Seven Minutes

Chapter 11

TW // Mentions of suicidal thoughts and attempt

Now that everything was straightened out with Emily, and her having been officially introduced to your dad. Things with her were going great. The two of you spent almost the entire weekend together, except at night, your dad wasn't too comfortable with the two of you sleeping in the same room. But now the hard part was next, going back to school.

Emily walked with you into the building, but you have different classes, so the two of you wouldn't see each other again until lunch.

Hesitantly, you walk towards the library for your and Spencer's daily meetings. You hope that he shows up, but there is that part of you that knows that he isn't. As you walk through the door you wave to the librarian and head to sit down.

You wait impatiently for the next thirty minutes, and even after the bell rings, signifying that first period has started, you are still sitting. You know that it makes no sense to wait here, knowing that Spencer isn't going to show up, but you don't budge.

"(Y/N), are you ok?" the librarian asks as she walks over to you. You look up at her and nod.

"Yes, ma'am I am fine."

"First period has started honey, you should get to class," she says.

"You're right, I am sorry," you say to her as you pick up your book bag and head to class.

The first half of the day, it feels like your head is in a thick fog. You can't really focus on any of your work. The only thing keeping you going is the thought of seeing your friends for lunch.

"Hey," Emily says as she sees you walking towards your usual table on the patio, "he didn't show did he?" she asks when she notices your long face.

You shake your head as you sit down, and she wraps her arms around your shoulders and pulls you closer to her. Everybody else at the table seems to drift away as you lean into Emily's side. She always has this way of making you feel better despite the situation.

"Can I join you guys?" you hear a timid voice say. You look up and notice that the table has gotten tense, and the previous chatter you had been toning out has suddenly stopped. Looking over, you see that the timid voice is JJ. Everybody at the table looks around at each other, nobody quite sure what to say, until Emily clears her throat.

"Of course, Jayge," she says with a smile as she scoots her stuff over and makes space at the table.

JJ shoots her a thankful smile, as she puts her lunch tray down next to Emily and sits down. You take Emily's hand in yours under the table and give it a light squeeze as you lean back into her side. She glances over at you, and you smile at her, showing that you are proud of her for letting JJ back in.

Slowly the conversation starts to get back to normal. JJ stays silent for the most part, probably still feeling like she needs to walk on eggshells, but the rest of the group starts back talking animatedly about upcoming finals.

A couple of minutes later, you see a panicked-looking Tara come rushing over to you.

"Hey, what's wrong?" you ask her once she is standing next to you.

"Have you seen Reid?" she asks, completely ignoring your question.

"No," you say, shaking your head, "he still isn't talking to me." By now the rest of the table has turned their attention to your conversation, and they all have confused faces.

"I think he might be in trouble," she says, causing fear to rise in your chest.

"Tara, what's going on?" you ask, as you stand up from your seat, and grab her shoulders, trying to get her to calm down enough to explain things.