High School. A Teens Best Friend. Yeah Right.

By Risty Maskell and Silver15

Disclaimer: Nope, not ours.

Summary: Aww geez, you read this far. You guys don't need a summary.

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Over the next few days, things more or less went back to normal. Laddie followed me everywhere and he was a big hit with everyone. In fact he seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting. Billee was still waiting to hear from his aunt and uncle about Colan, but there had been no sign of his father luckily. Colan was getting better too, and believe me, he adored Elrond. If the young elf ever disappeared, we always knew where to find him. In Elrond's office, bugging our Principal.

Boromir and I were closer than ever, and everyone was thrilled over Frodo and Jaime's engagement. As for Jaime, and me well our friendship was as strong as ever. With Laddie by my side, I had managed to go back to classes, even though people still talked about me behind my back. I was still a tiny bit angry with Jaime, but I knew that life was too short to stay angry with people for long.

But although everything seemed all right on the outside, it wasn't like that. To be honest, I was still feeling very depressed and I was still cutting regularly. I don't think anyone noticed. Jaime was spending a lot of her time with Frodo, and Billee and Legolas were always busy with Colan. I didn't want to tell them how bad I was feeling because I didn't want them to worry. I knew that any of them would take time to listen if I told them how bad I was feeling, but I didn't think that they needed to hear about my problems. Jaime was really happy for the first time in a long time and I wasn't going to be the one to spoilt that for her.

So, as usual, I put on a brave face in front of the others. I guess that I was a bit quieter than normal, but no one mentioned it. During the evenings, I would take long walks in the grounds with Laddie. Sometimes Boromir would join us too, but often it was just Laddie and me. At night I would cry softly into my pillow, taking care not to wake anyone else. Deep in my heart, I knew I needed help, but I didn't know whom to turn to.

One night, long after everyone else was asleep, I crept down to the infirmary to get another bandage. I had cut my arm pretty deep again and it was bleeding quite a bit. There were only three people in there and luckily they were all out cold. Two of them were younger kids suffering from the flu. The other one was in my gym class and he had been knocked out cold by a basketball. One that Billee had thrown actually. No surprise there, Billee is famous for being lethal with basketballs. Or balls of any kind come to think of it.

Next to me, Laddie whimpered softly. He didn't like the infirmary very much. I can't say I blame him. It's a cold horrible place. And there is no escape from Gandalf.

"Ssssh, Laddie" I whispered, putting a finger to my lips. "I'll just get a bandage and then we'll get out of here. I don't like it either"

Slowly, being careful not to make any sudden noises, I made my way over to the cupboard where Gandalf kept most of his stuff. He has two of them, one for bandages and cream and stuff and one for tablets. Since Billee overdosed on sleeping tablets last year, Gandalf has been extra careful with his sleeping pills and painkillers. He keeps them in a locked cupboard and only he has the key. Only he can give them to students and he'll only give them one at a time and never more than three days running.

I got a small bandage and I was just about to go out when I saw Gandalf's key lying on the floor. The idiot must have dropped it. I looked at it and suddenly had an idea. Quietly I picked it up and opened his 'locked' cupboard.

I looked at the packets of pills, barely able to tell them apart. Finally, I took two packets of twenty-eight sleeping pills and locked the cupboard up again. I placed the key where I had found it, before going back to the dorm.

Once there, I cleaned and bandaged my arm, then slipped the pills into my private drawer, underneath my diary. I only planned to use them if things got any worse, so in the meantime I could only hope that Billee or Jaime wouldn't find them…

I undressed and slipped into bed, feeling slightly better now that I knew I could do something if things got bad. I felt in control now and that comforted me. With Laddie at my side, I fell asleep.