The Framing

The birthday

December 17th 2015, 6:45
I woke up and forgot about everything that happened yesterday. I really didn't want to go to school, I never do. But today is different.

I sighed and got out of bed. All I could think about in the shower was Julia's parents and brother. She left them so abruptly, I am of course mad at what she did to me, but I didn't want her to die.

I stepped out of the warm shower and got clothing on. I never blow dry my hair because it dries out. So usually I vigorously hand dry it with a towel.

I ran a brush though the tangled mess and headed downstairs. No one was down here, I usually spent my mornings alone.

I walked outside, it was surprisingly cold for me living in Florida. I walked to my bus stop, next year I will finally be allowed to drive to school. I honestly can't wait.

Usually Julia and I would talk here, but not today. Not ever. I had to stand here in the freezing 51 degree weather and feel sorry for myself. Which I did a lot now.

The bus came to my stop and I hopped on. I wasn't sure if anyone knew what was going on, no one had said anything to me yet.

Once we got to school, I got off the bus. I saw Jeremy standing around with his friends and I went to say hello.

"Happy birthday." I said and made him smile. He had a very sorrowful look in his eyes, but it was clear that I didn't want to talk about it.

The warning bell rang and we all head inside, I barely made it to homeroom on time. I couldn't wait for it to be first period so I could finally see Jeremy again.

"So how have you been doing since yesterday?" He asked me as I sat down in our first period class.

"It's going well if I don't think about it." I said. I hoped it didn't sound as rude as I said it.

He didn't really do anything else, he only shook his head. "It's such a shame. She seemed pretty down to earth."

I shrugged, "Well you said it, the people who do it are never the type."

Jeremy opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off by the sound of the bell.

The lesson went by in a blur. I didn't want to be here in the first place. I didn't want to deal with all the stress that life had been throwing at me recently. I enjoyed the time I spent with Jeremy, and I enjoyed having Jules as my best friend. Who knew so much could happen in only a month.

I said goodbye to Jeremy as I went to my second period class, which was history. I had it with Alex and Josh, who rarely talked to me. They just referred to me as 'the girl who always hangs with Jeremy' or 'the girl Jeremy would go straight for'.

I didn't say anything to them at all during class. All I wanted was to be with either Julia or Jeremy. Just yesterday, everything in my life was normal.

I didn't do anything in science which was third period, and I didn't do anything in my foundations of technology class. I just waited until it was lunch so I could see all my friends. The ones I still had.

"Hey guys." I said as I set my stuff on the table. It was a really nice day outside, despite it being so cold this morning.

"Hey." They all said and continued to talk about whatever it was before I sat down. I listened without saying a word.

At around 11:50, everyone besides Jeremy left to go do something. So it was just him and I now.

"So are you doing anything at all for your birthday?" I asked.

"Besides getting my drivers license, no I wasn't going to."

"You'll finally be able to drive around without having to ask Tom."

"Yeah, and Tom is giving me his van as soon as I can legally drive one. He told me he wants to drive something newer."

"Oh that's cool. You'll be driving the pedophile van around town."

"Shut up." He said and laughed. I liked making people smile. I didn't feel as if it was right for me to be happy right now. I feel like it would be mean to Jules.

"Well where is the first place you're going to go when you can drive?" I asked.

"I'll probably end up going some place stupid. I'll finally be able to leave the state with this kind of license, so maybe we'll go on a road trip."

"Oh that's really cool, where would you want to go?"

"Anywhere really. As long as it is far, far away from here. I am sick of the scenery."

"Yeah I know how you feel. I have never felt like I was fitting in. I was just the kid people would copy off of during exams. And I was okay with that. I wasn't trying to be valedictorian, it just came naturally to me."

"I wish being smart would come naturally to me. I never get what we're doing in any of my classes." He said.

"Well you will always have me to to help you out. And you're incredibly smart, you write amazing lyrics and poems all the time. You should do that for a living."

"You mean I should write poetry for a profession?" He asked.

"No silly, I mean you should be a musician. You're very talented at singing."

"That's true. I don't really think about my future very often.

I started to think about him, and how he could have a good future. "Well I'll always be here for you if you need me."

The bell rang and both of our smiles faded away. This meant it wasn't break time anymore and we still had three classes until the end of the day. At least one of them was going to be study hall.