Breathe

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

*~*~*~*

My lips were pressed into a thin line as I sat at one of the tables in the school courtyard, trying to relish the slightly chilled breeze in the air before I found myself trapped in class for the next eight hours. I tapped my pencil against the book I had on the table in front of me, though I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to the words on the pages. Instead I found myself looking across the courtyard at a small group of teens chatting away in front of a set of doors: Justin, Bryce, Jessica, Zach, and Sheri. Though the first four of the group were enough to wipe any smile from my face, the sight of Sheri made my stomach turn.

They were all passing around Jessica's pink water bottle that was no doubt filled with some sort of alcohol. As I watched them I saw Jessica starting to glance around the courtyard, a carefree smile on her face. Her smile seemed to falter though when she spotted Clay walking over to my table, stopping to stare at the group as well. She quickly looked away from us, excusing herself from the group before she headed inside. With her departure the others started to go different ways themselves.

"Clay," I began but quickly stopped when I saw the boy hurry off to the set of doors Jessica had disappeared into.

"Penny?" I looked over my shoulder to find Mr. Baker making his way over to my table.

"Mr. Baker, hi." I greeted him as I got up from my table, shoving my book and pencil into my bag. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, needed to talk to Mr. Porter about a few things." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if I bothered you. What book were you reading?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." I brushed it off. "I could walk you to Mr. Porter's office, if you want? It's on my way to first period."

"That would be great." He nodded. I offered him a smile before we set off into the school together, no doubt earning looks from some of the other students. "Can I ask you something, Penny?"

"Of course." I nodded.

"Did you know about the poem that the school published last year? The one Hannah wrote?" He asked. "Did you read it?"

"Yeah, I actually did." I admitted. "Not in the school magazine though, she showed me it after she wrote it, shared it at that poetry club she and I would sometimes go to. She was a great writer."

"Yeah, she was." He took a deep breath as we stopped in front of the main office. "Did Hannah ever... talk to you? Tell you how she was feeling? Give you any signs that she was depressed?"

"Uh," I bit the inside of my cheek, not knowing what to really say to him. I knew that he and his wife were hurting form Hannah's death, that all they wanted were answers and justice for their daughter. It hurt, knowing that I could give all of that to them, but had my hands tied with the tapes. "I should really be getting to class, but I could always stop by the store, or your house, if you want to talk some more?"

"That would be great." He nodded. "Have a good day, Penny."

"You, too, Mr. Baker." I offered him one last smile before I turned away and started off towards my first class.

*~*~*~*

"Good morning, everybody." Ms. Bradley smiled at all of us as she set some papers down on an empty desk. "I have your results from yesterday's personality questionnaire. So let's see what we've got, shall we?"

"Excuse me, Ms. Bradley?" Clay stopped next to the teacher as he came into the class late.

"Yes, Clay?" She asked as she looked through the papers and started to hand them back.