Try Again

Chapter 6

Mira's POV

We are to write a report on the Asian Tigers and their economic lessons, so I thought..." Tyler rambled on but I wasn't paying attention.

We are currently in a cute restaurant called Jennifer's, they had the best burgers I had ever tasted. You should have seen Selena's face when she saw me getting into Tyler's car this afternoon. It was hilarious. And there was Azalea who looked like she saw a ghost.

"Are you even listening?" Tyler asked, slightly annoyed when he saw her staring into space.

"No."

"But we are here because of the project."

"I know."

He sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Is there something else you would rather talk about?"

"You."

He immediately spotted a serious look, "Me? Why?"

Did he just ask me that?

"Oh, I don't know," I drawled. "Perhaps it's because you knocked me down in the hallway last week without apologizing or maybe it's because I caught you taking pills in the hallway" I commented. "Who knows?"

He flinched at my words, "Don't talk about that." He said, gritting his teeth.

"I won't if you tell me why you took them."

He scoffed, "And if I don't?" He said. I gave him an eerie smile.

He stared at me for a while, contemplating, "What do you want?" He finally asked.

I beamed victoriously, "I want to be your friend." I told him. I wanted to know what was wrong with him.

He glanced at me as if I had two heads, "You want to be my friend?" He asked unconvinced, pointing at himself. I nodded. "That's all?" He asked and I nodded again.

I stretched out my hand, "Friends?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shook my hands. "Sure."

He didn't know what he just got himself into but he'll know soon enough. I couldn't just stay and watch my classmate depressed and in pain without doing anything to help. I planned to render him the best help in the whole world. Jesus, man's best friend.

Tyler cleared his throat to get my attention. "Did I knock you down?" He asked, ruffling his hair nervously.

I peeked at him to see if he was joking but he looked serious, "Yes you did. In the hallway, on Thursday during lunch. Don't you remember?" I asked in disbelief. I was in pain all this time and he did not know.

He seemed to realize something, "Oh. I thought it was my imagination." He murmured but I still heard him.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't intentional." He apologized. He looked sincere.

I sighed, "Don't worry. You are forgiven." I responded with a smile.

He took a deep breath, "Since we are friends now, can you keep what you saw to yourself?" He asked.

"Sure," I assured him. "What are friends for?"

*****

As I lay on my bed, I couldn't help but think about what has happened in the last couple of days. I looked at the clock to see that it was already 8:15 pm. Tyler had dropped me off earlier and ever since then, I've been thinking of ways to help him. I couldn't seek advice from anyone because I promised not to leak his secret. But how am I supposed to keep it to myself?

After what I witnessed on Friday, I got home and googled about depression and its causes and there were a lot of causes. It could be caused by Trauma, physical or emotional abuse, terrible past events, the loss of a loved one, loneliness, and so on.

Honestly speaking, Tyler didn't even look depressed. I admit that I always found something odd about him but depression was not on my list. Although in school he was always so quiet, even when he was still a bit popular. He didn't interact with anyone except Jeremy and Shawn. Perhaps he had been depressed ever since and I just didn't notice.

There was something else that bugged me. What was Jeremy talking about in the hallway? Something about his father. Does he have family issues? Oh Lord, I'm so confused. I shut my eyes.

'Holy Spirit, I need your guidance right now. Help me so I can reach out to my friend. And touch his heart so that he may listen.' Amen.