My Pen Pal: Jack Barakat

Chapter Nine - Hold Onto Me When You Think You're Sinking

Jack’s POV

Danni was everything I expected her to be. She is such a lovely girl and I wondered how anybody could be so mean to her. I wouldn’t have the guts to be the person to make her smile turn into a frown. The UK tour was in just under a week and I was so excited to finally meet her. I’d already planned out doing things such as giving her piggybacks around the venue, giving her the tightest hugs she’d probably ever receive in her entire life and also letting her hang out with the entire band for the whole day. I wanted to do one more special thing for her though. I had pondered on the thought of what it could be for a while and wanted it to be something that happens during the show. Bring her on stage. I smiled to myself and text Alex about everything straight away.

Danni’s POV

I woke up in the morning definitely not wanting to go to college. I didn’t want to face Benji now because I knew he’d be with the group of bullies and that they’d gang up on me. It worried me a lot to the point I over thought it all and ended up not eating any breakfast. As I brushed my hair slowly, I looked in the mirror at my face. I looked so drained from the lack of sleep and as I went to plait my hair, a few slurred words came from a hunched over female figure walking into the room. It was my mum. She grunted, not even saying a small hello to me. It was like this every time I got to see my mum, which was rare of course but the majority of the time she was not sober enough to know of my existence. I was just glad she was going off to rehab today. As I finished plaiting my hair and packed my bag for the day at college my dad walked into the room and sat down next to her, eating the cereal from the bowl in his lap. I slung my bag over my shoulders and went to walk to the front door when my dad spoke out. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your mum? You won’t see her for a month.” I slowly turned back round to face both of them, my mother hanging her head and my dad staring right at me. Why did I have to say bye to her? She rarely spoke to me herself. “Bye mum, get well.” She grunted in reply and I turned back to the door and walked off to college. I stuck both of my earphones in, putting All Time Low on shuffle and the volume full blast. I hoped that the fact I was earlier leaving the house today would mean that I wouldn’t bump into Benji or anybody else. I dragged my feet against the pavement as I walked. I was that tired that I couldn’t manage to find the energy to pick them up properly. Sighing, I turned the corner which led me onto the road my college was actually located on and crossed my fingers, hoping for a clear entrance at the gates. It looked empty as I was walking up, but then as I got closer I could hear muttering and the familiar voice of Benji. I stopped where I was, trying to look for another way to enter the college without them noticing me. My heart beat heavily in my chest and then suddenly the muttering I heard began to fade away. I peered round the corner of the gates to see them walking off into the building so I quickly ran in, taking the last of my energy I had to do so.

The day at college had gone by slowly. I’d just arrived at photography class, my final lesson of the day and I dreaded Benji turning up. 10 minutes had gone by in the lesson and I was editing photos I’d took at a gig previously when I heard footsteps coming up the corridor. However, the person who walked into the classroom wasn’t Benji. It was the head teacher who wandered over to my photography tutor, muttering a few things into his ear. A small nod was returned and then she walked back down the corridor. “Danielle can I speak to you outside of the room for a minute please?” My photography tutor sounded drained. I nodded, following him out as he closed the door quietly. “It’s about Benji.” Fuck. “What about him?”

“You’re his friend right?” I thought over the word friend for a couple of seconds before shaking my head. “Not anymore.”

“Well, he- he’s kind of in a bad way.” My hands started to get sweaty. I was confused at what he meant by ‘bad way’. “What do you mean?”