Warning: this story will have mentions of the following:
Suicide
Self harm
Sex
Drugs
Bullies and bullying
Fake friends
Swear and slang words/language
And adult activities
Intro:
"Plagarism? How did you get in trouble for plagarism?"
I shrugged,
"It's pronounced plagiarism, and my parenthetical citation didn't save. I didn't mean to copy it all. I don't do that."
Taylor smiled, "well duh! You're smart enough to write your own essay. Which one was it anyway?"
"The 'Past Mistakes, Present Problems, Hopeful Future' one. 5 out of 6 pages were my writing. The last was just an article I found online about a similar study in what teenagers would change, if they could, about their past, what they're doing now in school and life, and what their hopes are for the future..."
Taylor made a face, "so basically...she's full of shit?"
I shook my head, "no she's right I should've double checked. And plagiarism is serious. You can get kicked out of college or even arrested for it. She went easy on me and gave me a warning, and a zero."
I looked down. I hated getting bad grades, I hated it even more that I let down a teacher whom I'd really liked, and she really believed in me and had hopes for me. I just ruined that.
Taylor put an arm around me, and her being MUCH shorter, made it funny and we both laughed.
"It's alright, it's the last marking period, and you only need a 40 on your finals right? Plus, I saw your papers handed back, you got like six 100's and a few high 90's. No big deal. That zero is as good as gone!"
I nodded, but the words stuck with me.
"As good as gone...
That's some tumblr shit right there," I thought.
Speaking of tumblr...
"Jackie,"
I turned around to the sound of someone saying my name, only to get smushed into a tight hug.
I laughed.
"Hi Nathan," I whispered into his arm.
He smelled good. He smelled fresh and clean and I detected a hint of his Parisian Cologne.
He let me detach and looked at me for a moment, brushing a hair out of my face.
"Ready to go?" He asked.
Taylor made a puking sound and a face at his back. He turned around slowly and glared at her while she whistled, obviously guilty.
"Aw I love you guys," I said hugging Taylor too.
She squealed and we all laughed.
Nathan took my hand in his and my heart fluttered.
I took a deep breath and just enjoyed the moment. I looked around at my other classmates hanging around in the hallway waiting for class. Anthony was arguing with Nick C about baseball, Emma and Stephanie were complaining about school, and Cristian was picking on Brendan for having his braces taken off and looking weird. But this was the norm now.
The norm.
Weird,
Things could be so different,
If I had changed things.
If I could go back.
For a moment I let my mind wander and think back to through these past 3 months. I thought about all the drama, the scandal, the sadness, and happiness I had endured.
I blinked.
It was all coming back.
