Suffocating

Senior

Sophie.

Someone poked my shoulder from behind. I turned around and some girl had pulled her chair over to mine. Her brown hair was pulled into a bun, revealing that she'd shaved the under side of her head.

"Why did Calvin Taylor walk you to class?" She asked, saying his name with disgust. Her lips were covered in a thick sheen of gloss.

I raised my eyebrows. "I don't know. They just asked him to do it."

"You should've asked for someone else to do it."

"Why?"

"You don't know?"

"Up until this morning, I didn't even know he existed."

She glanced around us before she lowered her voice. "He tried to kill himself on Friday. Slit his wrists."

I glanced at her, trying my hardest to keep my expression neutral. No one at my last school tried to kill themselves. At least that I know of. My freshman year, a senior couple died in a drunk driving accident on prom night but I didn't know them. "So?"

"What do you mean so? He went all emo and tried killing himself. That's... weird."

"Why is it weird?"

"People don't do that-"

"If people are depressed, then they might kill themselves. That doesn't make him emo."

She looked at me for a few seconds before her face turned up in disgust. "Ugh. You're just as bad as him."

I watched her move her chair back to her desk before I looked back down at my book. School was going to be a lot harder than I expected.

The bell rang and everyone got up from their seats. I grabbed my books and stuffed them in my backpack. I walked out into the hallway and I suddenly felt overwhelmed. There were so many students talking and walking to their next class. I had no one and no clue where to go.

How long would it take for me to make a friend? I was going to graduate in just weeks but how could I make it through without a friend? Maybe mom was right.

I opened my schedule and saw I was going to science. Room 315. It was only the second period of the day and I could already tell it was going to be a long day.

I found the stairs at the end of the hallway and climbed up them. In the middle of doing so, the bell rang and I groaned.

Was I ever going to make it on time?

"Are you still lost?"

I glanced up to the voice and saw Calvin sitting on the stairs that led to the roof. He was leaning against the wall, his head tilted back. Barely visible inside his sleeves were the bandages wrapped around his wrists.

"I at least know what floor I'm going to."

"What class?"

"Science with Mrs. Haines."

A smile tried to spread on his face but he stopped it short. "She's 73 and her memory is failing."

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

He shrugged. "Probably."

I stood awkwardly in front of him. I knew full well I needed to get to class. I was already late and the new kid. I didn't have much going for me.

He glanced at the door before looking at me. "You can sit if you want."

If what the girl had told me was true, he was probably depressed. I hated the thought of leaving him all alone. Especially if he decided to jump over the railing and down the three flights of stairs below.

I sat on the step below his so I was facing him.

"So you're a senior?"

I looked at him with wide eyes. "How do you know that?"

"Your schedule. Only seniors have Mrs. Haines." He didn't look surprised or excited. Just... emotionless.

"Oh."

"You'll figure things out soon enough." And that was all he said.