“Wednesday. Half way there.” Vicki mumbled when she finally figured out what day it was. The next problem was figuring out what that loud, obnoxious noise was. She realized it was her alarm and she quickly turned it off. This was the worst part of taking sleeping pills; they made you all groggy the next day. But at least she wasn’t tired, or freaked out about some man chasing her.
Vicki got ready for school like she always did. Perhaps today would be the day things would get better.
“The funeral is going to be Friday night at 6:00pm.” Mom announced as Vicki entered the kitchen. Vicki’s hope of a better day vanished with that sentence. “Is that okay with you?”
“It has to be.” Vicki mumbled under her breath. How would she ever survive?
“Sweetie, we are all doing our best here.” Mom kissed her on the forehead. “Want some eggs?”
“I think I’ll just have a granola bar.” Vicki grabbed the small bar from the pantry. “Let’s go, Jackie.” Vicki called and headed for the car.
Jackie was close behind, a trait that was very likable in her. The two headed to school. Vicki ate her granola bar with one hand and drove with the other. The parking lot at school was filling up with student’s cars. Vicki found the closest parking place and headed inside. Her head still felt cloudy from the sleep pills.
“Feeling better?” Luke’s locker was next to Vicki’s so it was only logical that they met up.
“Yeah. A Bit. Although, I really hate taking sleeping pills.”
“Yeah. Those put you in a weird state.” Luke closed his locker. “Having trouble sleeping?”
“I’ve been having this really weird dream. It just bothers me.”
“Disturbing dreams are common after a traumatic experience like a death.” Luke was going to by a psychologist. Leave it to him to conduct therapy with anyone, right in the middle of the hallway.
“And how would one get rid of these unwanted dreams?” Vicki was more humoring him then actually being interested.
“Address the problem. Work for a solution. And resolve the conflict.” It sounded so simple. The bell for first period ended their therapy session.
“Thanks, Luke. I’ll work on that.” She smiled and headed for class. Luke headed the other direction.
Psychology wasn’t as therapeutic as what Vicki would have hoped it would be; Luke did a much better job in the middle of a crowded hallway. The class was more lecture-peutic. They were still discussing the brain, though they had moved on from the lobes to the nerve paths. It was deathly fascinating. Vicki could feel the headache coming on. It was like an expected friend whom no one liked. It just wouldn’t go away. Finally the bell rang. Perhaps today was a good day to slam her head in her locker. Vicki smiled at the ludicrousness of the idea. Still…..
“Vicki!” Allie met Vicki at her locker. She quickly wrapped her arms around Vicki. “Hi.” She smiled. Not the sort of happy smile, but the ‘I will try and make it better’ smile. This, in turn, made Vicki smile.
“I brought you a Teddy Bear.” Allie handed Vicki the soft white bear. “You can name him, if you want.”
“Thanks, Allie. That’s really sweet.” Vicki took the bear. He was soft.
“Well, I gotta go. But I hope you like him. You can tell him anything. He’ll keep your secrets.” Allie smiled and headed for class. Vicki grabbed her Business book and headed off, leaving teddy in her locker. She was beginning to think a little clearer, but not much. She had run into several other students and a wall already this morning. Perhaps sleeping pills were not a good idea at all.
Business was its usual boring self. Vicki learned absolutely nothing in that class. Well, that’s not completely true. She did learn that she could in fact fold a piece of paper eight times before it became close to impossible to fold it another time. She had also learned that the hang over from the pills, made her hand eye coordination impossible. She had knocked over a waste basket on the way out of class.
“Kill me now.” Vicki complained when she saw Jen. Jen was sweet, but she didn’t do well with other’s pain, so she just stood and nodded. At the moment, that was all Vicki needed. She threw her business book in her locker and headed for calculus. They had a test today and Vicki was sure she was going to fail. Miserably.
She dragged her feet all the way to class, pausing only slightly at the door to take a deep breath. She walked through the door with every intention of letting the breath out in a long sigh, but the air caught in her chest.
Tyler was back. He sat at his desk with his back turned to the door. Vicki couldn’t see his face, but it was definitely him. Only when her lungs started protesting did she finally let her air out and suck in a deep breath.
This was dumb. What else had she expected? Of course Tyler was here. This was his school. His class room. And his chair. Of course he was here. Vicki looked at the ground and headed for her chair three rows behind his. She bumped into the desk at the front of the row, several students turned to stare. Never again would she take those pills, she swore, as she smiled shyly at the students. The pills were giving her too many bruises. She walked down the aisle, carefully avoided anything that might fall over or cause her injury. She was so focused that the warm hand on her arm made her jump. She looked up with wide eyes at Tyler. His smile faded and he instantly released her arm.
