Drowning

The Fall

A yawn escaped Finley as she walked towards the entrance of the school. First day in and she was already missing the summer and the luxury of sleeping in. She adjusted the straps of her backpack as she approached the overhang, trying to keep her head down and avoid interacting with people as much as possible. However, just like sleep, that was not in the cards for her.

"Hey Finley!"

She looked up and saw Aisha waving at her from where she stood next to Miguel. She headed over, not wanting to be rude.

"Hey."

Miguel nodded his head at her in response before returning his focus back to his phone. Finley sent Aisha a questioning look and she shook her head.

"He's been trying to get ahold of Tory since the party. Not sure what's up with her, she won't text me back either."

"Oh." Finley wished she could say more, but after her interaction with Tory in the kitchen, she liked the girl even less than before.

"I'm just worried she got in trouble with the cops." Miguel spoke, his voice filled with concern.

"Who knows." Aisha looked at the boy with sympathy. "But missing the first day of school is not a good sign."

"I'm sure she's fine."

Finley finally spoke up as they turned and started heading into school. Aisha waved goodbye, her locker in the opposite direction of theirs.

"I don't know." Miguel said finally after a moment of silence, shaking his head, clearly dejected. "She and Sam were going at each other all night with a drinking competition. I'm really worried."

They stopped at Miguel's locker, Finley leaning against the one next to his. "She's tough. I'm sure she'll be okay."

Miguel looked over at the girl who was staring blankly across the hallway and he wet his lips nervously. She seemed supportive at the moment, maybe he should just tell her. Miguel sighed, she was one of his best friends, she should know.

"I kissed Sam."

Finley's head snapped over to look at him, her brows pinched together. "What?"

"Last night, at the party. Sam was drunk and she kissed me... I kissed her back." Miguel closed his eyes, letting out a heavy sigh. "It never should have happened, but I just got caught up in the moment."

Finley stared at the dejected boy in front of her as she tried to figure out what she was going to say. "Does Tory know?"

Miguel shook his head, opening his eyes to look at her. "No, I couldn't find her after the party. The cops showed up and everything got crazy. She hasn't responded to my texts since."

"Okay." Finley nodded her head, taking a breath in. "Well, try and find her as soon as you can and tell her. It sucks, but her finding out from someone else would be a lot worse."

Miguel looked over at the girl, slightly surprised by how calm she was being about the whole thing. "You're not gonna say I told you so?"

"Like I said, I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"Finley!"

Her entire body tensed at the sound of his voice, and she pushed herself up straight, no longer leaning on the lockers. Demetri was pushing through the students behind her, trying to make his way over as quickly as possible. In front of her, Miguel glanced between the two, confused by Finley's reaction.

"Finley, I'm sorry, okay?" Demetri had made his way to them, and came up beside her so that he could look at her. "Can we please just talk?"

All Finley wanted to do was punch him in the face— which all things considered, she felt was a very measured response. She looked up at the boy beside her with an annoyed expression.