(2 weeks later)
Jake's POV
"Yo Y/L/N! Made it just in time for class." I said. "I would have been here sooner, but I forgot about my essay and had to finish it this morning." She laughed awkwardly.
"Hey where's Becca?" I asked.
"She's sick so she's at home." I nodded and then the professor came in. "Hello class. Today we will be talking about something a little different. We will be talking about bullying. Now why does bullying occur?"
Y/N seemed a little uncomfortable with the subject.
"It happens for many reasons. It could be that there is a personal problem at home or they feel inferior to the protagonist. Sometimes they don't think they are doing anything wrong, and sometimes they do and don't care." A brunette boy said.
"Very good, Cameron. Now can anyone tell me about a couple the effects on the person being bullied?"
"Ah, Ms. Y/L/N." She looked up from her notebook.
"U-um they start to become depressed. The words that the bullies say to them gets to them and it seems like they're words are their own. They start becoming less happy and have little interest in some of the things that they used to do, because someone used it against them. With some, it can result in self-harm and suicide." She said.
"What can you do if you see someone being bullied?"
I raised my hand and he pointed at me. "Stick up for them and not be a bystander."
"Very good Jake. Now class, I want you to write an 3 page essay on bullying and your thoughts about it. It will be due on Friday. Since we have only 10 more minutes left of class, you can either start now or you can talk quietly." He sat in his chair behind his desk.
My best friend head was down so I tapped her on the shoulder. "Y/N, are you okay?" She sat up and nodded.
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" She said. She blinked and a couple tears left her eyes.
"Why are you crying?" I asked, concerned.
"It's nothing, really." She said, wiping her face. The bell rang and she hurried out the classroom and to the next class.
"We have like 4 minutes until this class starts. Why are you in here?" I asked as I walked in and sat beside her.
"I didn't want to be late." She said.
"Is something going on? You know you can tell me anything." She hesitated before turning towards me.
"If I tell you, you can't tell anyone. Not Corey, Becca, Rowan, Sarah, and especially not Sabrina." She said.
"Okay."
"I get bullied by this group of people every day that I come here. I try to get to class as soon as I can to avoid them, but sometimes I can't and they say-" The rest of the class started coming in and she stopped talking.
"Oh look who it is." A girl with ginger hair walked in and stopped in front of Y/N's desk. "The whore." She said.
"I'll let you blow me." A boy yelled at Y/N and the whole class started laughing.
"She's not a whore." I growled at them.
"Right. She's a worthless, fat, ugly, slutty, faggot." Some of our classmates snickered.
"Y/N is not any of those things, dumb bitch."
"Just leave it alone, please. I'll be fine and I don't think that any of us wants to get kicked out." Y/N said.
"No."
"Jake, leave it alone." She said again and I could tell that that wasn't a question. We hesitatedly sat down. The ginger smirked and sat down behind us.
For the rest of the classes, Y/N stayed quiet and didn't talk at all. Some of the students continued with calling her names, and some pushed her into a wall and tripped her.
When the last class of the day ended, she ran out of the classroom and I tried to follow behind her. Once I got out of the building, she was nowhere to be seen.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Y/N's POV
"Not again." I said, looking at what I had done to myself.
While I was in New York, I had went to the doctor and they said that I had a self injury disorder as well as depression. They had put me on anti-depressants for it too. I take them, but recently I haven't.
I cleaned up my arm and bandaged it. I threw away all of the sharp objects in my bathroom and in my bedroom. When I finished, I laid down on my bed and put the medicine on my nightstand.
There was only silence in my room. Whore, worthless, ugly, fat, slut... And other words wouldn't leave my head. I started crying hard into my pillow. I heard someone knocking on the door, but I didn't answer it.
I didn't even hear someone come up the stairs and open the door. "Babygirl, what's wrong?" I heard Sabrina's voice. I couldn't answer, as I couldn't stop the tears.
"Why is her arm bandaged up?" Corey asked. So everyone is here?
"Why does she have anti-depressant pills?" Rowan asked.
"I knew we shouldn't have left it alone. You said that you would be fine. I knew I should have just trusted our instincts." Jake mumbled.
