I don't want to be your friend anymore

35| It gets better {M?}

As lunch time rolled around that day, Jessica's mood was dark. It automatically darkened everybody else's cloud as well. It was their thing to jokingly not be in the mood with the person who was feeling down, at least to try and even out the atmosphere.

Only this time, and every other similar time, it deeply affected all of them because it was Jessica. They didn't play about their friend. All five of them, we hope, truly wanted to see Jessica, of all people, happy. They all knew of her insecurities and despised the fact that it was the most Lord-Farquaad-from-Shrek-looking people who took jabs at the way she looked. The group thought of her as a beautiful woman with an even more beautiful soul, and it upset them that she had to go through all of the suffering of being put down and rejected by 'society'.

The reason why this started to happened, ever since high school, was beyond everyone.

They were sitting down on a round table in the college's restaurant, feeling gloomy and silently eating, but they still felt like being together even if nobody said a thing. They noticed how Jessica only poked at and played with her food, her expression conveying her hurt feelings and her head resting on her closed fist. Eli tried to scoot closer to his girlfriend but she just stood up and grabbed her bag.

"I'm going to the library. There's something I need to look at, see you guys later" Jessica said, giving her friends a pained smile.

They all stood up with her, regardless, and were ready to go, but she stopped them. She told them it was okay and tried to ease their baffled minds, that she really just needed to research something.

"I'll come with you" Eli said, bringing his hand to hers, which she swatted away, unintentionally. She looked at him, her eyes sending him a silent apology.

"It's fine. I'll see you in class" she said. She didn't even give Eli a kiss or waved at the rest of the group as she walked out of the restaurant.

She then went into the nearest building and straight to the ladies room. She checked to see if the stalls were empty and, when she found herself alone in that toilet, she quietly started sobbing out her heart's content.

She felt worthless and ugly, to say the least, and she also felt sorry for Eli, who seemed to want to put himself in this predicament with her. She didn't know why Eli liked her but she knew she loved him and was very thankful that he was so sympathetic.

What if he eventually gets tired of me? Hell, even I am tired of myself! It's our first day as an official couple, for fuck's sake, was what she kept thinking, and the thought of him eventually giving up on their relationship only made her cry harder.

Later than afternoon, the lecture they were supposed to have was cancelled, which gave them 2 hours of free time before classes actually finished. The group was now sitting in a student hub, working on their cancelled lecture's previously taught material.

They noticed that Jessica's eyes were extremely puffy, but neither of them dared to ask why; they already knew the answer and how she'd react to the question.

Next time, they agreed upon when Jessica had walked away for a minute, we're not letting her go anywhere by herself. If she cries, we're stabbing the shit out of whoever messed with her, and then we're all crying too so we don't go to jail.

That was mostly River's proposal, obviously.

Everyone was reading, writing something or chatting away, except for David, who was staring at an open book looking guilty as fuck, and Eli, who couldn't concentrate. He wanted to know what Jessica was thinking and how she was feeling. He promised he'd always be there for her but, now that a time like this had come, he didn't know what to do or say. He was also hesitant because, after the clash that morning, she started avoiding physical and eye contact with him. He was dreading to hold her and tell her that it would get better, but she just didn't want him close.