The Bucket List managed to make its way throughout the school within a matter of minutes. 1,894 students in 7 minutes and 32 seconds. I was at my locker retrieving some sheet music — I say retrieving but it was more like mining — when I checked the blog to see if the fake mourners had calmed down. Most of the school didn't pay too much attention to the bullshit the school Tumblr spurts, with the exception of the very few times something juicy was spilt. Something that even the people who avoided drama like the plague, needed in on. It took 18 minutes and 15 seconds for the whole school to find out I was gay. Wasn't the best day for me. I suppress it. Today was different; today it was The Bucket List. It was posted anonymously by someone who claimed to have been close to Gina. Whether it was real or not didn't matter; whoever completed it first was the ultimate mourner. A game, a challenge, and the whole school was in on it in less than ten minutes. The list was too personal for it not to be real, but anyone could have hacked into her social media accounts, her email, her friends could have made it up to keep everyone mourning. It was stabbing her in the back, showing something so personal.
1. Get over a thousand followers on my music Instagram
2. Get an A in physics
3. Compete in the jazz comp
4. Try some drugs, just to see how it feels to get high
5. Get a belly button piercing
6. Get drunk
7. Make out with someone I love
8. Travel to Italy
9. Do something wild as my graduation prank, like flood the school or something
10. Do something artsy and controversial
11. Stop being such a goody-two-shoes, break into a pool and go for a swim or something
12. Come out. To Harry at least, he knows what it's like
13. Go to prom
14. Wear something slutty
15. Tell my most hated teacher what I feel about him
16. Throw a party in the school tennis courts
17. Wear makeup to school
18. Feel confident enough to wear 50s style dresses
19. Perform at the Arts Centre in the city
20. Sneak out and go bowling with friends and have a wild night like that
I was one of the first to see the bucket list. It was going to send the school into havoc, and rapidly. I kept staring at number 12. Come out, she never did tell me, dying without anyone knowing. I didn't know how many of these things were ticked off, or if she ever did come out to anyone. I stopped my jog back to the music room. There was an uneven feeling in my chest. A realisation. I had impacted someone's life. The bucket list could be fake. It could all be bullshit. There was a tiny voice saying Gina had looked up to me. It was hard to ignore the growing chatter through the yard as the lunch bell rang. Avery wasn't anywhere in sight. I slipped out my phone in dire need of a good conversation, other than with the guy vaping next to the bin and the kid trying to haul a cello down the canteen stairs. Avery was like an extra limb for me, it was uncomfortable when she was missing.
Harry — have you seen the bucket list?
Avery — exqueeze me? Bucket list?
Harry — a bucket list, posted to Westbury blog
Avery — hello there, what's this. A bucket list from Gina?
Harry — yeup. might be wild
Avery — you can say that again
Avery —...omg number 12
Harry — yeah...I don't know how to feel
Avery — I can't imagine
Harry — it's just kinda strange
Avery — yeah dude, watcha gonna do?
Harry — what is there to do?
Avery — well, people might come up to ask you if she ever did come out to you.
Avery — I mean, did she?
Harry — no, she didn't.
Harry — I don't know what I'll say if people ask.
Harry — it's not really my place to say
Avery — yeah...but people are cruel and curious. You have to say something
Harry — ugh
Harry — I can't believe I'm saying this but I might make a post about it
Avery — I thought you said you were never gonna post on the blog
Harry — I did, but this is different
Avery — u okay?
Harry — not sure yet
Avery — I feel ya bro, hang in there
Harry — see ya on the other side
Avery — not if I catch you first
—
I was going to be epically late for class. The hallway was crowded with everyone talking about Gina and the bucket list. I caught snippets of conversations dude, do you think this is legit?/holy shit I wonder which teacher she hated the most/what a fucking rebel! Wish she really had the guts to trespass a pool, that'll be an epic story. It was all shit. All fucking shit. I wish Avery was here. I weaved through the crowd, it was choking me, being in seas of mostly strangers often did that. I tuned it out and started playing blue by miles davis in my head. It all merged into music. An easy distraction from the tiny angry person in my head rapping on the notice me door.
Louder and louder.
I didn't process things were spinning.
I lost my footing.
A hand grabbed my shoulder.
'Harry, you alright?' It was a familiar voice. I turned around, eyes slightly out of focus; I noticed a mass of curly hair. 'It's Amelia, from earlier.'
'Ugh, yeah, just feeling a bit sick,' I said, instantaneously feeling the several knots in my stomach.
'I hate this overly crowded school.' She pulled me by the arm, I didn't resist. We stood in the bright open space on the deck next to the canteen. 'Much better.' I took a moment.
'Thanks for that.' I looked a mess but ignored it.
'No problemo dude. School's shit, I feel that.' Amelia smiled. I nodded and stepped back, heading to class. Maybe I should have said more.
YOU ARE READING
THE WESTBURY HIGH FILES
Teen FictionShe was kind and never said a bad word, playing the music as she was told. It wasn't like her life impacted me, but it was enough to know that there wasn't going to be a pianist for Monday's ensemble rehearsal. I typed in Cystic Fibrosis. I knew I p...
