feels like the dead weight of the friend group. Adam promises her that he’ll make things better, even with every other issue – including Nicole’s more frequent calls – on his plate.

---

My hands were a flurry, typing text after text to Nicole. I promised that I would be there for her, and I did not want to betray that promise, especially not after her latest text, simply saying, ‘I’m not okay.’ I paced on Megan’s front porch, sending text after text, getting ready to call if I didn’t hear a response soon. Before I could, the door opened and Megan stepped outside, concern clouding her face.

“Are… you sure you’re okay?” she asked awkwardly, reading my face. 

I sighed. Megan could be trusted. Hell, she already knew that Nicole was self-harming. “Um, so, Nicole isn’t doing so well, and-” I paused. As soon as I said ‘Nicole,’ Megan visibly rolled her eyes. “Hey, this is kind of fucking serious here.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Megan said, her voice only halfway into it. “It’s just… it’s just so convenient that we’re finally hanging out and she manages to pull you away even now.”

“Megan, she could be having a… a self-harm thing,” I admitted clumsily, covering the phone, as if Nicole herself could be watching or listening through it. “Come on, you’re an empathetic person. She needs people to care about her right now.”

“Maybe once she starts caring about other people, I’ll consider it,” she bluntly replied, now leaning against the doorframe. “You wanted to know what she and I talked about a few weeks ago, right?”

I paused. Yes. Hell yes, I wanted to know. Now was the worst time to ask, so I had to decide right there and then which person I was going to devote my time to. I gave one last sideways glance to my phone and saw no answer. I sighed, putting my phone away. “I’m listening.”

Megan didn’t even bother to hide her glee from seeing that she, no doubt finally in her mind, won my attention over Nicole. “So, it was exactly what you think. She saw me and… you know, Zelda. We’ve, uh, kept on doing… things before school.”

“I’m aware,” I admitted, walking over to the doorframe opposite Megan and leaning against it myself. “Zelda has been super tasteful about it and we’re really careful not to out you to anyone listening, but… I’ve been in the loop.” I saw Megan’s eyes reflect slight betrayal and hurt, and added preemptively, “We all had sex together, Megan. Literally what is the harm in her telling me more?”

Megan didn’t lose her expression. “…You’re sure no one listening in would know?”

I chuckled. “We have a code name for you when we’re around others and everything.”

“Say the code name. Right now.”

“Mark!” I replied instantly, with a serious expression, then softened into a chuckle. “You’re so paranoid.”

“Yeah, I’m straight and I’m…” She looked around the porch, as if the neighbors could be listening or something. “…And I’m spending my mornings kissing a girl.” She sighed. “Okay, I believe the code name thing.”

“Do you think I’d lie to you? After all this time?” I got closer to her and grabbed her hand, holding it meaningfully. We both looked at our hands, then into each others’ eyes. “I love you, Megan. You know that.”

She slowly nodded. “Yeah. And I love you too.” She broke her hand away. “I think you could lie to me to, like, spare my feelings or if you thought it was for the greater good or whatever. You do that, a lot.”

“I’d like to think I’m right about what the greater good is a lot,” I countered.

She started pacing around the porch instead of me. “Yeah, but what about the one time you’ll be wrong? What then? Then you’re just making things worse for people, aren’t you?” She stopped. “Was that too harsh?”

I shrugged. “We’re in a weird position and you’re…” I looked back at our house. “Is it fair to say you’re upset at someone else right now?”

She rolled her eyes again, leaning back against the doorframe. “He could at least pretend to want to see us,” she grumbled, then looked down. “I don’t even blame him. I blame Sabrina.”

“You know, for someone who kisses girls, you don’t seem to like them all that much,” I observed lightheartedly.

“What the heck does that mean?”

Uh-oh. H-word. She was serious. I tried to keep my cool and shrugged. “You blame Sabrina for Carson’s own choice to… well, to ditch us. It is his choice, she’s not holding him at gunpoint. She’s probably pushing him around, but Carson is Carson. He could just tell her no and hang out with us anyway. I’m gonna choose to be pissed at him until he comes to his senses.”

She stared at me as I finished, waiting for me to continue. Finally, she piped up. “That’s only one girl.”

“Okay, fine. You also don’t seem to like Athena that much. She kind of seems lonely in our friend group. I think we should all try to talk to her more.”

“Athena?” she asked. “I mean, Athena only really came along because Carson liked Jason. Now she’s just kind of… there. Like a… person who’s just there.”

“Eloquently put,” I teased.

“I just don’t know her. She’s had time to be a part of our group. She’s just the quiet one,” she continued reasoning.

“Well, I think she’d like it if we tried to make her feel more involved,” I told her. “Okay?”

Megan bit her lip. “Yeah, okay,” she conceded. “I mean, for heaven’s sake, our lunch table group is basically gone. I may as well hang on to the friends I do have.” She paused. “So, two girls?”

“Well, there’s Nicole. Speaking of, she talked to you…?”

“Well, okay, that’s because Nicole has a mean streak and you know it,” she reasoned. “She keeps asking me and telling me things in weird ways, like she’s testing me or knows the outcome of everything. Like she’s so much better than me. She just likes having power over me, and I’m a new Megan. It turns out I don’t like getting pushed around anymore.” She started pacing again. “Nicole called me into her office and just said it so factually, that I was kissing Zelda. So I tell her…” Her face scrunched up. “I, uh, tell her… that I don’t… like when she…”

“You denied it,” I replied, chuckling, rolling my eyes. “You told her she saw wrong. You tried lying. How’d that go?”

She pouted at me. “Whatever,” she groaned. “I’m allowed to not like her right now.”

“Can I ask something directly? Like, ‘if might offend you’ kind of directly?” I asked gingerly.

“Well, at least you’re asking permission now,” she joked with a halfway annoyed tone. “Go ahead.”

“So, you’re annoyed at Nicole. Carson’s gone, at least for now. If I were you, I’d probably be with Zelda more often, to like, compensate. Maybe you don’t love her as, like, a lover, but there’s clearly something there between you two. Why are you ghosting her?”

Megan stared at me for a bit, then for a bit longer. She walked up to the door, then opened it. “I’m going inside,” she finally told me with a dry voice. “Take as long as you need.”

As she closed the door, my phone finally vibrated in my pocket. Fate was both very much on my side and actively fucking with me.

***

“She’s honestly full of the most interesting stories,” I gushed further at the lockers. “Seriously. She’s been to, like, so many concerts, and if you like gossip, you’d love hearing what she has to say.”

Zelda paused. “…Athena?” she repeated. “But she’s so quiet.”

“Trust me, get her talking,” I pressured. “Next time you’re at the lunch table, of course. Speaking of…?”

She shrugged. “We’ll see,” she admitted with a defeated tone. We both finished at our lockers and went into the aud, where Salvador was waiting for us, along with a bunch of overworked students.

“Good,” Salvador remarked, his eyes surveying the students. “So, we’re only a week into vignettes, but I can already tell a few of you are falling behind. Remember, in drama…”

I couldn’t help but notice Zelda subtly rolling her eyes as Salvador spoke. Whatever their relationship was, at best there was tension below the surface. Not to mention, Salvador was a lot of things but ‘dumb’ wasn’t one of them. If she was still pissed at him, he knew.

“…Does everyone understand?” Salvador concluded. “Good. Let’s go ahead with the warmups. Let’s see…” His eyes scanned the students. “Zelda. You’re leading today.”

She was unmoved. “Can I use my own warmups, or only the ones you’ve taught us?”

Salvador hesitated, then his eyes danced. “Do you think they’d serve the class well?”

“I do,” she replied with zero emotion.

“Then yes. I’ll stop you if I disagree, but until then, you have creative control. Go.” He motioned up to the stage, and soon, students were taking off their shoes.

Zelda sure didn’t mind playing with fire sometimes. It was almost odd how she was so defiant with Salvador but submissive to Nicole, but then again, she didn’t exactly have a crush on Salvador. Hell, thanks to his domineering weird daddy energy, she was probably one of the only female students in his classes not to get a crush on him.

Oh God. What if Nicole had a crush on Salvador? Ew. I’d have to ask her later.

Zelda began by walking up to the front of the stage and taking a deep breath in, closing her eyes as she did. “Okay everyone,” she announced, opening her eyes. “I want you to start by getting on your hands and knees.” Her Danish accent was stronger now, but she didn’t look angrier or anything. Hesitantly, the class followed her, mimicking her down to her posture. “Take your arms and bring them above your heads, locking your hands while you breathe in and out. In… and out…” The students followed. I snuck a peek at Salvador, whose silence rang as an approval for Zelda’s choices.

“Good,” Zelda continued. “Now, on your next exhale, release the arms… good, like that… Now I want you to roll forward, onto your hands and knees…” Slowly, she demonstrated, getting up from sitting and moving as she described. “Now extend your arms, put your wrists in front of your shoulders and elbows… and tuck your toes in, straightening your legs. It will be like trying to stand up except your hands are glued to the floor.”

The students awkwardly tried to follow her. I had to marvel at her effortlessness. She was more nimble than she let on. “This is just yoga,” one heckler pointed out.

“No talking,” Salvador called out. It would be the only thing he’d say until the exercises were over.

***

I didn’t know when Carson and I locked eyes during business class, but for whatever reason, as soon as we started, neither one of us looked away for a few seconds. My eyes narrowed, and eventually, feeling awkward, I shrugged. He followed suit, shrugging, then looked away. I sighed.

I turned back to Zelda, and she looked back and forth between myself and him. “What was that about? Does he know I was there at lunch?”

“He wouldn’t care even if he knew. Trust me, I know him,” I replied. “He doesn’t dislike you.”

“Oh, so he just calls everyone ‘dykes’ just casually, huh?” she replied bitterly.

