How to Lose your Best Friend

♡LXXXVI♡

Eagle

Word of PJ's death passed through the town and everyone pretended to care. From time to time you'd hear someone mention what a good kid he was or how much potential he had. It's weird to think that the people who were telling him that he'd amount to nothing were saying this about him now. People didn't care that he was dead. It was all just an act. The reason he died wasn't even spread properly. The doctors agreed with my theory that his body wasn't used to the excessive amount of alcohol that he used to consume and it just shut itself down. But no one wanted to hear that. People wanted a story and the story was that he killed himself.

Some people blame me for causing him to kill himself. Others blame Antonio for not being able to stop him. I don't think that either one of us is to blame. Neither of us was the one to actually kill PJ. Only he could make that decision and based off of what Antonio's said it was ultimately PJ's choice. The even sadder truth is that PJ didn't even want to die. He wanted to forget what happened on prom night and got a little too carried away. His excessive drinking overwhelmed him and amounted to his death.

His death happened far too fast but in the moment it felt like time was stopped. I haven't been able to sleep since and every time I close my eyes I can still feel my arms wrapped around his cold limb body. I remember a time that we were curled up in my makeshift room with each other in our arms as we both fell asleep. Too bad things changed so fast. Now a majority of the school gathered around a recently cleaned casket with PJ's name on it.

Everyone who showed up was given a card with a PJ and I's prom picture on it with a small note on the side.

"In loving memory of Peyton Asklar. May you forever rest in peace."

I had no clue who designed the card or planned the funeral. Antonio and I had tried to help with it but we were just shooed away by the school board. Our school felt partly responsible for letting this happen for whatever reason. I doubt that they really cared but PJ's death gave our school some publicity.

The funeral was mostly run by the town and volunteers who felt as if they needed to contribute. People who I'd never even seen before all gathered here today just to say goodbye to someone they never even said hello to.

The funeral was held outside a local church. The weather was foggy and it looked like it was going to start raining but the funeral carried on. I was planning on playing for the funeral since I heard that someone wanted a musical accompaniment. The school was planning on hiring an organist but I flipped on them. If anyone was going to be playing for PJ's funeral it was going to be me.

I'd asked Blair to sing while I strummed the guitar but as far as I knew he wasn't going to show up. The last time we talked it ended in another argument but the funeral had nothing to do with our relationship. It was about PJ and out of respect for a friend you would think that he could just suck it up and put whatever bad blood we had aside.

Instead, Antonio agreed to sing for me. He wasn't good but it didn't matter. No one was paying that much attention to us anyways. Stairway to heaven played almost automatically off the tips of my fingers as I watched people passing by. It wasn't until a young couple showed up that all of the commotions immediately stopped.

I didn't' recognize their figures but as soon as the man turned around I knew who they were. He looked exactly like PJ and he had a disgusted look on his face as if everything around him was all a joke. This had to be PJ's father.