Hadley's Fall (Based on 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher)

4|Kyler

78 Days Before the Fall

Kyler pushed back his ash-blond hair out of his eyes as he dragged his bow over the strings of his cello for the millionth time. The new piece his music teacher had assigned to him was more difficult than he had expected.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, signalling an incoming text. Grateful for the distraction, Kyler grabbed his iPhone and noticed the text was from Elaina.

Hey, wanna hang out today?

Kyler thought his friendship with Elaina was kind of weird and unexpected. Considering Kyler chose to spend his time practicing cello instead of throwing a misshapen ball around a field and tackling other guys in tight pants, he hadn't meshed well with a lot of the other guys in his school. Elaina had started chatting to him one day in music class, and he had been a part of her exclusive clique ever since.

Rather than respond to her text, Kyler called Elaina, knowing she would pick up on the first ring. He knew that he should technically continue practicing his cello piece all day, but he didn't want to miss out on any excitement.

"Hey Ky," Elaina greeted.

"What's up Elaina?"

"You are never gonna guess what I did yesterday." She giggled, as if the hilarity of whatever she did was so funny that it made her laugh at her own joke.

Kyler drummed his fingers on his knee in anticipation. "Well, what is it?"

"I have to tell you in person, idiot. Can you come over?"

Kyler cast one sidelong glance at his cello before making up his mind. "Give me ten minutes."

Xxxxxxxxx

Elaina had refused to spill her big secret to Kyler until he was sitting on the edge of her bed in her room. By the time he was finally sitting, Elaina could tell he was about to rip his hair out if she made him wait any longer. Kyler wasn't a very patient person, which was surprising considering he spent a lot of time playing a musical instrument.

"Okay, so, you know that girl who stares at you from the second floor landing like a lovesick puppy during lunch all the time?" Elaina began.

Kyler furrowed his brow. "Hadley?" Apparently Hadley had some big crush on him, but Kyler couldn't really tell. Elaina said it was because guys weren't as observant as girls. She and Kristee had hypothesized Hadley's crush for years, and Dani, Hadley's previous best friend, swore up and down she had always been obsessed with him. Kyler found that hard to believe; he didn't recall ever speaking to her. It wasn't that her crushing on him would be a bad thing; as far as Kyler saw, Hadley was pretty in a plain sort of way. She didn't really stand out, which could be a good or bad thing.

"Yup, Hadley," Elaina confirmed. "Basically, with Dani's help, we pretended like we wanted to hang out with her at the mall for her birthday, but then we totally ditched and... well, I think this picture speaks for itself." Elaina leaned over and showed Kyler a picture of Hadley sitting alone on a bench, staring at her phone.

Kyler didn't laugh. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to, but loneliness didn't sound very funny. He had been lonely at one point too. When the football guys had rejected him, Kyler had become close to sitting alone at lunch just like Hadley. If it weren't for Elaina scoring him the invites to all the right parties, he would be exactly where she was.

"C'mon Ky, you've got to admit it was a pretty funny prank. Seriously, I've hardly talked to the girl, and she thinks I'm going to party it up on her birthday with her? Pathetic."

Kyler hesitated, but remembering how close he came to loser-dom also made him remember how much he owed Elaina. So he forced out a little laugh, figuring that pretending to laugh at her practical joke wouldn't hurt anyone.