In Another Life

flashback Pt.2

Back to school.

Diane's P.O.V
"Hey girl, I see you haven't been successful with your wish." A guy yells at me. I look at him, and walk as quickly as I can towards my locker.
    A note is stuck onto the front of my locker.

     Hey this is for you!!!!

I drop the note and open my locker. I am immediately overwhelmed by the stench of bleach.
    There are 3 opened bottles of bleach in my locker. My coat is soaked in it, causing the red to turn to pink.
   I run to the garbage pail beside my locker and empty my stomach of the pizza and apple juice I had for lunch.
      There is a group of people behind me laughing. I turn around.
    My former best friend and her new group of bitchy friends stand on the other side of the hall, all of them laughing.
"How?" I ask them, "what did I do to you? To deserve something like this?" All they do is laugh and walk away.
     I collapse beside the garbage and cry. Jessica is soon by my side, hugging me.
"That was too much, we need to stop this!" She is crying now too.
"Diane?" I can barley hear her, her voice sounds like it's underwater.
"Diane?" Her voice fades now, and then all I can smell is bleach. So strong I swear someone put it in my nose.
"Jessica." I try to say, my words slurring.
"Diane." She cries.

Jessica's P.O.V
Im still hugging her when she wakes up. She looks at me and smiles.
"Are you okay." I ask her.
"Yeah. The smell was just so overwhelming." she replies. I want to believe her, but I can't.
"Okay." I say, sounding unsure.
"What time is it?" She asks.
"Um..." I look over at the clock. "3:10." She looks shocked and gets up quickly.
"Oh my god! We missed the bus!" She exclaims.
"It's fine, I already called mom."
"No! She can't know this happened!" She cries.
"I told her we were studying." I say trying to calm her down.
"Really?" She asks.
"Yes." I say truthfully.
Diane takes a deep breath and you can already see her muscles start to relax.
"Why would it be so bad if mom and dad found out?" I ask, causing her to go tense again.
"They would make it worse." she says, staring at the ground.
"Oh."
"Ladies, shouldn't you be going home?" The principal asks. " And what is that smell, it smells like..." I wait for it.
" Sorry about that." The janitor says walking down the hallway. "Thats my fault. I spilled some bleach and this young lady seems to be allergic to it, she fainted." We all stare at him in both, shock and gratitude.
"Yeah, I'm fine now though. Just, the smell is so overwhelming." Laughs Diane. I look down at my phone.
'here'
My mom's text reads.
"Sorry, our ride is here." I say, grabbing Diane's hand and pull her out the doors.

    "How was studying?"mom asks the moment we get into the car.
"Good." Diane says, faking a smile.
"Jessica?" She says, ignoring Diane's answer.
"Um..." I say, looking at Diane to see her reaction to this, she sits with a smile looking out her window.
"It was good."
"Thats good sweety." She says, making eye contact with me through the rearview mirror.
"Yeah." Both me and Diane say at the same time. Her sounding pissed off.
"Diane, why is your coat pink?" Mom asks.
"Um..." She bits her lip, thinking of an excuse.
"She spilled chemicals on it in science." I say quickly, "or at least that's what she told me." She gives me a thankful look and I smile back at her.
"Oh, do you need another coat?" Mom asks.
"Yeah, that would be nice." Diane says, actually smiling this time.
"We'll go now then." Mom smiles and turns up the radio. Diane's favourite song.