July 10, 8:12 PM
I arrive fashionably late, and when I walk through the door, the humidity and smell of drunk teenagers overwhelms me; it almost makes me gag. I try to spot my best friend in the crowd of nobodies. There has to be at least a hundred people in sight, all their sweaty bodies crammed together, dancing to the blaring techno music. Holy crap, Hayden! Your parents are going to kill you!
Behind a tall, familiar looking guy who has a blonde on each of his arms, I notice Hayden's sparkly, headband- it's her favourite one. She is taller than most of the girls our age so she already sticks out, but when she dresses up, even a little, it's nearly impossible to take your eyes off her. You just can't forget her appearance with her crazy teased hair, and bold black eye liner. Her legs are skinny and long, and she obtains an hourglass figure. Guys adore her, and are constantly hitting on her, but because of one person, she never gave any guy a chance... She doesn't allow herself to trust them because of something that happened about 6 months after Ellie, Toby's ex-girlfriend, died.
~~
We were in the hallway, putting our books in our locker when a class from across the hall got dismissed and a large group of students started pouring out from the room.
"Oh look. Here comes Toby." I whispered to Hayden.
Toby was kind of the centre of all the jokes circling our grade. Showing up high or wasted every day, mumbling about Ellie and I didn't really help his image. Being suspended every other week, and getting arrested every other month made it hard for him to keep any friends. He roamed the halls like a loner, everyone too scared to get close to him. When he would snap, we would never know. He shooed away any therapists, and wouldn't let anyone comfort him. The way his last girlfriend died was too much for him too handle. He was a walking, ticking, bomb; and no one knew when he was going to explode.
He walked right up to us, and my heart skipped a beat. He didn't seem intoxicated, just really, really distraught. He looked like he had been crying for the entire Christmas Break... Maybe he had been...
He grabbed Hayden by the hand, and spoke softly, voice cracking. My heart broke in pieces to look at him. The spontaneous, flirty, jock who began to roam the halls crying wasn't easy to see.
"Hayden, I need to talk to you." She began to shake her head, but he pleaded.
"Please. Please, just... Just come."
She sighed, and he led her away from me. I could practically hear the ticking, but Hayden couldn't. Guys were always grabbing her, and talking to her. She probably had a book written of how exactly to break hearts. But the broken hearted ones- that was her kryptonite. If she turned down a crying boy in the hallway with needy eyes, she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. If everyone else in the grade spit upon him, she would shield him with herself. That's just the kind of person she was. Being her best friend, I wanted to protect her, so my first instinct was to follow them. I stayed about twenty feet behind them- far enough so I wouldn't be affected by the shrapnel but close enough to swoop in and save my best friend. When he led her into the guys bathroom, I got a thousand times more nervous, and picked up the pace.
When I pushed open the door, Toby had his hands all over her, and she was trying to push him away, but he had her pinned against the wall. As soon as he saw me, he pushed her into a stall, and closed it behind them. I tried opening it but he had locked the door. As soon as I heard Hayden let out a muffled cry, I dropped to the floor. The space between the ground and the stall was too small for me to get through, but it was just enough to see Toby ripping her jacket off, and letting it fall to the floor. I felt like I was going to throw up, but a voice in the back of my head told me to keep it together and be smart.
