Ever since the Alex debacle, I have distanced myself from my group of friends, partly due to my disgust at their actions, and partly of my own fear of repeating the same mistake again. I sit in the back of my class, turning the pages without interest, when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I subtly glance down on it, and frown.
Alex needs to talk to you. From Josh.
Why now? It's been a week since our fight, and she hasn't tried to make contact with me, so what's changed? It doesn't matter, though, because if she needs to contact me through Josh, it must be important.
Where?
The girl's toilets near my physics class. Find a good reason, 'cos it might take some time.
My lips crease as I press them together in worry. I'll be there.
I pocket my phone and raise my hand after the teacher leaves us to our work.
"Yes, Emma?"
"May I go to the toilets, please?"
A disapproving look. "You realise that the bell just went—"
"My period started," I blurt out without thinking, and the embarrassment that crosses Mr Simmons' face makes blood rush into my cheeks.
"Um, yeah, um—yeah, you can go, and... take what you need to..." he trails off awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck as he walks away.
As the mortification passes, I grin as I walk through the corridor. Well, that was awkward.
My smile vanishes instantly, though, as I step into the toilet. Alex is hunched over the sink, and her back his rising and falling heavily.
"Alex?" I ask tentatively, and when she turns to look at me, I can see shards of glass pushing through her skin from the inside out, shattering and mutilating her into thousands of terrible pieces. She has a makeup bag next to her, with a blackened makeup wipe in her hand as she tries to clean up her smudged mascara. Her eyes widen into glassy pools of blue, and she whispers, "Emma," while trying desperately not to cry.
I blink owlishly at her for a moment before hurrying over to her so that I can help her clean up her face and reapply the makeup.
"You were right, Emma," Alex says, almost too quietly, and I pause to look up at her. "About Matt. You were..." she breaks off, closing her eyes with a shuddering gasp.
"Shh, don't talk. Just breathe," I tell her before she begins to crumble. As I finish wiping away the mascara smudges and discard the tissue, I say, "You were right, too, you know."
A pause, a hesitation. "What about?"
"Don't you remember?" I say dryly. "'Mind your own fucking business'?" She flinches. "I never should have interfered. Well, I should have, just not like a troll that's drunk off of its ass." A small curve of the lips, and I almost smile too.
"I don't think I would have listened to anything short of a drunk troll, to be fair," Alex replies, and her limbs begin to thaw as she starts to reapply her make up to hide the splotchiness.
"Yeah, well, I stepped on you." My eyes begin to sting. "I broke you."
"Stop it!" Alex snaps, and I turn to look at her in surprise to find her eyes burning holes in me. "Stop apologising for things that have already happened and have come and gone, okay?"
"Yes, but—"
"I get it! I get that you're sorry, and I want you to get that it's alright! And don't you start crying!"
I blink, once, twice, and then I'm grinning widely. "I didn't think you'd ever lose your temper, Alex!"
She frowns in confusion, and then a shy smile slips across. "I have my moments," she says demurely, and as we leave the bathroom together, neither of us are crying, both of us smiling. The glass has been removed, and the wounds have been treated, and Alex almost looks whole again.
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...
