Waiting for Tomorrow

Chapter nineteen: Julianna.

April 2, 2021.

I can't believe it's April.

The doctor's appointment was exactly a month ago. At my appointment, we decided to go with sticking me on both anti-androgens, which will lower my testosterone levels, and estrogen. Luckily, both are pills, which is great, because I hate needles. I started everything close to the end of February, so its been a little over a month. Obviously, I haven't seen any results yet, but close to the end of the school year I will probably start getting boobs, which has me excited.

Anyways, back to what I really wanted to talk about. Asher and I had still been texting still, but just as friends. Jaidyn kept telling me to go ahead and ask him out, while Jayden said I shouldn't just assume he's straight, especially since none of us have seen anything that would give us hints as to who he's attracted to. I have always been super careful and a big chicken when it comes to things like this, so I've been procrastinating asking him out.

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I finished my last proof in my geometry homework, then put my textbook and notebook back in my backpack. I was excited to have nothing else to do the entire afternoon, and then I remembered it's the kids' night to cook. Darn it.

I headed downstairs and grabbed the pack of chicken one of my siblings had left out to defrost and opened it. I rinsed the meat, put it in a ceramic dish, sprinkled it with spices, then stuck it in the oven to bake. I set a timer on my phone before returning to my room. Jayden had seemed extra distant today, so I sensed something's worrying her. I wanted to cheer her up a little bit, so I sent her a funny tweet I had found earlier. She didn't reply.

-=-=-

April 3, 2021.

I arrived at school a little early, so I met up with Asher and waited at Jayden's locker for her. The second I saw her turn onto our part of the hallway, I knew something was very wrong. The way she carried herself was different. Her face was a bit red. She didn't look like she felt well.

She lifted her head to see us at her locker and began to tear up. She slowly walked closer to me specifically and I engulfed her in a hug. She weakly fell into me.

"Jayden, what's going on?" I asked, extremely concerned.

"It's been a year," she whispered.

"What?"

"It's been a year since Isaiah died."

The warning bell rang. "Uh, I think I'm gonna head to class," Asher said. "I'll let Marks know why you're late."

I mouthed a 'thank you' and returned my focus to Jayden.

"Why did you come to school today? You should've taken a mental health day or something," I said to her. Right after it came out my mouth I realized I already knew the answer.

"Mom."

The hallway was mostly empty now. I slowly moved to sit on the floor with my back against the lockers. Jayden sat next to me, with me still hugging her.

"Do you wanna tell me about him? I know talking with someone can help. It did when my dad died, at least."

Jayden was silent, then hesitantly spoke. "Sure." She sniffed, then wiped her eyes.

"His full name was Isaiah Samuel Green. We met at dance," she started crying harder, and she couldn't stop. I pulled her into a tighter hug, and she cried into my shoulder.

"You used to do dance?" I asked. I felt her nod her head.

"Back before my mom changed."

"We should skip school," I said.

"What?" She pulled away.

"I'll text my mom and tell her, she'll understand. I'll text Caleb to bring me his keys and I'll take his car back to the house, since I have my license. We can do whatever the hell you want today, even if it's just napping all day." I gave her a small smile.

"Oh. Okay." She wiped her eyes again.

I texted my mom, then Caleb. I told him what classrooms we were near, and he asked his teacher to go to the bathroom and brought us the keys. My mom responded as we were on our way out to the parking lot just saying to be careful on the drive home. We were quiet on the way home, just listening to the songs on the radio. When we arrived at our destination, the dogs greeted us, causing a small smile to appear on Jay's face. We ended up watching Isaiah's favorite shows and movies for a while, then I made quesadillas for us for lunch.

"I think I might be ready," she said.

"For what?"

"To tell someone what happened to him."

"If you want to, sure. Just don't feel pressured, okay?"

"I don't. I think I can do it," she sighed. "So, here's the story. The story behind Midnight Eyes."

Y'all are lucky, you're getting two chapters today!! :)