She's Gone

I'm Lost

"Where's Kate?" I asked Alex in our homeroom.
"She's in a coma..." she said as her eyes watered. "The doctor's said she may never wake up. My best friend!" She burst out into tears and McKayla was also sobbing and holding her.
The morning announcements came on and McKayla went to her homeroom. It felt wrong and empty, there was no Kate coming in and either having a ten minute conversation with Daity or getting kicked out of his class. She wasn't here and it was wrong.
"-and as some of you may know, a tragic thing has happened to one of our students, Katherine Ryan in eighth grade is in a coma. She seemed to have a big impact in the middle school and with the freshman class. Those in need of consul can report to the guidance counselor's or the LGI room."
I got up and started to leave after Alex ran out of the room.
"Thomas where are you going?" Daity asked.
"The LGI room, I need to clear my head."
"Ok," he said as I walked out.
I found Alex, McKayla, Marena, and Kate's other friends in there, along with someone I never expected to see sad about Kate.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" I snapped at the tall boy with short dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin, freckles and glasses. He just turned away from me. "Chris! Why are you here!? All you ever were was an asshole to her and shit talked her all of the god damn time! God damn it Heitzhaus! You shouldn't be here!"
"You wouldn't understand what this is like," he said quietly as a tear rolled down his cheek, which was very unusual for him. He was usually overtly loud, cocky, rude, over confident, and an all around asshole.
"What, exactly, wouldn't I understand?"
"Losing someone you thought was always going to be here, losing someone you can't live without, losing the girl of your dreams. One minute she was here, and the next she's gone. I was going to tell her I loved her. I was going to serenade her. I was going to kiss her and ask her to go out with me."
"She hates you, she told me that she's never hated anyone as much as she hates you."
"I thought I hated her last year, but something changed and I couldn't help it. I fell for that asshole and she's gone. She's perfect in every way, but she hates me. I thought I liked Grace, but oh hell no. At least, not anymore. I met Kate and I didn't ask Grace out that year as I did many times the two years before."
"I remember Grace shooting you down everytime; and Kate would have said no and told you she hated you. She would've told you were and asshole."
"But I loved her; she was my everything, my all. Without her there's no meaning to me."
"Sorry, she doesn't feel the same way."
"How do you know all of this!?"
"She's my best friend," I said with my voice cracking in pain at friend. "She tells me everything; and I tell her everything."
"Oh so she told you about Logan?" Chris said as a smile creeped across his face.
"What? Who's Logan?" I asked anxiously.
"A 16 year old guy who plays for Caz that fancies Kate. And quite frankly, I'm sure she'd pick him over you. Oh has she told you about OP?" His twisted smile grew even more.
OP was our middle school's goalie even though he went to another school.
"What about OP?"
"Oh, OP's in love with her. She's all he every talks about, day and night. He FaceTimes and texts her all of the time and can't get enough of her. He's like an addict and she's his drug. She doesn't have a clue, now does she? I honestly don't know how he got her number and I didn't..."
"Because she hates you, with a burning passion."
"Oh if you tell her everything, you must have told her how you felt. How did that go for you? Friendzoned I see."
"I haven't exactly told her. I've hinted at it."
"She thinks everyone hates her or at least should, she'd think you're messing with her, if she even cared enough to give it a second thought."
"Okay Heitzhaus, back your shit up," Alex said coming over. "Stop fucking with Thomas' mind, Kate would kill you if she ever found out; and she sure as hell would kill me if I didn't stop it. Stop placing all of these bullshit lies and doubts in his mind, or I'm gonna kick your ass."
"We all have different ways to deal with pain, and this is mine."
"I don't give a flying fuck, messing with Kate's best friend isn't going to help anyone but you. And Kate will kick your fucking ass when she wakes up."
Chris scrambled away to go sulk some more.
"Thanks," I said. "But was he right about OP and Logan?" I asked very concerned.
"Kate gets pissed off by OP, she thinks he's annoying, clingy, and kind of stalker considering the fact she never gave him her number and he got it."
"What about Logan?"
"I don't know how Chris even found out about Logan, I only know because I surprised Kate at one of her little brother's practices when she was on the ice and so was Logan. Both of their brothers were on he same team. They didn't talk much, purely because Logan was being really shy around her. I could tell he liked her and Kate tried to get him to talk a few times and gave up. Whenever a coach needed two people to show a drill and already had Logan, Logan would go over and get Kate to demo it with him rather than the coach. In short, yes he likes her and she kind of liked hi, but she has doubts."
"Oh fuck, I should've told her. I should've told her what I was too scared to."
"That you love her?"
"Yes, but Chris is going to tell her when she comes back."
"It doesn't matter, she likes you, not Chris. She absolutely hates Chris."