“Zelda, obviously that was a dick move, but… he did only say that the one time,” I gingerly pointed out. Zelda looked at me with one eyebrow lowered, and I just shrugged again. “I know Carson. He gets angry, and he does things he regrets afterwards, but he never will admit that he regrets it. He just lets it pass and allows bygones to be bygones. It’s not like he’s ignoring us intentionally now, it’s… it’s just the Sabrina thing. She doesn’t want him hanging out with us, and he’s kinda… mindlessly listening.” I rolled my shoulders in thought, then a thought struck me. I couldn’t help the devilish grin spreading across my face. “And if you don’t like that kind of attitude, maybe you’d like the exact opposite, where you remember everything, never let anything go, and sometimes you get so caught up that you get too hesitant to do or feel anything. You know, like Mark is behaving right now, right after he lost his friend.”

Zelda froze mid-typing, then slowly looked over at me. She flashed a look at Carson, then looked back at me, then cocked her head. “Are you saying…?”

I nodded. “I honestly think that’s the reason.”

Zelda’s expression turned thoughtful. “And if he…?”

I nodded again. “I think there’s a good chance, yeah. Honestly, I just thought of it now, but the more I think about it, the more sure I am.”

Zelda sat silently for a bit, then abruptly got up, walking halfway across the classroom to Carson’s position with purpose. Once she was close enough, she cleared her throat to get his attention, then crossed her arms, her hips cocked, her stylish jacket punctuating her power stance.

“Megan misses you,” she told him, quietly enough to not disturb the class yet loudly enough that I could hear every word. “She’s not herself without you around. The group’s not itself without you, and I think you feel the same way about yourself too. How fun is it to just be around one person all the time? Don’t you miss your friends? I didn’t take you as the type of guy to let one dainty little girl run your social life. Are you an alpha or aren’t you? Come back to the pack. They need you.”

Wow, that was bold. It took all of my willpower to look like I was working and not eavesdropping, let alone preventing my mouth from hanging open at those last few sentences. As if I should have expected anything else, Carson just chuckled.

“That was a nice speech,” he admitted. I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not. “Megan doesn’t miss me, though. Shouldn’t… you know that more than anyone else?”

Zelda scoffed. “I don’t believe that that’s the only way someone can matter to someone else and, frankly, neither do you. In fact…” Zelda took a step forward and bent her knees so she could look Carson in the eye, or at least get closer to it, putting her hands on her legs and leaning in towards him. “…Do you really think that if someone held Megan at gunpoint and asked her who she loved more, she wouldn’t say you?” She stood back up, folding her arms again.

Carson’s eyes flickered to me. Shit. I turned back to my computer and made it look like I was working, but his telltale chuckle made it obvious I was caught. Either the next thing he said was so quiet I couldn’t hear him, or he didn’t say anything in response. I did, however, hear Zelda say, “So, can I tell Megan she’ll get to see you at the lunch table tomorrow? If me being there would make it weird, I can study in the library again.” I snuck a look at Carson again and saw his face bearing a look of confusion. Zelda shrugged. “She misses her friend. I care about her, and it’s not like I want you to be unhappy. Let’s bury the hatchet. Deal?” She stuck out her hand and waited for Carson to shake it.

Carson looked at the hand. “Do you want to give Megan a message from me?” he asked, not shaking the hand yet.

“Go right ahead,” Zelda told him. 

Carson took her hand, then jerked on it lightly, pulling her in. “Tell her to lose my number.”

I practically spun in my chair to face him. Now my mouth was open. Carson looked at me, still holding on to Zelda’s hand, then looked back at her. “Tell her it was fun,” he continued, then released Zelda’s hand. “While it lasted.”

Zelda’s back was to me, but I had to believe she was staring at him in disbelief much like I was. “You can’t be serious,” she told him.

Carson looked at me again, and shrugged. “We had a fun time, buddy. But at some point, you gotta move on,” he addressed me.

I shook my head. “What are you… why?!”

“This is just my decision, Adam. Now don’t disrupt the class,” Carson replied, turning back to his computer. “Later, lesbo,” he added towards Zelda. “Make her happy. Make her… fuckin’ happy.”

His tone wasn’t even mean. It was.. neutral. As if this was inevitable or something. I didn’t even pay attention to the way Zelda huffed and walked back to her seat, or the way she scowled at me when she sat back down. I couldn’t not stare at Carson. Hell, I couldn’t focus. Nothing but thoughts, mainly the word ‘Why’ repeated over and over, swirled in my mind. The assignment may as well have not existed.

The bell rang shortly after, and as it did, I saw Carson get up pretty immediately. No. Fucking no. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t just be it. I quickly stood up and marched across the classroom. “Carson,” I called out.

Carson was walking out the door, but stopped, turned on his heels, and… gave me a knowing smile. Like this was the last shot of some kind of movie. “Buddy,” he began gently. “It’s all good.”

“What’s all good, what are you even talking about?” I asked, flustered.

He paused, and looked back at Zelda. “Y’know, maybe Cleopatra over there is right, it’s kinda clear she took cryptology or cryptography or whatever and you didn’t.” He paused, and looked at me meaningfully. “It’s time for us to just accept we’re going down different paths, man.”

My breathing quickened. There was no reason for any of this. “…Why?! Based on what? What are you even-”

“Shh,” he instructed, holding up a finger. “Buddy, I’ve felt kinda disconnected from our little gang for a while. Jason’s gone, Megan… may as well be gone. You’re, uh… well, you got bigger problems, lemme just say that. Who the fuck am I staying for, her?” He gestured towards Zelda. “I’ve just been give give giving for so long. I think for once I’m gonna make my own way, and make my own choices.”

“Your own choices? You’re just ditching us because Sabrina is telling you to!” I fumed.

Against my expectations, his smile grew. “Sure, dude,” he told me condescendingly, never losing his calm tone. “Sure. Anyways, what would you rather have? Me just coming to lunch and stuff just to pretend I feel like I belong, or knowing I decided to split off so I can choose my own destiny? You gotta-”

“No, Carson, no, this can’t be-”

“Buddy,” Carson interjected, his smile now faded, his tone now serious. “Listen the fuck up.” He put his palm against my chest, holding it there forcefully. I looked around the classroom – Mr. Keynes had flown the coop, and barely any students were left. Even Zelda was gone. “What the fuck has our friendship even been for the past little bit? I was trying to be nice and letting you down easy, but you had to – well, you know what, you had to be Adam fuckin’ Watson about it, didn’t ya?”

I took a step back. His palm was still against my chest.

“So why not, let’s have a fuckin’ big dramatic chat about it. We can talk about how you kept pestering Sabrina, my fuckin’ girlfriend, about how she was supposed to have feelings for you instead of me.”

“N-no, I never s-”

“Shut it, buddy,” Carson coldly and forcefully told me. “I was gonna be all smiles and tell you that you were cool, but alright, if the gloves are coming off, I don’t even fuckin’ recognize you, man. I stood up for you, so many God damn times, and for what? Who the fuck are you? What the fuck do you even do around here, who are you fightin’ for? Megan goes off and kisses a walking red flag with tits, and I bring her honesty, I bring her the truth. I tell her how she’s going down a bad path – fuck, not even because she’s doing it with a woman or whatever, but because she’s doing it with fuckin’ Zelda. What did you do? Cozy on up to fuckin’ Zelda and all but tell the two of ‘em to get it on at some party.”

My look turned no doubt fearful. Even if Carson didn’t have the full story, I doubt the full story would have made him feel any better.

“Megan – you want honesty? Takes my heart and rips it into a billion fuckin’ little pieces. Lil’ pieces of confetti. They blow around in the wind ‘n shit, they scatter everywhere. Along comes Sabrina, who sees a broken man. That’s what I was, Adam. A broken fuckin’ man. And she takes it upon herself to glue those pieces together, one by one. Fuck, she won’t even have half my heart glued back together by the end of the fuckin’ year, but God damn if she ain’t still trying. And what does your group do?” He stepped back and threw his hands up in the air. “You, Megan, Zelda, hell, probably even fuckin’ Athena, the girl with zero personality, you all just gun for Sabrina. ‘She’s a homewrecker,’ ‘she’s a bitch,’ ‘she’s taking Carson away from us,’ wah wah fuckin’ wah. You all didn’t fuckin’ think for a second to give her the benefit of the doubt, although you sure fuckin’ thought to try to tell her, ‘hey, you don’t want the broken guy. We had something special. Leave his dumb ass and choose me instead, because I don’t have enough deranged bitches by my side. I need to take one more girl and turn her into a fuckin’ nodding bobblehead to affirm my stupid fuckin’ life choices.” He paused, putting a hand on his chin and stroking his barely present beard in thought. “Or whatever. Maybe that’s a little harsh. I don’t fuckin’ know, I’m gonna say a lotta shit right now. Point is…” He waved at me. “Bye-bye, dude. Bye-fuckin’-bye. Don’t make business weird. Tell Megan not to make English weird. Knowing your fucking canary mouth, you’re gonna tell her everything else I said anyways.”

I was frozen in place until Carson started walking. His words hurt – they were like fucking knives – but nothing, nothing Carson could have said could have made me walk away from him. Hell, I heard Nicole during her episodes. Carson thought he could be tough, but he hadn’t seen shit. “Carson!” I called out, following him out of the classroom. “Carson, for fuck’s sake, we can work this out! Carson!!”

Carson kept up a steady pace, weaving in and out of the crowd of schoolkids excited to get home. I did my best to keep up, but kept bumping into kids. Luckily, the crowds quickly dispersed and Carson and I quickly found ourselves in a hallway clearing, presumably near his locker.

At that moment, who else but Nicole was turning a corner. When she saw me, she snapped her fingers, walking towards me. “Yo, VP, perfect timing. I gotta talk to you about something.”

“Sorry, this needs to wait,” I replied with urgency, not bothering to check her reaction or stop walking. Luckily, Carson’s locker was nearby. “Carson, please! Can’t we just talk about this?! Can’t I have a chance to explain my side?!”

Carson turned to me to give me a pissed-off look, but he quickly locked eyes with something behind me instead. I turned around to see Nicole had followed me and he was now looking at her. I looked back and forth between the two of them.

