*Pence*

"Olette, I heard that you're going to the dance tomorrow with Hayner. Is that true?" I asked, honestly surprised. I had sort of been planning to ask Olette, but my nervousness got the best of me at the last second and Hayner had beat me to it, according to him, at least.

Olette laughed nervously and nodded yes.

"Well, I feel pain for you, Olette," I said, feigning sadness. I may be the peaceful one in our group of three, but that didn't mean I had no sense of humor. Plus, I was jealous of the lucky jerk that got to go with Olette.

We were walking home together, but Olette suddenly stopped. "Hey, that's rude!" she said defensively, almost nervously.

"Um, are you okay? You've been kind of nervous these past few days, and I'm worried," I said as Olette began to walk again.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Olette trailed off, obviously thinking.

"You're fine, but…?"

"But Hayner's not," she blurted out suddenly. It surprised me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, lifting my eyebrows.

Her big, bright green eyes nearly pierced my own brown ones because of the heavy amount of sorrow they carried.

"Olette…" I said, grabbing her by the arm. I could see something was really wrong, and I wanted to intervene and make her happy again.

"Do you remember when you called me back in December or so and you said you thought Hayner wanted to kill himself?"

"Olette, I think he's changed his mind since then. Plus, I had no evidence," I said quietly.

"No, his mind's made up. He's even more set on it now. He's going to kill himself soon, I just know it," Olette finished with tears streaming down her face.

"Okay, calm down, Olette," I said, putting my hands on her shoulders and facing her. "How do you know he's going to?"

"When he asked me to go to the dance with him, he said 'before it's too late'. At first, I didn't notice, but then I realized what it meant. Like he'd never get another chance for this. I just couldn't live with myself not telling anyone. I'm so scared, Pence!" She was full-on sobbing now.

"Okay, we'll talk to him tomorrow. Don't just come out and mention it, Olette. Let me talk to him, okay? Everything will be fine," I said, giving her a quick hug for comfort.

She wiped tears from her eyes and agreed. The rest of the walk home was silent and awkward. She wouldn't stop worrying for the rest of Hayner's life, I knew.

"Hey, Hayner, you still upset about that Olette thing? " I mentioned at lunch, casually. Roxas had stopped sitting with us, and Olette was sitting with Xion, Selphie, and Nami, so it was just Hayner and me. "I mean, you are going to the Valentine's Day dance with her."

"A little bit," Hayner admitted. "I mean, I'm psyched that she's going to the dance with me and everything, but I think she just said yes out of pity."

You jerk, you're making her cry! You're not worth her tears, if you're going to act like this. Olette doesn't deserve to cry.

"Why would you think that?" I asked, partially surprised, partially furious.

"I don't want to sound rude or anything, but she's never showed interest in me as anything beyond as a friend. Not even as a best friend. Gosh, I'm just that pathetic, aren't I? I just screw everything up. Including Olette's life. I should really stop this, but I don't know how to. Any ideas, Pence?" Hayner put a little laugh in at the end to make it positive, but it wasn't helping.

Olette's right. He feels horrible about himself. I need to do something.

"Hayner-"

"I have to go. I'm sorry, Pence, but I need to go work on a project for, um, math. Bye," Hayner said. And with that, he was gone.

What do I tell Olette? He knows that we know, so he's avoiding us. Crap, this is complicated.

"Pence!" Olette's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "How did it go with Hayner?" She had this huge, adorable smile on her face, and I wasn't about to ruin it.

"Good. It was just a false alarm," I said, faking the biggest smile ever. She flashed me a tooth-filled smile, thanked me, and walked away.

I'm so, so, so sorry.

The next day, I (being the supportive best guy friend I am) went over to Olette's house with Selphie and Xion to help Olette get ready.

Xion was going with Axel, her best friend. Since this was merely a Valentine's Dance, most girls had opted for shorter dresses. Xion was wearing a knee-length black gown. I, not knowing much at all about dresses, told her she looked "fancy".

