Falling

02

TRIGGER WARNING: brief mention of suicide

Carson Hughes

I walked into the first day of school on Monday with hints of dread and excitement. Dread because the summer was finally over and I was going to be stuck in class all day, but excitement due to the fact it was my last year.

I met up with my friends in our usual spot near the cafeteria where I was the last to arrive.

"About time you got here," Hadley greeted me as I sat down beside her.

"Sorry, I was just putting off getting to school for as long as possible," I replied with a slight smile.

"Why aren't you excited?" Dana questioned from beside Logan. "It's senior year! It's time to make memories!"

Logan smiled at his girlfriend and pecked her on the cheek.

"I'm with Carson on this one," Archie agreed. "I can't wait to get out of here."

"I don't know. Aren't you guys going to miss it?" Isaac asked.

"No," Archie, Logan, and I chorused.

Isaac waved us off, shaking his head.

Soon after the bell rang and I had to head to my first class of the day, English. I knew this was a class I was going to dread. Luckily, I had this class with Isaac and he sat to my right.

About ten minutes after class started, the door opened and in walked a disheveled looking Vinny Taylor wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood up.

"Vincent Taylor, why are you walking into my class ten minutes late?" Mr. Thompson asked, sitting on his desk as Vinny looked around for the only empty seat which just so happened to be to my left.

"I got lost," Vinny replied with a cough, sitting down beside me.

"Sure you did," Mr. Thompson said with an eye roll. "Don't make a habit of it. Next time you'll need a pass."

"Got it."

I watched Vinny out of the corner of my eye as he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. It took me a second to notice the stares he was getting from the students around him. Maybe they were shocked by this new Vinny, the one that shows up late to class even though he never used to. Or, he was attracting attention for something different entirely.

"Let me guess," I whispered to Vinny, leaning closer to him, "you were having a smoke?"

"Maybe you do know me better than I thought," Vinny replied with a grin.

"I can smell it," I told him with a warning look. All it would take would be the wrong person getting a whiff and he would be in big trouble.

"You got some cologne?"

I shook my head then looked over to Isaac who was watching us with an incredulous stare.

"You have some cologne Vinny can borrow?" I asked Isaac. He looked over to Vinny briefly then back to me and shook his head before turning his stare to the front of the room.

I turned to Vinny and shrugged.

"I'm not worried about it," Vinny said casually.

Class droned on, so I was relieved when the bell finally rang to set us free. I looked over to Vinny to see that he looked like he was sleeping. I rolled my eyes and gently kicked his chair to wake him up. His head shot up in surprise and he looked around the room to take in his surroundings. Once he noticed where he was and that everyone was leaving, he nodded at me before standing up and leaving the room.