Hunger and Highs (BEING REWRITTEN)

Two- Meeting

//edited\\

First period was hell. It was only about five minutes in and I was already wishing I could be at home asleep; not that I slept much anyway. I sat in the back of the classroom with my new clothes on that my mother had so graciously bought me. They fit well, and I was happy at the sizes I could fit into now. I realized that there were two empty desks next to me. They'd been empty so long I'd forgotten who sat there. The teacher was droning on about something I couldn't care less about when the door slammed open, making some kids jump at the sound but I didn't even move.

I looked up and seen the two boys from the day before walking in. They looked awfully sober, but something told me that they'd had plenty of practice at not appearing to be high off their asses. The teacher crossed his arms. "Mr. Dun, do you have an excuse for why you've been absent for the past three days?" He asked and the red haired boy seemed pissed off.

"My medical condition flared up. Per usual." He stated blandly, as if there was no life in him whatsoever. I didn't doubt that though, I knew that drugs could take away someone's happiness even though they used it to get away from pain. The teacher looked at him skeptically, but then nodded reluctantly.

"And Mr. Urie? What about you?"

"I was uh, taking care of Josh." The guy with the big forehead, or Brendon, said. It seemed like they'd been through this before, but why hadn't I ever noticed them? I knew I couldn't not notice the red hair.

"Fair enough. Take your seats, get Joseph right there to try to catch you up if that's even a possibility." He said with a dismissive hand. They seemed to relax and made their way to the two empty seats near me. The red head, now known as Josh, sat next to me while Brendon sat in front of Josh.

"Do you have the notes?" Brendon asked in a bored tone and Josh looked at him incredulously.

"You actually want to get caught up?" He asked and Brendon rolled his eyes.

"Fuck no, it's just an excuse to talk. I remember seeing you yesterday at some point." He stated and I was worried. What if he was going to say something mean about me being too fat? "Are you like, alright? You seem like you don't feel well." He asked and I was shocked.

"Of course I am. I don't know why you'd ask me that, you must've had one hell of a headache when you woke up." I stated, cringing internally at the thought. I'd never drank or done drugs, but I knew what it was like to have migraines and those were enough for me. He laughed humorlessly.

"Oh yeah, but I'm used to it by now. And the reason I'm asking, is well, you look like shit." He said and my stomach clenched at his words. I looked down at my desk, subconsciously shrinking into myself.

"I know. I'm trying to lose the weight, I'm sorry." I said quietly, cursing myself for not doing better. I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, forcing me to flinch and look at who was touching me. I was met with the fiercest eyes I'd ever seen.

"What the fuck? Dude, you're practically skin and bones. If you lost any more weight, you'd be dead. When he said you looked like shit like a douche," he glared at Brendon. "He meant that you clearly aren't taking care of yourself. I know that you aren't naturally this thin." Josh stated. I was shocked really. What was wrong with me loosing weight?

"My friends said I was getting too fat." I stated, getting a bit perturbed that he was insinuating that I'd look better fat. He slammed his hand down on my desk.

"A 'friend' would never call you fat." He gritted out, almost like he was trying not to yell. My eyes widened. His hand shook. "Sorry, withdrawal." He said as he held his hands. I let my features soften.

"Can I help you?" I asked quietly, feeling as if it were my duty to help him with his drug problem. Because obviously the stupid teachers weren't going to do anything as he wasted his life away in alleyways with another guy. He looked at me with a confused look. "I want to help you with the drugs."

"Why? Maybe I don't want to get off of them. Maybe I enjoy it. Besides, what makes a kid like you want to help a kid like me?" He said angrily. Yep, I hit a nerve there but he also hit one of mine.

"Don't worry about his tone right now. This is how he is during a withdrawal. He's moody." Brendon said nonchalantly, but Josh just rolled his eyes. "I can't blame him really. I'm pretty shitty when I do the same. I'm just not as quick to miss it." He said and I just couldn't stand what I was hearing. I wrote down my number on a small piece of paper and I was hesitant about handing Josh the paper. Finally, I fought with myself and said that it was worth the shot.

"Here." I stated and he looked at the folded object that was once a living and beautiful tree.

"What is this?" He asked, not even bothering to open it, so I rolled my eyes.

"It's for if you ever feel the need to do drugs again. Call me, and I'll do my best to keep you away from them. I can't stand by and watch someone kill themselves like that." I stated, grimacing at the thought of him accidentally overdosing one day.

"And you think I want help from someone that can't even help themselves for fucks sake?" He asked, and I was so shocked that I was frozen. "Besides, no one should be killing themselves the way you are." I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I probably couldn't even see. What did he mean? What did he mean by killing themselves the way I am? The bell rang and I quickly snapped out of my frozen state and was out of the room before anyone could say a thing. I felt someone come up behind me and tap my shoulder. I jumped but when I looked to see who it was, I relaxed instantly. It was Dallon.

Dallon was the only one that tried to convince me that I was fine the way I was, and that I wasn't even fat. But of course I never listened. He always worried about me, but I always ignored that. "Hey, I seen you talking to Brendon today. How is he?" He asked and I raised a brow. He blushed after he realized how worried he sounded.

"He's good I guess. He'd been taking care of Josh for some reason-"

"I know about the drugs and alcohol, Tyler." He said. "You don't have to protect them from me. I just want to help them, Brendon doesn't deserve this kind of life. He deserves so much more than getting high all the time and never knowing where he's going to wake up, or if he even will wake up." He said sadly, and I realized myself that he wanted to help Brendon as bad as I wanted to help Josh.

"Well that's funny, because I actually wanted to help Josh with his addiction too. Maybe we can get both of them clean." I offered and he seemed a bit skeptical.

"I don't know, it's going to be hard to get Josh off those. He's been through a lot of shit, and when he and Brendon started hanging out, they realized that drugs could take the pain away for at least a little while." He said. "That's where they fucked up. They always have to have something to get them high, whether it be weed, cocaine, pills, anything. And Brendon drinks on top of that, so if he was to take the wrong pill I'm afraid he'd be dead. Plus, both of those two have a high hatred for rich kids such yourself and I. I don't know why, but they do." I felt bad, because Dallon seemed to determined to help Brendon but it seemed like he just couldn't get close enough.

"I never said it would be easy, but I'm going to do everything in my power to help Josh. He deserves a better life too." I stated and Dallon agreed. "Can I ask you something though?" I asked as we walked down the hall.

"What is it, my smol bean?" I chuckle at his name for me.

"Josh said that he couldn't stand by and watch someone kill themselves the way I was. What does that mean?" I asked and Dallon shook his head.

"You're so blinded by your own mind." He stated sadly. "Sometimes to stay alive you have to kill your mind." And then he walked off, leaving me confused and upset.

"You don't understand."

^that last sentence hurt me.
Next chapter should and probably will be in Josh's Pov so you'll all get an insight at what it's like to do drugs when your mind is screwing with you.

Stay alive.

Likes and comments are appreciated.