Chapter 9: Staircase Chronicles

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I walked in my fourth period. My normal teacher wasn't there today. We had a sub. I grabbed a worksheet from the teacher's desk then went to a empty desk.
"Yo April." I turned my head and saw the five of then looking at me, calling me over to them. I blatantly ignored them and sat at a empty desk. I was to confused on a lot of things to notice they all were standing over me. Once I sensed them I faced them.
"Yes?" I said as I played with my pencil in my hand.
"We heard about earlier, you okay?" Isaac asked me, placing his hand on my hand, stopping me from being distracted by the pencil.
"I'm fine." I pull away. I didn't need this.
"What the hell even happened?" Jessica asked while popping her bubble gum in her mouth.
"Yeah, what did happened anyways? Never knew you were the rebel type." Madison chimed in.
"Nothing. Now can you please stop bothering me." I looked back at my work, trying to concentrate.
"Hey.. if she's messing with you, you can tell us." Matthew speaks up. I notice he had bandages on his burned hand.
"I said I'm fine." I said it harshly. Why did I have to be put in a situation with people who I honestly didn't care about in the first place. I known them since 9th grade and this year was probably the most I've ever even seen them. I guess they realized they weren't getting anything out of me. So they slowly went back to their table in the back expect for Jordan. Maybe if I ignore him, he'll leave too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jordan's POV
I watched her pick up the pencil and started figuring out the equations she was doing. Something is up. She was acting like the machine I was used to, but something was off. It was getting me upset. She had people who she could talk to now. We were all in the same situation, but she remained closed off. I had enough..
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I didn't mean to say it harshly, but I did. She looked up from her work, with wide eyes.
"Excuse me?" I stared at her, looking right into her eyes to see if I could sense something but I couldn't. Her eyes were dark. I remember before her mom died, April had a pair of beautiful brown eyes that had a sparkle to them. That's one thing I liked about her. Yeah.. that's right. I liked her. I didn't realized I did until the incident with her in the bathroom. If I lost her, without telling her how I felt. I would've felt pretty dumb. But I felt like I was losing her anyway. She was losing herself too.
"April, what the hell is wrong you?" I repeated myself trying to calm down.
"Jordan I said I'm fine, now leave me alone." I heard the annoyance in her voice. She turned back to her work. Suddenly I don't know what came over me, but I grabbed her left wrist and dragged her out of the classroom without the sub even noticing.
"Let go! Jordan!" She was pulling away from me, so hard that her scrunchie loosened and her hair was down at her shoulders now. She repeated this until we stopped in one of the staircases.
"Tell me what's wrong with you." I stared right at her and she staring right back. We always did this, even when we are younger. If we argued we stared at each other. Seeing who would either drop the argument or who would just give in. April usually won when we were smaller because she was intimidating. I was real short when we were younger so I would give in, but this time it's different. She's looking up at me. I know she hurting but I don't know what it is.
"I can't do this anymore." That's all she's say, before she sits on one of the stairs. I kneel down next her. I'm watching her face for any sign of her going to cry but there's none. She stares straight headed biting her lip a little. Its like she wants to cry, but she can't. I wish I could help her.
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"April.. I wanna help you." Jordan says. I hear the honesty in his voice. He grabs my right hand and holds it. He squeezes it lightly, but I have no reaction. I'm tired and she's just going to make me go crazy. Suddenly four other faces, come down the staircase. Isaac, Madison, Jessica and Matthew.
"Now you gotta tell us what's wrong." Isaac says coming down the stairs. He's in front of me now.
"You helped me the other day, now let me help you." I blinked a few times. He was referring to that day in the nurse's office. I didn't anything, but listen to him. I stayed quiet.
"You know what.." I hear the irritation in Jessica's voice. "Stop acting like that alright! You're acting like we're not going through the same thing as you." Her blonde hair is moving side to side as she keeps talking. Her words were like poison and the only antidote was to speak up. I stood up and faced her.
"Listen and listen good alright? You say we're in this together and all but you don't even know the half of it." Im breathing heavy. After a few seconds I continue.
"She's in my house 24/7. She even calls my phone. One minute, she's looks normal, than the next minute she's bleeding for her eyes. She took me back to the day of my mom's funeral. She's sits on my bed, she sleeps in my bed. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD SHE TOOK A FUCKING SHOWER WITH ME THE OTHER DAY!" I screamed the last part. And even after all that. Not a single tear left me eyes.
What is wrong with me?

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