The Dating Game

Chapter Seventy

Justin

I abhorred everyone staring at me pitifully.

It made me seem like I was their charity case because everyone was strolling up to me and asking if I needed anything. Even the teacher's didn't want to impose on me in case I had an abrupt outburst. Not one teacher asked me a question throughout the day. We still had a few loose ends to tie up, but we also had to get our graduation gown today.

You were assigned to go to specific classes, and I was in Math class with Miss Nellie. Therefore, I was in our Math class. But there was one missing student... one student that would always be missing.

Juliet Royal.

It seemed almost surreal that she was gone. Beth, Michelle and I had always been expecting this day since she told us – even though they knew years before me – but I didn't realise it would come so soon. She was taken away from this world far too young and it seemed injustice. She was a beautiful, bright young girl with so much ahead of her like her knack for music production. She could have produced the music, and I could have sang. We'd have been great together.

And just thinking about her made me want to cry. Instead, my hands balled into fists and I remained silent. The flowers I had bought her, Ian had offered to chuck them away, but I took them home. No one's watered them so they're wilting, according to my mom. I can't bear to gaze upon them without thinking about Juliet.

The door to the class was left open. It made me wonder if Miss Nellie had forgotten but she said, "It's getting warmer and the air conditioning is faulty in this room so we have to keep the door open."

I kept thinking she was going to just amble on in, despite her heightening tardiness now. That she wasn't really gone, just missing, and she wants to be found. But the minutes ticked by and no one was entering the room. In fact, Miss Nellie had received the graduation gowns and was beginning to dish them out to all of the students.

Sighing, I waited until she appeared at my table and said, "Here you go, Mr. Bieber."

"Thanks, Miss," I muttered feebly back, taking the gown in the plastic wrapper.

At the end of the lesson, after much anticipation that Juliet would stumble on into the room and therefore having it be an anticlimax, I left to find Michelle and Beth. Both were dawdling by their lockers. They silenced at once when I made my presence known to them.

"It's awful," sniffed Beth. "Ian told us this morning."

"Yeah," I said meekly.

Then she threw her face in her palms. Michelle went to put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but I leaned in and hugged both of them. Both girls seemed shocked, but they began to calm down. Considering I was towering over them, I leaned down and whispered, "She's never going to be truly gone, okay? She lives on in this school and in our lives. We'll always remember her, yeah?"

"She would have been miserable without you," commented Michelle. "You put the life in her."

Swallowing down the lump that was formulising in my throat, I croaked out, "I had some help with you two girls."

Both let out a chuckle.

Then Mr. Beckley wandered up to us and said, "There's an assembly in the hall now. A special one, dedicated to Juliet. I was wondering if one of you would like to say a few words about her."

Michelle and Beth seemed flabbergasted. So therefore, I took up his offer. "I'll say something, sir."

"Are you sure? If you don't want to, that's completely fine. I'm going to be saying something at the beginning anyway."