Dare || m.c.

➵ 3.1 - jade

im updating too much someone stop me but it's ok bc i only have 2 more chapters written after this one so enjoy bc things are getting better

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It had been eleven days since Jade saw Sheila. She hadn't heard anything from her because they hadn't shared phone numbers, but maybe there was something in Jade's email that she hadn't bothered to check. She kept telling Ashton she would look at it on Sunday and see if Sheila had sent anything. Today was Thursday, giving Jade three more days to prepare. In all honesty, she didn't want anything to do with Sheila. Not yet anyway.

Jade was walking to Ashton's car after school when someone called her name. She turned around, racking her brain for the select few who might want to talk to her. She found Luke walking towards her and she knitted her eyebrows together. Michael was bad news and so were his friends.

"What do you want?" Jade asked warily, crossing her arms. Ashton was waiting in the car and Jade didn't want to make him wait. And it wasn't like Luke had anything important to say anyway.

"I know you don't want to talk to me, and I get it, but just listen to me for a minute," Luke said.
Jade rolled her eyes. "I'm still standing here, aren't I? What do you want?"

"I want my friend back," Luke said. He ran one hand through his blond hair and shook his head once. "Look, I know you're mad at Michael, and I don't blame you, but just please talk to him. It was my fault, I'm the one who came up with the dare. Don't put him through more hell."

Jade glared at Luke, who looked like he would start crying any moment. "Just because you came up with the goddamn dare doesn't mean he didn't participate in it."

"I know, but have you seen him?" Luke asked and he looked just a little irritated. Good. "He's struggled with shit before and he's going back to that. Fuck, Jade, I went to pick him up last night and found him all bloody."

Despite her annoyance, Jade's heart dropped. Michael did tell her about the depression, but he hadn't said anything about hurting himself. Something inside of Jade broke at the sudden image of Michael all bloody and battered.

*•*•*

Jade couldn't believe she was actually standing outside Michael's house, contemplating whether or not to go in. She didn't want to. She was still mad at him and hated him for what he did to her. But knowing what Luke had told her earlier that day, she knew she couldn't avoid him. Not at this time. So she rang the doorbell and waited. And waited. When no one answered, she took out her phone and texted Michael.

Open the fucking door!!

And then she waited again. There was no response to her text, but a few minutes later, the door flew open, revealing an extremely disheveled Michael. She knew he was in deep shit because she had seen him at school the last four days. She could tell that he wasn't sleeping well and that he was most likely drinking himself into oblivion. But she wasn't prepared to see the damage done to him in just one night.

His paler than normal skin was sickly pale, making him look like he had come back from the dead. There was deep bags under his eyes, highlighted by the dark circles around them. He was wearing a black shirt with its sleeves cut off and a pair of black jeans, both of which attracted more attention to his sickly complexion. His hair was a mess, like he hadn't brushed it in days. And his eyes, God, his eyes. They looked haunted. They were swollen and tinted pink, a sure sigh that he'd either been crying or drinking. Or both. And his left forearm was wrapped in something white. Jade's heart twisted at the sight.

"What the fuck are you doing to yourself?" The words came out of her mouth before Jade could even think about them.

But Michael just stared at her dumbfounded with his mouth slightly hanging open. "Are you real?" he asked skeptically, rubbing one eye. Realization suddenly hit and the crease between his eyebrows disappeared and before Jade knew it, Michael was hugging her. He squeezed her so tightly she was actually wheezing for breath. "I'm so sorry, Jade. I'm so fucking sorry."