Fractured

Chapter Two: Conversation

They all sat in the Cafeteria. Justin, Vallery, Sean and Emily. The only one missing is Chloe, who had run out of the building earlier in the day, due to a fight between her and Emily.
"You know, you really went in on her, Em." Vallery said, staring down at her food.
"She needed to hear it, Vi. I don't know what else to say here. She broke a promise." Emily replied.
"You really hurt her. I tried asking if she was ok but she just said no. Nothing else, just no. Then she took off."
"So that's what her problem was?" Hades interrupted, "She ran into me at full speed earlier. She had a look on her face I have only seen when she was fucked up about something. I asked her what was up but she mumbled something and kept running, straight out the door. Whatever you said to her fucked her up, dude." He finished.
"I'm upset too! I've been so fucking worried about her, I just exploded. I felt hurt that she just doesn't care, or so I thought. I don't know why I went in on her like that. It's too late now, though. It's over and I can't do anything about it. If I could take it back I would." Emily said rather calmly.
"This past year she's been so quiet, if she's here at all. Lunch was always the time we'd all joke around and laugh, now it's filled with us trying to fill her silence. I wish she'd realize that she has us. Even if it seems like no one cares, she'd know we did." Vallery said to her friends quite emotionally.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Justin mumbled, taking a bite of a sandwich he packed.

The group ate in silence for the remainder of lunch, finishing their meal and saying their goodbyes for the time being. As Emily walked to her next period, all she could think about was how she yelled at Chloe. She also thought about was how Vallery and Sean said it affected her. She never meant to hurt Chloe like that and she felt terrible for doing so. She wanted to fix it, but didn't know how. Even though Chloe didn't deserve it that much, she still yelled at her friend.
'Wow, I am such a fucking asshole.' Emily thought as she walked down the hall.

A long, exhausting day of school was over at last and they could all go home. Except one particular girl who had been home most of the day. She spent close to all of that time crying and feeling all sorts of things she didn't quite understand.
As she laid in bed, her phone buzzed, grabbing her attention.

"Holy fucking shit is it not the fucking time for this." I said dramatically while grabbing my phone.
"Hey girlie, how are you feeling?" It was from Hades.
"Just fine." I replied sarcastically.
"Oh cut the shit and call me." Before I even had a chance to read that my phone started ringing with his caller-ID showing up. I hesitated before answering, but against my better judgement I decided to answer anyway.

"Hello?" I asked weakly.
"Hey." He replied.
"What do you want? Are you here to yell at me too?" I asked rudely.
"And what would I have to gain from doing that? Little snippy today, don't you think?" He chuckled.
"Sorry."
"No you're not, nor should you be. You had a rough day and I don't blame you one bit." I could imagine him having a smartass grin on his face as he spoke. He usually did when saying stuff like this.
"Whatever dude. I don't know, lately it feels like I've been a burden on everyone." I actually have no idea why in the hell I just said that.
"Not quite, my friend. We haven't really done you any favors to how you've been feeling." Hearing this from Hades is strange. He really never talks about what's bothering him, or how he feels unless it's to help someone else.
"I don't think that at all. Then again, I'm stubborn and don't like to look at the other side of things." I joked.
"Yeah. Actually, it feels like we've been a burden on you." He stated.
"Really? W-why?" I asked, curious to hear what he had to say on the matter.
"Well, for starters you've gone quiet. The Chloe I remember was a loudmouth smartass that was always smiling and making everyone laugh." I could tell he didn't mean any of this in a bad way, but it still felt like it.
"The Chloe you remember..." I repeated softly.
"Shit, no. That's not what I meant." He said quickly.
"Right, yeah. I guess I'm still the same, except I never feel like doing anything and everyone laughs at me instead."
"I didn't mean it like that." He reiterated.
"Right, well, I guess I should go."
"Chloe-" Before he could finish, I hung up the phone and tossed it on the other side of my bed.