Back with an update! Sorry if this chapter doesn't make much sense, but trust me, it will in later chapters! Enjoy, R&R!
The day moved by slowly as I went to class after class. I hadn't seen my friends since we arrived at school. I huffed in agitation at the thought of them; I wasn't upset with them anymore, it was more that I was upset with myself. I shouldn't have ditched them like that; I should've at least stayed and tried to coax out their worries. I sighed, knowing that at lunch I would have to face them. I was in the hallway, slowly making my way to my locker to get my things for my next class. I sighed deeply as I opened my locker, exchanging my books for other ones.
"Hey! You're that girl I bumped into the other day!" a voice called out behind me. I shut my locker and turned in its direction. When I turned I was face to face with a chest. I looked up to see a large grin on the face of some boy. He had short light brown hair and fierce eyes the color of hazel. He wasn't the most attractive thing in the world, nor the most hideous; he fell right into the middle.
I just stared up at the boy, who was smiling as if the world was made out of sunshine and rainbows. I had seen him a few times before- what was his name, Barry? Benito?
"Sorry about the other day, I was pretty out of it! I was looking for my friend Kuran, and then BLAM, you appeared! You were okay right? I didn't hurt you or anything? Oh by the way, my name's Benjamin Johnson, but people call me Ben-" Ah. Ben. Ben Johnson. His mother was my usual nurse. "-I'm on the basketball team! Hey, I've seen you around before, hanging out with-" I held up my hand to him. Boy, did this guy talk a lot, he seemed so happy too. A little too happy. Usually I would have already left, but given my current state I stayed and listened to him, too lazy too leave, though I regretted that decision.
"Hey, Ben, thanks. It's okay that you bumped into me. Sorry about yelling at you though. Now, I'd best be off to class. Goodbye." I said in a quiet voice that held no emotion, and began to walk off.
"H-hey! Can I at least get your name!" He called after me in a slightly confused voice. I turned to him, annoyance starting to fill me. "It's Aidan." I said loudly enough for him to hear, continuing to my next class.
'Well that was odd.' I thought to myself as I sat in my usual seat in Mr. Snyder's class. Wait, Mr. Snyder! Stan and I had a project for this class. I had been out for a week and we still hadn't discussed anything! He probably texted me about while I was MIA but I was so out of it that I hadn't bothered to check my phone. I laid my head down and had to restrain myself from banging my head repeatedly on the desk; I already had enough enough attention from being in the room period, why attract more?
I sighed deeply through my nose, the sound of students bustling about started to irritate me. Someone walked past me, taking the seat directly to my right. I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I raised my head slowly. I turned, and my eyes laid upon Stan. Great.
"Hey, Aidan, are you okay? You didn't reply to me at all last week, but I guess it makes sense because you were out from, well, you know." he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Poor kid. I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling bad that I had practically ignored him. "Sorry Stan, I was literally out of it." I felt his hand land on my shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. I looked at him, and he smiled. I wanted to smile back, but I just gave him a nod, and we dived into a discussion about what we should do for our English teacher's project.
Class ended, and we had came to an agreement; we were supposed to make a ten minute reenactment of any novel of our choosing (granted that we both read it and could give typed summaries) and we both decided to do The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. As I gathered my stuff and headed towards the door, Stan stopped me. "Hey, we could start today if you want. I me an, we've both already read the book, which means we can start planning and shit. We have a while until it's due, but it'd be better if we started soon, because I know no one else has." I snorted at him. "Kyle rubbing off on you much, meathead? But alright, we can go to my house if you want; I have a camera we could use and my mom wouldn't mind." Stan smiled, nodding his head enthusiastically. "We can start after football practice ends. I'll leave early and meet you at your hou-" "No, I think I'll just wait for you on the bleachers." I said, shocking myself and Stan. "Oh, okay." He replied, unsure of how to take what I said. "I guess I'll see you then?" He smiled awkwardly, and waved as he went to find his friends for lunch. I waved back, smiling. I froze, shocked at myself once again. I was...smiling? At STAN no less? What was wrong with me?
As I walked to my locker again to put my things up I tried to shake off this weird feeling. I started to feel all giddy, knowing that I was going to hang out with Stan, and I was eager to. I've hung out with him before, played games at his house, partied, it was so strange. I put my things away and immediately went to the back of the school, finding Henrietta, Ethan, Dylan, and Georgie in their usual spots, smoking. They all turned to me, shock taking over their faces. I sat in my usual spot next to Georgie, bringing my knees up to my chest. The air filled with tension, and I couldn't help but bury my faces in between my knees to get away from the awkwardness.
"Aidan." I cringed at the soft voice that could only be recognized as Dylan's. I didn't make a move to look at any of them. "Aidan, look at me." Dylan said exasperatedly, his voice rising a bit in volume. I slowly lifted my head, looking him in the eye. It all felt awkward and foreign, not at all like how it usually felt. "Aidan we're...we're sorry, y'know, about the whole not telling you how worried we were thing." I looked away then, not able to look him in the eye anymore. "Look, we're just worried about how you've been acting lately-" Wait, what? How had I been acting lately? "-ever since that thing with Georgie's dad. I mean, Georgie was in pretty bad shape, but he's a lot better now, but you, you were practically dead." I looked at Dylan in confusion; what did he mean? Georgie was still in pretty bad shape, given though he was a little better, but I was in better shape than he was.
"Aidan, you didn't talk for a whole week. Georgie even said so. That whole week you guys were out of school, you didn't say a word, not even after Georgie left. We visited, but even then you didn't say anything, it was like you weren't even there." Henrietta said, the concern dripping off her words. They had visited? I didn't remember any of this. I knew I was pretty out of it, but I was sure I could remember them physically being there.
"Yeah dude, your mom seemed pretty worried. She kept calling us asking if we could come over to help you out, Georgie too. He was so upset that you wouldn't talk, he couldn't sleep." Ethan added. Is that why he had such large bags under his eyes? It wasn't because he was still upset over his dad or that his mom wasn't taking care of him, it was because of...me?
I felt a hand grip the sleeve of my shirt, and I turned to see Georgie, looking considerably better, look at me, his eyebrows knitted together in worry. "Aidan...are you okay?" he asked, his voice at a higher volume than normal. I didn't understand anything they were saying, I don't remember this state of not speaking they were speaking of, I didn't remember – and then it hit me. All the thoughts I had from that week hit me like a truck. Suddenly I couldn't breathe, and my eyes pricked with tears. I remembered, I remembered why and I didn't talk, what made me not want to talk. I started bawling.
Yeah, see, no sense was made of this chapter, but seriously trust me!