“You know, it’s funny…” Carson began, addressing her. “I don’t think I ever said a word to you before.”

Nicole’s expression turned confused. “Uh, yeah, that’s hilarious.”

Carson ignored her. “You’ve been nothin’ but trouble for Adam, you know that?”

Despite her lack of context, Nicole was Nicole. She could sense the tension, and could probably piece together the general situation. “Oh, I do,” she told him seriously. “I tell him that pretty much every time we hang out. And whatever’s going on, he probably fucked up in the same way I tend to. He does that, a lot.” She turned to me. “No offense, squirt.” She turned back. “You’re probably right to be angry at him. Maybe you even need space from him for a while. But if you’re going to just conclude that he’s a bad friend based on the wrongest choices he made and cut him of all people off forever, then you’re every bit as stupid as your sister says you are.”

Carson’s eyebrows slowly raised. That clearly got under his skin. He pursed his lips and quickly got something out of his locker, thinking to himself. “She talked about you too,” he eventually said with a small, dry voice. “She’s worried. She thinks you want to kill yourself.”

Nicole raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. 

“You fuckin’ should.”

He slammed his locker shut and walked away with his signature confident swagger, never looking back. Neither Nicole nor I said anything. My feet were made of clay. Something in me made it impossible to chase after him, not this time. I just stood there, watching him walking away, disappearing into the crowd of students.

I felt a hand gently touch, then grab, my shoulder. I looked back and saw Nicole looking at me with a serious expression. “Whatever happened, I’m sorry,” she told me. “If you wanna talk about it, I’m here. If not, I understand.”

I just looked at her, then looked back at where Carson disappeared. I didn’t even feel sad. I still just felt… shocked. Bewildered. It was like it wasn’t real, like it was just a thing that could be easily rewound. And I was just waiting for it to reverse course and un-happen. Any second. Any second.

“That thing I was talking about can wait,” Nicole continued. “Obviously. I’m not you, but, uh, you should probably text Megan.”

Oh fuck. She was totally right. Dreading every second of this, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, getting ready for the point when my little canary mouth had to sing its worst song.

***

“Pick up, pick up,” Megan screamed, holding the phone to her ear and pacing back and forth across Room 203. Nicole and I sat at one of the tables, watching her. 

“And what he said about what you said to Sab… I can only guess it was somewhat true, right? I know you and her had a bit of a thing going. It always seemed like it could have been more than just sex,” Nicole gingerly asked me, quietly enough so that Megan couldn’t hear.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I honestly replied. 

“Yeah, fair enough,” Nicole sighed, watching Megan pace. She watched Megan lower the phone to her hand, looking at it. Megan breathed a few times, looking at her phone, her chest beginning to rise and fall. Nicole’s eyes widened like a cat and she quickly removed her hoodie, getting up with lightning speed and stretching her hoodie out in the middle of the room like it was a flag being dangled in front of a bull.

At the same time, in a fit of pure rage, Megan threw her phone at the wall. Nicole moved her hands, barely breaking the phone’s throw with the hoodie. She angled her hands to move with the motion of the phone, catching the phone in the cloth between her hands like she was a world-class baseball catcher. Megan didn’t notice, and collapsed into a chair, bawling her eyes out. 

“Gotcha,” Nicole softly declared, fishing out the phone. “Not a scratch. I think I’ll hold onto this until Megalosau- until Megan calms down.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry,” she directed at Megan. Megan was too busy crying to respond, possibly to even notice.

We all remained like that for a bit. Even after she stopped crying, it was clear Megan didn’t want to speak to anyone. Eventually, Nicole glanced up at the clock. “I’m gonna suggest we do one of two things,” Nicole eventually softly piped up. “Number one, I drive you both – fuck.” She furrowed her brow, then her eyes lit up with a thought. “Number one, I call in a favor Allistair owes me, and he drives you both home. Number two, I get us a pizza. I feel like it’ll be easier for you two to get through this tough time with some food in your systems. Believe me. I understand this is really hard for you both, so I wan – I wanna help.” 

I glanced at Megan, who still had her head down and hadn’t said anything. I looked back at Nicole. Nicole slowly got up and walked over to Megan, gently touching her shoulder. “Megan, didja hear me?”

“Fuck you,” Megan spat angrily, not even looking up. 

Nicole’s hand jumped off of Megan’s shoulder like it was a hot stove. Her expression darkened and darkened, until she looked away. “Okay,” she eventually said in a small, weak voice. “I’m going to go call Allistair then. He’ll be here, uh, soonish.”

I heard the door close behind me, and just stared at the back of Megan’s head. “She’s just trying to help, you know,” I told her, my voice barely above a gravelly croak. Megan didn’t reply.

***

“Roight, heah we ah,” Allistair announced awkwardly as we pulled into Megan’s driveway. 

Megan silently opened the door right as Nicole snapped her fingers. “Oh, hey,” she piped up. “I still have your phone. Sorry about that.” She pulled Megan’s phone out of her pocket and offered it to her. Megan looked at Nicole, and Nicole smiled. “Gotta have your phone, right?”

Megan looked at Nicole as if she could see right through her, like a ghost. Without a word, she took her phone, undid her seatbelt, and hopped out of the car, closing the door behind her. Allistair thought better than to say anything else, and put the car into reverse. I heard Nicole sigh next to me.

I put my hand on hers. “You’re doing a lot for us,” I told her supportively. “I see that. There’s no way Megan doesn’t see that. She’s just upset. I appreciate you a lot.”

“It’s all good, dude,” Nicole replied dismissively, looking out the window, then looked back at me with a slight smile. “I’d be the biggest hypocrite in the world to expect her to be kind to me when she’s upset, wouldn’t I?”

I smiled back. “Yeah,” I admitted. 

I let go of her hand and she immediately leaned forward to supportively rub Allistair’s shoulder. “Alright, good news is, you only need to make one more stop. Adam lives two houses down from me.”

“F’real?” Allistair asked. “Int’restin’. Izzat how ya two know each otha’?”

Today of all days was not the day to make another enemy, so I humored Allistair and made light conversation with him across the whole drive home. Eventually, we arrived at Nicole’s place, And the two of us thanked Allistair for his help and got out. It was going to take a long time before I would be able to get past what he did at the party, but I had to admit, he sure seemed to be a good friend for Nicole to have.

As he drove off, Nicole sighed and turned to me. “Do you need to get home?” she asked, then immediately added, “Actually, lemme rephrase. You should hang out with me. I think it would probably be better for you to be around others right now.”

I chuckled, looking at her. “I can handle this shit by myself. Hell, maybe Carson will get over this by tomorrow or something.”

She just stared at me. “Does he do this often?”

“Well, no,” I conceded, “But that just means I don’t know what happens when he does do this. Maybe he’s the type to let things go immediately.”

Nicole frowned, and reached forwards, ruffling my hair. “But you’re hurting,” she said, almost whined. “I wanna help you when you’re hurting.”

I smiled at her, then looked at her house. Playfully, I rolled my eyes. “Ugh, fine, if you insist.”

Nicole beamed. “I do,” she told me proudly, then walked up to her door. She swung it open and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Whoop whoop! Adam Watson alert, Adam Watson alert!” she called into the house. “Attention, tight-assed parents: that guy you pointlessly hate is in the building, I repeat, that guy-”

“Nicole, could you please shut up??” her mother’s annoyed voice rang from the kitchen. Nicole turned to me and grinned. My smile back was more hesitant and nervous. 

“Adam’s had like the worst day ever, and I want to hang out with him and help him feel better,” Nicole rebutted her mother, shouting across the house. “He needs this. I just wanted to let you-”

“Okay!!” her mother called back exasperatedly. I saw her emerge from the doorway to the kitchen, a dour look on her face. She turned to me. “Hello, Adam.”

“Hello, Mrs. Baker,” I said to her. “It’s n-nice to see you.”

“Is it?” she asked, and folded her arms. “I’m sorry you’re having a bad day. Will you be staying for supper?”

“Will I…?” I asked, turning to Nicole.

“He will,” Nicole replied with a nod. “And he’s been really good to me lately. Every time I need a friend, he-”

“I know,” her mother grumpily cut him off, retreating back into the kitchen. “It’s all you’ve been talking about for the past week,” she added with a huff. “Duncan isn’t home yet, so supper won’t be for a while now.”

“Okay! Thanks, mommy,” Nicole called out chipperly, then turned to me and smiled with her tongue between her teeth. “Bam.”

I rolled my eyes again. “So proud of yourself,” I chuckled. The two of us took our shoes off and went upstairs to Nicole’s room. I made myself comfy on her bed while she opened her window.

“Ahh,” she exhaled in delight, feeling the breeze. “I’m so happy it’s warming up so fast. Apparently we can expect warmer days like this going forward even into April.” She took in the air and then her head whipped back to look at me. “Sorry, this should be about you, shouldn’t it?”

I shook my head. “Nah, I’m fine, I’m…”

Nicole plopped down onto the bed, sitting next to me, and kissed me on the temple. “I know you,” she told me gently. “No need to lie, hotshot. How’re you holding up?”

I nodded towards the ground for a few seconds. “Okay, yeah, this is shit,” I admitted. “Carson was… well, I know he can sometimes be a bit of a dick, but he was the first friend I ever made in high school. And up until he started dating Sabrina, he used to see my side on, like, everything. I honestly thought we were stronger friends than ever, but…”

Nicole’s look turned thoughtful. “It sounds like you’re blaming Sab for this.”

I shrugged. “It’s kind of hard not to,” I admitted. “She got weirdly cold to me out of nowhere when she started dating Carson, and like, you’re right, that whole situation with her was weird. When you and I weren’t talking-”

Nicole blew a raspberry. “Yeah, ‘cause that narrows it down.”

