Paper Thin

• 90: Cold Place •

Carson

The moment the bell rang, I left the school as soon as I could get my jacket on. I spent the entire day worrying about Melody. I sent texts every hour, checking in to get responses of few words. I knew today was a hard day for her and I could only imagine that it didn't help having the high school talking about her.

I sat at lunch with Emma, Alani, Harvey and Noah and immediately they asked about my missing girlfriend.

"Hey, where's Melody?" Emma asked the moment she sat down.

"Is she okay?" Alani added.

"I'll going to be honest and say I don't know," I breathed. "Today's the anniversary of her mom's death, but she sounded pretty defeated on the phone this morning."

"That really sucks," Noah said, pulling his lunch out from his bag.

"Yeah, it probably doesn't do any good with Rose spreading all this garbage about her too," Alani said.

"I know." I let out yet another sigh and ran a hand through my hair. "I don't know how to fix that!"

"Rose is a jealous person. I don't know dude, stay out of girl drama," Harvey said. Emma and Alani rolled their eyes at my best friend. That was the approach I was dancing a line with. I thought if I backed off it'd make her less jealous or retaliate less but it obviously wasn't working.

"It's like, I do say something when I see it, but I feel like if I interfere too much it'll make things worse for Melody," I explained. "Maybe I'm not saying enough..."

"Don't beat yourself up. Rose is one of the sneakiest people on the planet," Emma said with a small smile. She was nice for trying to reassure me, but I was left wondering how many times Rose ambushed Melody when I wasn't around.

For the rest of the day I couldn't help but glare at the people I called my friends, the popular crew. The athletes, the cheerleaders... the gossips and two-faced liars. They were all so quick to pass around anything Rose said as if it were gospel. The bad talk about Melody made me furious and feel helpless all at once.

I felt that rush of liberation that many other kids at our school probably felt once they left the walls of Alcott. It hurt my heart to know that while some went home to loving homes, others, like Melody, went home to a cold place.

As I pulled up the driveway and rang the doorbell, I prepared myself for whoever came to the door. If Leslie came, I knew she would be warm, while Margot was her polar opposite. Mia on the other hand, was a wild card. She blew hot and cold like the wind.

It was Leslie, however that opened the door, so I didn't have any hassle getting inside. She smiled as she saw me, a touch of relief reaching her eyes.

"How is she?" I asked. She wrinkled her nose and shrugged slightly.

"It's hard to say. I think she had a rough night... locked herself up in her room, but she was down in the den watching some of her old home videos this morning. I think Mia and her friend kicked her out of there though," Leslie said. I could detect some resentment in her voice when she mentioned Mia and I felt the same way.

"I'll just go check in on her then," I said. She nodded and smiled once again as I took off my shoes and jogged up the stairs to Melody's room. Her door was closed and sounded pretty quiet from her side. I knocked my knuckles gently against the white wood.

"Go away Mia!" Melody yelled. Or attempted to. It sounded as if she'd only been able to muster up half the effort and venom in her voice that she wanted to.

"It's me," I said.

There was quiet shuffling on the other side before I heard a soft, "come in".