Selphie was going to the dance with Tidus. She and Tidus had grown up together and made that cheesy promise that they were going to get married when they got older. So far, the two were inseparable and seemed like they would fulfill their promise. Selphie, who had made it clear the day that I met her that her favorite color was yellow, was wearing a thigh-length, bright yellow dress.

Olette looked absolutely adorable. She had curled her hair, which made her look almost elegant. She had on a light pink dress which ruffled around her waist. She had a matching fake flower in her hair. She looked…like a girl, not just a tomboy. I loved it.

"You look…amazing, Olette," I said, nearly speechless.

She blushed. "Thanks. I hope Hayner thinks so, too," Olette giggled nervously. She really seemed to want to impress him.

The doorbell rang, and Olette's face went from pink to bright red as Xion ran to get it. The girls' dates were here. I was going to stay home, because this was not my type of thing, but I was going to see them all off anyways.

Axel, Hayner and Tidus stood in the doorway, just as speechless as I was. They were all eyeing their dates, gaping.

"Well, off you go! Have fun, everyone!" I exclaimed, staring straight at Hayner. Please don't worry Olette. .

Olette called me and started screaming and sobbing the second I picked up. I asked her what was going on, now worried and scared.

"Hayner and I were video chatting, like usual, but then-!" Olette began, but her choking sobs began to take over.

"Olette, calm down," I said, trying to calm myself.

"No! Hayner! He told me that he wasn't worth anything, and then started taking pill after pill after pill after pill and I've been trying to get him to vomit it back up, but he won't! He started to lie down in bed and closed his eyes! Pence, HELP!"

"Olette, you keep talking to him. I'm going to call an ambulance, okay?" I heard her mumble something that sounded similar to yes, then I hung up.

I need to think fast. What should I do? I know that I need to call an ambulance, but what do I do after that?

I grabbed my phone and slipped on a jacket and ran towards Hayner's house as fast as I could.

I dialed the emergency number with shaking hands and as soon as they picked up, I repeated what Olette had told me. They asked me for Hayner's address, which I gave them just before we said goodbye and hung up.

I felt a little more relieved knowing I was doing something to majorly help with Hayner's situation.

Still, I was worried. But I wanted Hayner to be okay. As much as he annoyed me, I thought he was really funny. And, even though, at times, I hated him, I really did care about him. He was one of my best friends, after all.

When I got to Hayner's house, Olette was sitting on his front porch, staring into the distance, tears streaming down her face.

Just seeing her like this, and feeling similar, I ran up to his door and began kicking it with all of my might.

"Hayner, open up! Hayner, I know you're in there! HAYNER! HAYNER!" I screamed through his door. I kept repeating his name over and over, until the police pulled me away. They kicked down the door and ran in.

I sat next to Olette and pulled her into a big hug. We sat there together, silently crying.

As we sat in the waiting room, I realized something, and it made me laugh.

"What are you laughing about, Pence? This is serious!" Olette hissed.

"This is the second time this year that the three of us have been in the hospital. And last time, it was for Hayner, too," I pointed out.

"That is sick and twisted, but actually funny," Olette said. She was tired and her eyes were puffy and red from crying for so long. Neither of us had tears left.

Hayner's parents were waiting with us, and they obviously didn't find my joke funny, but I'm sure they were just nervous and upset, too.

"Do you think he's okay?" Hayner's mother blurted out. Her husband rubbed her hand and shut his eyes, fighting back tears.

"Honestly?" I asked quietly.

"Honestly," she said, nodding.

"I don't know. We can only hope for the best," I truthfully said.

But, sometimes, the truth hurts more than any lie.

It was almost like watching someone else's life, not my own. The doctors came out and told this sad bunch of people that their son or best friend was dead, and there was nothing they could do now. The people cried and just sat there, staring at the wall. They didn't know what to do. A loved one was dead. At one point, they went home and just sat there, staring even more. They didn't know what to do with their lives.

But one thing was clear to them: they had to make sure this never happened again.