The Abuse of a Friend

Chapter Three (Nick)

"Nicholas, are you even paying attention?" I could hear Mrs. Coroner yell from the front of the classroom, I looked up and squinted a bit to see the problem a bit. I should really get my prescription checked. 

"Umm I'm trying to, but I can't really see the board..." I said quietly, I was lucky that she even heard me. She sighed and motioned for me to move into an empty seat upfront, I gathered up my supplies off my desk and moved quickly through the aisle. I plopped my stuff down on the desk, and set my backpack down beside it before sitting down. 

"That's much better..." I murmured as I smiled at her in gratification. I looked up at thr problem and sighed when I saw it was another one of those ACT practice problems. Our school during senior english and senior math began training their seniors to take the ACT, which I thought it was smart but a lot of the teachers thought it was bullshit. I felt eyes on me and looked up to see one of my best friends Alex looking at me with curiosity, I gave her a confusing look back which she replied with a stern one. She mouthed to me that we had to talk after class, which I nodded to. 

"Crap..." I whispered under my breath, I was in so much trouble with her and I knew it. She hated any form of violence, whether it be arguing or play fighting, she hated it. So, when she finds out that I actually punched someone. I'm afraid she'll  blow a gasket. I looked up to the clock and saw that I had just twenty minutes till my doom... I should probably focus on getting my work done now that I can actuallly see the board. 

"All right class, that enough for today. Go ahead and pack up." Mrs. Coroner spoke as she clapped her hands together, I sighed and put my notebook in my bag and remembering to finish those problems for homework tonight. I heard someone clear their throat from above me, I slowly looked and saw Alex standing there with her hands on her hips. 

"Heyyy Alex, how ya doing?" I asked while slinging my bag over my shoulder and bringing my hand up to rub the back of my neck. All she did was glare at me even more, her brownish black hair was pulled up into a messy pony with only a few stray hairs hanging down and framing her face. Her blue eyes were alight with fury as she stared at me, her freckles made her eyes pop out even. As my eyes trailed her face, I noticed that she had makeup on covering her right cheekbone. Which was odd, cause she never wore makeup. I'll ask her about it later, time to get the yelling over with. 

*Ten minutes it later* 

"Alex? You gonna say anything?" I asked as I chewed on my bottom lip, she was gnawing on her bottom lip with her hands shoved in her pockets. She looked up from the ground slightly and opened her mouth like she was gonna say something, but she must have changed her mind cause she shook her head and looked back down again. She was always like this. Shy. Silent. Hidden. 

"Are you fucking retarded or something?" She finally asked as she looked at me with what I like to call a mom look, I laughed and just shook my head at her. Her look quickly turned from a mom look into a look that said that she was insulted by my laughing. Which of course made me laugh even more. 

"No... No. I'm not retarded. I just kind of snapped. You know?" I asked as I looked at her with a confusing look on my face, she smiled and blushed before looking down at her shoes. I smirked a bit, before glancing down noticing she was only using one strap to carry her backpack, which was unlike her. I looked down an saw that her sleeve has slid down a little bit, I looked more carefully and could see that there were bruises along her collarbone like some had gripped her with all of their force and held her down. It made me clench my fists down by sides, all I felt was blinding and pure hot rage.  

"All right, I got to go to the nurse for some meds. I'll talk to ya later Nick." She said as we reached the medical office, I smiled a bit even I could tell that it didn't reach my eyes. She just looked at me in confusion, before going up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. 

"See ya later." I said as she walked away from me, when she had gotten into the medical office okay I quickly spun around 180 degrees. As I made my way towards the office, I began rehearsing what I was going to say in my head. I pushed open the door and waited by the desk, while another teacher was going through the papers behind the desk. After waiting for about a minute or two, I cleared my throat and waited for her to notice me. She looked up and a wave of shock flashed through her eyes as she saw that I was back so soon, she looked confused as she walked to stand in front of me even though she was still behind the desk. 

"Can I help you Mr. Nick?" She asked as she stared at me, her eyes were scrutinizing and searching mine like she was searching me for some malicious intent. I get in one fight and it seems like I'm stuck on danger list for life, I thought as I rolled my eyes before opening up my mouth. 

"Can I get a copy of the list of help numbers?" I asked quietly, her eyes went all bug eyed, they looked like they were about ready to pop out of her head. I snorted before looking down at my shoes and shaking my head. The list of help number was this great big list of number that were connected to the drug abuse helpline, suicide helpline, depression help line, etc. They had pictures hung of them all over the school. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that she had returned, I kept thinking about what number I was going to call, the story I had to tell them when they picked up the phone. 

"Excuse me, are you okay?" I heard the lady say, she was looking at me with the paper in her hand that was outstretched toward me. Her eyebrows were all scrunched together, her deep brown eyes were just full of worry and curiosity. I quickly mumbled a yeah and that I was fine, she looked at me like she didn't believe me. I grabbed the paper out of her hand and began to walk away, but before I could make it out the door. She called my name. 

"Nick! Wait! You know that if you ever need help or wanted to talk. My door is open, correct?" She said, I looked back behind my shoulder and saw that she was now out from behind the counter and was now standing directly beside it. One of her hands were gripping the counter for dear life like she was collapse if she wasn't holding it, her face was one of pure panic and worry.  Which I understood why, two years ago her son had killed himself. Turns out he was suffering from severe depression, but no one saw the signs. Her and her husband both blamed themselves, which then led to them getting a divorce. His death quite literally tore the family apart. 

"Yeah I know, and if I don't know where to go from here I promise I'll come to you, okay?" I asked as I smiled at her, it wasn't the exact truth but I couldn't bear to break her heart or see that look on her face any longer. She smiled softly at me and nodded, I could see the tenseness that was in her shoulder disappear just a tad bit and the agonizing look disappear from her face. I walked out the door and began to speed walking to get to class on time, when I heard the warning bell go off, I began to full on sprint down the hallway. 

"Cutting it close eh?" My teacher announced as I slid into the class just a mere few seconds before the final bell went off, I shrugged my shoulders in response and plopped down in my seat. I set the paper in front of me and quickly scanned over the numbers as I tuned out my teacher, this was probably my least favorite class of the day. I saw the number I needed to call and began to bite at my fingers. Just how the hell was I gonna do this?!