Office Hours

50 | the t r a n s p a r e n t

| Z O Y A |

      IT WAS TWO DAYS LATER.

Two days of being in shock.

Two days of being in denial.

Even as she placed a candle down before Alyssa's picture in Wesriveria's auditorium, Zoya still couldn't believe that her friend was actually gone.

Alyssa, why?, Zoya cried. You were always here for me and I never realized you were hiding this much.

A sob rocked her body and Zoya brought a fist to her mouth.

An arm was thrown over her shoulder. Without looking, she knew it was Caden. Only he could bring her comfort.

He brought them to a less crowded area in the auditorium. She pressed her face into his chest, crying and staining his shirt with snot. She'd never had to deal with the death of a friend before, and her heart was bleeding from dire agony.

"I'm a bad friend," she sobbed.

"You're not," Caden said, rubbing her back in comfort.

That didn't rid Zoya's guilt. She tightened her arms around Caden's body and cried incoherent sentences.

A man and a woman walked by, and Zoya caught the tailend of their conversation:

"Did you know she ran the page, J?" asked the man.

The woman sighed before responding a barely audible, "No. . ."

Zoya blocked them out and held Caden tighter. She hated that the website would be stuck to Alyssa's name forever.

"Zoya," came a new voice.

Zoya unwilling tore from Caden's chest to look in the direction of the voice. It was Kevin. His eyes were more red and puffy than Zoya's.

"Can we talk?" Kevin asked.

Zoya nodded and looked up at Caden. "I-"

"I understand," he said, using his shirt to wipe away her tears and snot then sighing when more tears replaced them. "I'll be with Ryder, okay?"

She nodded, wrapping her arms around herself as he disappeared into the crowd of officers, students and faculty from The Three.

During this, she saw Alyssa's picture at the front of the room. Alyssa was smiling so brightly, her eyes brightly shining as they told the convincing story that she was the happiest girl alive.

I should've been a better friend to you. . .

Zoya quickly turned her back to the picture, unable to look at it anymore.

"How are you, Kevin?" Zoya asked, wanting to distract her mind if only for a few minutes.

"I don't know," he confessed with a heavy sigh. "I saw her."

"When?"

"Prom night."

"Really?" Zoya asked, shocked.