A few days later, I decided to stay after class so that I could spend some time working a little harder on my new essay- this one was going to be on Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway.
As I worked, Mr Jones soon wandered over to me, and I stood up as a gesture of respect.
"Hi, sir," I said.
He smiled towards me.
"Hi, Selina," he replied, "I just wanted to talk to you about your assignment. I think you did really well," he stated, "And as someone who is pretty knowledgeable on what makes a good essay, yours was very well structured, so well done! You should be proud. Go and have fun, you don't have to stay here all afternoon."
I smiled towards him.
"Thank you," I told him.
Mr Jones' hazel eyes looked a little more like warm honey under the glow of the lights above. I could tell that he was a friendly guy, even though I had been too timid to have spoken him all that much since joining the course.
"Just know you can come and talk to me, about anything, when need be," Mr Jones told me.
I gave a nod of agreement, and then headed out of the classroom.
I found Lily waiting for me outside, with a small smirk on her face.
"Nerd," she said.
"Hey, I am not a nerd," I stated, as I got my phone out.
"What are you doing?" she asked me, "Reporting me to the police?"
I just rolled my eyes at her.
"I'm just getting in touch with my mother. It's her birthday today," I stated.
Well, that much was true, but I was also curious to see how she was doing, too, after everything that Violet had spoken to me about recently.
I had figured that she wasn't doing great, from the sounds of things.
They had increased her dosage, and she was beginning to see a therapist regularly again.
"How is she?" Lily asked me, with concern in her gaze.
I had told her a lot about present matters.
Soon I received a text back from my mother's number, but it wasn't she who had replied.
Violet had informed me that she wasn't doing great, but that they were going to look out for her as much as possible during the day.
"We should do something for her. For instance, we could get a group of people to go around her house with a birthday cake and spend the day with her."
"It's a couple hours drive, Lily," I reminded her.
She shrugged, with a small smile upon her face, then.
"I don't care," she said, "You know that I would do anything for you, right?"
I couldn't help but smile towards her at that. I had to respect the fact that although she could be impulsive with ideas like this, she really did look out for others.
I smirked in slight amusement, but soon felt concern wash over me, when I thought about my mother, again.
I knew that Lily had lost her mother a while back, and I could only imagine how much that must have hurt her.
The two of us stepped out into the daylight, and I was thankful that the weather had been a little warmer recently. The frequent rain showers had halted, for a while.
We walked on a little further, and soon Winona joined us.
"Hey Win," I greeted her.
"Hi Nona," Lily smiled.
"Hey you two. How's it going?" Winona asked.
"I'm okay," I said.
"Likewise," said Lily.
Winona looked pleased to hear this.
As much as I was worried about my mother, I really did feel okay.
Well, sort of. At the very last, I had my friends around to look out for me and that meant a lot.
"Well, I'm going to go and study some more Shakespeare. I'll see you two later!" Winona said cheerfully, before walking off.
We both waved to her as she went.
For the most part, I was cheerful. I had my friends around and I knew that most of them were happy, too.
There hadn't been any major conflicts between the members of our social group, for some time, which was definitely a good thing.
I think we had all decided that we needed to move on from the slight issues that had been raised.
We were trying to become better adults, and the first step to doing that was to let go of holding onto things that didn't truly matter.
For instance, Lily and I had let go of having unnecessary tension beyween the two of us, quite a while ago.
In saying that, though, I think that the previous tension had just been replaced by romantic tension. Not that I was complaining.
I really was glad that Lily and I were getting so close.
At first it had felt like a dream, but over time we had begun to build a strong relationship between the two of us.
I could only hope that we would continue to do so.
Soon enough, X wandered over to the two of us with a smile on their face.
"Hey you two! Hope you're okay. I'm going to go and do some studying, too," they stated.
Lily and I both gave them a nod, and waved to Xena.
Lily sighed.
"It seems like everyone is busy today. However, I suppose that does have its advantages," she said, when she turned to me with a smile.
"It does?" I asked her.
"Well, yes. It means that you and I can spend more time together," she said.
I just returned the smile at that, but my heart skipped a beat again.
The two of us wandered into the nearby cafe shop, and when we got to the counter, we found that Yasmin was working there.
"Hey you two!" she said, as we got to the counter.
The cafe wasn't busy, so I don't think that the manager was too concerned with Yasmin talking to us. She looked our way, but her expression was otherwise uninterested as she glanced back down to the coffee machine she was cleaning, allowing me to notice the grayish tint of the eye shadow that she was wearing.
"You work here now?" Lily asked her.
"She does," Lance spoke from behind us, causing Lily and I to both turn to him.
"Hey Lance," Lily greeted him.
