No Time Like Goodbye

Prologue- Dylan

High school is strange, isn't it? You sit next to people you mildly hate in classes you extremely hate, all for some flimsy piece of paper that your entire future rests on. If you don't spend four years of your life and receive this incredibly important document, you have essentially doomed yourself to a life of fast food working and janitorial service. If you do, you learn 4 years' worth of geometry, science, and a bunch of other useless things. What's the point, anyway?

The only reason I went to school my senior year was for Hazel Jean Rivers. She was probably the most dedicated student ever to attend John Tyler Memorial High School. Every day, it was studying, getting a head start on homework, or doing extra credit. I couldn't remember a single day she wasn't doing something school related. There were even days when I wouldn't see her at all, all because she had some class project that wasn't due for three weeks, yet she felt the need to finish it immediately. 

She was quiet, shy, introverted. She didn't speak unless spoken to first. I actually doubt we would be friends if I hadn't made the first move all those years ago. Hazel Rivers, the quiet one. Hazel Rivers, the shy one. Hazel Rivers, the introvert.

While most high school students couldn't care less about school. All ninety percent of teenagers care about were friends, parties, and the occasional hook-up. But not Hazel. For her, friends were cool and fun to have, but school always came first. She had never been a big party person, and she always claimed she was saving herself for marriage. The few boyfriends she had had were not extremely physical relationships. I don't think she had even kissed the majority of them. 

As for me, I wasn't an extremely physical person either. I had only had four girlfriends in my entire high school career, one of them being one of my best friends, Fahari. I was still a virgin, yes, but there had been several close calls. I wasn't necessarily waiting for marriage, I was just waiting  for the right person. 

Hazel and Dylan. Dylan and Hazel. We had been friends for as long as I could remember, ever since the first day of kindergarten when she stole my purple crayon and I shoved her down on the playground. For some reason, we had been friends from then on. Our relationship was odd- We would fight and insult each other, none of the jibes serious-, but for some reason it worked. I talked, she listened. I came up with daring adventures for us, she tutored me in whatever subject I was failing at the moment. It was strange, but for some reason this quirky friendship had lasted nearly 13 years. 

Had lasted. Had. But all of that, all the awkward double dates, all the late Saturday nights of fun and games, everything, was ended because of one simple, stupid mistake.