TW: Attempted Suicide, Attempted Overdose
I'm so sorry.
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Justin didn't show up to school the next day.
I was nervous but I had to get what I had to done.
Including presenting my project with Ashley Larough.
We set down our pretty looking plants on Ms. Jester's desk before making eye contact for a moment, nodding.
We might hate each other's guts but we had one similar thought.
We were not going to fail this class.
That's why we kind of cheated.
We smiled prettily for the class and got to work. "Our project was exceptionally hard in the beginning because of personal reasons but, in order for us to get this done, we needed to set that aside," I began.
It was mostly true but we hardly did any work.
Ashley began her explanation of how the plants were placed under different conditions and grew differently.
The most work we did was having to find different sized placed that looked a reasonable size. Ms. Jester wasn't going to look that deeply into this god-damned project.
"...and Plant D grew a total of 13 centimeters in it's condition of more moonlight than sunlight."
And maybe a little of persuading flower shop owners.
I cleared my throat. "In conclusion, our plants did not grow well with a considerable amount of moonlight in comparison to sunlight."
Ms. Jester examined the plants and hummed. "Good work, ladies."
Ashley and I exchanged a victory nod and headed back our seats. "But I must ask..."
I looked up and saw Ms. Jester frowning. "Why is there a sticker on the bottom that says, "Property of Blooming Domain?""
I ignored Ashley's panicked glance and smirked. "That's because it is."
There were snickers and whispers around the classroom. Ms. Jester raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"The Blooming Domain sells plant pots. I mean, if you wanted us to make our own, you should have said so. Is that a problem?" I asked, tiling my head.
Ms. Jester grimaced and placed the plant back down. "I suppose it's okay."
"Great, so, what about that A plus?"
"Don't push it, Ms. Vasten. I can still take points off for pissing me off."
Sounds like abuse of power to me.
She clicked her tongue and moved onto them next group. I heard a whisper of my name and I looked around confused.
I heard it again more urgently and looked behind me, spotting Zay with a impatient expression on his face. He pointed down to his phone and then pointed to me.
Check my phone?
I cautiously pulled it out of my pocket and saw that I had numerous messages.
The first I saw was Drew's.
Drewtf
Did you get a cryptic ass message from Justin or was it just me?
Next was Zay.
Playboi
Check your phone!!! I think something weird in going on!
And, finally, Justin's.
Stupidest Guy I've Ever Met
You're amazing. You're beautiful. You're everything I'm not. Sorry that things didn't turn out how we would've thought.
I tilted my head in thought at the text.
Poetry?
Suddenly, my phone rang loudly through the class. Ms. Jester glared at me as I stood up in a hurry. "Detention."
"Great. That means I can take this, right? It's my mom." I showed the screen for a moment and exited the classroom.
I answered the call on its last ring and pressed it close to my ear. "Mom?"
"Something happened," I heard Merissa crying in the background and my mom sounded frustrated. "Justin called and she won't stop crying."
The nervous feeling came back. "Put her on the phone, please."
A few minutes went by of faintly hearing my mom trying to convince Merissa to get on the phone. During this time, Zay exited the classroom and I put the phone on speaker.
"Merissa?"
She kept crying and I exchanged an alarmed look with Zay.
"Hey, sweetheart. You can hear me, right? This is Zay and Destiny are on the phone right now."
She let out a wet cough through her tears and mumbled something in Spanish. By Zay's troubled look, he understood it.
"She said, help."
I nodded and responded. "Okay, you want help. Does this have anything to do with Justin? Does he need help?"
"Sí." She hiccupped.
"Alright, we're going to go get Justin help, okay? Just sit tight." I said.
"Prométeme."
Zay answered for me. "Yo prometo."
Then we ended the call.
"What's the game plan, princess?"
"We need to go. Like now." I said.
"Got it. I'll get our stuff. You get everybody else."
I nodded and texted everyone to meet us outside quickly, ready to go. There was no time to lose.
I tapped my foot impatiently as we waited in the car. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw them coming to the car.
We used Drew's car seeing as it was big enough to fit all of us and sped out of the parking lot in record time.
"Anybody want to explain what's going on and why I have a horrible feeling about this?" Orlan asked.
Zay and I looked at each other and filled them in on what we knew.
"Holy shit," Izzy breathed out. "I didn't think he would-"
"Let's...not make any assumptions until we know for sure." Chris interrupted.
My grip tightened on the seatbelt and looked out the window. "I agree."
Izzy rested a hand on my shoulder and I grasped it, finding it grounding. I certainly needed it.
Showing up at Justin's house was full of unbridled anxiety and anxiousness that caused us to enter the house like a pack of newborn gazelles. After a minutes of frantically calling Justin's name and searching, Chris yelled from deep in the house.
"Somebody call an ambulance!!!"
"I got it!" Drew yelled from downstairs.
The rest of us followed Chris' voice to an bathroom that was never really used. We entered the doorway and Chris shakily looked up at us from beside Justin's body. "H-he's still breathing but it's weak so is his pulse."
I covered my mouth with my hands and moved further in the bathroom. I kneeled down beside his limp body and tenderly picked up his hand, clutching it into mine.
"Fuck." Zay cursed and kicked the doorway before leaving the room in a haste.
Orlan entered the bathroom and gathered Chris up in his arms. I ignored them and stared down at Justin. His face was pale and ashen, he was limp, his lips were blue, and most of all, he...looked lifeless.
And all we could do was wait.
I ran my fingers through his hair and pressed my lips to the back of his hand. The more I stared, the more helpless I felt.
"It's okay..." I whispered and repeated until the heavy knocking sounded at the door and I moved out of the way to let them do their job.
I stared as they carried his body out of the house and into the ambulance. Zay shook me out of my trance with a concerned look. "We're going to follow the ambulance. Are you coming?"
I slowly shook my head and let out a shaky breath. "No, I...have to tell Merissa what's going on and then we'll meet you there, I guess."
"Alright, take care," He pulled me into a hug. "He'll be okay."
"Yeah." I replied, numbly.
After they left, I called my mom to come pick me up and to bring Merissa along.
I stood outside of the house as I waited, barely registering anything that was going on. My mom's car pulled up and I watched as my mom got out of the car and let Merissa out.
My mom took one look at me and gathered me up into a hug. She didn't have to say anything, didn't have to know anything. Just hugged me. That was all that was needed to break down my walls.
Before my arms could even wrap themselves around her, tears were falling down my face. I hiccupped and cried, letting myself go.
I told my mom in blubbered nonsense how scary it was to see him there and I told her how I felt so helpless in that moment. That I couldn't do anything to help but wait.
I felt a small tug on my pants leg and, through blurry eyes, I looked down at Merissa only to break down again and pulled her tiny body into my arms.
She cried with me and told me things in Spanish that I could only hope to understand while my mom rubbed my back.
"He'll be okay. He has to." I whispered.
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Lmao I love how this book is like Cocoa and Vanilla's evil twin.
Good thing I believe in happy endings.
Also, Drew's name in Destiny's phone is a mixture between Drew and wtf if you couldn't tell