Separated by a Screen (And Several Hundred Miles)

Chapter One

For the third time that day, I waved at someone in the hallway, and they didn't even acknowledge me. Thanks, "friends."

I had come to terms with my role in their lives long before then: I was a back-up. The friend you called to hang out with when all your other friends were busy. The person who you didn't really like all that much, but would talk to anyways. Like, if three of us were walking on a narrow sidewalk, I would be the awkward third person standing behind the other two.

Not that I minded; I preferred to be by myself anyways. That way I wouldn't have to worry about what other people might be thinking.

At the end of the day, I walked straight out of the school, without stopping to talk to any of my "friends." Even though it was Friday of the first week of school, they still were all talking about the things they had all done together over the summer. All these things, of course, had been done without me - my summer had consisted of watching Netflix, listening to punk rock, and reading books. I didn't care that much about all the fun they had had without me, so I didn't really want to waste time hearing about it.

~ ~ ~

Once outside, I plugged my headphones into my ears, then started the walk home (I only lived about a quarter of a mile from the school).

It only took me about five minutes to get home. Dad's car was in the driveway - he had taken the day off work.

When the front door clicked shut behind me, I heard the familiar sound of a history show my dad loved. I heard his voice as I walked down the hallway. "Heather? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Dad," I replied as I entered the living room. I was about to walk out and go to my room when he talked again.

"Honestly, Heather," he said, exasperated, then glanced back at me. "I can hear your music from over here. You're going to go deaf one of these days."

"Gotta go, Dad," I said, nodding towards the stairs. "Homework." By "homework," I really meant several hours of YouTube, but Dad didn't need to know how unproductive I was.

Without waiting for a response, I turned and walked upstairs. Dad called out after me - something about loud music, I think - but I simply turned up the volume and let
Brendon Urie's voice drown out the nonsense.

~ ~ ~

After I had been on YouTube so long that I was watching a tutorial on how to style long hair (even though I had a longish pixie cut type thing), I decided that that was enough and closed my laptop.

I glanced down at my phone; it was a little past five. No one had texted me yet, but that wasn't anything new.

My mom usually came home at about 5:30, so I figured that I had about an hour to kill before dinner. Reaching for my book bag, I completely disregarded all the homework I had and pulled out my book (I Am The Messenger). Then, opening it up to the page I left off on, I let myself fall into the story and let go of reality.

~ ~ ~

Dinner that night played out as usual: with Mom and Dad rambling on about a bunch of nonsense I didn't really care about, and with me nodding or mumbling something in agreement. When I excused myself, my parents didn't really acknowledge it - they just kept on talking. I rolled my eyes at the fact as I walked away.

I checked my phone once I got back to my room; no new messages from my "friends." They were probably all out doing something without me. Again.

Unconsciously deciding to procrastinate and not do my homework, I crashed onto my bed and pulled my computer into my lap. Once it was powered up, I clicked open a new tab and logged onto Tumblr.

~ ~ ~

After spending who-knows-how-long scrolling through blogs, I was about to log off when I notice this really smart-aleck thing that someone had re-blogged. Chuckling, I clicked on the blog that had posted it (luke-warm-coffee).

Once I had scrolled through a few of their posts, I went ahead and clicked "follow." After doing so, I kept scrolling through luke-warm-coffee's endless sea of posts.