Until We Meet Again

Chapter 14

Jade died a week after we talked. Although many people at school barely knew Jade, all of the hallways were quiet because we respected her. The whole school was so quiet that when someone sneezed, they got instant death glares.

The second day after Jade had died, the intercom rang. The lady at the front desk asked for a moment of silence. The silence continued for three whole minutes before our principal interrupted and took the woman's place.

"Such a shame a brilliant young girl had to take her life in such a tragic way." He was silent for a while. "Students, and staff, we will be having an assembly in twenty minutes. We will call students down by their grade numbers, seniors being called first."

The substitute teacher looked over at Jade's desk, which used to belong to Alex. Kids had written hearts on it to show respect. Some kids even brought in flowers and placed it on her desk.

My mind refused to accept the fact that she had passed. I vividly pictured her sitting in front of me, her long lock of hair brushing the front of my desk which deeply aggravated me when I was trying to write. I pictured her on her first day of school. She looked misplaced standing in front of us. Her eyes scanned the room in terror. I remembered the way I judged her in my head.

       I called her promiscuous without even knowing her personality. My stomach tightened at my stupidity. Oh boy how much I had regretted it. I looked at her and labeled her without even knowing her.

            "I know the passing of a classmate is rough. When I was in high school"

There we go again, another one of those stories.

"It was my junior year. Me and a couple of seniors were hanging around in one of our twenty five year old friend's backyard. My best friend who was heavily stoned started to get very physical. He shouted at me saying he would punch the next person he saw in frustration. That was because he lost a drinking game!" The woman looked at us with her arms crossed. She enunciated the syllables in the word drinking.
Her hip rested on the side of the teacher's desk. "A young couple were walking with their dog, a little yorkie. I still remember hearing the dog's barking fit as my friend pushed the girl from the boy's grip."

    "He went for the girl?" A girl from the back of the room blurted out.

           "Yes...he did. The girl's boyfriend and my friend went at it for a good minute until the guy spiraled his hand in the air and sent it flying at my friend's head. His body became frozen as it went backwards. His head collided with the ground, cracking his skull. I knew he died the instant I heard the sound of his head hitting the cold concrete."

"What happened to the other guy...and his girlfriend?" Jackson Wang, a popular gymnast that girls swooned over asked. "I mostly only care for the girlfriend."

"The man was arrested," the substitute teacher laughed at Jackson's joke.

"I only care about the puppy! How was the puppy?" My eyes traveled to the side of the room where the guy shot himself up from his seat to ask his question. A lot of people laughed which was a huge relief. It was good to see the air slowly easing itself.

I looked over at Alex who shared the same expression with me. The both of us still couldn't believe that one day we were talking to Jade, and the next day she isn't there anymore.