I glared at her playfully. “After you and I broke up, she and I started hanging out more and more, and I felt a genuine connection with her. I’m not saying she and I were going to go out or anything, but it really felt like something. Thanks to that she got more comfortable being around the group, she got to be around Carson more, and the next thing I know, she’s being really flirty with him but being completely cold to me, like she switched sides or something.”

Nicole nodded. “And lemme guess, it wasn’t like her flirting with him hurt, but it was that she was choosing him over you, like she could only have one at a time.”

“Kinda, yeah!” I agreed. “Thank you for seeing my side.”

Nicole smiled with her tongue between her teeth again, giving a mischievous look and turning her gaze towards the wall.

I knew that look. “Okay, what?” I demanded.

“It wasn’t me taking your side as much as… hey, look at that, you’re proving my point about how open relationships are better and how being open is better than having to choose one person as if you can’t be attracted to multiple people at a time. Isn’t that neat?” she teased, still looking away.

I shoved her. “You fucking brat,” I playfully accused. “So anyway… if I can continue…”

Nicole turned back to me. “Yeah, I had my fun,” she admitted, stroking my back with her hand and giving me her full attention.

“So I think it’s reasonable that I was… not angry, but confused that she goes right from really getting along with me to not wanting to talk to me at all anymore. I mean, our chemistry was electric, and suddenly, one day…” I trailed off. Hadn’t I heard this story before? Last year or something? …Whatever. “So I talk to her about it. I sure didn’t phrase it like, ‘leave Carson for me.’ I just wanted to know what happened and why she dropped me like that. For closure or something.”

Nicole hesitantly nodded. “If you did phrase it like that, and if it came across that way, I think that’s reasonable.”

“That’s a lot of if’s,” I observed. “You don’t trust me?”

“More like, I think it would be very human of you to accidentally phrase it another way,” Nicole mumbled, almost to herself, cocking her head. “I could easily see Sabrina getting upset with you bringing that up to her.” She saw my expression and added, “I don’t think you’re wrong, but… I don’t think she’s wrong either.”

“Well, either way, after that at the Valentine’s Day dance-”

“Oh boy, that day,” Nicole mumbled, scratching the back of her head.

I looked at her meaningfully, and my hand went to supportively stroke her back. She waved me off and I continued. “She was really rude and dismissive to me when I was just joking around with Carson. Like, I wasn’t even talking directly to her. Even Carson, even Carson, was clearly shocked. It was out of line. She just… woke up one morning and decided to hate my guts.” This was definitely sounding familiar somehow. “And now Carson’s really mad about it, and he’s… cut me out of his life, I guess.”

“I cut you out of my life how many times now? It never sticks. And I’m more grateful than ever you’re in my life,” Nicole soothed me supportively.

“Yeah, but you’re not him,” I pointed out. I wanted to add more, but it felt right to just end it there. I looked into her eyes and gave her a sad smile, and she gave one in return. 

“I bet things will turn out just fine,” Nicole murmured. She leaned forward and gave me a slow, meaningful kiss on the lips. “And if Carson wants to keep on putting up walls, that’s his loss, you know.”

I nodded, and looked into Nicole’s eyes. “What’s your rule on me using the l-word with you?” I asked.

Her eyes lit up and she laughed a rich little laugh. “Situational, if I’m being honest,” she replied. “Right now, go for it. But maybe keep asking every time. Thanks.”

“I love you,” I told her, and kissed her again. 

She stroked my hair. “Then you’re a dummy,” she told me, then kissed me playfully again. And again. The kisses lasted longer and longer, with her hands snaking around my back, pulling me into her. She pulled away and smirked. “Need me to make you feel better, handsome?” she teased.

“Only if I can make you feel better too,” I told her, smiling. She raised her eyebrows twice and winked, pulling me back into another kiss, the both of us collapsing down onto her bed. She was right, I had a lot on my mind, and I needed this. Of course, I was reasonably sure that she needed this too, although, she was Nicole – when didn’t she need it?

I laughed, pulling myself up from the kiss. “You just wanted an excuse to have sex,” I told her jokingly, tossing off my shirt.

“Mmh,” she moaned, feeling up my body. “If I told you I wanted to fuck you, you wouldn’t have said no. You’re addicted to this body,” she teased, feeling up her own chest then discarding her own shirt. She didn’t have a bra on underneath, and her erect nipples bounced into view, clearly needing a mouth on them.

“You’re the one that was feeling me up immediately when my shirt came off,” I rebutted, leaning down and kissing her exposed breasts. “Who’s addicted to who?”

“Well, if – ahh – we’re addicted to each other, all the more reason to indulge,” she purred, enjoying the feeling of my mouth on her. She arched her back and cradled my head, keeping my mouth on her beautiful nipples, and I responded in kind, kissing and maneuvering my tongue to stimulate her nipples just the way I knew she loved it. Sometimes I would tease, other times I’d let her feel the full force of my tongue flicking the nipple, almost visibly sending shocks down her body. “God… you’re way too fuckin’ good at this,” she moaned. “You’re only playing with my fuckin’ boobs and you’ve got me soaked.”

“Do I?” I teased, sliding my hand down her pants. Sure enough, I could feel she was wet before I even got to touch her pussy lips. She was practically soaked through her panties. “Wow,” I mumbled, and looked her in the eye. “So easy,” I told her with mock disappointment in my voice.

“Yeah, as if you’re any better,” Nicole teased back, grabbing my cock through my pants. “Wow,” she sarcastically added. “It’s so hard already, and throbbing, and… jeez. Fuck.” Her sarcastic surprise gave way to actual surprise as she rubbed her hand up and down my shaft. “Jesus, Adam. This investment really paid off big time.”

I rolled my eyes, hopping off of her. “This is the same cock you fucked the first time we met.”

“It most certainly is not, dumbass,” Nicole replied, taking off her pants now that I was off of her. “Are you even aware what happens to your body at your age, dude? You should be paying more attention in Health & Wellness class.”

“It’s a bullshit class, c’mon,” I told her, starting to take off my pants but hesitating. Instead, I walked closer to her and began to undo the button slowly, moving my hips seductively, doing some kind of impromptu strip tease for her.

Nicole caught on immediately. “Ooh, what’s this?” she purred, flipping around on the bed so that her face was towards me. “Mmm, look at this sexy lil’ stripper, just for me.”

“Little?” I questioned, stroking my dick imprint over my jeans. My cock throbbed for her, constrained by the fabric.

She bit her lip. “Yeah, clearly that’s not the word to use here…” she said quietly to herself. She sat up on the bed and held her boobs, squeezing them seductively for me. “Well, Adam, could I see that dick? Pretty please?” she asked in a higher, ditzier voice.

I laughed. “What’s that voice?”

She laughed in turn. “My attempt at being sexy. I’m guessing I missed the mark?” Despite the question, she continued to fondle her boobs seductively for me.

“Nah, it was sexy, but… I mean, nothing’s sexier to me than you,” I honestly told her. “You never have to put on a voice for me. The hottest thing I could hear is your voice. I like when Nicole wants me. I like Nicole’s voice. There’s nothing hotter than that.”

She smirked. “Cute,” she told me simply, leaning down and lightly kissing my dick imprint. “Now, do you need some help with this…?” She grinned at me, undoing my fly and peeling my pants and underwear down until my cock sprang into view. “Mm, hello,” she purred, taking it into her hand and jacking me off a few times. “You’re so fucking hard for me every time,” she observed, before hopping off of the bed onto her knees in front of me, taking my cock into her mouth.

“You’re the hottest girl I know,” I replied, both as if it were obvious yet with a loving ,nurturing tone. I scratched behind her ear as she took me deeper into her mouth, deeper, and then began to deepthroat me. The room became filled with the obscene sounds of Nicole taking my cock to the hilt down her throat, with her gurgling and moaning.

The wet sounds subsided when she came up for air. “Jesus,” she said with an almost bitter tone, continuing to jack me off. “The dark side of you getting bigger. It’s getting harder to do my party trick.”

“And yet you’re pulling it off flawlessly,” I said with marvel.

She gave me a cheeky smile. “Yeah, and it’s taking a lot of effort, thank you.” She took me into her mouth again, sliding my cock down her throat and giving me the royal treatment, wearing only her panties yet clearly playing with herself with her free hand. I gripped her hand, gently at first, then established a rhythm, using her deepthroating skills to basically fuck her mouth like she was my own personal sex toy. 

Thanks to her impeccable oral skills, I didn’t last long at all, and in an almost embarrassingly short time, I was grunting and groaning, then shooting a load directly into her stomach, bypassing her throat entirely. Fireworks exploded across my vision, and all of heaven and earth sang to me at once. Everything. That’s what Nicole was to me, everything. I truly loved her. I saw her eyes roll to the back of her head as she felt my jizz travel directly into her, taking the express route. I held her mouth at the hilt for a few seconds until she began to squirm, then let go. She quickly but gingerly took her mouth off of me, coming up for air.

“That was the weirdest feeling I’ve ever felt,” she declared, laughed, and coughed all at once. “That felt almost alien. It was so weird to feel it go into my lower throat when it didn’t even touch my upper throat. Oh my God.”

I breathed heavily, sitting down on the bed, and chuckled. Despite just cumming and needing a break myself, I wasn’t done with her, and eyed Nicole’s panties hungrily. She noticed, looking at me and smiling. “What, ready to go inside me already?” she teased, looking at my cock. It was still mostly erect, but she was right, it was going to need some time.

And I had just the timewaster. Without even speaking, I grabbed Nicole by the waist, getting her to her feet, and shoved her onto the bed. She yelped in surprise, but then suddenly focused on something behind me, cocking her head. “God damn. We need to seriously be less careless,” she admitted, hopping back up.

“Hey~!” I protested, watching her walk behind me, up to… the open bedroom door. Oops. Luckily, we were on the second floor and her mother was downstairs. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what we were doing, and it’s not like she could approve of me any less than she did. Nicole shut the door, gave me an ‘oh my God we’re dumb’ look, and hopped back onto the bed. 

