It Happened Last Summer

02

picture of Lacey is on the side #girlcrush

{Lacey}

Just one more year. Maybe even less than that at this point, no one really knows for sure. But I only have to get through one more year before school is no longer a concern.

I stared at the school building in front of me, as if getting out of my car would literally cause me to die right there in the parking lot. Lucky for me, I was dying for other reasons. I had taken it upon myself to start driving to school. My parents weren't around much anymore. Seeing as how I spent most of my nights in the hospital, they had to take on extra shifts at work to keep up with the medical bills.

Walking into school for the first time in three months wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. It was worse. You hope in your mind that all of your friends would be happy to see you again and come rushing over to you, squeezing you in a hug so tight that it hurts to breathe. You hope to hear stories about their summer adventures and all the plans they have for the new year.

But that only happens when you have friends to actually miss you.

I was lucky that I had received my semester schedule online so that I wouldn't have to face the long lines in homeroom. I searched after my locker number, silently praying it was far away from the boys' bathroom. After finding it, I took my cell phone out of my purse and put it in my back pocket. I grabbed a notebook from my bag before stuffing it on the top shelf of my locker in a hurry.

I closed the small metal door and turned around in search of the English hall, until my eyes landed on something familiar. More like someone familiar.

My old friends, Ashley and Mandy were walking over to me at a pace that was fast enough to make me nervous. Their cheer skirts were pulled up high enough that you could see the bottom of their ass, but knowing them, it was intentional.

"Well well, if it isn't Forrest Gump. Have fun running away from your problems?" Ashley snickered at me, and Miranda laughed in a squeaky voice as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard in her life.

"Ash, can we please not do this?" I begged the blonde cheerleader in front of me who only rolled her eyes in response.

"Only my friends can call me that." She said in harsh tone.

"Did you hit your head on something and suddenly forget the last ten years?" I asked her in disbelief. "We've always been friends."

"No, I think you must have hit your head when you passed out during summer. You can't just run off during the biggest practice of our season and then quit the team in a text message. You're pathetic, just like your cheer routines were. We're better off without you on the team, it just took you leaving for us to see it." Her words hit me like a brick to the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. The girl I had known since I was eight years old, now stood in front of me as a complete stranger.

"Don't expect to eat at our lunch table this year," Miranda sneered. "You can eat in the bathrooms for all we care."

Ashley waved her manicured fingers at me as they walked away. "Have fun with the other pieces of shit that you find."

I tried my best to let her harsh words go right out the other ear, but they stuck, rattling around and repeating themselves over and over in my head. I watched as the two girls walked away, their butt cheeks fighting to stay inside their skirts. I played that day back in my mind like I had every single day since it happened. Passing out during practice, waking up in the hospital, hearing the news that changed my life. I was too scared and embarrassed to face the girls on the team, so I did the only thing I felt strong enough doing. Quitting. The day of Nationals. I sucked in a deep breath and refused to let a tear fall, walking straight towards the English hall.