Eighteen.

2-Farewell Mute Boy

Friday

I woke up the next morning a little later than usual which obviously meant I was going to be late to first period. I got out of bed ignoring the need to stretch and ran towards Mason's room to make sure he wasn't going to be late either. His empty bed meant he got a ride to school without waking me up. Damn him. Frustrated but relieved, I ran back to my room to lazily get ready. Pulling off my night clothes still feeling tired, I changed into a tank top I covered with a varsity sweatshirt and my favorite pair of capri leggings. After lacing my white Chuck Taylor's I always wore, I grabbed my backpack and keys then jogged outside to my car. I sat in my driveway so I could put my crazy blonde mess into a somewhat decent bun and then drove off to school.

Once I parked at school, I immediately slammed my car door and booked it into the building heading all the way down to my first period class in the D hall panicking the entire way. I almost walked inside the classroom when I caught a glimpse of Rachel's short blonde hair. She had just turned the corner to go into the counselor's office but she was crying, like bawling her eyes out crying. Confused, I knew it was none of my business so I continued into Mr. Tucker's room only to be sneered at by him for my tardiness. Quickly I sat down as the room was in an odd silence.

"Miss Jensen, you're ten minutes late to my class." He pointed out shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Yeah" My breathing staggered from my run. "I'm sorry sir, I over slept." Sheepishly I admitted the truth. It was an overrated excuse but it was honest and the best one I had.

My science teacher nodded. "As I was saying, a fellow student of Roswell High passed away this morning around 1:34 a.m."

I sat back in my seat in shock. Coming to this class, I wasn't expecting such traumatic news first thing in the morning. It didn't help only being half awake either.

Interrupting everyone's thoughts, a boy named Danny who ironically was friends with Jesse disturbingly blurted, "Is it true that Dillan committed suicide?"

My heart sunk. WHAT?!
And then I thought about Rachel. The tears that came out of her beautiful blue eyes were no mistake and the confirmation I needed to know that Danny was unfortunately right.

"Mr. Saunder! Please save your questions until the end of class where you and I can talk privately about it." Mr. Tucker glared at Danny obviously not happy by his sudden outburst.

Danny Saunder smirked. He was one of those kids who thought he was a badass and had picked on Dillan quite often by filling his locker with left over food from lunch or shaving cream. He'd trip him in the halls too or knock things out of his hands while walking by. I really disliked Danny, he was just as egotistical as his friend was. "I saw it on the news this morning before I left, I wanted to know if it was true." He stated oh so causally it gave me the ick.

"Is Danny right?" A girl up front whose name was Erica asked just as curious as everyone else in the room.

Mr. Tucker lowered his head with empathy. "It's true. Dillan Cooper did allegedly pass from a suicide at the young age of eighteen."

I gulped and my body shut down. How can I be the only one who felt bad? All the other kids in the class acted as if the death hadn't phased them, they were all just gossiping.

"I told you guys!" Danny shouted to his dumb jock buddies. "He hung himself!"

The whole room gasped including me except I almost squealed out in horror.

"That is it Saunder. Office, NOW!" The teacher demanded angrily.

As Danny left the room snickering, kids in my class began to whisper about Dillan and the rumor Danny had just started. Stunned and majorly sad I stared off into space thinking about my old next door neighbor and prior best friend. While Mr. Tucker was beginning to call names to present their science projects, I couldn't stop thinking about all the possibilities and they were all unbearable to me. How could someone who was just here yesterday take their own life like it were so simple? I knew it happened daily around the world...but to have someone I used to care so much for succumb to his own bad thoughts really hit differently.
It was a crazy feeling knowing someone you've had class with would no longer be in that class because they had passed away. It made me wonder what could've went so wrong (besides his past traumas) in his life to actually go to that extent....and seeing a flash of Rachel crying, it all made sense now but at the same time it didn't. I still wanted to know what was hurting him so intensely because I myself, couldn't see me doing that taking into consideration we both had lost a parent. And why hadn't anyone cried for him? All of the student's in this period right now were calm and collected.

All throughout the day, I kept hearing people whisper and gossip about his death. It was kind of frustrating and obnoxious to listen to since they weren't saying anything good about him, just all coming up with their own delusional versions of why he did what he did. Especially when no one showed any sign of compassion other than Rachel, Angela and I. I mean people were still talking harsh crap about him and the kid wasn't even here on this earth anymore. It hurt to know that people nowadays were so cruel like that, to not show any sympathy for someone who was clearly in pain. I thought about that through periods two, three and four until lunch time.

Lunch time, I sat with Loren like always at our table.

————————————-

AN: Ta daaaa...Okay so I'm thinking I'm going to post up to chapter four this week since I've just been reediting these ones, I know for those whom have already read this book probably won't read it again but I wanna say thank you to those that have still stuck around.