Lance smiled towards her with a compassionate smile.
I had noticed a clear difference between the two of them. While Lily valued strength more highly, and going for what you believed in, it seemed that Lance valued altruism above all else.
In saying that, though, I had observed that Lily had become more caring, in the time that we had known each other for.
"Hold on a second. I need to do something," Lily said.
Lance looked towards her with curiosity, and I had to say that I was interested in hearing what she needed to say, too.
"Hey everyone!" Lily said, then, causing the cafe to look towards her, "The Tempest showing will be taking place in a few weeks time. Be there or be square!" she stated.
Lance smirked at her.
"You already know we're going to be there, Lils," he said.
"Well, I would hope so. I am playing Miranda," Lily replied, with a smirk on her face.
"Of course you are," Lance replied, with a shine of glee.
My phone began to buzz, then, so I notified them that I was going to step outside for a minute, and then did so in order to answer my phone.
"Hey Violet?" I said.
"Okay. Please don't freak out," Violet replied.
That just made my heart speed up in my feelings of tension.
"What's going on?" I asked her.
"I...mum's going to the hospital. She took a load of pills, again, and- it's not as bad as last time, Selina, but we need you here," she stated.
I felt my eyes sting on the brink of tears.
"Okay," I said decisively, "I'll see you soon," I told her.
After that, I returned inside of the cafe to whisper to Lily that I needed to talk to her, and then explained the situation.
Lily, of course, said that she was more than happy to drive me to the hospital, so that I could be there with my family.
I thanked her for doing so.
A few hours later, we got to the main hospital, and headed to the reception desk to inform them of what had happened.
"Hey, she's going to be okay," Lily told me, as we waited outside my mother's room, "She'll be just fine. I know it."
It seemed that she was definitely the optimistic one out of the both of us.
However, I was thankful for that energy, given that my mind was currently unfortunately thinking in worst case scenarios.
Lily entwined our fingers together, and then leant in a little so that she could kiss my cheek.
"Be brave, Selina. We're together. Okay? I'm not going to let you go through this alone," she told me.
Soon enough, my father stepped out of the hospital room, and wrapped his arms around me.
"Is she okay?" I asked him, "I mean- is she alive?"
I already knew that she wasn't okay, and it felt so difficult to be having to ask the second question, but all the same, I knew that was the one I wanted an answer to.
"She's okay. She just woke up," he informed me, and the two of us stepped into the room, along with Lily.
I rushed to my mother's side, and took her hand in my own.
"Mum..." I trailed off.
"Hey Sel," she said, as she moved her thumb over the knuckles of my hand, "I am so sorry for worrying you, baby. I was trying to persevere...to get through this bout, but it was driving my crazy."
"She stopped taking her meds," my father stated, then.
Jacqueline just gave him a look, her green eyes darkening a little.
"I'm just saying," Steven stated.
"Mum...you have to take them. I know it's difficult but you can't just give up, okay? If I have to move home to be with you, then-"
"No, Selina. I want you to finish this course. You've made so many good friends. You have Lily, now. You shouldn't have to sacrifice that for me," she stated.
I exhaled, feeling my tears stop, for a moment.
I was so shocked, though, that I wasn't sure when I would next cry again.
When my mother was struggling, it was almost as though she was at the bottom of a very deep well, and no matter how much she tried to climb out of it just couldn't.
My mother tried to stop herself from crying, then, but was unsuccesful.
"I would do anything for you, mum. I love you," I told her.
"I love you too," she replied.
"And I am so glad you're still here. You can do anything, if you put your mind to it, mum. I promise you," I told her.
No matter what I had to do, I would adapt to the situation. There was no way I was going to allow my father and sister to deal with all of this alone.
"Thank you, baby," she replied, "I'm going to try, for all of you," she added, then, as she looked towards my father and sister, too, and then smiled towards Lily, "Thank you for being there for her."
"Of course," Lily replied, the corners of her mouth managing to lilt up, a little.
The nurse soon entered the room to inform us that we needed to leave for now, and as much as I didn't want to leave my mum, I managed to draw myself away.
My father grabbed me into a hug, then, as did Violet.
When they noticed that it was getting dark outside, the sky turning a deep navy blue, they informed us that Lily and I should probably return to the university.
The two of us said our farewells to them, and then walked out of the hospital.
Once outside, the fresh breeze made me feel a little refreshed, but my stomach still hurt in my worry.
Lily just stepped towards me, then.
"How are you holding up, sunshine?" she asked me.
"I'm scared," I said, my voice barely a whisper.
Lily sighed, and stepped forward so that she could secure me in her supportive embrace, and we remained like that, for a moment, until it was time to head back to university.