𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐒-

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐲

☆.｡.:*

THE SUPPORT GROUP SAT IN A SEMI CIRCLE IN THE USUAL MEETING SPOT, THE GYMNASIUM. mr. martin scribbled down movie suggestions from the members. A loud bang interrupted the sound of chalk scribbling. the gymnasium doors.

heidi jumped, turning her head towards the sudden noise, a very annoyed looking maddie nears stomped through the gym.

     "maddie, nice of you to join us." the man dressed in brown welcomed.. "we're brainstorming movies to watch tonight."

     "i'll tell you what i want to do." she said. "i want to find out why mr. anderson was talking on the phone about giving me money last night."

    "o... okay..." mr martin trailed, confused. "i'm not sure how to board that."

heidi leaned into charley, who she decided to sit beside this meeting. "who's mr. anderson?" she whispered.

charley leaned back. "one of her teachers. he's one of the english teachers."

     "oh, shit." heidi said.

charley nodded.

heidi turned back to maddie, once again paying attention to the current conversation.

      "how do you not know who mr. anderson is?" maddie asked, quite rudely heidi thought. "we were alive at the same time."

a small pit of embarrassment grew in her stomach. she didn't realize she was loud she spoke. she shrugged her shoulders.

     "i... i don't know." she said. "i never met him, i guess. sorry."

maddie scoffed. "totally." once again, heidi thought she could have been nicer about it.

wally looked at heidi, a small gesture to see if she was okay. heidi smiled slightly at him, reassuring him that she was okay. heidi was trying to hide her uncomfortableness with the very small interaction that her and maddie had just had.

     "who was he talking to?" wally asked.

maddie shrugged. "that's what i'm trying to figure out. so, i need to know if any of you know anything." heidi thought that maddie always sounded annoyed, and that every interaction she had with the group members seemed like it bothered her. heidi thought she seemed like maddie was walking around with needles in her shoes.

everyone slowly shook her heads.

     "seriously? nothing?" she groaned. "all we do is haunt the halls at this stupid school, and none of you have seen anything suspicious from him whatsoever?" she rolled her eyes. "god, i'd thought you would have known something." she said, pointing to heidi.

heidi's eyes widened at the sudden mention of her. "i thought that we established that i didn't know who he was."

     "god, why even contribute if you aren't going to help." she rolled her eyes. "you're practically useless."

heidi felt a small knot in her stomach. anger. her eyebrows furrowed. her eyes began to water. "i didn't? you called on me."

     "okay!" wally said, rather loudly, looking at heidi's current state of uncomfortableness, and sadness. he tried to break up the blonde girl. "one time, i saw him spell fundraiser wrong. he forgot the 'd'. i feel like that's pretty suspicious coming from an english teacher."

charley's eyebrows raised. "i'm pretty sure it was a pun." his head tilted. "i'm pretty sure it was on purpose."

     "oh."

     "sorry sweets, we don't stand around staring at the living all day." rhonda said, in an annoyed tone as well."

     "no, you plan weekend fun. like, movie nights." she argued.

     "well, we try to do what we can to break up the monotony maddie." mr. martin said.

     "if i may, to be fair— watching the same five sports movies over and over again is rather monotonous, mr. martin."

     "i thought you loved rudy." wally spoke up.

charley's eyebrows furrowed. "no?"

heidi still felt absolutely awful from the interaction with maddie. the eye watering started to become much worse. a pit growing in her stomach. she took a moment, during the bickering of charley and wally to stand up out of her chair, thankfully without anyone noticing, and exiting the gymnasium. speed walking to the nearest bathroom through the freshly empty halls.

she grabbed the faucet, whipping it to the right. cold water flowing through the tap, she threw both of her hands in, throwing the shockingly cold water at her face as tears fell down. seeming to be absolutely ineffective.

heidi grabbed one of the cardboard-textured paper towels from the dispenser, drying her face, still crying.

she didn't know how long she had been in there, repeating the process. having it fail every time. she heard the door open, seeing a familiar tall jock in the doorframe.

     "are you okay?" he asked softly. "maddie wasn't very nice to you today."

heidi shook her head, her nose stuffed. "no, she wasn't"

wally walked towards the crying girl, and then towards the wall, sliding down until he was sitting against it. he patted a spot beside him.

"ew, this is the bathroom floor." heidi said. "who knows the last time it was cleaned."

he smiled softly at her. "sit."

heidi sighed, defeated. she was exhausted, and quite frankly, she most likely did need to sit down.

the pair sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, while heidi sniffled, a few tears still escaping.

wally spoke up. "you shouldn't cry, you know."

heidi wiped tears with her rather wet sleeve. "and why's that?"

     "you're too pretty to cry." he nudged her.

heidi smiled softly, still wiping a few remaining tears. "you're a dork."

wally smiled back, looking at her. "it's true!"

heidi began to softly chuckle, sniffing. somehow, he always knew how to cheer her up.

wally looked at heidi, he loved her smile. he wrapped his arm around her, she leaned into him. his thumb rubbed against her shoulder, and his other hand sat on her knee.

     "you're too pretty to cry." he repeated, under his breath.

heidi didn't know how much the jock meant his statement. she didn't know how much he hated seeing her upset.

maybe one day she will.

ANNIKA SPEAKS!

god I really like this chapter acc. he's so sweet.