Heroes | ✓

· of heartbreaks ·

'Heartbreaks' were often associated with 'breaking up' with someone, as far as Faith could remember. At least in middle school. She was unsure if the terminology or the meaning(s) associated with it had changed since then.

Then she met Bailey Summers.

Faith had been trying to get into contact with Bailey for getting some information from her (and her quote) for the Yearbook for 2 days, without any luck. She couldn't remember the last time Bailey had been absent in school, for 2 days straight. After all, Bailey prided herself for being one of the only few people to have an almost perfect attendance in all of the junior year class.

When Faith did see the girl after a few more days, she couldn't help but notice the lack of a smile on her face, the bloodshot eyes, the downturned lips, messy; uncombed hair almost every hour of the day.

Faith thought she could probably use a friend.

"Hey." Faith gave Bailey a small smile as she sat beside her on a bench outside of the school cafeteria.

Bailey looked up at Faith with slightly wide eyes, eyeing her up and down, probably wondering what she was doing at her table when they rarely talked otherwise. "Hey." Bailey was kind enough not to ask What are you doing here?

"Um, so, are you- I mean, I couldn't help but notice that you seem upset lately and I'm not sure if I have the right to ask but I just thought you could use a friend and I'm sorry, we just never talk and I don't know why-" She was digressing. She hated it.

She saw Bailey give her a slight smile, "It's okay." The smile dropped as quickly as it had come. "I'm-I'm okay. Thanks for asking."

Neither of them said anything for a few awkward moments. But Bailey saved them both from the awkward moment by speaking again, "Actually, I'm not. I mean - I'm-I'm not okay." Faith could see her eyes watering but she didn't say anything. The only thing she could think of was "What happened? I mean, if you don't mind telling me. I'm a pretty good listener."

Faith allowed Bailey a few moments to herself; to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. She took a deep breath and Faith never anticipated to have her own heart broken by what Bailey said. But it did. Again. In a million tiny pieces.

"My dog passed away 3 days ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Bailey simply shrugged.

Faith tried to hold back all the memories resurfacing, but she couldn't help it. "I had a dog. Until I was 10. A golden retriever - Dakota. Was such a bitch, though. Always taking all my toys." She heard a small laugh from Bailey. She now smiled as she continued, noticing a small smile on Bailey's face as well and taking that as a good sign. "She passed away a few years later."

She sighed as she asked, "What was her name? Or his?"

Bailey smiled slightly now, "Helly."

"Helly? Like Hell and then Helly?" Bailey laughed, "Yeah. I don't even remember who came up with that name. "

Faith got up from her seat on the bench, feeling strangely empowered as she waved goodbye to Bailey and assured her that she would always be there to talk about Helly and Dakota, if not anything else.

She thought about all the happy memories she had with Dakota. And then she thought about how happy she and the puppy would be if she adopted one again.

She silently thanked the spirits above for her talk with Bailey, that had made her realize that she needed and more importantly, wanted to spread the love. And the best way she knew was right in front of her face.