“Okay, interlude over,” she announced. “Go back to surprising me.”

I chuckled, hopping onto the bed and hooking my middle fingers into her panties. Nicole grinned, bringing her legs together and letting me take her panties off. She was so wet, a trail of pussy juice clung to her panties as they were removed. 

“Ooh. Slime. How attractive,” Nicole laughed, blushing. 

“It’s your juices, it’s hot,” I insisted, opening her legs. I brought my face closer to her vulva and her blush deepened. She clearly expected me to just go forward with fucking her, but wasn’t about to compalin about me eating her out, even though she could still get shy about it. I began by kissing her lips gently, causing her blush to deepen even further.

“Aaaaah,” she groaned in embarrassment, covering her face with her hands. “You don’t have to do this, Adam,” her muffled voice told me.

She was cute when she was bashful. My kisses evolved and became longer and wetter, involving more tongue. She started panting, then moaning into her hands, feeling my tongue play up and down on her slit, then inside her. My thumb began to rub small lazy circles across her engorged clit, with my tongue exploring her and pleasing her, making her squirm and whimper.

“Fuck, I… ahh, ahh, Adammmm…” she moaned. “I don’t want anyone to eat me but youuuu…”

Internally I smiled. She said the most interesting things when I pleased her. She continued to babble on while I continued my benevolent attack on her, using my tongue to map out and tickle every little pleasure receptor between her legs. Pleasing Nicole felt so good, so right. She was my favorite girl to eat out. Fitting, since she was just my favorite girl.

My tongue, lips, and occasionally my teeth, all worked their magic on her. Nicole was practically writhing on the bed, ashamed to enjoy my oral ministrations yet feeling every single effect of them. I lapped at her slit, I explored her depths, and on occasion, my tongue would trade places with my fingers, with me pumping two fingers in and out of Nicole while making my tongue wide and gentle playing with her large clitoris in the same motion over and over.

I felt Nicole’s muscles tighten and her stimulated clit throb. “Adam, please, just- yes, fuck yes, oh my God, yes you fucking hot stud, God, yes, I love you, I love youuuuu~!” she moaned, practically out of control, feeling her orgasm wash over her. She squealed and moaned, pushing my bed in, robbing me of oxygen during her intense climax. I was happy to remain in place, diligently working while her muscles tensed, then slowly relaxed, a powerful sensation washing over her. I gently raised my head and expected to see the lazy, half-closed eyes of a satisfied girl. Instead, I saw the crazed eyes of a madwoman.

“You’d better be fuckin’ hard,” she hoarsely told me, and I stood up to reveal that I very much was. She looked at my dick like it was the greatest thing on the planet, a sheen of sweat forming on her face. “Please. Now,” she begged, losing her crazed look.

I couldn’t deny her, nor myself, any longer. I got up on the bed, lined myself up with her, then looked her in the eyes. She looked back, needy and never losing that crazed look in her eye, yet… still bashful and vulnerable.

“You good?” I breathed.

“Rock my world, Adam,” she told me, as sensually as one would tell your true love.

With one slow push, I was home. I belonged inside her. It was the best place to be. It felt right – no, perfect. Nicole was my love. And I was hers. I began slowly moving my hips back and forth, enjoying every feeling being like this gave me.

Judging by her facial expression, I was not the only one. Nicole had this blissful pained look on her face, experiencing the slight agony and pure ecstasy of having sex with me. Her mouth was stuck in an ‘o’ shape like I’d barely seen it do before, up until I couldn’t take it anymore and put my lips to hers. Soon enough, we were open-mouth kissing with my cock sliding in and out of her. 

When our mouths disconnected, we just looked at each other, keeping up the same pace. tHe entire time I was inside her, it felt like I was going to cum. Just continuous bliss and passion, and it was quite clear from Nicole’s face that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

“I l-love you, Adam…” she moaned. “And I’ll never stop. You’re who I love, Adam. You’re my… you’re my l-lover. Always. Forever and always.”

“I love you too, Nicole,” I groaned, never losing pace. “So much. I’ll never ever be able to stop feeling this way. I’ll always love you. I promise.”

“I p-promise too… oh fuck… oh fuck…” She gritted her teeth and arched her back, her second orgasm coming incredibly quickly, not that I was going to fare much better at this rate. We held each other close, groaning together, looking at each other, our minds becoming one, and sure enough, even our orgasms coming at the same time. We could hear it in each others’ voices, we could feel it in our muscles tensing, but more than that, we could sense it, like our minds became one for a cosmic moment in time.

“Nngh…” Nicole moaned, letting the feelings wash over her.

“Agh, fuck…” I moaned, feeling the same way.

My second load shot out even more forcefully than the first, coating her inner walls, painting her insides. She eagerly received my load, taking it and grinding her hips against me, wanting to milk me of every last drop. And I wanted to give her everything I could. I wanted to dominate her, claim her, but also worship her. I was in love. I loved her so much. I wanted to breathe in her essence, to be around her always.

We held each other until I collapsed on top of her, the two of us a chuckling, sweaty mess, barely coming down from our magic highs. I eventually got enough strength to raise my head and look her in the eyes. Sure enough, now she had the lazy half-closed eyes look.

“So,” she managed. “Feel any better?”

“I’m inside you. I’m in heaven,” I honestly answered. For a brief moment in time, I completely forgot that any and all of my troubles existed.

***

“And that’s the downside of April,” I continued, reaching into my locker. “It’s not nice and sunny, it’s not cool and crisp. It’s just… wet.”

“Megan broke things off with me,” Zelda announced out of the blue.

I froze. “What?” I finally managed, pulling my head away from my locker.

Zelda looked at me with a downright despondent face. “Yeah,” she admitted. “She told me today. To be honest, I had suspected she would for a while. It turns out your theory of letting her come back to me was just words.”

“Oh Zelda,” I nearly moaned, my voice full of concern. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah,” she replied, looking back into her locker. “Carson should be the most sorry. She still can’t think about anything but him. Maybe she just had a crush on him instead.”

“I think she’s just hurting and needs some time alone,” I honestly replied. “She had plenty of time and opportunities to go after Carson and didn’t. I think she’s just missing her friend.”

“Yeah well, in the meantime she dumped me,” she replied angrily. “No one dumps people over friends.”

“Zelda, I think it’s more than that,” I told her. The two of us shut our lockers and began walking towards the aud. “Carson, Megan, and I… we were the entire friend group for like, an entire year. And now he’s suddenly gone. Be glad she was as stable as she was for the last few weeks.”

Zelda scoffed. “The last time we did anything was before he gave you that dramatic speech,” she replied, shaking her head. “I wasn’t even there for half of it.”

“You could have stayed and supported me, speaking of,” I replied.

“It was so clearly private,” she rebutted. “As you said, you and Carson were very close. He saw me as this intruding homewrecker. You know it would have been awful if I stayed.”

I remained quiet as Zelda opened the aud door. “Thanks. Yeah, I suppose. Are you going to be okay?”

“Eventually,” she replied. “Right now it feels like I got shot in the heart. I think I… had feelings for her. Big feelings. She- he stopped kissing me, then he stopped talking to me in person, then he stopped answering my texts. Then I finally get a text from him, and… just look at the first line.”

She held up her phone to me. I sat down in a seat, looking over the beginning of the paragraphs-long text message.

i have thought about this for a long time now. its time to stop pretending. 

“Oh wow,” I couldn’t help but laugh, in a pitying way. “Yeah, that’s brutal. I’m really sorry.”

Zelda opened her mouth to reply, but Salvador cut her off. “Good. Alright, good morning, everyone. We have a busy day ahead of us.” Zelda looked away from me towards Salvador as he outlined his expectations for the day. I looked at him, then back to Zelda, and frowned.

I couldn’t help but recall how volatile she was with him when Megan was being distant. And that was when classes were less tense. Now that it was later in the term, Salvador was turning up the heat. These two could have made for a recipe for disaster, and I for one did not want to see that kind of thing happen.

“…Do we understand? Good. Zelda, you’re leading warmups. Go,” Salvador finished, getting up from the stage. Students were removing their shoes and hopping up on stage, but something made me hesitate.

Hell, Zelda was leading warmups too. I could see this ending only one way, and I wanted to act. My hand shot up in the air. “Mr. Salvador, can I have a private conversation with you in the hallway?” I asked.

Salvador hesitated, but nothing on his face reflected surprise or shock. “If you need to, yes,” he told me, getting up from his seat. He swiftly walked from his seat towards the door, and I followed him. He opened the door to let me out and followed, closing the door then folding his arms, listening.

“So, I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads-up,” I started. “There was an incident I remember in class about a month ago where Zelda got really angry with you…”

Salvador’s face now reflected slight confusion. “Okay,” he replied slowly.

“So, obviously, Zelda and I are friends, and I happen to know what made her upset. Maybe you do too, since she talked to you outside. Well, I just wanted to say, that problem just got worse, like, a hundred times worse. She might be a little sensitive in the next coming days, and I wanted to let you know so you two could avoid having another conflict.”

Salvador’s eyes narrowed. “And would she appreciate you telling me this before she does, Adam?”

I stared at him for a second. “I don’t know if she’d appreciate it, but I feel like it’s the right thing to do,” I told him.

“From whose perspective?” he quizzed me.

I cocked my head. “Nobody’s perspective. It’s just the right thing to do,” I told him.

“There’s no such thing as objectively right, Adam,” he told me. “If you’re doing something right, that’s because your morals tell you it’s right.”

I shook my head in slight confusion and derision. He had his esoteric moments but this was downright pedantic. “Okay, fine, my morals are telling me to tell you about this so that we avoid conflict. Open communication and conflict resolution. I would have thought you’d approve, to be honest.”

Salvador said nothing, and his eyes wandered over the hallway in thought. “You’re quite passionate about your friends, Adam. And you’re quite involved,” he noted out loud. “I don’t think this was the right time to tell me, nor the right thing to tell me.”

