"Delilah killed herself." The message read.
I didn't believe it, there's no way she would do that. I know Alex clowned on her a lot but he'd never go that far.. I hoped it was just a rumour.
I quickly flipped to Snapchat stories to see if anyone else was posting, and sure enough they were. Screenshots of news reports filled my feed. I opened a story from Rachel, a friend of Jessica's, and she commented what most people were probably thinking, "damnnnn, Alex what the fuck did you do mann.."
It's clear everyone knew about their bickering, they made it quite obvious. But even if Alex somehow wasn't to blame for this, he is still in huge shit.
I opened up my squad's group chat, comprised of Jessica, Rachel, Lenny, and Cheyenne.
"Holy shit guys, is this real?" I sent.
Rachel replied with a link to the news story. I quickly tapped it. A school picture appeared of Delilah under the headline, "St. Discord High Teen Takes Her Life."
I was never close to Delilah, in fact I thought she was quite annoying. But I knew how rough her life was, and that Alex didn't exactly help with that.
The article read, "Delilah Strife, 16, has taken her life on Thursday at her home in Middletown. Investigation is currently ongoing."
I slid back to the group chat.
"God, tomorrow is gonna be a shit show at school." I sent.
"We are all gonna get questioned, I'd be surprised if Alex even shows up tomorrow." Rachel replied.
"Delilah was so sweet, we were partners in Chemistry last week." Lenny said.
"She say anything that might've hinted a this?" Rachel questioned.
"She told me about how much she hates Alex, all the shit he says to her."
"Why the fuck is Alex such a jerk to her anyway?" I asked.
"In my opinion, sounds like Alex might have a crush on her, he's just a dick though." Lenny stated.
"Had a crush on her." Rachel corrected.
"That's fucked, Rach." Jessica said.
"Well fuck this shit, I need to get some sleep." I said.
"Yeah good fucking luck, we are all gonna be wide awake tonight. I'm just gonna get zooted." Rachel sent.
I clicked off my phone and set it on my bedside shelf. I rolled on my back and closed my eyes.
...
The new day dawned.
The immediate feeling of dread set on as I opened my eyes. Tonight is going to suck.
As I entered the school, it was especially quiet. And the people who were talking whispered to each other. I passed by Delilah's locker, it was opened and empty. From the opposite end of the hall, I saw Alex walking with a security guard. Well he's fucked.
I opened my locker and stared into it. It was hard for me to focus. I didn't even think about Janessa until I glanced over and saw her at her locker. She was visibly shaken. I believe Delilah was one of her fans, and although I'm sure Janessa didn't know Delilah well, that hasn't stopped this from really affecting her. She was always so compassionate.
Ryder came by like he did every morning.
"Everything's gonna be alright okay, Nessy. Just don't think about it." Ryder tried to comfort her, putting his hands around her waist.
Yeah like just not thinking about it would make everything better.
...
First period, English.
The class murmured a bit, it seemed like everyone was mostly trying to forget about what was going on, but I noticed Cheyenne was especially quiet. She was always a jokester and tried to liven people up, but she sat slouched down in her chair.
I remember when Jessica and Cheyenne worked on an English project together last year and Jessica had done most of the work, but Cheyenne was intent on letting herself have most of the credit so she wouldn't fail the class. Those days seem so innocent and carefree now.
Over the intercom, an announcement stated, "there will be an assembly today at the start of third period, please report to the auditorium at that time."
After a gruelingly long time, the bell rang, and it was on to next period.. History.
The quietness especially hit hard this time. The absence of Alex's and Delilah's bickering felt like a dark void encapsulating the room. An almost eerie white noise took presence.
Ms. Blooberry had decided to just show us a video that day, instead of giving her normal teaching lecture.
And when the bell rang, it was time to go to the auditorium.
