Something

One

Nick Everett discreetly wiped a tear away, hoping nobody saw. He rarely cried. He never thought it was something he would do in a room full of people, but no one was paying attention to him, so he let the tears flow freely. A salty drop hit his lip.  He shouldn't care that he was emotional anyway. The whole of the performing arts club were sniffing and sobbing.

In fact, the only one who was remotely managing to keep it together was Michelle.

Michelle Kelly used to be the queen of performing arts back when she was in high school. She was known all over for her powerful voice, and some would even say - diva like ways. The fact that she had made a name for herself in not only their small home town, but in fact, the whole county, was quite impressive. 

Today, she had returned to the club room to sing a heartfelt original song in honour of her late boyfriend - William Rivers. 

He had died so suddenly, so tragically. Nobody could make sense of it. One mistake on one fateful night. One moment of his life ended in catastrophe. Eighteen years old and his life was over. As a group, they had decided that it didn't matter how he had died. William was a good person when he was alive and one shitty temptation in the form of a toxic white powder which he had never even tried before that crushing, soul destroying night should not define his life. Or his death. He had paid the ultimate price. Peer pressure and foolishness had taken him away from the world. 

Nick knew that it was Williams kindness that should define him. His heart of gold should be remembered. He was the friendly, handsome athletic type who had the geeky side in him for performing arts that everyone loved and found very charming. Guys wanted to be him. Girls wanted to date him. His mousy brown wavy hair and deep hazel eyes with a smile that never left his face, William was who everyone wanted to know or even be. 

It seemed ridiculous that Nick was sitting here falling to pieces, while Michelle was in front of everyone being so brave. That was just her way, she was strong. He shuddered and tried yet again to wipe the tears, but it was as if a floodgate had opened behind his tear ducts. He hadn't cried over William for a while, but oh, how he missed him.

Nicks and Michelles friendship went back a few years. She had  always been there for him since the day they met. She helped him through all different kinds of troubles. When his family lost everything in a horrific house fire and he, his parents and two younger siblings had to move into a grotty bedsit, Michelle was there. She offered him money, clothes and even shelter at her house for a few weeks. When he suffered a horrible break up with Tilly Hawkins, the most popular girl in school who Nick had crushed on for ages, Michelle was there. She sat by his side as he deleted all of their couple pictures from socials and vented about how she had broken his naïve, teenage heart. Michelle was reliable, independent and even now, when she needed people more than ever, she was a beacon of hope to others.

He watched sadly as she fiddled with her delicate 'W' initial bracelet that she had made in honour of William while she sang.

The words to the song Michelle had written were personal and emotional. She had dated William for nearly two years before his tragic passing. It had been a classic high school love story of the nerdy, outcast girl bagging the most popular guy in school. It was the type of love that should have been written about in books. They were solid right from the get go. They had each others backs and Nick honestly believed that nothing other than death could have torn them apart.

This was too much. Seeing her grief and dealing with his own felt like too big of a burden to handle all at once. William had been one of his best friends. If not, the best. Talking of William as if he were in the past was still difficult for Nick, even after months had passed. He loved and missed him. Guys didn't really get soppy and declare that sort of thing to each other where he was from, but it was true. He missed him so much that it sometimes hurt to even breathe. He knew that if he had been with him that night, the outcome would have been different. But William had been invited to a house party by a lad on another football team at the other side of town and had obviously mingled with the wrong people. And now he was gone. Just like that.