Lovely Conflicts: I Won't Say I'm In Love [On Hold] [Revising]

Chapter 8: Joey - Suicidal

We all got called into the auditorium. I walked in and the first thing I saw was a big sign that said 'SUICIDE WATCH'. Holy shit, who committed suicide? I looked around to see if anyone was missing... or crying. Chloe tapped my shoulder and pointed to Nikki.

She was crying, her hair a mess, in sweats, and hugging Danielle. "Where's James?" she whispered to me. My eyes widened and I walked over to her, not knowing what to say. What could you say? Also, we were like her mortal enemies.

"Nikki..." I said. She let go of Danielle and hugged me. I was shocked but I hugged back. "Joey, it's not your fault or anyone else's." she sobbed. Part of me wondered if she really thought that. "He was like this for awhile..." I nodded and let go of her.

He was like this for awhile... What did she mean? The principal walked on stage. Did it mean he was suicidal for awhile? The principal tapped the mic. Everyone silenced. "Hello, students," he said rather calmly. I looked to see Nikki crying louder.

"Last night, the demons fought with one of our angels. That angel is James Palmirch. They haven't won yet, but there is a chance they might. He was found on his bathroom floor-" he was cut off by a loud sob that emerged from Nikki. She was dragged out of the room by Danielle, Sophie, Cory, and Lenny. "He was found on his bathroom floor with cuts in his wrists. Because of this we are starting a support group for those who are suicidal. I please ask help from former suicidals and those who have loved ones who committed suicide to please help."

I looked to my left to find Jessica on the floor broken in tears and next to her was all the girls crying too. I looked to my right and found Daniel near tears and all the guys comforting him.

He was like this for awhile... Except, he wasn't like this when we were friends.

-*-*-*-*-*-

"Joseph?" my mother called. "Coming, Mommy!" I screamed. I abandoned the Lego tower in my bedroom and bolted down the stairs. It was the summer before kindergarten and I was 4 years old.

I stopped in the middle of the stairs to see a lady and a boy hiding behind her. "Joey, this is James," my mother told me. I turned to the boy hiding behind the lady, who I assumed must be his mother.

I waved my hand at him. "Hi, I'm Joey." He hid even more behind her. "Do you want to come to my room to play with Legos?" I asked. James shook his head and followed me to my bedroom.

We must of passed out or something because the next morning, I awoke on my top bunk with James on the bottom. "Joey?" he asked below me. "I'm here." I responded. I knew it might've been rude to ask, but I did it anyway.

My head hung down so that we could see each other. "James, do you have any friends?" He hung his head low. "No..." he responded under his breath. I came down and lay next to him. "Well, I'm your friend now."

"Thanks, Joey." He replied.

Basically after that, we became inseparable. We ventured onto kindergarten where we met James' current "crew" and Anna Probirka, James' crush for quite some time. Kindergarten was probably the time I talked the most.

"And then, there was this giant green fire breathing dragon and he made s'mores for everybody," I grinned proudly after telling my class my story. The teacher smiled at me and laughed a little.

I was startled by the sudden noise. "WHOO! GO JOEY!" James screamed. He started clapping and had this goofy grin on his face. Everyone started clapping and cheering, too. It was pretty funny.

Then came 1st grade. It was pretty much a blur because James was with his family in Italy 3/4 of the time. He told me that it was because his Grandpa had cancer so they stayed with him mostly (by the way he's cancer free now.)