The stadium erupted in cheers. The boys jumped on the running back that had scored the final touchdown. Orange and black flags waved in the breeze of the afternoon.

Josh tore his helmet from his hand and dropped it into his bag, sighing. The Eagles had lost. He felt like it was all his fault, throwing the interception. His teammates looked at him and their expressions were sullen, broken even, just like after every game they lost.

Mason lightly pushed Josh with his helmet and gave him a small smile and nod. Josh understood: no one really wanted to talk to him. He didn't even want to talk to him.

"Then again, that would be talking to myself," he thought. He followed the rest of the blue players into the locker room.

"Alright, so… we can't win them all, right?" Coach Clement stood in front of the disappointed boys. Even he didn't sound convinced of his own words. They all murmured a heartless "no" and started changing. The room was filled with the clanging of lockers being opened and groans of disappointment.

Josh pulled his jersey over his head and removed his pads. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


Elizabeth slowly walked down the steps of the bleachers. Nobody could believe they lost. They had an undefeated season. They had to win the next game to go to the playoffs, but with the way they were looking today, that was going to be a long shot.

She trudged to her car and opened the door. She just sat there for a moment before pushing the key in the ignition pulling the stick to drive. The engine roared to life upon her turning the key and she looked back, making sure there was nothing to back up into. Her eyes wandered to a blonde girl giggling and planting a kiss on a boy's cheek. He seemed distant, and didn't seem to notice the girl. His blue eyes were dim, and had pure regret in them. And why shouldn't they?

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and sped up out of the school's parking lot.

She reached her house a little earlier than planned, and her mom was still at work. She slammed the car door behind her, disgusted with the scene back at the school. She stomped into her house, nearly ripping the hinges off of the door in the process. She shook her head and grabbed her TV remote off of the coffee table and slumped down on the couch.

"Stupid cheerleader."


Elizabeth cursed loudly and kicked the tire of her car.

"Piece of junk," she glared at the car.

"Ah, Lizzy, I don't think yelling at the thing will help," a soft voice came from behind her. She turned around quickly.

"Emma! Thank God!" She breathed holding her hand over her heart in surprise.

"Need a ride?" Emma asked lifting her eyebrows and smiling. She was driving a beautiful new sporty silver convertible. Elizabeth gazed at in wonderment and awe.

"When did you get this?" She asked looking up at her friend.

"Birthday gift. It was in the shop for a while," She said with pride written all over her face. "Well? Are you coming? Or would you rather scream at the car some more?"

Elizabeth blushed and climbed clumsily into the passenger seat of Emma's car.


Emma and Elizabeth were laughing when they walked in, after Emma had just told a joke. Emma glanced at her watch and looked up with panic.

"Oh, I have to go. The yearbook committee is holding a meeting in two minutes!" She explained frantically. Their meeting room was all the way on the other side of the school, Far from the senior hall. She waved goodbye and jogged off in the opposite direction.

She made her way to her locker and opened it, grabbing the necessary books for her second period. Which was Algebra. Darn.

She turned around and what she saw shocked the gloominess of math right out of her. If it weren't for the three years she'd known him, she wouldn't have recognized him.

Josh was wearing a dark blue hoodie, with the hood pulled over his drooping head. His hands were shoved deep into his worn jean pockets and he was wearing slip-on black shoes. His backpack was low on his back and his shoulders were slumped. He was taking slow steps, as if each one hurt him mortally. He lifted his head up slightly and Elizabeth's eyes widened. His once light and happy eyes were black. Not blue. Black. Dark and deep, with a slight blue fire raging in them. He looked beyond angry, beyond sad, and for a second, Elizabeth thought if he could be sad about losing the game. But she knew him. He would've gotten over it. This was something serious, and she knew by the look on his face that he would kill anyone who dared to approach him at that moment.

But she had to try. It was bugging her so badly. She started to move towards him. Suddenly, a loud ringing signaled for the students to get to homeroom. Josh was in no hurry, but Elizabeth couldn't be late. She would have to speak to him in Chemistry, her fourth period.


Having heard absolutely nothing of what Mrs. Layla was saying in homeroom, Elizabeth knitted her eyebrows together as she walked out of the classroom. Why was he so mad? Was he even mad? Why did he look like he wanted to strangle someone?

She thought about this the whole way through her other two periods, but in third period she was forced to pay attention due to the fact they had Mr. Walker, and he wasn't exactly what you would call a happy camper when he caught someone not paying attention. If you were caught, you had a detention, or, at the least, a write up. She sighed and tried to keep her mind from wandering off to the darkness and fire that was in his eyes.

