3TS: The Chances of Starting Again

Gone

I'm...speechless. I...can't believe it.....

With my mother's insistence, I went to the ball. My mother had surprised me with the same blue dress I had worn some cycles ago when I had come home that other night.

So I had no choice but to go (or my mom would have wasted all that money).

Entering the school entrance, my stomach suddenly felt sick. Thoughts swirled through my mind like an avalanche. The words tumbling through me with the sound of thunder.

How was I going to enter the V-Ball with no partner?

How can I face Juan?

How can I Trent?

I gulped and strode purposefully to the bathroom. With one nudge, I opened the door to see several boys doing the weirdest hairstyles. I have no idea why boys want to look like they have ice cream on top of their heads, but the best one is the regular barber haircut.

After that moment of thought (and a few boys looking at me with their jaw dropped), I realized I was looking into the boys' bathroom.

"Sorry." I muttered as I ducked my face away, hoping no one would recognize me.

As I carefully looked at the sign above the girls' bathroom (making sure it was where I was going), I heard a sniffle within. A recognizable sniffle.

Arlene's sniffle.

I burst through the door to find her sitting on the floor (in the most gorgeous red dress I have ever seen), with mascara running down with her tears.

I ran over to her (as best as I could, Journal, in heels). "What's wrong, Arlene?"

She looked at me, her face in a blank expression. Something was seriously wrong. Her face was never like this, Journal. She would usually have a pained expression if something minor happened in her grades or something...but this...

She just shook her head, and covered her head. As I walked nearer to her, she buried her face into my shoulder.

Okay, she had never even done this before. Well, on second thought, she did. She only did it once. When her favorite Tita (Auntie) died of cancer.

My ears pricked up and my mind started to whirl into a different pace. 

"Arlene..." I said cautiously.

She only wept harder. I stroked her hair until she gulped air, and had enough strength to speak.

"He's gone." She whispered.

Those two words made my senses go awry. I felt like I was in a cold blast of air, but then I felt myself sweating.

My heart started to beat fast. 

Something was wrong. Something was VERY wrong.

"What? I don't understand you..." I started, knowing instantly that she meant Trent. But what did she mean as gone?

"He's gone. Gone. Gone." She said over and over, like she was still in a nightmare.

"It's okay. He probably had things to do. He probably couldn't make it to the dance because he's sick and is at-" I stopped as she stared at me.

But it was as if she was staring right through me. She whispered slowly to me, in which the words would forever haunt my mind.

"He's gone, Krissa. He's dead."