Over the next week, I try to contact Alex, but either she's very good at avoiding me, or she just hasn't been going to school at all, because not even the other students have seen her. Josh and I have become a 'thing', although it's nothing physical. All he does is give me a window into the workings of Alex's brain, just a chance for me to understand her. Sometimes what he says makes so much sense that I begin to wonder if he's alright, but every time I ask, he deflects and changes the topic.
On Friday, Josh takes me to a superhero movie, but considering that most of our bonding is through conversations, the money is ill-spent with the two of us trying to talk over the explosions while not being told off by the other moviegoers.
"My ears hurt," I complain to him as we leave the cinema, but he just grins and shakes his head.
"Got it. No more movies, because they make your 'ears hurt'," he says cheekily, and I flick his arm in annoyance. "Oh, on a side note, I've got some intel on Alex."
"Really? Intel? Is that what we're calling it now?" I raise a disbelieving eyebrow at him.
Josh shrugs carelessly. "That's pretty much how we're treating this. Anyway, Alex has been at home for the last week but will be back on Monday for the Chemistry test. People say it's because of the breakup, and I'm inclined to believe them. You must have been the last straw. Telling her was the right thing to do, but this would've been avoided if you hadn't done it in the first place."
I turn on my heels and glare at him. "Look, you're the one who agreed to do it. If you're going to keep blaming me, look at yourself for once and see that you have just as much blood on your hands!"
Josh smiles weakly at me, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm just the brawn here. You were behind the whole thing. And like I said before, I like you. I... Maybe I was wrong about that, and maybe that's what got us here."
That all we say while he drives me home, and I slam the door shut behind me, not even waving goodbye. At least I know that I'll find her on Monday.
YOU ARE READING
How to Save a Life
Short Story"Life is like a rollercoaster that you just can't wait to get off." Alex is suicidal. Alex is depressed. This much is true. When Emma finds her crying in the girls' toilets, she tries to help, but she makes a fatal mistake in telling her friends. Wo...
