Game Over: Life's Over

My Life's Falling Apart

Alex crashed into the locker beside mine and adjusted his backpack strap over his shoulder. "We need to go to the mall after school. Jenna found out I was sleeping with Cierra and I need to get her something to smooth things over. We were supposed to go to Homecoming but now she doesn't want to go. And I can't take Cierra because she's already going with Lucas Owens."

I rolled my eyes. Alex's life felt like a soap opera. There was always something dramatic going on. It was always his fault yet he never wanted to own up to things he did wrong. He just wanted to cover it with a band-aid and move past it. "Sorry, but I can't. As much fun as it sounds to buy a gift for Jenna, I can't go today. My mom told me to come home right after school."

Alex raised an eyebrow. I wasn't one to skip any plans we made for each other. We liked hanging out and bullshitting after school. "Seriously? You're going to ditch me?"

I shut my locker door. "You know how my mom gets. She likes to spend that one night a week with me."

"Why is it so important? She's never home most nights anyway."

I rolled my eyes. Even though it ticked me off a little, Alex was right. My mom worked so much that I hardly ever saw her. I knew how to take care of myself. And if I ever needed anything, Alex's mom was more than eager to help me out. "If I go home early tonight then I won't have to the rest of the week and the weekend."

"My life is falling apart. I need your help, Jake."

"You need therapy." I laughed.

Alex shoved my arm and walked backward in the direction of our first-period class. Most of our classes were together. I couldn't escape him, no matter how hard I tried to. "I think you definitely need to go. You've lost your senses. You're making up lies."

I reached out and punched his shoulder. "Shut up and go. We're going to be late."

Alex turned around and headed into our classroom. Our teacher, Ms. Bradford, gave both of us questionable looks. The bell rang just as we entered the classroom.

Our desks were in the back of the room. Ms. Bradford had let us pick our seats before she realized how bad of an idea that was. She hadn't changed our seats just yet but I knew it was coming.

Alex glanced in Jenna's direction but Jenna was refusing to make eye contact with him. Ouch. A friend of hers who sat to her right, Nicol Mason, glared at Alex, her arms crossed over her chest. Double ouch.

I sat down at my desk and began twirling my pen around my fingers as Alex slumped into his seat beside me. He looked so dejected and sad. Good. Maybe then he'd realize girls didn't like when you cheat on them.

"I can't believe she didn't even look at me. She's really pissed."

"You think?" I whispered back.

Ms. Bradford cleared her throat, her eyes staring in our direction. Once we had been reprimanded, she began teaching as if nothing had happened.

---

Alex was still mad that I couldn't go with him to find something for Jenna. I knew she wouldn't want it and she wouldn't take him back but that never stopped him before. He wanted to say he did all he could before he gave up. He wasn't going down without a fight.

I, on the other hand, was tired of hearing about how horrible things were for him. He got himself into that mess when he slept with Cierra.

Alex looked downright miserable as he drove off after dropping me off at my house. I felt bad for not going with him but mom would have been mad if I didn't come home like she asked and I wasn't about to deal with that. Mom was busy a lot and didn't always have time for me. But if she wanted to ground me, she would and it would be miserable.

So I wasn't going to even entertain that notion by doing something to make mom mad.

I walked into the house and dumped my backpack on the floor by the door. I couldn't wait until the day I didn't have to carry the stupid thing around.

"Mom?"

"I'm in here, sweetie."

I rolled my eyes. I hated when she called me anything other than my name.

The house was very... boxed in, in a way. Each room was separated by walls and doors. The front door opened up to a foyer with shining white tile floors and wainscoting on either side of the walls. To the left was the living room and to the right was the kitchen. Each room was separated by a door of some sort. The living room door slid into the wall. Mom called them pocket doors but I just called them stupid.

As I entered the room, I found mom sitting on our cream-colored couch. She still wore her outfit from work. Sitting in her lap was an envelope.

"Have a seat. Your results came in from the testing."

I sat down at the other end away from her and put my legs up on the ottoman that matched the couch. "Are you supposed to go over the results even if they're negative?"

She looked down at the envelope before she looked over at me. "That's what we need to talk about. Your results... they were positive."

Surely I didn't hear her right. "I don't think so. Did you read the paper right?"

Her lips pursed into a thin line, hiding the pink lipstick she wore. "Jacob-"

I sat up. "This has to be a mistake. Maybe they switched my results with someone else's. We have to go get a retest."

Mom sighed. "This is an official document. It was sealed shut. It came straight from the lab."

Fuck. This couldn't be happening. There was no way my results were positive. How the hell was that possible?

"I want a retest."

Mom set the folded-up paper on the coffee table and turned to face me. "Jacob, these are your results. It's not going to change if you get your blood tested again."

All I could hear was my blood pumping in my ears. "No. I-" Clearly, there was no way this was wrong. The lab tested for a specific gene. They knew what they were doing. But my results couldn't be positive. They couldn't find the gene in my DNA.

It wasn't possible.

It shouldn't be happening.

Mom reached out for me, her hand laying over mine. "Jacob, honey-"

I yanked my hand back and jumped to my feet. "Don't touch me!" I hardly ever got overly emotional. I didn't like to cry around others or show that I was afraid. But I felt like I was losing it and I couldn't hold it back.

Leaving mom and that fucking note, I ran up the steps and to my room. It was the first bedroom at the top of the steps and almost half the size of mom's. It was plenty big for me.

I slammed the door shut behind me as I stepped inside. I kicked the door behind me and slid down until I reached the floor.

My heart was racing. My heart stopped. My heart was in my throat. My heart plummeted into the depths of my torso.

I couldn't breathe.

My entire life was over. Everything I'd ever dreamed of being or doing was over. I'd gotten the worst news anyone could ever get. At 17, there was no future for me. Anything I'd ever thought of doing was now out of reach. No, it was held away from me and I was told I couldn't get it because it was for grown-ups.

Fuck my life.