When the bell rang for her fourth period, she found herself getting nervous. What if he chopped her up into little bitty Lizzy pieces? That would so not be cool. Nonetheless, she stepped into the classroom and was relieved to see him sitting in his usual place next to the window. She walked towards him and sat down in the seat beside him.

He was looking out the window and didn't seem to notice her sitting there.

"Hey," she said softly and he flinched.

He very slowly turned his head towards her. It seemed her was straining not to look away. His hood was still over his head which made his face dark and angry. His eyes looked as though they were getting blacker by the second and the flame in them growing stronger. He just glared at her, like everything he was feeling was her fault. It made her feel that way, too, and she couldn't help but scoot away a little.

"How-"she gulped at his ferocious look, "how are you?"

Still, he just looked at her, but the glare was softening into just a blank stare, black eyes and all. He turned away with such quickness as opposed to his bitter and idle movement this morning. Elizabeth felt hurt. He wasn't going to talk to her, that was apparent, but why? Why was he being this way?

Mr. Bates coughed. He was the quiet type, and he always took out the handbook regarding the rules to the problems in the class. And the class had a lot of problems. He coughed again, louder this time, and the class got the picture as they settled down.

"Um, Mr. Evans? Please, no caps or hoods on in the building," he said, nearly a whisper, but the class was quiet. Josh couldn't pretend not to hear him.

He reluctantly pulled back his hood and nearly all of the class gasped, not including Elizabeth. She was too shocked to say anything. She just stared in horror at him.

His hair was in his eyes, not even brushed to the side, just straight down in his eyes. But that wasn't the worse part. It was black. He had dyed his hair pure ebony. It seemed to glow in the fluorescent lights of the classroom. Everyone was in shock, but Mr. Bates didn't seem to be affected.

"Please, settle down. Let's get on with the lesson people," he said waving his hands to get their attention. Everyone turned around to face him slowly, their eyes lingering on Josh, who was staring out of the window again.

"Oh my gosh. Josh what…" Elizabeth whispered but stopped short at a loss for words.

"Elizabeth…" She would have thought someone else had said it, if it wasn't so close to her ear. His voice was raspy, but soft and full of hurt and anger. He didn't say anymore, and he didn't turn to her. She just tried to pay attention, with little peeks at him every once in a while. He never moved. He was like a statue. A weird, sighing every five minutes statue.

The bell ringing made everyone jump due to the silence throughout the entire period. Josh was the last to leave, moving slow as he did in the morning. Elizabeth lingered at the door, and it didn't matter if she missed her next class, she was going to get some answers.

Josh walked out of the door with his head down and his hood back up. Elizabeth grabbed his arm swiftly and tightly. He flinched, but didn't pull away. He looked down at his arm, then at her.

"We need to talk. Now," she said as sternly as she could, but there was little authority in her voice.

"Lizzy, leave," He said with a strong commanding tone and with the authority she was trying to achieve.

She sighed, "Josh, please. I can't. Tell me."

He scowled and pulled away, hard. She couldn't hold on. He started to walk away and she followed him, having to jog to keep up.

"Josh! Please! I promise I won't laugh. Was it a dying accident? Is that why you're mad? Is it football? Please!" She pled with him and he rounded the corner, heading for the door to the parking lot, "Is it-"

She jumped back at least a foot when he slammed his hand hard against the lockers. She backed up against them as the flames in his eyes seemed to rise and fill them.

"NO!" he roared and she looked up at him in shock. "Lizzy, you don't understand. You don't…" he said a little lower. He looked at her. Her emerald eyes glittered with fear. She had never seen him like this.

He lowered his head and Elizabeth took a step towards him as she saw a single tear escape his eye and roll down his cheek onto his hoodie.

"No," he whispered, "I dyed my hair on purpose. No, this is not about football. No, I'm not mad at you (though the hurt in his eyes told her different). And no, I'm not going emo."

She smiled a bit, but it quickly faded when she saw the seriousness in his face. He sighed and pulled his hoodie from his head, running a shaking hand though his hair. The black strands still fell into his matching black eyes which had not died down.

"My-" he strained his eyes and his body tensed so much you would think he'd crumble as he spoke the words that had Elizabeth choking back tears and looking at him in shock, " My father died two nights ago."

Dear friend, what's on your mind?
You don't laugh the way you used to.
But I've noticed how you cry.
Dear Friend, I feel so helpless.
I see you sit in silence as you face the pain each day.
I feel there's nothing I can do. Dear friend, you are so precious dear friend.

Dear Friend by Stacie Orrico