"What?" Sabrina asked and I found her hand and grabbed onto it.
"I know I said I wouldn't, but-" I violently shook my head no. It's getting a bit harder to breathe.
"What are you talking about?" Corey asked. I'm starting to feel light-headed. Breathe, stop crying. Breathe...
I heard footsteps approach me and then I felt a breath on my ear.
"You are not a faggot, worthless, or anything of the things that they called you. You are the most beautiful, strongest, special, amazing girl that I know. Now, show us how strong you are and just breathe. Can you do that, Bear?" Jake whispered so they wouldn't hear what was going on.
I nodded my head and started calming myself down. I took deep breaths and stopped crying. He patted me head gently and backed away.
"Now, what's going on and why were you crying?" Sabrina asked again, tracing thumb along the back of my hand.
"I-i don't w-w-want to talk a-about it." I said.
"Y/N I get that you don't want to talk about it, but,-" Sabrina started but I moved my head and faced her.
"Please. I really don't want to talk about any of this." She let go of my hand and dragged Jake out of the room.
I put my head back into my pillow.
"Rowan, Corey. Could you guys come out here?" Jake asked and I heard footsteps leave the room.
I took my head out of the pillow and for some reason felt angry.
Self-loathing?
I flung the pillow off my bed and towards the door. The door opened at the same time, and it accidentally hit Jake. Him and Sabrina had came into the room and the others went in the hallway.
"I'm sorry." I apologized, wiping off my face.
He waved it off. "It's fine."
"Love?" Sabrina spoke up.
"Yes?" I answered.
"You'd tell me anything right? We're suppose to tell each other everything?" She asked.
"Yes. You know that." I responded.
"Actually, I-i really don't anymore." She said, nervously.
I realized something. I haven't been telling her everything like I promised I would. She tells me everything but I don't. "I'm sorry." I said.
"Don't apologize. You want space and I'm giving that to you. It's okay." Sabrina said, and I shook my head and sat down.
"It's not supposed to be one-sided. We should be equal. I want us to be equal. Come here." I opened my arms and she sat in my lap and I held her. "Do you want to know what's been going on? The things that I haven't been telling you?"
"Yes." She answered truthfully.
"Should I go in the hallway with the others?" Jake asked.
"No, you can stay. You're my best friend after all, and I don't want to be by myself." He nodded and sat down on the bed, next to me. I turned towards Sabrina. "What do you want to know first?" I asked her.
"What happened today?"
"People called me multiple things today."
"Like what?"
I looked at Jake. "Everything that they called you?" I nodded my head. "They called her a worthless, ugly, fat, faggot, and a whore and slut... well basically everything that nobody wants to be called." He explained.
"Some pushed me into the walls and tripped me, too." I said.
"Oh... I-" Sabrina started, but I interrupted. "Before you apologize, please don't because it's really not your fault at all."
She played with my dark blue hair. "But you know you're not any of the things that they called you." I nodded with a small smile.
"What's your next question?" I asked.
"Why is your arm bandaged up?"
I thought for a moment. "Do you have another question as well?" I asked and she nodded. "Why do you have anti-depressants?"
"I have a disorder." I answered.
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"I have depression and a self injury disorder. That's why my arm is bandaged up and why I have those." I gestured to the bottle that was still sitting on the table.
"Why didn't you tell me you had a self injury disorder?" Sabrina asked.
"I didn't know how exactly I would tell you. I also didn't want to burden you with anything." I explained.
"You could never burden me. Is there anything else that you haven't told me?"
"That's important?" I asked.
"Anything. Important or not." She said. I gave her my journal that I usually use to write about everything. "That's everything that I haven't told you. Don't read it yet, okay?" She nodded her head.
"Them two are really nosy." I whispered and she had an confused expression. I moved her onto Jake's lap and quietly moved towards the door. I quickly opened it and Corey and Rowan fell.
I cleared my throat and they looked up at me. "Oh hey Y/N. You're not crying anymore?" I nodded.
"You can come back in if you want." I said. They did and I sat back down.