Bitter

thirty-seven - cal

   "Good morning faculty and students," Principal Norris's voice crackled throughout the school. "This morning we received some deeply saddening news that many of you may already know about and it hurts my heart to have to tell all of you this." Pause. "We were informed that one of our fellow students, Jason Miller, passed away unexpectedly last night. We have counselors and other resources available for anyone who needs them during this heartbreaking time and we understand..." I zoned out. The entire class was silent except for a few girls crying in the back of the room. All I could do was stare down at my desk.

   I'd heard what happened early this morning from Mom. Jason's parents must have contacted her first about it. No one told me the details, and honestly, I don't think they even knew anything about how it happened. Where was he found? I grimaced just thinking about the possibilities. There were rumors going around that Jason had done it purposely to himself. I didn't think so, I knew him better than that. Better than anyone here did.

   Marco and Zach had texted me about it in our group chat but I hadn't said anything yet. I was still waiting to wake up from some bad dream and find Haley gone and Jason alive again. That was weird to think. Jason wasn't alive. He didn't exist anymore like he had just yesterday. One of my friends was dead.

  A tap on my shoulder made me jump a little and I looked up to see my English teacher, Mr. Shafer, watching me carefully. "You doing okay, Cal?" he asked quietly.

   I shifted in my seat and nodded, then stared back down at my desk. Mr. Shafer began his lecture but told us he'd cut it short today because of the situation. I didn't listen to anything he was saying; it was all drowned out by the sounds of sniffling and the way the room was getting so hot. No one else seemed to notice though, so when I stood up abruptly in the middle of his presentation, all eyes were on me. I was looking at him and I just turned without speaking and hurried out the door. He didn't even try calling me back and I was grateful for that.

   My hand searched for my phone in my pocket as I strayed off down the hallway and I took it out, seeing there was a text from Lydia. It had been sent just a minute ago and it was only two words long.

   I'm sorry, it read.

   It took me a minute before I realized I was just staring at the text, then I rolled my eyes before I even considered saying something stupid back to her. I just turned my phone off and put it away. I couldn't deal with this right now. This fake sympathy from Lydia. Just because we'd agreed to exchange phone numbers didn't mean she was supposed to bother me about everything. It was just for information about Haley, that was it.

   Speaking of Haley, I hadn't seen him all day and I wasn't complaining. If I saw his face I probably wouldn't be able to control myself and I'd get detention again. He'd mock me or smile or something and I'd make sure to knock him out.

   Then, there was also the "coincidence" of Jason's death reeling in my mind. I don't know, something about Jason hanging out with Haley and then ending up dead didn't sit right with me. There was something going on and I knew deep down, Haley was behind this somehow.

———

   It was a little bit after I'd gotten home from school that Mom cracked my bedroom door open. I had been sitting at my desk this whole time, my laptop displaying one sentence of my essay. Yeah, it was due tomorrow, but at least I remembered I even had homework this time. Besides, it was a good distraction. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone anyway.

   "Hey," Mom interrupted, "can I come in?"

   I was going to ignore her, but then I sighed,  glancing over. "Fine," I grumbled, and she made herself at home. She entered and wrinkled her nose, though she didn't comment on the state of my room. Clothes were bundled up in heaps on the floor (I was going to wash them, I promise) and empty bowls and glasses sat on my nightstand and desk.