“Why not?” I asked instinctively. “The last time she was even half this upset, you two had a shouting match in the middle of class. The whole class was shaken up by it. So now I’m trying to prevent it, and you’re acting like it’s a bad thing.”

Salvador raised a finger and pointed it at me. “There it is,” he rhetorically said. “You may have noticed, that entire sentence hinges on the fact that you trying to prevent it means it will prevent it, and that’s a big assumption.” He paused. “Adam, you don’t know what Zelda and I said to each other after that incident. You don’t know what kind of rapport we have.”

“What’s a rapport?” I asked.

“It’s like an… understanding, or an agreement. If you are friends with someone, you have a good rapport with them. That kind of thing.” He adjusted his glasses. “I know we’re not talking that much this year so I don’t know as much about your personal life – and that’s a good thing, by the way – but I can tell you’ve spent a lot of your time this year being involved in the lives of others. And you get to know them, and maybe you take it upon yourself to solve their problems.”

“Only if they affect me,” I promised him. “Believe me, I get that it’s bad to just butt into other peoples’ lives.”

“Do you?” he couldn’t help but laugh. “Look at what you’re doing now.”

“Yes, because this affects me,” I argued, then paused awkwardly as a student walked past us. “If I have a stake in this, I want to help. It doesn’t always work, but I feel like you would point out that life and making decisions is all risk-taking.”

“Would I do that?” he asked, seemingly not even asking me, but rather, asking the universe. “Either way, this is an instance of you getting involved when you shouldn’t. I can handle Zelda by myself. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m paid to do. I don’t need, nor should I ever want, students to gossip to me about other students in order to understand their feelings.”

“…All I said is that she might be more sensitive and going through a hard time, Mr. Salvador. I really don’t think this is that big a deal,” I kept arguing.

“Yes, that sure does seem to be your position,” Salvador noted. “And you’re right, perhaps more so than you realize, that it’s not a big deal. But you’re living out the reason why it’s often a problem to get this involved in other people’s business.” He opened the door to the aud and began to walk inside.

I did not ask him to come outside just so he could cryptically have the last word. “And what would that reason be?” I asked, following him inside.

He didn’t say anything until he reached a view of the stage, where Zelda was leading the remainder of the warmups.

“Good,” she said with confident authority. “Don’t forget to breathe. That’s the important part. Feel the stretch, control it, own it.”

Salvador looked from her to me. “If you don’t truly understand everyone’s perspective, you’re just going to be wrong. And if you’re wrong yet making decisions for other people, it’s going to be at best dumb luck if things do turn out well. At worst, it’s going to be destructive.”

I had to admit, I expected to see Zelda upset. Yet here she was, cool as a cucumber, leading them a lot better than I expected. Hell, better than most people in the class could lead.

“I took her into the hallway so I could listen to her, Adam,” he told me. “Not so I could tell her what to do. I asked her what I could do in my class to help her situation. At the end, I asked if she wanted to tell me what was going on in her life, and she declined. I said okay, and I let her lead in the class. How’s she doing?”

I remained still. “Pretty damn good,” I admitted. 

“It’s good that you want to help your friends,” he told me. “Just make sure you listen to them first and know how they want to be helped, or if they want to be helped at all. Does Zelda look less in control of her feelings or more, after that incident you’re referring to?”

I sighed. “More.”

He nodded. “And was you taking me into the hall to tell me she was going to be less in control actually helpful?”

“It could have been if she was less in control,” I argued, for the final time.

He turned to me. “Yet that’s not what’s happening,” he pointed out. “You’re defending your actions for the sake of a hypothetical that didn’t happen. That’s not helping anyone. I’m working according to reality. You’re working according to the worst-case scenario. And you telling me made that scenario closer to happening. You need to be more in tune with your friends’ feelings. If you truly want to help them, you need to do that instead of what you’re doing. Do you see that?”

Son of a bitch. Salvador won yet again. “Yes. I do.”

“Good.” He motioned to the stage. “Warmups are almost over. If you hurry, you can get a few stretches in. Go.” He walked over to the seats, as calmly as ever, and sat down. I sighed and nodded, taking my shoes off. I ran up on stage, and tried to get into the same position everyone else was in. Zelda and I locked eyes, and I flashed her a brief smile. 

***

I didn’t give a single shit what Nicole said about it, Health & Wellness was absolutely a bullshit class. I was fifteen years old, in a high school, and I just spent a class coloring in a chart about which choices on a list were the healthiest. Thanks to the fact I had to color one section blue and another red, I learned that eating vegetables and exercising regularly was healthier than sitting on the couch and eating chips. Education at its finest. 

I grumbled and pouted all the way to my locker and stuffed my books inside, retrieving my lunch and making my way to the cafeteria. Even though it was a few days after their breakup, Megan was insistent (partially thanks to me) that Zelda still hang out at the lunch table so they could “still be friends” and Zelda finally caved and agreed today. I sure wasn’t going to go work out if it meant I got to see both of them together, hopefully mending whatever the heck their friendship even was now.

I was a little later to my locker, so most of the students had gone to the caf by this point. Because of that, it stood out to me more whichever students remained in the hallway, and without that, I doubt I would have noticed them out of the corner of my eye.

In one of the hallways I passed, I saw Carson and Sabrina, sitting down near some lockers – I guess near hers – eating their lunch together. Sabrina had her head nuzzled into his neck, and he was smiling. It was… sweet. A pit still formed in my stomach for a multitude of reasons. Sabrina’s treachery, her general meanness, Carson’s outburst, the way he’d get angry and threaten me if he saw me staring… all that. So, I hid around the corner, watching and listening, too curious to keep walking.

“It’s still so uncomfortable here,” Sabrina complained, moving her back off of the wall.

“Yeah, it’s not great,” he admitted. “But hey, if we were in the caf, we’d probably have to catch some awkward eye contact. I like just being here alone with you anyway. Less judgment.”

Sabrina giggled. “Yeah,” she admitted, nuzzling into him. The pair shared a quick kiss. Slowly, she moved her head from his neck to look him in the eyes. “I mean it, by the way. If you want to hang out with them every so often or whatever, I can just do lunch alone, I really don’t mind. I know how much they meant to you.”

I furrowed my brow. Was Sabrina referring to our friend group…?

“Yeah, meant,” Carson spat. “Past tense. Babe, I didn’t do it for you, I did it for me. That bunch were fuckin’ toxic anyway.” He took a bite of something. “Why, do you wanna see them?”

“I don’t really know them that well,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t have to. I don’t think they’re toxic though.”

“Trust me, they are. You came into the group halfway through the year. They’d already done so much BS before you came in.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t wanna get into it,” he flatly replied. “Just trust me, okay?”

“Okay…” she replied. “Okay, fine. Just us. That works for me.” The two shared another quick kiss. “Ooh, okay, so, funny story, so I was at yearbook…”

My brow never unfurrowed. I had it all dead wrong. Sabrina clearly never convinced him to break away from our group, and if she did, she clearly backpedaled, hard. It was Carson’s idea, and from the sounds of things, he was the one to convince Sabrina. Did he convince her that I was being manipulative, was he why she was so cold towards me? Maybe she was uncomfortable, told him, and he soured on the group? Was this… my doing…?

I didn’t know, but I could definitely guess I was never going to get to. I couldn’t just march up to the pair and demand to know without making these headaches so much worse. Plus, did it even matter? I had it wrong in the first place. I saw Sabrina’s attitude and just… assumed the worst, for everything. I made her the bad guy when it was clear she was just uncomfortable and maybe a tad rude once or twice towards me. That was it.

The words from Salvador from a few days ago rang in my head. “You’re working according to the worst-case scenario. And you telling me made that scenario closer to happening. You need to be more in tune with your friends’ feelings. If you truly want to help them, you need to do that instead of what you’re doing. Do you see that?”

I suppose I did. I was trying to act based on what I thought was going on instead of just… asking. And maybe it cost me my friendship with Carson. Well, hell, maybe in a few weeks I could just talk to him, apologize, and ask him then. Better late than never, right?

I had it all wrong. That was going to stick with me. I closed my eyes, counted to three, and kept walking towards the caf. I had it dead wrong. My heart hung low in my chest, like it was made of lead. It hurt knowing Carson had such a low opinion of us, but I suppose he held onto this belief for a while. I guess I never asked. Hell, even if I hadn’t, I’d made assumptions, and they were wrong. I needed to be more in-tune with the feelings of others. I’d like to think I’d gotten good with Nicoel and being in tune with her feelings… maybe I could get good at it with others before I had to say goodbye to another friend.

I neared the caf and saw, sure enough, Zelda was sitting at the table with Megan and Athena, but that wasn’t the most important thing I saw there. As I approached, I saw something kind of wonderful in its own way.

I saw Megan, Zelda, and Athena excitedly talking to each other, with Megan and Zelda leaning in, listening to Athena talk. Athena had a big smile on her face, talking eagerly to both of them, relaying some story about something that happened in freshman year. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Athena this engaged. To anyone that didn’t know us, if they walked past they would have guessed Athena, Megan, and Zelda were close friends. Athena was part of the group.

I smiled. At least something was working out. At least one person’s feelings were properly being attended to. I shifted my backpack along my back, getting ready to walk towards the lunch table. That was one friend down, two more to go. I was going to listen to them. I was going to live in reality.

***

“Wow,” Nicole replied, nodding, even as we walked. “It’s really lucky you even got to hear that. Well, either lucky, or it was fate. It seems to have changed your perspective on stuff.”

“Well, it was that plus the stuff Salvador said to me a few days beforehand.”

Nicole cocked her head in thought, never breaking her stride. “About drama being all about base emotions?”

“No, the Zelda thing,” I replied.

“Oh, right,” she said with another nod. “Hey, if it gives you closure and makes you more mindful about your friends, sounds like a nice bow to wrap on that shit present.”

“No kidding,” I laughed. “But I’ll say this right now: I’ve had enough with peering around corners listening in on conversations. It’s exhausting.”

