Promises

Bad Impression

The next day at school was interesting. It was a foggy, rainy day, yet everyone was buzzing with electricity. "What's up with everyone?" I asked Rose. James giggled. Of course James always laughed, though.

"Well...." Rose started. She then continued to eat her cookies.

"Seriously, tell me! Even Chelsea has barely noticed me! Usually she's all up in my shit by now!"

"Well....there's this new kid. And he's really really super hot and cute! But by the way, I called dibs."

"Really, you called dibs last time. You can't call dibs on every hot guy you see, ya know?" I laughed. She always did this, whether guy or girl. I can recall a time when she even called dibs on me. She didn't get me of course, but I almost took her lady virginity. She started blushing, so either she was thinking the same thing, or the guy was within her sight.

"Hey, Delilah. This school isn't too hard to figure out, so I think I'll only need help on the neighborhood." It was him. He laughed and flashed that smile at me.

"Oh, okay," I said, half wishing he had a harder time here so I could show him around and have time with him to myself. Then it hit me that Drake was that new kid. "So you're that new kid everyone is spazzing out about." I smiled back.

"Wait, you know each other?" Rose was surprised.

"Yeah, he came over yesterday. He needed help around the neighborhood. I was going to show him around this weekend."

"Hey, I'll see y'all tomorrow. My mom's picking me up from here. We're going to Cincinnati." That was James. We all knew that meant he was going on the trip and doing drug deals for the day.

"Guys, I'll be back, too," I said glancing at Drake and Rose. Something wasn't right. I could feel it in my gut. I ran to the bathroom feeling as if I was going to vomit. My head was throbbing, sending pain throughout my body. What was wrong with me?

I washed my face in the sink, being careful not to wash off any of my eyeliner or mascara. When I dried my face and looked up, Jayde was standing behind me. She came behind me and rubbed her hand on my back. "Are you okay?" Something about seeing her made the ache worse and sent a ripple of fear through me.

"Umm... yeah. I think I just might have a small flu or something. It's nothing to worry about. I haven't seen you today, I thought you were absent."

"I woke up late. I had- a busy night last night. Maybe you should take some medicine. I had the same thing the other day. Here." She dug around in her purse and pulled out a red gel capsule. I popped it in my mouth and washed it down with some water.

"What is this? It's working almost instantaneously!" I gawked at her, amazed at how well her medicine worked. It worked a little too well.

"Oh, it's just a homemade remedy. Works pretty great, huh?"

"Yeah, thanks. I have to get going, though. I told Rose I'd be right back.

"She's not the only one you told," she mumbled. I pretended I didn't hear it and walked out, back towards the table. Drake had a slight shock to his face when he saw Jayde walk out behind me. As she walked towards the doors to the outside, I sat down at the table.

"Are you okay? You look a little pale. Maybe you're sick," I said to Drake.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I- I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow." Drake got up and ran to the doors.

Days passed, but neither Jayde, nor Drake dared to show their faces at school. If they did, they were good at avoiding me. Friday finally came. I hadn't given Angelo the paper, but I'm sure I would regret it soon.

"Where's my paper, spaz?" he asked, walking up to my desk. Chelsea followed, placing her hand on desk and tapping her newly manicured nails across the slick top.

"You didn't honestly think we'd forget, did you?" She smirked. "This'll be fun."

"Please, have a seat." Mr. Zimmer walked in. He was sober today, or at least enough to where you can't smell it when he walked through the door.

"We were just about to take Delilah to the nurse. She had just gotten sick before class today, and she's burning up."

"Fine. Go ahead." He sat down at his desk and shuffled through lesson plans as Chelsea and Angelo grabbed me by the arm and led me into the hallway.

"What made you think you could skip out on this? I need the grades, ya know," Angelo snapped. I could see his veins sticking out in his arm, and I could smell the alcohol on his breathe.

"Wait, Angelo. I'm supposed to meet up with Crystal if you wanted some more of the stuff. You go ahead and take her. I'm gonna stay behind. Don't be gone too long."

"Whatever, just make sure you get it. Come on, D. We're going for a ride."

"No!" I yelled, hoping it would be loud enough to reach back into the building. He was putting me in the back seat of his car and tying up my hands and feet.

"Noone's going to hear you, sweetheart. You're all mine now." He hopped in the front seat and started driving. I wasn't sure where we were going, but it didn't seem promising.