You stare down at your notebook. You don't really have a clue what's going on, but it isn't like it mattered in the first place. You're in school, after all.

"Mr. Makara?"

Oh shit. 'Teach just called your name.

"Yeah?" You answer, and look up at this foul, foul man. Wait, was his tie backwards? Woah-

"Gamzee!" You look over. Your best motherfucking friend is scowling at you. His name is Karkat Ventas.

"What, man?" You ask, completely disregarding the teacher standing in front of you.

"Did you leave our project at home?" Karkat growls, keeping his normally booming voice rather toned down.

Shit. Maybe that's why the professor is on your shit right now.

"Uh... Shit man. I think I did."

"Language!" the teacher growls at you, and you tap your pencil on your notebook. The teacher shakes his head and returns to the front of the classroom to continue lecturing us all on the importance of- fuck, how should you know?

Someone walks in. You look over at her long, deep red hair. She is wearing formal gray clothing; probably one of those student-office secretaries. Oh yeah, this chick is named Aradia. She's really quiet all the time, and keeps her head in books.

But something seems wrong. She doesn't have a normal monotone look; she seems upset. She's standing in the doorway of the classroom, staring at the teacher, a clipboard or something pressed tightly to her chest. She's holding onto it with both arms as if it's her own heart.

Something really is motherfucking wrong, you think as you adjust your once lax and carefree slouch into a more alert position. Karkat looks over at you; he's chewing on his bottom lip in confusion. You shrug back and then you both return your gaze- as well as everyone else in the classroom- back to Aradia and the teacher.

She swallows dryly and chokes out her message.

"T-T... Tavros committed suicide!"

You feel everything in your body completely stop; faceplanted on a brick wall. Make that a brick wall on the side of the eifle tower, and you just hit it falling full speed off the edge.

The teacher even looks shocked. That's when everyone notices that the small, bullied child wasn't there today. Hell, he wasn't at school yesterday, either, you think.

"Fuck." You curse. You stand up, hastily grabbing your crap, and push past Aradia. Karkat hisses under his breath as he slings his bag over his shoulder and follows you into the empty hall.

The teacher doesn't object. Karkat comes over to you and places a hand on your shoulder.

"Gamzee-..."

You haul off and slam your fist into one of the metal lockers. It gives in and dents a little, but your fist takes most of the impact.

"I motherfucking knew it." You growl out. Your tone is lacking all of its careless, high leisure that it normally drips with. Any other day you would be dwelling on your high, not caring if some random dude decided to end his life. You would have felt bad, yes, that he didn't get to see the good parts it had to offer.

But no. You knew Tavros. He was your best friend. A little brother to you. He went everywhere, did everything, anything, always by your side. He was your motherfucker.

You knew how he had been treated lately by the other students. They always pushed him around for playing his little kid video games, the ones you knew were fun, and that's why he didn't put them down like everyone else.

Tavros wasn't a bad kid. He wasn't the biggest, or the strongest, but he didn't go around trying to pick fights. He let them call him names, he let them push him into the lockers and he let them steal his food and throw it at him. Tavros was chill.

You knew how bad this bullying had gotten, but-

You didn't motherfucking think the little guy would take his life over them.

You stop and take in a deep breath. Imagine how Karkat feels. Or Vriska. Man, she's kind of weird, and a little too bossy for your tastes, but you knew she liked Tavros. She must be in tears. And yet you walk out of the classroom-

Like a motherfucking coward.

You turn away from the locker and pull your best friend into a hug. "Don't fucking worry about composure," you breath as tears threaten to leak from your eyes. "We know you're the motherfucking leader." You think back to everyone that would be at the school assembly held for this. And that Karkat would have to talk about one of his friend's deaths in front of a school of over 500 people.

"We know you're the leader," you repeat, "and he doesn't change that. It's not your fault."

Karkat tries to pull away from you. "Dumbass! I'm not the one who deserves to be comforted- over this fucking issue!"

Your shoulders slump and you look at the ground. "I motherfucking know."

Karkat's anger melts. "Gamzee... It's not that I feel like I should be upset because I didn't protect him. It's because you are the one he was closest to. You knew him best, right? Gamzee?"

But you don't hear Karkat. You don't hear Vriska's sobbing from the classroom, or the sickening silence from the other students in the class.

You can only feel your face grow wet from tears, your head grow foggy, and your back slide down the lockers.