Terminally Hopeful

Chapter 7

Allison and I had left the zoo. We decided to grab something to eat at "Billy Bob's Barbaric Burgers." Their burgers were amazing.

But I couldn't take one thought out of my mind. I knew Conner was ill, but I didn't know what. His incident had me wondering once again. If he was sick with something, I wanted to know. Why don't I just ask? Well, if he's not speaking of it, then he probably doesn't want to talk about it even if I ask hi--

"Sadie? I had a lot of fun today. Thanks for letting me meet and hang with you," Allison interrupted my rambled thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Yes, I had a lot of fun too. And I want you to know, I forgive you. People say stupid things when they're... desperate. It wasn't even a big deal," I told her, seeing how anxious she looked.

She pursed her lips together and gave me a grateful look. I smiled back at her when the waitress came with two burgers with fries on the side.

The food was amazing, and left me with a satisfied and full feeling. I returned home afterwards. Jane was in the dining room, working on a puzzle. It was her hobby. She was almost addicted. It was her get away, puzzles.

When she saw me, she stood up and gave me a light kiss on the forehead and asked how I was doing. I told her the usual.

"I'm fine. How about you?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful," she said to me.

Without any other words, I went up to my bed and thought about the day.

Conner was seriously starting to worry me, but I brushed it off.

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"School!"

I didn't even move. I groaned and then went right back to sleep. I heard Jane sigh and pull the covers right off me.

"Nooo...," I groaned. What if I was naked? She has no right to pull the sheets off me.

I forced myself out like always and ate breakfast. This was my first day going back. I'm scared.

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"Let's welcome Sadie back into the school. Give her a nice round of applause guys," my English teacher said to the class.

The class slowly started clapping and I turned red. I didn't need this. I felt a stare and turned to the left and made eye contact with a boy with dark, deep brown eyes.

His eyes spoke of a story. He was hurt. He was injured. And my heart ached to help him. I'm not sure what this sudden feeling was, but he just looked so broken that I couldn't help but feel broken with him.

The clapping died down and I looked around for a seat. There were many open, even ones with no one next to them, but I walked straight to the boy and sat down next to him.

His eyes widened in surprise and gazed at me. I held his gaze in mine for what seemed like long time. This boy is special.

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The bell rang and it was lunch time. I knew how things worked in the cafeteria. After all, I did attend this school before I decided I wanted to be a bird.

But when I walked to the table I normally sat at, I heard them talking and froze.

"I heard she slit her throat. Guys she's over there, look for a scar," Eveln Tate whispered not-so-quietly.

"You idiot. She jumped off a cliff dumbass. It's because Allison trash talked her, remember?" Bella Shorkey whispered back.

By then, I was right in front of the table, but they continued to gossip.

"You know, I only sat with her because Allison was being a bitch about it," another one said.

"I know! She was like, 'my best friend this, my best friend that,' I was so glad when she started to ditch the girl," the brunette said.

I felt my eyes tearing up but I closed my eyes until I felt I was okay, then opened them. It was a little something I learned from Conner. As I let out a small sigh, the whole group turned to face me. They sent me weird looks which consisted of pity, annoyance, and plain hatred. They didn't care.

Then I felt a sudden and strong tug on my arm and soon enough, Allison was dragging me out of the cafeteria.

"What are you doing?" I asked, frustrated at the sudden force. I rubbed my arm and looked at her with question in my eyes.

"Eating outside," she answered calmly.

"Is that allowed?"

"No."

"Oh. Okay," I voiced.

She dragged me out to the back of the school where tables for studying were.

We eating our lunch when I saw the same boy from my English class walking.

"Who's he?" I asked.

"Who, him? Oh, that's Caleb. He transferred here while you were out and he's really quiet. I heard he got in a huge fight with someone and got kicked out."

"Kicked out? Forever?"

"Forever."

I'm not sure if that rumor is true, but I know one thing, and it's that he and I are going to be friends. Whether he likes it or not.