Popular Outsiders

Too Sudden

Too Sudden

Thursday

Will's phone rang as Jesse followed a few paces behind him into the classroom. Will looked at his screen, and immediately proceeded to answer it. It was what felt like just a few seconds later that Will bolted out of the classroom, leaving everything behind-backpack, phone, everything.

Jesse slowly got out of his seat as the others started murmuring about Will's sudden decision to ditch class in front of the teacher. Jesse looked up to see the teacher race to the classroom door, call after Will, and then walk over to the phone on his desk to call the front office. 

Jesse crept over to Will's desk, and peered at his phone. It was still on, and the last contact in his history of calls was the hospital. Jesse's head whipped up in the direction of the door Will had raced out of. 

~

There was tapping on the classroom door I sat near. While the teacher's back faced me as he wrote on the whiteboard, I turned to see the culprit who desired my attention. I scooted my chair back. Jesse looked through the window with exigency in his eyes.

'What?' I mouthed, and he motioned for me to come out.

What was wrong with this picture? Uh, let me see...Jesse had skipped class, and I was hesitating to ditch!

"Ssshh," scolded the butthead next to me.

"Buzz off," I snapped.

"Ssshh," she scolded again. Her name was Kylie Liken, and she was one of those kinds of students, if you get what I mean.

"Oh, bite me," I snarled and an idea popped in my head. I suppressed a smirk. 

"Stop it," Kylie whined, "You're going to get us in trouble."

"That'd be a first for you," I muttered. Then I challenged in a snobbish tone that reminded me of the Barbie-like cheerleaders you see the  in the movies, "Why don't you make me?"

She started to raise her hand when I kicked her in the shin under our shared desk.

"Ow!" she shouted, gaining the attention of about twenty-three kids and one adult. That means for the entire class as well as the teacher. 

"Is their a problem ladies?" asked our teacher.

"No," I lied, shooting Kylie a glare as I carried out my plan, which was spilling out perfectly. 

"Yes!" Kylie announced with a glare at me. "She is disrupting class, and she kicked me!"

"Do you need to go to the office, Miss Fletcher?" he asked, "And Miss Liken, are you not disrupting as well? If there is a problem, you should be old enough to take care of it yourself. I didn't get a degree in teaching kindergarten."

"Sorry," Kylie murmured.

"Office? Why would I ever need to go there? I haven't been there a day in my life! I don't even know where it is," I joked, being the smartass that I am.

"Rachel, pay attention-or you will find yourself in the office," the teacher threatened.

"You don't have the guts," I sneered.

Of course, about thirty seconds later and I was booted out of the classroom. I may have been sent to the office, but I wasn't about to go. Jesse raced up to me. I put a finger to my mouth. Clearly he had never sneaked out before, and wasn't afraid of getting caught. Which meant it was an emergency. I stared at him intently. 

"It's Willow," Jesse said, and it felt like all blood and color drained from my face. "I think she...she's..."

I shoved him into the wall, ran to my locker, grabbed my skateboard, and knew I'd be missing the rest of the school day.

~

"Don't touch me!" shrieked Will as a nurse brushed his arm. He staggered forward, zombie-like, and screamed at anyone who got close to him.

I skateboarded down the hospital hallway. A nurse yelled at me. I ignored her. I quickly passed Will, and jumped off as soon as I reached the door. Letting the skateboard ride away on its own, I burst into the room.

There were many people in Willow's hospital room, and I knew exactly what that meant. I knew none of the people in the room, other than Calvin and a pale, limp Willow who lay on the hospital bed.

Still, despite I knew practically none of them I was typically so great at composing my true emotions, I felt a lump in my throat grow as I held back the tears. Under different circumstances, I would have cleared my throat from becoming self-conscious and awkward, but there was no time for selfish thinking when one of the most selfless people I knew had now left my life. 

I knew her less than a week, and she managed to change the rest of my life. How-why can someone like that...just be gone?

A middle-aged woman with tear stained cheeks who looked strikingly like Willow staggered over to me. They had the same eyes. Only Willow's were closed, and her mother's were filled with tears. 

"Are you Rachel?" she managed, and I nodded weakly.

It all felt like a dream. The room tilted to the side slightly. I was dizzy and light headed. I grabbed Calvin's arm to hold myself upright, not wanting to allow myself to collapse to the floor. I was in a faze. My throat closed up and my mouth went dry, like I had been running forever and ever. My bottom lip quivered. 

This was worse than when all those families cursed Mom and me for something Dad did. It was worse than when we asked for their forgiveness from them for ourselves and even for Dad, but they told us we'd burn in hell. 

"I'm Wendy. Where is Jesse?" she asked.

Before I could answer, the door slammed open. A panting Jesse walked over, spotted Willow, and broke down crying, which only made it harder for me not to begin crying.

"Here," Jesse wheezed.

"This," Wendy held out a note as she spoke,"is from Willow."

I didn't move. Jesse was wiping his tears. So, Calvin was the one to take the piece of paper from Willow's sobbing mother. Calvin opened it, and Jesse and I looked at the note with him. His hands shook slightly as we read:

For Calvin, Rachel, & Jesse:

Hey, guys. There's only one reason you'll be reading this, otherwise I'd tell you in person. Anyways, for me, just make sure you give Will a chance. Sure, he's a butthead, but he can be a nice butthead. Why do you say? For me?

-Willow :)

Jesse was having trouble standing up at this point, similarly to me. I knew we shared the feeling of weak knocking knees. Everyone in the room shared the feeling of a dreadful searing pain in their heart, like it was being ripped to a bunch of little pieces. So many pieces that no one could fix it to its original state. I felt a part of me go missing as quickly and easily as a little leaf getting lost because of the wind.

"What does it say?" Wendy inquired, wiping the tears that had sprung up and spilled out.

Calvin, Jesse, and I exchanged glances.

"We're forgetting the petty little things," I mumbled.

"And forgiving Will," choked out Calvin.

"Because he's not too bad," added Jesse.

"Willow wrote to ask you that?" Wendy whispered, and she sobbed harder.

"Only because of Willow," Calvin muttered. "Her...was too sudden."

"She was supposed to get better!" Wendy sudden burst out. She shook she cried so hard. A man out one arm around her, and she cried into his chest. "They promised! My baby!"

I looked down at the note, wondering if the note meant she knew she was going to die despite what the doctors and their fancy gadgets promised.

* Yeah, it's sad. I hope you thought it was good though. Leave a comment! *