“Sorry.” He was concerned; it was obvious in his face and voice. “I didn’t mean to scare ya. You okay?”
“Uh. Yeah. Don’t worry about. I’m just having an off day.” She walked towards her seat. She needed to sit down before she destroyed something.
“You need anything?” He was following her down the aisle.
“Nope. Just a chair.” She sat in her desk chair, dropping her books on the wood desk.
“Okay.” Tyler crouched next to her desk, staring at her. She avoided all eye contact.
“You look…pale.” He said, “Are you feeling okay?”
“Peachy.” She tried to reassure him as she fumbled with her books.
“Peachy?”
“Yup. Peachy.”
“Peachy. Okay.” He didn’t buy it. “You gunna tell me the truth?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Um. Don’t want to?” She was wavering, and he persisted.
“Sure ya do. Tell me what’s up.” He looked at her with his beautiful eyes. Vicki had to focus to get her train of thought back.
“Don’t you remember last week at all?”
“Yeah, but it’s not that.” He was analyzing her now. She sighed. He wouldn’t leave her alone until she told him something.
“So, perhaps I may have taken a couple sleeping pills and perhaps they may have affected the way I am able to concentrate now. And perhaps my coordination. And thinking ability.” She trailed off, considering all the side effects of the pills.
“Sleeping pills?” He sounded a bit relieved.
“Sleeping pills.” She reassured him.
“Well, then. Peachy.” He teased as he got up and walked back to his desk. Vicki sighed. That was…well, new. He sat down at his desk, than turned slightly to glance at her. She smiled. He just shook his head and turned to face the front. Vicki mumbled to herself. Peachy? What kind of an idiot says peachy? Oh well. It could have been worse.
“Class. Clear your desk. All you need is a pencil and a calculator.” Mr. Bernen announced from the front of the class.
Test time.
Vicki did as the teacher instructed, sending one last prayer towards heaven that she would pass. Mr. Bernen handed out the test and the moment the test sat in front of Vicki, she knew the outcome. She groaned.
“I should have studied.” She said just loud enough so the boy sitting next to her could hear. He snickered.
“Me too.” He whispered.
Death by paper. There was such a thing. And it was called a test.
Vicki gave it her best shot. She was usually pretty good at calculus, but today was just not her day. Or was it? Tyler had showed up. That was good at least. She thought about Tyler as she took the test, never once thinking about Jake’s threat.
She finished the test with ten minutes left in the period. She walked to the front and handed it to the teacher. Then she turned and headed back to her desk. She glanced at Tyler and caught his eyes. He smiled. He was already done with his test. Stupid smart people.
The bell rang and the class emptied. Vicki walked out with the herd. Before she knew it, Tyler was at her side.
“How do you think you did?” He looked confident. Too confident.
“I think I failed.” Vicki kicked a wadded piece of paper.
“I’m sure you didn’t do that bad.” He ducked to see her eyes. “Right?”
“Nope. I’m pretty sure I failed. I would bet money on it, actually.”
“Hm.” His spirit didn’t damper. “Maybe you could bribe him to give you an A? I mean, you have had a tough week.”
“Yeah right. He’d probably want a million dollars, which I don’t have.” Why was Tyler being so nice? This was unusual even for his friendly personality. And why was Vicki telling him all of this. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, for no real reason.
“I’ve…gotta go. I’ll see ya in Physics. Another test to bomb.” She tried to smile, than headed for her locker.
Tyler watched her leave with a confused look on his face. Unsure of why she had taken off so quickly. Did he say something to offend her? Who knows. He shook his head. Hopefully she wouldn’t ignore him in Physics. Or, maybe she should. The thought brought a dark spot into his mood. There was one thing about Tyler that no one knew. One thing no one could ever know. And that was that Tyler was no good to be around, and he knew it.
Tyler’s happy mood had dampened. He had been looking forward to seeing Vicki after spending the last few days out of town. It was annoying for him to have to disappear for days, than come back with little to no explanation why he had been gone. Plus, the make-up work was a killer. Lucky for him, he had help with his homework.
Now that he had finally seen Vicki, he had made her mad somehow. He wasn’t sure what he had said, nor why she was avoiding him. Was it because he had been avoiding everyone for all these years? Tyler felt the anger boil in his chest. He needed a punching bag to hit. Lucky for him, his locker satisfied as one.
