"This story is about the boy I loved. This is about his suffering. This is about my suffering. All of it due to one thing. Affluenza."
TW : Key themes of suicide.
Sebastian Grey. Golden boy, trust fund baby, and Braylen Adams' mortal enemy. Braylen...
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TW// VIOLENCE
two months later
"TAKE YOUR FINGERS and put them in here and down there. Strengthen your thumbs; it's all in the thumbs. Lean back a bit, ready? Aim. Fire!" I shout and Hayley grunts as she rolls the dark blue bowling ball against the floor. It makes it all of two feet before it hits the gutter. She sighs, turning around to me.
I latch my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me. "Hey, it's okay. Not everyone is the best bowler."
She waves her arms. "It's because I have absolutely no muscle."
"Yeah, well, neither do I and I don't have a two-round streak of gutter balls," I retort.
Hayley pulls away from me, cursing. "Screw you, Braylen."
I laugh, pulling her back next to me and kissing her. She smiles against my mouth, wrapping her arms around my neck and sighing softly. I pull away but she presses her lips to mine once more. "You're a good kisser," she mumbles absentmindedly. "You're actually good at everything."
I snort. "Then you clearly have not seen me sing. Or roller skate. Or dance."
"Is that why you didn't invite me to the annual Halloween Bash at the Academy?" she asks, grabbing her ball back from the rack.
I falter. "No. I didn't invite you because I'm not going."
Hayley gapes at me, sticking her ball back into the rack. "It's your senior year. You're seriously not going?"
I shake my head, grabbing my own ball instead. "Of course not. It's just another excuse for rich white kids to get drunk or high or both right under the administration's nose. Not to mention that literally at least three girls end up being knocked up afterward; it's the breeding ground for out of whack teenage hormones and overdoses."
Hayley giggled. "You've never actually been, have you?"
"I've seen videos..."
"That's it. We're going." She smiles softly like she's extremely pleased with herself.
I roll my eyes. "Hayley, no. It's tomorrow night, I don't have a costume, and, oh yeah. I don't want to go!"
"Braylen," she moans. She sidles up to me, grabbing my arm. "Please. For me?"
I tilt my head back, sighing. "Okay, okay. Fine. But only if Robyn is going!"
