The Art of Suicide (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter 2

"Man, that guy is a total loser," Vivian was smirking when we walked around the corner into the cafeteria. "I almost wish you'd woken me up just so I could put him in his place."

Zoey huffed out a small laugh. "You needed the sleep."

I smiled as I watched them. After Zoey had declared me an official part of their friend group – which, somehow, was just the two of them – we had gone back to my room and watched Captain America: The First Avenger and started the Avengers before Vivian woke up and texted Zoey. Both of them were strangely excited to learn that my room was, in fact, right across the hall from Vivian's. I had a feeling there were going to be quite a few surprise visits from the both of them over the course of our time here at Winter Heights, the boarding school that I had been a student at for almost four years. Zoey had been here for three years and was in the grade just below mine, while Vivian had been here for almost five and was a sophomore.

Vivian stuck her tongue out at Zoey. "Who needs sleep? We can sleep when we're dead!"

I choked back a laugh, wondering if Vivian just didn't like to sleep because of her night terrors, or if she, too, suffered from insomnia.

Zoey rolled her eyes, giving Vivian an exasperated look. "Uh, human beings? You can only go without sleep for 264 hours without dying."

"I don't even want to know how you know that." Vivian folded her arms across her chest. "How many days is that, anyway?"

"Eleven."

By this time we had already gotten into one of the lines in the cafeteria and gotten our lunches before heading for a table near the back of the room. I followed along behind the two of them, staring hungrily down at the plate of spaghetti on my tray. Zoey had gone for a simple cheeseburger while Vivian had gotten a plate of chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. I wasn't sure where Devyn was, but I knew he had to be around here somewhere. It was just a little after noon and he typically ended up in here at about this time every day. We usually sat together, but I had texted him and told him I'd made a few new friends and that I didn't think they would mind if he sat with us.

I wasn't sure what the winky face he'd sent me was supposed to mean.

We had just settled down at the table when Vivian stiffened, her back ramrod straight. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, her gaze focused on two kids standing in the middle of the cafeteria. The boy was hunched in on himself, his arms hanging limply at his sides while the girl – I couldn't see her very well from where I sat next to Zoey, but she looked like one of the girls that had cornered me in the bathroom this morning – stood over him, a cruel smile twisting her features.

Vivian had started to get up, to intervene, no doubt, but before she could the girl gave a harsh laugh and spun away, flipping her bottle blond hair over her shoulder. Within seconds, three boys, much larger than the first one, were surrounding him. From the set of their shoulders and the way students started turning away or even getting up and leaving the room altogether, I knew what was about to happen.

I twisted back around in my seat, my gaze completely focused on the table in front of me. The guilt churning in my stomach was enough to drain my appetite and make me want to curl up in bed for the rest of the day, quite possibly even the entire week. There was no doubt in my mind that what would happen to that boy would be terrible, but there was nothing I could do. From knowing Vivian the short amount of time that I had, I was sure that she would try to do something, even though she couldn't possibly have a chance against the three much bigger guys.