Welcome to Serenity

I Was Drowning

Annie's POV:
"Look! It's Annie!"

"Jenna, you owe me Twenty bucks! You thought she wouldn't come back to school for a month!"

"Tony, Annie's back!" I hear people whisper as I walk to my locker.

"Annie!" I hear someone exclaim as I open my locker. In an instant, two thin arms are wrapped around me.

"Hi Kyle." I smile, hugging him.

"'Hi Kyle'? That's all you have to say to your best friend!?" Kyle asks dramatically.

"I missed you." I say hugging him tighter.

"I missed you too." He whispers.

* * *

Throughout the day I get better and better at deflecting peoples questions. But honestly, I'm annoyed. Can't people mind their own business.

Luckly today is a half day, so I sit with Kyle and Simon, thinking of what we should do after lunch ends.

"We could go to the movies?" Simon suggests.

"The aircon broke last week." Kyle says. No way were we gonna survive a hot summer day in South Carolina without air conditioning.

As I start to pack away my stuff into my bag, I spot Ty walking into the cafeteria.

I watch him walk over to his friends, but he stops dead when Gabe says something and points at me.

He spins around fast and immediately makes eye contact with me. Slowly, he steps closer and closer to me until he's five feet away.

"What- why..." Ty stumbles on his words.

"The doctors let me leave early. Said that it would be better for me to heal at home and that it would be good for me to see my friends again." I explain awkwardly.

"There are so many questions I have." Ty breathes.

"I don't mind. Ask away." I lie. I don't know if I can handle more questions, but I will try for Ty.

"Okay. How are you?" Ty asks.

"I'm okay." I say honestly.

"Good. Good." Ty mumbles. He takes a deep breath then says, "Why did you do it?"

"What kinda question is that?" I ask annoyed.

"You have loving family and friends. You get good grades. You seem happy. Why..." Ty trails off.

"Why did I drown? Why did I not eat? Is that what you were asking?" I say bluntly, as the room goes silent. I swear I could hear a pin drop.

"Yeah. Why?" Ty asks again.

"Everything seemed fine. You seemed fine." He adds.

"I wasn't fine. I was just good at pretending." I spit back, tears starting to roll down my cheek.

"I was drowning, Tyler. I hated myself so much. And I couldn't come to terms with the fact something was wrong. And I couldn't talk to anyone about it." I yell, frustration turning into sadness.

"My Dad was busy failing to convince my Mum they shouldn't get a divorce, and Mum has always been a workaholic." I add.

"I was there." Ty states.

"No you weren't. You were busy with your perfect girlfriend, making sure no one could gossip about you." I snap back.

"You were never there for me. When I needed you most you weren't there!" I yell.