The Last Gunshot

2.

I woke up with a start. The nightmares about Melissa's death had been haunting me ever since her suicide last Thursday. Every day was a different nightmare, but it always ended at her death. I dreamed about every possible method she could have used to suicide - by jumping, shooting herself, taking an overdose of a drug, getting into a car crash, etc. You name it, I dreamed it.

Turning to glance at my alarm clock, I saw it was already 7am. 'Time to get up and go to school,' I thought. For the first time ever, I was dreading school. I had always loved school – I could see all my friends and finally catch up with everyone. 'Well, not one of your friends anymore,' my subconscious told me. Oh right, Melissa is gone... she was my best friend. I told her everything in the universe, from my most embarrassing moments to my crushes and love experience, regardless good or bad.

Walking downstairs to the kitchen, I poured myself a bowl of cereal. My dad walked into the kitchen, rubbing his drooping eyes. "Morning dad," I greeted. He turned her head to look at me, and smiled.

"Morning Natbear. Did you sleep well?" he had a caring look on her face. He had been calling me Natbear for my whole life – it was his special nickname for me.

"The nightmares will never go away, I can't sleep well..." I told him. His facial expression changed, and I noticed sympathy and sadness in his eyes. I quickly reassured him, "Don't worry dad, I'm sure they'll go away . Give it some time."

"I'm really amazed at how well you are handling this, Nathalie. I remember after your mother passed away... Sure, I was happy that I was finally a dad, but even with you to take my mind off of her, it took me months to be acting the way you are now. I couldn't be prouder of you. Any parent would be proud to have a kid like you, Natbear."

I smiled a real smile for the first time in days. "Thanks dad. I better finish up my brekkie and head off to school."

"Sure, go ahead. I need to head to work soon too."

I gobbled down my cereal – which tasted like cardboard in my mouth – and grabbed my bike to head to school.

~~~~~

Walking down the corridors of school, I was the center of attention. Everyone was staring at me, pointing fingers, gossiping and whispering among themselves. It wasn't the clothes I was wearing – I was dressed in my usual attire of a simple T-shirt and blue jeans paired with black hi-top Converse. It couldn't have been my looks – I looked the same as usual, wearing my straight black hair in a high ponytail, no makeup; nothing special. So what was the reason?

Oh. Right. Her death.

Even the teachers treated me differently, as if I was a fragile piece of glass they didn't want to break. They spoke to me in hushed tones, forever saying nice things and always smiling at me when I was looking at them. But when I was not looking at them, I could see their looks full of pity. It drove me crazy; everyone was treating me so well all because of my loss.

Well there was one person who didn't. The person I least expected to treat me normally. Jack Guerra. The school jock, bad boy, whatever you want to call him.

At lunch, he grabbed his tray and with hundreds of eyes following him, he headed in the opposite direction of his usual table. Towards mine. Everyone's eyes widened. Was the school bad boy going to take a pity case on me? I panicked too as I had never interacted with him before.

Since my only close friend was Melissa, I was not expecting anyone to sit with me today – I was prepared to eat alone. Instead Jack slid into the seat beside me, not saying a word. He opened his can drink with a loud pop, and started chugging the contents. My mouth was wide open; along with half the students in the cafeteria. "Whatcha lookin at?" Damn his voice sounds sexy... Wait what am I thinking??

"Oh, erm... nothing," I bluffed. I'm a horrible liar.

"Girl, just admit it. You were staring at my amazing body, weren't ya?"

"Dude, get over yourself!"

The bickering continued for a good five minutes, before I got annoyed at him. "Why are you even sitting with me? Go sit with your friends or something."

"Oh, so you don't consider me as your friend?" he clutched his heart, pretending to be heartbroken.

"Well you've never even noticed me until today, so how are we friends?" I was starting to get annoyed at him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Geez, chill woman." He actually seemed scared of me. "I'm actually here to talk about Melissa." Well shit. My heartbeat quickened, tears formed in my already puffy eyes.

"I'd rather not." Yeap, the tears were threatening to fall anytime.

"I know everyone is saying this, but I'm sorry... I feel sad too..."

Wait, what? "Why would you feel sad? You didn't even know her..."

"Yeah but I have a crush on her."

Oh. OH. Well this is interesting... "Oh..."

"Yeah. She never knew though. I wanted to tell her, but I didn't dare to."

"So... are you okay?" I really had no idea what to say to him.

"I guess so... It hurts, you know... Well of course you know, you're her best friend," he paused, then added "I miss her already..."

I had an impulse to grab his arm to comfort him, and I did so. "Everyone misses her, you're not the only one."

"Yeah, I'm sure you miss her more."

"The feeling's mutual, I think we both miss her as much..."

"Let's stop talking about this depressing things, okay?" Before we could start on a new topic, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.

We rose to our feet slowly, taking our trays with us. After placing them near the bins, I walked away, but Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug.

My heart started pounding at double, no, triple the speed it was before that. The school jock, hugging a nobody, me? Well that's new. Everyone seemed to think the same, seeing as the majority of people's eyes were bulging out of their sockets. I was tense, but after a while of being in that position, I started to relax. It felt right. And that thought frightened me.

Eventually I had to push him away to get to class. His eyes were tearing up, so I patted his back awkwardly, reassuring him. "Don't worry, we'll get through this together."

He looked at me, and nodded. Then he ran off to class.

The whole cafeteria was staring at me. "Whatcha lookin' at? Got nothing better to do?"

"Get the hell away from my boyfriend, whore." Well, well. Look who's speaking. Celine McAdams, the most popular girl in the school. Also known as the slut who gave her virginity to Jack Guerra.

I knew talking back wouldn't help, so I just gave her my death glare and stalked off to my next class. Algebra. Which I just so happened to have with Jack Guerra. Well, isn't this day just going great.

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