I Depend On You ~Zach Herron~

03

Jack's P. O. V.

"Jack? You're leaving early," Ms. Masen said after she hung up the phone. I gathered my stuff and went to the office. My mom stood there with a smile.

"What's going on?" I asked as we walked out into the pouring rain.

"Nothing, just thought I'd pick you up early."

I chuckled. "Cool."

We got in the car and started driving home. We stopped at a stop sign and slowly crossed a short bridge. I looked over the side and saw all the water building up at the bottom. I looked closer, the rain was so heavy it was hard to see, and saw a girl swallowing a bunch of pills.

"Mom, stop!" She stepped on the brake and I jumped out of the car.

I hopped over the railing and threw the pills from the girls hand, I was immediately soaked. She was crying with her hair covering her face. I moved her wet hair and saw that it was Iris.

Iris's P. O. V.

"Iris?" The voice asked. I automatically recognized it to be Jack's.

"Iris, look at me." I looked up at him.

"Come on. We're going to my house," he helped me stand up and walked me to his moms car with his arms around my waist.

We sat silently in the back of his mom's car. He was looking at with a look in his eyes that you'd only get if someone actually cared about you. It confused me, why did he care if I died or not? Eventually, we reached his house. He took me to his room and let me lay in his bed. He closed the door and looked at me.

"First, let's get you out of these wet clothes. You can just take some of my sweats."

He dug through his dresser and pulled out some black sweats and a grey hoodie. I went into the bathroom and changed. I came out and he was changed, too. We both sat on the bed again.

"You cold?" He asked. I nodded and he wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

When I finally found my voice, I asked, "Jack why are you doing this?"

"Because. What happened?" He asked ignoring me. I tried to explain to him what happened, but I couldn't get a word out without stuttering or sobbing.

"Hey, it's okay. Just look at me and take a deep breath. You're okay. Come here," he pulled me into his lap and rocked me back and forth, helping me calm down.

When I stopped crying, and I felt ready to talk, I sat up and looked at him.

"Jack, seriously why are you helping me?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You don't like me. You don't talk to me, and you barely acknowledge me."

"I do like you Iris. I just always thought you didn't want to talk to me. Anyways,what happened?" He asked.

I told him what happened with my grandma, and Jesse, and how I wanted to kill myself. Something about him just made me feel so comfortable. As soon as I told him I was trying to overdose he pulled me into his arms again.

"Iris, look at me. You will never do that again. I promise to make sure that you are happy. I'll never leave your side. Just please, promise you won't do anything like that again," he pleaded. I nodded and pulled him closer.

"How many did you take?" He asked.

"Five," I told him.

"You'll be okay, you just need to eat something. You might have stomach pains, but you'll be fine," he said. He then left and came back with some soup.

I ate the soup and then we fell asleep in his bed. I woke up before Jack did, so I just stayed there. He had his arms wrapped tightly around me. I reached for my phone to see my mom had texted 20 times. I sent her a text saying I was fine and I'd explain everything when I got home.

I started playing with Jack's curls until he started to stir and he opened his eyes.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nodded and we both sat up.

"Do you want me to take you home?" He asked.

"Sure."

We both got up and we walked to his mom's car. We got in the car and started driving.

"Iris?" I turned towards him. "If you ever feel like that again, just start writing. Or start singing. Just do something that makes you happy so you won't do something you regret. Just promise me, you won't do that ever again."

"Okay, I promise. Thank you, for everything."

"Of course." He reached over and hugged me, then kissed my forehead. I smiled and got out of the car. I opened the door and found my mom on the couch.

"Where were you! I called you like 100 times! I was worried sick!"

"I went for a walk and I fell in a ditch. A guy I know from school came and picked me up. He took me to his house and we fell asleep."

It wasn't all a lie. I just didn't want her worrying about me with everything she has going on.

"Next time text me," she said pulling me in for a hug. I nodded and tried to stay strong, but I couldn't. I burst into tears.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"J-jesse called me and broke up with me."

I felt like an idiot being so upset about a guy, but we had been through everything together. He was who I turned to while my parents went through a divorce. We had been dating for 2 years, and I didn't want to let him go.

My mom comforted me until I calmed down and tried to convince me he wasn't worth it. Once I stopped crying, I went upstairs and took Jack's advice by writing a song.

I had started on the lyrics before anything else, but I was interrupted by my phone buzzing. It was Kayla.

"Hello?" I said putting my phone up to my ear.

"Hey girl. I heard what happened," Kayla said sympathetically.

"It just happened, how do you already know?" I asked. She hesitated.

"I saw Jesse out with another girl. I confronted him and he said he broke it off. Then I dumped my drink on his head, and it spilled all over the girl too," she said chuckling a little.

"Kayla," I said dragging out the "la".

"You didn't have to mess with him," I told her.

"Too late. So are you okay?" She asked.

"No, not really. I'll be okay, though." I didn't know how to tell her what happened.

"You sure?" She asked. Those words made me burst into tears.

"Kayla, I almost killed myself," I whispered, without realizing it. My throat got tight like it does when I start crying.

"Iris! You tried to kill yourself because of Jesse?"

"Not just him. I couldn't handle the bullying at school, and we had the funeral for my grandma right before he broke up with me. I just couldn't handle it," I cried.

"But you decided against it?" She asked.

"No, I would've done it if it weren't for  Jack," I admitted.

"Jack?" She sounded pretty confused. I didn't tell her about him because it didn't seem important at the time.

"He's this guy that I ran into at school. He stopped me from... doing it, and took me to his house. He really made me feel better. He said he'd never leave my side," I told her smiling thinking about Jack's promise.

"You have to promise me that if you're ever feeling like that again, you'll call me. And don't lose Jack, he seems like a great guy," she sternly told me.

"Okay, I promise," I said.

"I have to go, I really miss you. Summer is almost here, though so I'll visit again."

"Right. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye," I said goodbye and then hung up.