Drowning

Chapter two-bruises

I'm walking up to school and I see Cole walking by, he has his hood up. I walk over to him and pull it off. He looks shocked but not as much as I am, he has a black eye.
"What the fuck?" He asks putting the hood back up.
"I knew something was up." I say.
"You had no right Alison! No right at all! So do me a favor and stay away from me!" He yells, he called me Alison again. Cole starts to walk away, I don't know why I care I barely know the guy and yet I do care.
"Cole." I call after him trying to get him to turn around. He doesn't he just walks faster away from me. I jog to get to him and grad his shoulder, he turns so fast I fall.
"God Alison I don't know how to make this clear to you. Leave. Me. Alone." He tells me harshly then he walks away. I just stay on the ground in shock, I see Heather running over to me.
"Allie what did you do to him?" She asks helping me up.
"Nothing." I tell her, it wasn't really a lie I didn't really do anything to him.
"Clearly you did. I've known Cole a long time and he normally just sits quietly in the corner." Heather tells me as we walk to class.
"Does he always wear basically the same thing?" I ask her.
"Yeah. I haven't seen him without that jacket in years." She says.
"He seems so lonely, who are his friends?" I ask Heather as we sit in class.
"Only one that goes here, his name is Kyle." She says. I nod, I don't know what I plan to do with that information but I have it now. I'm walking out to my next class when I run into someone again.
"Sorry, I have to learn to watch where I'm going." I say to the guy I hit.
"Not a problem." He says with a smile.
"Kyle. Let's go." Cole says from down the hall, the guy I walked into nods. What are the chances of that I walk right into Kyle. He walks to Cole and they leave.
"Alison Fray please come to the office." The PA system says. I turn and walk to the office.
"You called me." I say to the lady at the computer.
"Alison?" She asks.
"Allie but yeah that's me." I correct her.
"Ok, well we had a change in your schedule. Due to the addition of a few new students like yourself. You have gym now and your math class moved to where gym was." She says handing me the update schedule.
"Oh ok. Thank you." I tell her, then I leave to go to gym. I no longer have gym with Heather so I change alone and walk into the gym. I'm shocked when I see Kyle and Cole, I'm not shocked so much by seeing them but more that Cole didn't really change. We warm up to run and I have no idea how Cole can do gym like that, but he does.
"Your staring." Kyle says from next to me, I didn't know he was there so I jump a little.
"I wasn't staring at you." I tell him.
"Not at me, at Cole." Kyle corrects me.
"No I wasn't." I lie.
"Fine lie to me that's ok. But he seemed pretty pissed at you so I'd back off." Kyle tells me.
"Wait, he talked to you about me?" I ask.
"No, he never talks to me about anything. I can just tell by the way he looked at you in the hall." He answers.
"Oh." I breathe out.
"Look, I've known Cole his whole life and I'm telling you as his best friend. You can't get through, no one can. He's to far out, it's just who he is." Kyle tells me.
"That's a little harsh." I say.
"Just the facts." He says then he runs back up to Cole. I can't let it go, I have a feeling that something isn't right. I should have felt it with my sister but I didn't, I feel it now. On the way out of school I call my mom.
"Hey honey." She says when she answers.
"Hey mom I was just wondering if I could go to a pool party Heather is having?" I ask, Heather looks at me excitedly.
"Yeah honey sure." She says.
"Thanks mom." I tell her hanging up. Heather jumps up and cheers.
"Yay! This is going to be so fun!" She yells. I laugh.
"Who else is gonna be there?" I ask her.
"Our English class and history class, plus Kyle." She says. English class, Cole will be there.
"The whole class said they're coming?" I ask.
"Yeah. I do this every year Allie, Cole comes. He never swims or anything but he shows up." She says getting in my car with me.
"So he just talks with people?" I ask.
"No. Oh no, no." Heather says laughing.
"What? Why is that funny?" I ask pulling out of the school's lot.
"He just comes by for a little while, with some beer. He sits in a corner drinking, when he's done he thanks me and leaves." She answers.
"That's weird." I say.
"Not really, it's just Cole." Heather says shrugging.
"Why is no one concerned about that this stuff?" I ask more to myself then to Heather.
"What do you mean? That's just the way some people are." She says putting her hair up. I can't help but think about my sister, that's just the way some people are. No, it's not. I made the mistake of thinking that with Sarah, we all did and she's gone now. I owe it to Sarah, as her sister to not let the same thing happen to Cole. I know he's not ok, I feel it in my soul. I'm gonna do whatever I can to get through to Cole, before he downs in himself.