Addiction (Jim x Tilly - The Basketball Diaries fic)

Chapter 2. It's like absolute hell

Tilly
Another morning dawned bright as day, and I hazily laid there until I heard the school bus pull up outside. Dazed, my mind raced through the events of yesterday and I remembered that yesterday was Sunday, meaning today was a school day. 'Shit!' I shouted as I jumped out of bed, running over to the pile of clothes on my floor and fishing my school uniform out from it. I threw on my uniform and ran out of my apartment, slamming the door behind me. I fumbled down the stairs and ran outside just as the bus pulled away from the curb. I sighed in defeat turning back around, just to be greeted by a smiley Jim. 'Heyyyy Tilly' he said nervously, his eyes wandering around and his feet shaking slightly. 'Are you high?' I demanded. 'No, no, no, not exactly' I raised an eyebrow. 'Okay, yes. Yes i am'. I let out another sigh 'at this time of the morning? what was it, your breakfast?' I said sarcastically. 'Maybe' Jim mumbled under his breath, although I still heard him. I turned to leave and I felt a sharp tug on my blazer 'What are you doing out here anyway? Aren't you meant to be on your way to school Tilly?' he questioned, making me laugh a little at his confusion. 'I missed the bus' I said hesitantly. I was about to ask why Jim wasn't in his school uniform, but I then recalled that he got himself, Mickey and Paedro kicked out because of being high during a basketball game. I stared at the air for a bit, before starting 'I should get going, It's a long walk to school-' but I was interrupted 'I could walk you?' Jim asked nervously. I smiled warmly at him, remembering how even though he was high, he still had a caring side to him, and said 'Yes, that would be nice'. We set off down the road on our long trek to school.

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An hour and a half later, I arrived at the dooming school gates. I turned round to thank Jim for his company, he returned it with a simple "You're welcome", before we locked eyes. Butterflies arose in my tummy once again and I couldn't help but wonder if he ever felt the same. 'Don't be stupid Tilly!' I brushed off the thought before turning round, saying 'See you later!' and walking through the gates.

The school - or hell as I like to call it - was a tattered, ruined and simply unusable building. Somehow, the council still had enough money to keep it up, despite it being the worst school going. The walls had moss up them, windows smashed and doors caked from top to bottom in mud. They were just hanging on by the hinges, but made a terrible squeaking sound whenever someone opened or closed them. Like I said, it was a true living hell.

I pushed open the squeaky doors and stepped inside the building. I knew I had probably missed my first class and I didn't want to walk in half way through my second. So I decided to head straight to where everyone ditched lessons and sat underneath the bleachers. Surprisingly, nobody was there (which was sort of a relief!). I took a cigarette from my packet inside my blazer, lit it up and breathed in the pure happiness it made me feel, thinking about Jim and how helpless he was outside when he was high. I started to worry a bit, but just brushed it off. 'He'll be fine' I thought and smiled to myself a bit. The serotonin one boy could give me was insane.

I sat there for what felt like ages until I heard somebody coming. I quickly rubbed out my cigarette on the ground and stood up, just as I was about to leave, I heard a familiar voice. "Tilly!! Yoo hoo, wassup!". I turned round to see Amy, my best friend, climbing underneath the bleachers. My face drowsed a bit as I said "hey". "So you missed first period, and most of second" she mentioned. "Oh yeah, I missed the bus. But then Jim walked me here and-". "JIM? AS IN YOUR TOTAL HOT BEST FRIEND??!" she shouted. I ran over to her, covering her mouth with my hand. If we were found out here skipping class, we would get suspended. That didn't bother me one bit, but I knew it would bother Amy. I felt jealousy rise up inside of me. What was wrong with me? Why did I feel like this? I knew I had feelings for Jim, but to get jealous at my best friend for saying that he was hot? No. I couldn't do that. Amy must've felt the tension between us rise, as she took a step back, her hands up and laughed nervously "chill, you know I was joking. I know how much you looove him". I mentally congratulated myself for not smacking her right then and there, and said "yeah, I know". I rolled my eyes and walked off, lighting yet another cigarette. Yes Amy was my best friend, but she really did get on my nerves sometimes and she knew it. It was like she had total power over me whenever I was around her. I needed to drop her and find someone else. But the thing was, I was pretty much a loner since the boys got expelled, and nobody really hung around with me as I had too much of an 'attitude'. I didn't see it that way, but it's whatever. I figured that I had already missed two of my lessons, and I only had another two left - both Geography and English, neither of which I cared about - so there wasn't much point of me being in school. I sided round the outskirts of the school and made my swift exit, not sure what I was about to go, so I just walked to see where it took me. I knew Mom would be mad at me for skipping school, but I really couldn't care less anymore. In all honesty, I didn't see the point of school. It taught you shit that you would never need, and where was all the essential things I would really need in life?

——

As I turned a corner, I saw a figure just standing against a wall, fiddling with his jacket and mumbling to himself. I was scared, but decided to go and see who it was. As I got closer, I recognised that it was Jim. "Jim! Hey! Over here!", he looked up with tired eyes and smiled weakly. "Tilly hey! I was waiting here for you, I knew it wouldn't be long before you decided to skip school" his eyes drew heavier and I realised that he was coming down. We were an hour and a half away from our houses and there was no where to take him. I grabbed his arm and threw it over my shoulder and said "let's hop onto the subway and get you back home". He slowly nodded and we set off down the street, his feet tripping over each other.

After what felt like years, we reached the subway. I knew I didn't have any money on me, so I checked Jim. As I was about to take out his wallet, he grabbed my hand, restricting me from reaching it and raising his voice "No! That's for my-" "Yes yes I know! But we need to get home" I replied nervously. If i'm being honest, Jim scared me when he was coming down. When he was high, he was the sweetest person ever, but coming down was a different story. "Fuck needing money for the subway! Just hop on, nobody's gonna..." he trailed off. I had no idea what he was about to say next, so I just decided to take his advice and hop on.

Can you let me know if you can see the pictures at the start of the chapter because whenever I view it as the reader, I can never see it??
Thank you!!
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