Dear High School, F*ck Off!

CHAPTER EIGHT

"High school was easy. It was like riding a bike. Except the bike was on fire, the ground was on fire and everything was on fire because it was hell."
-

(Pope's POV)

So, is it safe to say that our friend group was slowly sinking to the bottom of a pit?

I was sitting at lunch with JJ, John B and Sarah and it was pretty awkward. No one was really talking to each other. Kie wasn't even with us. Honestly, I didn't even know where she was. I hadn't seen her in the cafeteria.

How did we even let this happen? Kiara basically wasn't in our friend group anymore. I don't know if anyone else did but personally, I hadn't talked to her in days. She spent all her time with her other friends now and didn't even ask to get added back to the group chat.

Yeah. She was definitely gone for good.

Obviously, we all felt her absence but tried not to bring it up too much. It was a sore subject for all of us, but especially JJ. He was moody everyday now and Sarah wasn't too happy about it either. She kept complaining about how she missed her and John B would snap at her to give it a rest or to let her go.

I could tell John B missed her too, there's no way he didn't. John B and Kie had always had a special kind of bond that I couldn't quite put my finger on. They were close though. Maybe he just wanted to be strong for the rest of us.

Another thing? I felt bad saying this, but I found them to be more intolerable now. Ever since hanging around Amelia and their friends more, my eyes were just now opening up to how truly childish my friends were.

We fought over anything and everything, things that didn't even need to be fought about. Sarah just...complained. About everything. And never made an effort to fix it.

JJ put everyone else at blame for things that happened and never took responsibility for anything. It was like he would rather die than own up to his actions. He kept denying that he did anything to make Kiara not want to be apart of our group anymore when in reality, he probably did the most.

And John B? Well, he was just a crybaby. Ever since he "lost" Sarah, he had just been getting worse and worse. His attitude was so much different and he was snappy towards everyone, even if they didn't do anything. And he absolutely refused to let any of us talk about Kie. He said if we just let her out of our lives now, we wouldn't have to deal with her later. Which was insane, considering how long we had all been friends with her and how big of an impact she left on all of our lives. On his life.

He was just being fucking weird. They all were. And honestly? I didn't know how much longer I could be around them. I guess this is what people meant by outgrowing your childhood friends.

But the thing is, I didn't want to outgrow them. They meant a lot to me. They've been with me through my highs and my lows, they've given me advice, I've given them advice. I've told them things I would never tell anyone else and they did the same with me. They were the only people I truly trusted. And I hated that I was started to feel this way towards them.

But I didn't know what to do. No matter how hard I tried to get closer to them, it just seemed to result in me finding them a little more insufferable. I felt so bad because it's not like they did anything wrong. I was just growing more aware. If anything, it was my fault.