To my surprise, Nicole stopped, and gave me the biggest ‘you motherfucker’ smile with her tongue firmly in her cheek. “…What?!” I eventually asked, completely in shock.

“You just made this so much more difficult,” she replied gleefully, the smile still fully on your face. “Okay, you know how I said ‘spontaneous adventure’?”

“Yeah, and that was all that you said,” I noted. “So what exactly is it?”

“It’s a meeting with Mr. Scott. He wanted to meet with me about Council stuff, and insisted it was ‘for president’s ears only.’ Trouble for him is… I don’t do nothing without my VP being informed.” She booped me on the nose as she said that. “So I thought you could peer around the doorframe and listen in, be a lil’ second opinion with me after. Whatever it is, it sounds big. Either structural changes, or some club dissolved, or someone in council got caught having sex on school grounds…” Her face dimmed and she pointed at me menacingly. “Tell me you didn’t.”

I raised my hands in the air. “I didn’t!” I protested. “Don’t you think he’d see me if I peered around the corner? Heck, what if it’s, like, personal?”

She shrugged. “Like if he tells me for the thirtieth time I need to be less of a brat? Please. He’d just tell me that normally. Even if it was about me, what do others know about me that you don’t? Let’s be real, I’m gonna tell you what happened in the meeting afterwards anyway. It just seemed logical. Plus, it’s a fun thing to do together. Y’know, go behind Scott’s back, share school secrets… c’mon!”

I laughed nervously. “Nicole, what if Scott wants something kept private because, like, a teacher did something bad?”

Nicole gave me a weird look. “Um, then he’d take it to the board and not me. I don’t control the teachers here, dude.” She rolled her eyes. “If he’s going to me, it’s small potatoes. Plus, it’ll be fun with you listening in. It’ll be a classic Nicole-and-Adam shenanigan. Plus plus, we’re taking the late bus together today anyway, right? You got somewhere else to be? I know you’re curious about everything. Indulge a lil’!”

I sighed, breaking slowly into a smile. “So it’s just a little meeting between you and Scott? And you want me to eavesdrop?” 

She smiled and nodded. “I’m reckless. Indulge in my reckless side for once. Pleeeease?”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Okay, fine,” I conceded.

“Fuckin’A,” she replied, beaming, then started walking towards Room 203 again. “It’ll be weird being in there on a Friday, but this will be fun. He said the meeting will be in ten. Then he and I meet. Then we can gossip about it, and thennnnn… GTA tonight?”

“Sounds fun,” I replied. “But… how am I gonna avoid Scott but still be at the doorway? He’ll see me on the way in.”

“Dumbass,” Nicole laughed. “You stay in 204 until he comes in, then you go to the doorway.” We arrived in the room and she placed her bag on one of the tables. “Easy-peasy.”

I paused, noting the supplies cupboard in the corner. “Why don’t I just hide in there instead?” I asked her, pointing at the cupboard.

Nicole’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh my God, that’s even better!” she practically squealed. “It’s like a dumb porn movie thing. You hiding in the closet, watching everything…”

“Ugh, don’t make me imagine you and Mr. Scott like that,” I replied with disgust.

Nicole laughed. “Don’t worry, I would never.” She walked over to the cupboard and opened it. “Oh hell yeah. This’ll do.” She started clearing stuff out. “Besides, this isn’t just me being reckless. Whatever it is he wants to meet about, it sounds kinda impactful. I get he wants me to make a decision on it solo, but I want my VP to bounce ideas off of. I don’t wanna make decisions on behalf of the Council without any of the Council to, like, talk to.”

“Oh hey, weird segue, you know how Salvador has like, way too many girls crushing on him? Speaking of you and one of the adults here,” I continued.

I was expecting Nicole to laugh it off, but to my absolute shame, she paused. “Um,” she began awkwardly. “Okay, so I’m not gonna lie, in tenth grade I thought about it,” she admitted. “But I got over it really quick.”

“Ew!!” I exclaimed, recoiling in horror.

“Oh puh-lease. Everyone gets a crush on their teacher one way or another,” Nicole laughed.

“Not me!” I protested.

“So you say,” she replied smugly. “I think I was just attracted to power, and Salvador has that in his class, That’s all. Boom, simple explanation.”

“Yeah, simply disgusting,” I replied. 

Nicole just laughed, moving more things around in the cupboard. “Okay, let’s try this,” she told me, motioning for me to get inside. 

I chuckled to myself. Only Nicole would want me to do something as dumb as this. It wasn’t even the first time she wanted me to eavesdrop on some conversation – earlier on in the semester she anticipated an argument with Sydney, and sure enough, it happened. She made me sit in the hallway over so she could have an “impartial” third party listen in and tell her who was in the wrong. Unfortunately for her, I was a biased source that was having sex with her, so I just ended up siding with Nicole. If she and Scott were going to get into an argument here, it was probably just going to end up the same way.

It was snug, but doable. “Okay, I think I’m in,” I admitted. “Close the door.”

Nicole closed the door slowly. “Hows’ this?” she asked once the door was fully closed.

“Cramped,” I grumpily replied. It was too warm and stuffy in here, not to mention dark. There was barely any room at all to move.

She rolled her eyes and opened the door again, strategically removing three or four things. She put them onto another nearby shelf then shut the door again. “Better?”

“Yes,” I admitted. I could now move around a little.

“Good, now shut up. Cabinets don’t talk. Don’t get me in trouble, and no matter what, no talking or coming out of there,” she teased. I chuckled to myself. She could be such a jerk sometimes, but hey, she made my life more fun, so I was happy to accept this abuse.

Annoyingly, it took around five minutes for Mr. Scott to come by. Even Nicole texted me her condolences (along with “but don’t say anything out loud, in case,” thanks Nicole) around the three-minute mark. Once he came into the room, it seemed like he was adequately fooled – he clearly couldn’t tell anyone else was there.

“Hey there, Nicole!” he warmly greeted her. “Thanks for agreeing to meet me on short notice like this.”

Nicole smiled at him. “Well, with the way you emailed me, it seemed like life and death. I’m glad to see you’re all smiles and rainbows now,” she replied. “What’s going on, did Adam do something wrong again?”

I smiled and shook my head. She was such a bitch.

Scott laughed. “No, no, nothing like that,” he admitted, then went back to get the door. He peered into the hallway, then closed the door after him. “Nothing like that,” he repeated.

“Good, he’s a loose cannon anyways,” she continued the bit. “But seriously, is this about one of the Council members, do we have to have The Talk with them?”

“No, no, don’t worry Nicole, this isn’t about them, they’re fine,” he soothed.

“Okay, well, let me have it,” she replied diligently, standing with her hands on her hips. “Whatever it is, I’ll get the best of the best working ‘round the clock to resolve it ASAP.”

“Well, first of all, how are you, how have you been doing this last little bit?” Mr. Scott asked her, taking a seat. “Have you been feeling okay?”

Nicole chuckled in confusion. “Uh, fine,” she said awkwardly. “You must be in a giving mood, you’re not normally one for extending the pleasantries this long. C’mon, all business, let’s get the facts of the case.”

Mr. Scott didn’t immediately reply. “Perhaps… you should have a seat, Nicole,” he offered.

“Jeez, mood’s dropping,” she remarked, grabbing a chair and sitting down. “What happened, was there a fire in the auditorium or something?”

Again, Mr. Scott didn’t reply immediately. He made a noise like sucking air through his teeth, then covered his mouth with his hand in thought for a second. 

“Ooookay, the problem seems to be me,” Nicole added, shifting her tone. “Uh, if a Council member took issue with my attitude recently, and maybe I’m clairvoyant here, but I think I can guess which one, she’s just been going through a lot and I’ve actually tried to go above and beyond to be nice and help her. I have a witness for that. But I can definitely adjust my wording in the futur-”

Mr. Scott held up a hand. “Nicole,” he said reassuringly. “No one has taken issue with your attitude recently.”

Nicole sat back in her chair, a little confused. “Okay, then just say it plainly. It’s getting a little mind games-y in here. I’m kind of getting anxious. Speak, alohamora, Dracula you can come in, let’s get it in the open.”

Mr. Scott exhaled, and put a palm on the side of his neck, clearly not happy with the situation. “So, the school has been made aware of the reason you weren’t at a recent dance, Nicole.”

My heart stopped. Shit. This wasn’t good. Despite the aura of panic filling the room, Nicole’s poker face didn’t wane. “Uh, yeah, I told you that I was just stressed and accidentally napped through it. We’ve been through that already.”

“Nicole,” Mr. Scott gently yet firmly told her. “I have a testimony from two people, both concerned friends, telling me the real reason. I can understand why you would want to lie to me, and I don’t blame you, but I-”

“I’d like to know this alleged real reason,” Nicole replied with hostility to her tone. “Because it’s a lie.” Her eyes lit up with opportunity. “Actually, actually, important, I can prove my case. Adam happened to swing by after I woke up.” Her eyes flickered to the cabinet and back. “I can text him right now, and we can ask him anything. He’ll back up my story. I dunno who’s spreading lies about me, but-”

“Nicole!” Mr. Scott all but shouted. He paused. “Nicole,” he softly repeated. “I wouldn’t be meeting with you right now if I was operating on hearsay. I took the liberty of contacting your parents, and they supplied me with the documentation that sufficiently verifies your friends’ stories.”

Nicole didn’t say anything for a bit. She started rocking back and forth in the chair nervously, then her eyes started to well up. Eventually, she covered her mouth with her hand. “I didn’t consent to that,” she finally found the strength to say through her hand.

I started breathing heavily. My head was spinning. I know Nicole told me not to burst through the cabinet, but holy fuck was that ever out the window now. What was I supposed to do? What could I do?

“I’m sorry,” he said, and paused. “So, I’d like to ask again, are things okay? Because your friends told me you told them, in no uncertain terms, that you’re getting worse and wanted to escalate your situation.”

