When Summer Ends (Sequel to Summer At Justin's)

Chapter 2

Today I was especially tired from the night before. You could see it on my face. I had tired eyes and Mark asked if I even wanted to go to school. But I knew I had to continue going. I wanted to get into a good college and this year was the year I was going to bring up my grades.

Ever since I had started high school back home at Rivermill high, I was always a good student. I had kept my grades up and made a competitive dance team for ballet. When Sean entered my life, I had become obsessed with his presence. Whenever he wasn't with me I would miss him and think of him. He was my drug and I was his.

Until he found a new drug, an actual drug. He mixed with the wrong crowd of people. He ruined my life and he ruined his. I always think back at how stupid and childish I was, thinking that my relationship with him would help him. I thought that I could somehow save him.

He ended up dragging me down with him. He was once so wonderful and he became so not. Anyways, my grades suffered. My sophomore and junior years were the worst I had ever done in my entire life. I quit ballet, one of the things that meant the most to me. And I quit talking to Justin. 

So I made a decision, to become a better person. And I did, this summer. I became a better person for Justin. And now I decided to get better grades and get into a good school, to become a better person for myself.

When I got to school, I walked over to my locker and I was switching out my books when I saw someone from the corner of my eye, watching me. I looked over at him. He wore converse and jeans with a black shirt. He had dark eyes. I asked, mildly rudely, "What?" He walked over and smiled. 

His dark eyes turned red the closer he got and he had a strong smell that made my nose fuzzy. A smell that I recognized way too much, from my own dark days.

"Long night?" he asked. I looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?" I asked, shutting my locker and giving him my full attention. The quicker I got him talking, the quicker he would leave.

"You look tired as hell." he said, "And I think I can help." I checked my reflection in my phone and looked back at him. Smirking, I knew what he was talking about, but I wasn't going back through that road.

"I know what you are going to offer me, but I am clean." I said. I crossed my arms and kept my gaze strong on his so he knew I was being frank.

"Are you sure?" He persisted. "This stuff can help you out. Make you think clearer and keep you awake in the morning." I laughed. He sounded so much like I used to when I would try to get other people hooked onto what I thought was making me happy.

I shook my head. "No, like I said. I'm clean." I said, turning away. "Thanks for your concern." I said, moderately sarcastically.

"Alright," he said behind me, "Just let me know." I walked away and then turned back around.

"Listen, I don't know who you are. But I know you are confused." I said, walking back to him. "I was just like you. I thought I was doing something great, it made me feel wonderful. I thought I had to help others feel the way I did. But it ended up ruining my life. If you want to keep doing it, fine. I can't stop you. But I really think YOU should think twice about offering that poison to other people. You could ruin someone's life."

"Thanks for the advice." He said, "You obviously didn't have a good trip one day and quit it all together." He paused, waiting for me to speak. I stayed quiet.

"But I am okay with who I am," He said, "And if I can help people out anyway I can, I choose to. I am like the humble servant of the school."

I laughed, "Okay, whatever. I hope one day you realize what I did before it is too late." This time, he walked away from me, shaking his head. I felt sorry for him. He obviously didn't realize how detrimental he was being to himself and others.

When I got out of school I drove straight to the hospital. To my surprise, Justin's parents were already there. They were waiting outside Justin's room. I wondered if something was happening to Justin.

"Is everything okay?" I asked them. I put down my bag and looked into the window of the room.

"Yes, Justin is fine. We wanted to talk to you, Delilah." Mark said. I pulled away from the window and took a seat at the waiting chairs in front of them. They sat too.

"Of course, what is going on?" I asked, putting my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking.

"Don't worry. Nothing you have to worry about." She said, "We just want to talk to you about something serious."

"Okay." I said.

"We are worried about you." Mark said. "We aren't sure if it is healthy that you have been coming every single day. You don't have any other friends. And you only ever think about him."

"Yeah, he is my best friend. I miss him. I want him to be okay." I said, "Of course he is all I think about."

"I understand and we care about him too. But we just think it would be good for you to let go a little bit." She said.

"Basically, we don't want your life to revolve around him." Mark said, resting his hands on Karen's. "We want you to have hobbies to get your mind off him."

"I understand." I said, "I really do. I think that is the right thing to do, but it's hard. I don't think I can just leave him. I can't leave him again."

"Leave him again?" Karen asked, "You never left him. You guys just grew apart a bit, you didn't live near each other. It was expected."

"No, you don't understand. I never told you this, or my parents. But I stopped talking to him. I stopped texting him and I stopped responding to him. Before this summer, I knew nothing about him. He was a stranger.

"It took a while to get him to forgive me. So, I can't leave again. I can't let him think that I forgot him again. He is my everything." I said, starting to tear up.

"It's okay, Delilah." Mark said, "He knows how much you care."

"No, he doesn't." I said a bit louder and getting up, tears in my eyes, "And the moment before he was shot. I had left him again. For someone else that i didn't even care about. I was lying to him. And if he never wakes up, he will always think that I didn't care about him more than a friend. When he was the only one I cared about."

I had realized that I just told his parents about almost everything. And then I realized that I had just spoken about Sean. I hadn't thought about him for so long. I got my bag from the floor and started walking away from them and back to my car. I sat in the seat and cried.