The hard hit to his metal locker cut his knuckles, but it was only minor and barely fazed him. He had suffered many worst injuries then the small cuts that bled on his hand. He could care less about the students that watched him as he popped open his now slightly bent locker door. The books were arranged the shelf in a messy fashion, but there were only a few books in the locker, so it didn’t appear to be too messy. Tyler didn’t have to try very hard at school. He was already advanced past the high school level, but he still had to graduate and get a diploma if he wanted to go anywhere in his life.
The day passed a little smoother for Vicki, to her relief. She talked to Tyler a little during Physics, though the test put them both in a bad mood it seemed. Then in English they made paper footballs together and launched them at each other across the room when Mrs. Delenga wasn’t looking. It made the entire class giggle, but Mrs. Delenga just ignored Vicki and Tyler, and continued to teach.
That night Vicki played scrabble with her family. It was a quiet game, but it felt nice to have the family together. Things just hadn’t been the same since Wednesday.
Vicki slept without sleeping pills this time. Instead, she drowned out all thoughts by listening to her music loudly through her headphones.
“Baby don’t worry cause I’ll be there in a hurry.” The song was a beautiful piano piece with an amazing male vocalist. “You’ll be okay when I get there….” Tyler’s face flashed in Vicki’s head, but it was gone before she could question why it was there. Then sleep came and she slept till her alarm woke her.
Thursday and Friday went almost the exact same way as Wednesday had, minus the horrendous tests, which Vicki had in fact failed. Vicki was feeling better. More confident. That is, until Friday.
It was Friday afternoon and Tyler was walking Vicki to her locker, it was becoming a routine now. People had started to take notice that they spent more time together, but Tyler blew it off. He liked hanging out with Vicki, and that’s what he wanted to do. The bell announcing the weekend had rang, which released the mass amounts of students.
“Tyler?” Their conversation about polar bears had died, and her voice held a serious tone to it now. He noticed the change immediately and watched her expression. Tyler was becoming more familiar with Vicki, which made reading her face easier. Though somehow, she still always seemed to be hiding something. He couldn’t blame her. He was hiding something him self.
“Yes?”
“Will you be coming to the funeral tonight?” She looked like she was on the verge of crying. A small pain shot through Tyler’s chest. He hate seeing her sad.
Tyler had paused before answering. Vicki looked up to see his face. He was trying to figure out if he could come. He was scheduled to leave town that afternoon, maybe he could postpone it…
“You don’t have to come.” Vicki said. She averted her eyes.
“Do you want me to come?” Tyler didn’t know if she was being kind, or if she really wanted him there.
“Yeah. Of course. But I’d understand if you don’t want to. I mean. It’s just a funeral.” She got to her locker and opened the door. He leaned casually against Luke’s locker. Tyler could smell her sweet perfume. She smelled like wildflowers.
“Then, I’ll be there.” He smiled, but Vicki didn’t seem to see it. Her eyes were filling with tears and her face had lost its color. Tyler could tell she was worried about the funeral. He cradled her chin with his hand, lifting her eyes to his face.
“Hey.” He tried to comfort her, but didn’t know how. “It’s going to be okay.” He watched as a tear fell down her cheek. Gently, so gently, he brushed it away. She sniffed.
“Thanks.” She sounded like a frog. More tears started to pour down her face. “Sorry.” She said and wiped away the tears. But the word wasn’t very convincing as her cheeks still glistened with moisture. Tyler wrapped his arms around her. His embrace was warm and strong. Very protective.
“You don’t ever have to be sorry, Vicki.” He held her tighter. Vicki leaned into his embrace. Tyler wished he could help her. More then anything he wanted to help her. “I thought you were okay. You were doing so well. But, now I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
They stood there, Vicki wrapped in Tyler’s muscular arms, tears pouring down her face, for ten minutes. Then, slowly, Tyler could feel Vicki began to regain her composure. Tyler not once loosened his arms which were wrapped around her waist and shoulders. When he was convinced she was done crying, he let her loose. Only enough for him to get a good look at her face. It was red and tear streaked, but she looked okay. For the time being.
“I’m fine. Really.” Vicki said in response to his scrutinizing stare.
“I’m going to let you go. But only under the condition that you tell me when you’re not okay, alright?” She nodded in agreement. “Okay.” His arms fell to his side.
Vicki took a deep, staggered breath and turned back to her locker. The door was still open. She grabbed another book and headed for the car. Tyler walked her, he tried to smile, but he knew it wasn’t genuine. Tyler opened her car door for her, and just as he was about to close it, he reached in a stroked Vicki’s hair. Pain creasing his face and filling his chest.
“It’s going to be okay.” He said, then he closed the door and was gone.
