Benefits

Ch. 2: My Only Friend

My Only Friend- Phantogram

"You're all I had, my only friend."

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"Dawn! Hold up!" I feel an arm latch on top of my shoulder like a vise. I tense up the slightest, but I keep my breathing in and slowly let it out like I usually do. I turn around to see who it is, but I don't stop my fast walk out towards the quad where Lauren is sitting at.

It's Alice. Her eyes are filled with worry, "Hey you okay?"

"N-" I stop myself from talking. I don't know how to say anything without feeling like I'm going to break. I'm usually only confide in these certain issues with Lauren, so it's new for me to know that someone else cares for me as well. "Not really," I whisper, hoping and praying she heard the first time without myself having to repeat those repenting words.

She makes me stop walking with a gentle squeeze to my shoulder, but my mind is still running."You want to come to sit with m-." Her mouth stops moving, as her eyes look around me. I turn back reluctantly to only see her boyfriend Casper motioning her to come to him.

I know they've been having trouble with some things." It's fine Alice." I try to smile. "Lauren's waiting for me anyways." Her eyes flicked back to me when I say Lauren's name.

"Yeah, yeah." She says back. Her smile is even more fake as mine. She walks towards Casper who seems to be on the edge of anger for some reason I don't know, but Alice is just as angry. Casper tries to wrap an arm around her shoulders when she goes to him, but instead, she walks just as fast away from him. He follows close behind — both of their bodies disappearing in a stray of people.

Lunch soon spreads around. I look around for Lauren as I continue to speed walk towards the quad. It's only the third day of school, so everyone was scrambling. Especially the freshmen.

"Hey!" Someone pulls my arm into them. A second person has grasped me today, and I'm already on the edge of it. I look at the direction, and I see Lauren staring back at me. "Why are you fast walking?" She takes in my expression. "What's wrong?"

"Jake fucking Dennings. That's what."

Her face contorts in pure confusion, but something is hidden between it. Maybe anger and frustration for what's to come.

We sat by a nearby tree as I tell her the happenings of my enormous humiliation. "Wow what an asshole." She says astonished about what he blurted out in class.

"Mhm." I shake my head. I look across the quad. There I saw Jake Dennings with his usual shades; he stood there with his arm leaning against a tree as he talked to a curly haired girl. She twirled her hair between her fingers in a twist. You can smell then flirting a mile away.

As if on cue, Jake's head turns towards me. He lifts his sunglasses and winks at me! His smile widening at my boiling anger that rises.

I don't even know him, but I already hate him so much.

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The rest of the day was a complete blur of rage towards Jake. Who did he think he was? He ruined my day, and now I had to serve detention on Monday. Lauren and I walked towards the sidewalk blindly when school ended. I knocked into someone when I was looking down at my phone.

"I'm so sor-." My throat closes off as soon as I see the person I bumped. Air freezes through my lungs of paralyzation.

Jake glares at me with pure annoyance. "Watch where you're going." He snaps at me. He pushes past me towards his car in the parking lot.