Cheers to Senior Year • books 1-4

Daddy Dean

Dean's POV

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and girls. Sheridan High schoolers of all ages. It's you're favorite gothic freak coming at you with a new daily segment that's sure to spark your attention."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked up from the homework that I was doing that should have been done a week ago.

"What the heck is Paige doing?" Roman commented from the chair beside me as we sat in our home room class and I shrugged.

"Beats me." I said with a shrug, "I never know anything that's going on."

"Back in the 1930s. FDR had little things called Fireside Chats... at least I think..." Paige mumbled and earned a few laughed from people in our room, "Well this little segment is called Paige's PowWow. Each morning for 15 minutes after announcements we will address one topic or situation that managed to to be the talk our school. Towards the end of the segment we will have a will have an Ask Paige segment. Feel free to whip out those phones and send a text to @PaigeSHS or simply head on over to twitter and send in your questions using #AskPaige. I will keep you all anonymous if requested. And keep it PG kiddies. I can't answer why I'm a sexy beast and no, I do not want a picture of your ding-a-ling."

A few people in the class burst into laughed and I simply shook my head with a smile as I continued to listen.

"Since today is the first day of the this segment, I already have a topic pre selected." She told us then cleared her throat, "Quite a few things have managed to shake our school up, but there's nothing like a suicide attempt that will rattle our bones."

"Is she really getting ready to talk about this?" Roman questioned and I scrunched my noes a bit at the idea. I wasn't sure this was the smartest topic to discuss...

"Let's not beat around the bush guys. We all know what's been going on lately, but in my opinion, the only thing worse than what that particular person did is the type of reaction it has caused." Paige explained, "Listen. I understand that some people are rude and annoying and are honestly just horrible people, but we still can't judge a book by its cover."

"Let's talk suicide since it's a topic that nobody likes to talk about." She told us with a sigh, "Its a real thing that happens to real people because their really tired of living. It's not a joke nor is it a game nor is it funny. I know we all joke around and say "I wanna kill myself" but to somebody in the world they actually want to."

"Suicide is the leading cause in young adults like you and me." She told us, "Life gets tough. Life gets rough. Some of us hit reality a long time ago while it's slowly starting to creep up on others. We never know what life is going to bring because it's different for each and every one of us. Hardships and struggles is nothing to play around about and it happens to all of us... even if you are a bully."

She was silent for a moment and as we the entire classroom and what seemed to be the entire school.

The topic of Brie had been controversial, and the fact that Paige was trying to make the topic into the a learning experience instead of bashing her was... unexpected to say the least.

She gave a small sigh, "Start sending in those questions guys. I want to know what you think. How do you feel? What's your opinion? Express it. There's not a right or wrong way to feel, just express yourself."

I saw a few people loom around, but didn't jump to their phone to text in anything. I sighed before taking my own out of my pocket and sent a direct message to Paige's phone.

"Ah hah." She said, "Got my first question. This person wants to be kept anonymous so here we go. It reads, 'i like what you're doing here' awh your so sweet. 'My question is, how can we raise awareness on suicidal thoughts and actions without scarring them. People with these thoughts/wanting to partake in these actions don't usually want to seek help. So how are we suppose to help?'"