~I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer, because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth~ Daphne du Maurier
Josephine-
(I KNOW THE ADDERALL AND GETTING IT FROM SOMEONE AT SCHOOL IS LIKE PLL BUT THIS IS GOING TO GO IN A WHOLE DIFF DIRECTION) :)
The next day at school, after a night of studying until eleven o'clock and waking up at six thirty, I didn't feel like laughing and giggling with my friends at lunch, or contemplating over what to do this upcoming weekend with them as we walked down the halls. I was glad that Harry didn't show up to any classes of the two we had together; or at least thats all the ones I know we share, who knows if he's skipping others. I didn't want to have to deal with his teasing, even if he bothered to speak to me.
Right now as I walk to math class alone, I spot Jarred across the hall from me, talking to a pretty blonde. Despite my complete awkwardness and shyness around people I don't know well, I made myself tap on his shoulder, something I would never do to interrupt someone from a conversation. But this is a must have at the moment, with class starting in minutes.
He looks at me questioningly, until realizing that I am a friend of Tyler's that he only knows through him alone.
"Oh, Joey." He greets me finally, and I nod my head in confirmation.
"I'm really sorry, but could I talk to you?" I rush the words, proud of myself for not stuttering.
"Yeah, sure." He says slowly. He tells the pretty girl goodbye, and she looks at me curiously as she walks away.
"I know I never talk to you, but I need to ask you a huge, huge favor." I tell him. I realize that maybe I don't fall over my words around him because I'm not uncomfortable. I know he's nice, and I know he's a good guy.
"And what's that?" He asks me, putting his hands into his jacket pockets. His dark brown hair is spiked at the top, brown eyes glued to me.
"Well, Tyler told me about...." I trail off, not sure how to get out with it.
"About what?" He asks me.
"About the Adderall." I blurt out. I start to speak again before he can stop me.
"And I don't have enough time to go to my doctor and get a prescription. I know you have some." I tell him desperately, and I see his eyes flick around us.
"I can't, I don't-"
"Please." I say, and he looks down to his feet, before sighing.
"How many would you need?" He asks me, and I nearly jump and run as the bell rings out of nervousness.
"Just enough until exams are over, that's all." I murmur, and I feel his eyes flicking over my face after, while I look down at nothing.
When he begins to walk away, I shut my eyes and sigh deeply, feeling defeated and not knowing what to do. That's until I look up, and I see him look back at me, flicking his head as for me to walk with him. I do, almost tripping over my feet in the process. We reach his locker down the hall, and only a few people linger in the hallway. This is the first time I've never been in class when it begins.
He is still taking them, I see, as he opens his locker and takes out a plastic bag, orange pills being poured into his hand, brown eyes snapping up to me.
"Please, just don't take too many at a time." He tells me as he passes them over. I instantly unbuckle my bag and put them in a pocket inside of it, shutting it after.
"I won't." I tell him. I say a small Thankyou, and when I begin to walk away he gains my attention by calling my name, signaling for me to walk back over.
"They can make you dizzy, nauseous, all kinds of things." He tells me once I am close enough, and I nod my head, basically running down the hallway to my class, feeling an extreme amount of guilt as I enter late.
**
"What are you going to do?" Tyler asks me as he walks me to my car after school. I'd taken a peek into the history classroom before leaving, and Harry wasn't there. And I didn't bother on waiting to see if he would show up.
"I can't do anything, I need to go home." I tell him.
"Oh, alright. It's just Shawn and Liv are coming over to my house to watch some movies."
"I'm sorry, Tyler, I just can't. I'm so tired, and I just feel like sleeping. But I need to go home and freaking study-"
"Woah, Joey, are you okay?" He asks me.
"Yes! I'm okay, I just-"
I take a deep breath, feeling tears coming on. I push them away, not wanting to feel stupid.
"I'm fine." I conclude, and by then we reach my car, Tyler growing silent because of my outburst.
"I know when you say freaking, you're upset." He states, because that's maybe the closest I'd ever get to saying a real curse word.
This makes me laugh as I lean against my car door, and I accept the hug he gives to me, warm and comforting and nice. I take in a few peaceful breaths before releasing him, and the smile he gives me makes me return one.
"Once school is over I'll be back to normal." I laugh softly.
"Don't worry about it." He chuckles, and in that moment I realized how much I actually appreciate him as a friend. I wrap my arms around him once more, before getting in my car and driving away.
***
The first thing I did when I got home was take just one pill after putting them in a plastic bag, and I stayed up studying until I felt like my brain was going to burst. I'd taken another Adderall at ten o'clock at night, and that caused me to stay up until two in the morning. That was the last time I remember looking at the clock, and when my alarm went off in
the morning at six, my text book was laid on my stomach and I was still in the same clothes I was in yesterday.
The very first thing I do is clamber downstairs to make a cup of coffee. My mother called in the process of that, and I answered and chatted with her halfheartedly as she told me that she would be home on Monday, and that my father would be home on Wednesday, later than he had planned.
After drinking the whole cup of coffee at the kitchen counter and then loading it in the dishwasher, I take the fastest shower I'd ever taken, running out the front door with wet hair and a headache.
Harry-
I sit at the back of history class, staring at the teacher at the front of the classroom without listening to a word he is saying. I hadn't gone to English class this morning, because I just couldn't bother to show up early today. Josephine sits at her usual spot, clicking her damn pen in that annoying way she'd done the other day. I have a stupid bag with me today, with her shit that she'd left with me Monday inside of it, as well as my board shorts and towel for when I go to the pool after school.
The bell rings and I instantly stand up from my chair, slinging the black bag over my shoulder as I walk down the aisle towards Josephine's desk. Her glasses are sitting on the table on top of her history book, and her hair makes a curtain around her face as she stares at something absentmindedly on her desk. I unzip my bag, and she doesn't notice I am there until I toss her notebook and highlighter onto her desk.
Her head snaps up, and her eyes squint; which I never realized were brown until now. She scrambles for her glasses, putting them on before looking at the crap I set on her desk.
"Thanks." She murmurs.
"You look shittier than usual." I tell her, and she sighs as she stands from her desk, making her arm press against my chest, her limb retracting from my body instantly.
I laugh, and she moves to the other side of the desk before gathering her things to put them in her bag. Her brown hair is frizzed around her face, poking into her glasses, the length falling just below her ribs, I realize.
"Are we studying more bullcrap or what?" I question her, and she glances up to me for a brief second behind lenses, before looking down into her bag again which sits atop of her desk.
She tosses her highlighter inside, and my eyebrows pull towards eachother as I see a plastic bag in her school bag with pills in them, knowing very well what those orange pills are without needing a label or asking. Its Adderall.
"You shouldn't have those out for people to see, you know." I tell her, and she looks up to me with curious eyes, before realizing what I'm speaking of, shutting the flap to her bag.
"I'll be here after school tomorrow, come then." I say, before leaving the classroom, wondering why on earth this girl can't speak simple sentences, because it isn't that fucking hard. And when she does, she stammers and stutters like there's no tomorrow.
Hope you enjoyed:) and PS, it kinda grinds my gears when y'all compare everything to After. It's a great great great story and I love it and I'd never steal anything from it (which I don't see where I have) so....yeah. Just because Harry is a complete douche in this story it doesn't mean it's exactly like After:) sorry, I just had to put that out there! Love you guys!!!