“Okay, no,” Nicole replied emphatically, her hand now jutting down to her side. “I said anything I could to get them to leave me alone. It was a moment of weakness. I just wanted to be alone. You can’t use it against me when I just wanted some privacy.”

“I’m afraid I only have your word on that, and you’re in a position where you’re incentivized to… not lie, but diminish the truth, in order to make things seem more okay than they are,” he continued calmly. “I’d like you to be honest here, and-”

“No, no, it’s true, I literally said whatever I could!” Nicole replied, her voice gaining speed in desperation. “I have a witness. It was – okay, it’s Adam. He actually called me out on it, that night, in the hospital. He knew that I was just saying anything, and I didn’t mean it. He’s actually been helping me since, being a friend, being there for me, and he can swear that I’m getting better and having these attacks less frequently.” She leaned forward and was breathing so heavily she may as well have been panting.

I swallowed. They weren’t getting less frequent. Hell, if I mapped them out, they were getting more frequent. 

Scott paused, and leaned back in his chair. “You just said I could text Adam and he would swear you were at home the whole night,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I think that, unfortunately, we can conclude that whatever Adam would say would just be whatever he needs to say to make you look good.”

“No, no, that’s not fair,” Nicole began, her eyes welling up again. “Okay, yes, I said that about the napping thing, but not about this. This thing, I’m telling you the truth. Pinky promise, I swear, I – I give you my word, Mr. Scott – I -”

Mr. Scott didn’t even cut her off. He just crossed his arms, giving her the blankest of looks, and she started to cry. He let her cry in silence for a few seconds, just staring at her. I bit my lip. It was really hard not to sympathy cry for her.

Quickly, she got a hold on herself, and she devolved to sniffling. “Okay,” she conceded. “Okay, yes, I was… in the hospital that night. For that reason. I’m sorry for lying to you, but you already said you understand why I would. If you want, we can give the relevant information to the counselor, and we can go from there.”

“That is a good course of action, yes,” Mr. Scott replied, nodding. “And that is absolutely what we’ll do to ensure you get the help you need as a student. But I’m afraid that particular… consequence isn’t the reason why I’m here now.”

Nicole sniffled for the last time, getting a handle on her crying. “Okay, what’s the reason you’re here now? You gonna tell me you’re the same way? You also tried to end it all on the night of the dance? We shared the same ward that night? What-?”

Mr. Scott shook his head, and scratched his face nervously. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a sigh.

Realization dawned on Nicole’s face. Slowly, her eyebrows went all the way up to her hairline. “No,” she said with absolute authority. 

“Speaking plainly, it’s a liability,” Scott reasoned. “We can’t have someone who is a danger to themselves and potentially others-”

“Fuck this,” Nicole replied, getting up. “No. Do you hear me? No.”

“Nicole, the Council, the school, and I all hold so much respect for you,” Scott said sympathetically.

“No!” she yelled, not even looking sad anymore. Now she looked furious. “No, that’s not even how it – isn’t the Council supposed to vote on -”

“Only when it relates to unprofessional conduct,” Scott explained. “When it’s matter of the student’s own safety, then-”

“Then the school removes everything they love and push them closer to the edge of the cliff? Is that it?” she challenged him, putting her hands on her knees and looking him in the face. “Is that the road we’re going down right now? Because it’s a road paved with hellfire and brimstone, Mr. Scott. I’m the President, I’m the democratically elected fucking President. I gave my life to this Council. I raised this Council like they were my own fucking family. In many ways, they were my fucking family. They sure as hell care about me more than those fucking human being impersonators that you generously referred to as my parents. You can not, and this is not me saying I don’t want you to, but you can not, and will not, take me away from them.”

“Nicole, I completely understand you’re upset by this, but I need you to calm down,” Mr. Scott soothed. “This was an incredibly difficult decision to make, and I so badly wanted to side with you, but I was dealing with the Board, the will of your parents-”

“Of course they want me off the fucking Council. They couldn’t even tell you what electives I’m taking, Mr. Scott. They couldn’t fucking tell you my fucking eye color,” she growled in a rage.

“Nicole, I fought the superintendent on your behalf!” Scott interrupted, finally raising his voice at her. He stood up to look at her. “I know you don’t want to believe me, but it was me and you against everyone. Everyone! And yes, it was you and me. I know, I’m very much aware, of how much this Council means to you. I know that this decision is only going to hurt you more! But all that’s going to happen if I don’t give you this news is I get fired and replaced with someone who will give this news to you! Do you understand me?!”

Nicole was quiet for a bit. She grabbed her elbows insecurely and slowly shook her head. “But if you… if you believe that… you can do something,” she weakly said. “You can call in a favor. You can tell someone to suck it. You can say, ‘she’s staying, and that’s that.’”

“Not this time,” Mr. Scott gravely told her. “This is it. We have no other options.”

Nicole began to nod, and the tears began to well up yet again. “So that’s it. Closing night. No intermission.”

“I’m afraid so,” Mr. Scott replied, equally quietly.

“No chance for a miracle.”

“No chance,” he replied sorrowfully. “This breaks my heart too, but before you leave, I’m going to need to ask for the key.”

She scowled at him. “Twist the fucking blade, dude.”

“I know, I’m sorry, this is all protocol,” he told her gently. “If I could bend the rules I would.”

“You can always bend the rules,” she told him softly yet disgustedly, rummaging in her pocket. “And the world would be better off for it.” She found the key and slammed it down onto the nearby table. That fucking key. “I always found ways to bend the rules for the betterment of our people. You can too.”

“I can’t,” he told her sympathetically. “I just can’t.”

“Well I guess that’s what makes me better than you then,” she boldly continued, never losing the soft gentleness to her voice. “Because you’re just a coward. I dared to ask what it means to actually do good things for the students here. You just follow a fucking rulebook.”

He clicked his tongue and looked at the ground. “Given the circumstances, I will ignore those comments,” he informed her. 

“Nah, expel me,” she said gently. Her tone was flat, with no emotion except perhaps malice bleeding through. “I have nothing left here anyway. I’ll make it easy for you. I’ll fucking kill you, Mr. Scott. Right here, right now. I’ll fucking murder you. There, expel me. Send me to juvie. Do what you need to do. Just get me out of here.”

“Nicole,” Mr. Scott said with grave seriousness. “Go home. You’re not well. I want you to get better.”

“You want me to-” She started laughing. She started and didn’t stop. She walked around the room, laughing a very concerning laugh. “You’ve got some weeeeird methods for helping me get better, Doc,” she told him. “You’ve condemned me. You’ve signed my fucking death certificate.”

Mr. Scott sighed and looked at the floor again. “I’m afraid that due to my own personal experiences with you now, I can safely say that this wasn’t the wrong call,” he told her. “You’re clearly not in a clear state of mind and, currently, not fit to lead the Council without being a danger-”

“Because you took them away from me, you complete idiot!!” Nicole roared. “You punched me ‘til I started crying then went, ‘hey look at the dumb crybaby, she shouldn’t lead the Council!’ Well, why did I start crying, Mr. Scott?! Why did I start crying??”

“So, given this, I will be arranging you a ride home personally,” he told her. “I will be informing your parents of the seriousness of your condition and recommending certain steps for them to take.”

“No, no no no, do not do that,” she roared at him. “Do you want me to die? Do you want me to kill myself?”

“This is already – I will not change my mind on-”

“Do you want me to kill myself? Simple question. Just answer the question. Can you answer the question?”

“Of course I don’t want you to, uh, to ki-”

“Then don’t tell my fucking parents jack shit,” Nicole yelled. “They do not want to help me. Hell, shit, fuck, take me to someone else’s house, anyone else’s. Just not theirs.” Silence filled the room. “Not theirs.”

“Are you being genuine with me, Nicole?” he finally asked.

“Last time I was there, all they did was complain to me about the bill. They’ve acted like I’m nothing but a nuisance since. They will genuinely, genuinely, push me farther. Do not tell them. If you do tell them, don’t make me go there.” A tear ran down her cheek. “Please.”

Scott was silent for a bit. “I can take you directly to the local hospital, file a report directly, circumvent your parents,” he offered. “That is legitimately the best I can do. It’s a psych ward, and it will not be… fun, to say the least. But it’s the one option that isn’t your parents.”

Nicole stared at him for a bit. She chewed on nothing, then looked at the floor and let her eyebrows go up in thought. “How long would I have to stay there if I was admitted?” she asked gingerly.

“Let’s go to my office and talk about it,” Mr. Scott offered. “Okay? We can make some phone calls, find out our best options. I want to be your ally in this, Nicole.”

Nicole slowly nodded. “Okay.” She picked up her bag off the table, then looked at the key. She chuckled lowly. “I believe this belongs to you.”

Scott shared her macabre chuckle. “Not me, just the school,” he told her. “Hold your head high. You were one of its greatest keepers.”

“Don’t, please,” she told him. “Not now. It… hurts.” She looked around the room, scanning it for anything else she left behind. When she locked eyes with the cabinet, her face scrunched up in pain and realization. “Oh, christ.”

“What is it?!” Scott asked urgently.

“Nothin’, just… realizing all the explaining I’m gonna have to do with my friends, and…” She sighed. “The system is so very unfair, Scott. So very fucking unfair.”

“I think I can agree with that to a degree, Nicole,” Scott replied. “Come on.”

The two walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. I heard Scott lock the door, and then the two walked off. After a few seconds, I burst out of the room, breathing frantically.

Holy fuck. Holy fucking shit. I breathed in and out, almost blacking out. I thought my panic attacks were gone – turns out they were waiting for the perfect moment. 

This wasn’t okay. This wasn’t right. I had to do something. Someone had to do something. This couldn’t be the way things would go. But what could I even fucking do? I had no power. I didn’t know everyone’s perspective. I was trapped. Hell, it seemed Scott was trapped too. But nobody, nobody, was more trapped than Nicole.

---

>>Next Chapter

<<Previous Chapter

<<Back