Ebony Johnson stepped out of her jeep with a sigh as she watched everyone head to their classes. She had been dreading this day all summer long, the first day of senior year. She should be excited, but after everything that happened over the summer, she would have rather been anywhere but there. She sighed again as she swung her messenger bag over her shoulder and walked towards the school to meet up with her friends.
"Ebs! It's about time you got here," Jack said as he ran over and gave her a hug. He knew this summer had been hard on her, and he hadn't been sure if she was even going to show up for school that day.
"I almost didn't make it, but I knew I had to face everything sooner or later," Ebony said. She threw her bag down and sat down on the ground in between Salene and Ram. She smiled as she watched all her friends talk and laugh with each other. Ever since elementary school, it had been her, Jack, Ram, and Salene. Over the years, they had become friends with Ruby, Lex, Mega, and Trudy. They were inseparable. But Ebony's smile quickly faded as she thought of the two people missing from the group, one who could never be back again, and one who chose to stay away.
"Hey, Ebony. You okay?" Ram asked. He had noticed the sad look in her eyes and he knew who she was thinking of. Ebony tried her best to smile.
"I'm fine, Ram. You don't need to worry about me," she said. They all jumped up as the bell rang, heading in their different directions.
"You have to promise that you'll help me study," Ebony said as she and Mega headed towards Physics. "You know I'm awful at science and you're like a genius."
Mega laughed. "It's not that hard. You'll be fine."
"Yeah. Whatever you…" Ebony trailed off as she came to a sudden stop. Mega looked at her, concerned.
"Ebs, what are you doing?" he asked. She didn't reply. She just kept staring ahead. Mega looked up to see what she was looking at. He knew right away that she was staring at Bray and Bray was trying his best to avoid her gaze. Mega put his arm around her when he noticed the tears in her eyes.
"Come on. We don't want to be late," he said. When she didn't move, he gently guided her towards the classroom. "You need to get over this Ebs. Bray made his choice."
Ebony pulled away, angrily. "Yeah he got his choice, didn't he? What about my choice, huh?" she yelled, drawing attention from the other students. "Or Martin? What choice did Martin get? I didn't choose to lose Bray and I didn't choose for Martin to die! So don't you stand there and tell me I need to get over it, because you have no idea what kind of hell I've been through this summer!"
Ebony turned and ran down the hall, ignoring Mega calling her name. She knew that it wasn't his fault and she shouldn't have yelled at him. She just lost it when she saw Bray and he acted like they were strangers. After knowing him almost her whole life and then dating him for more than three years, she thought she at least deserved some kind of acknowledgement. She sighed as finally made it to her car and sped out of the parking lot. She should have stayed home today. She didn't even make it to first period.
"Maybe tomorrow will be better," she muttered to herself as she sent out a group text to her friends, telling them she needed to go home and be alone for a while.