Laugh Until You Cry

7 Broken Hearts

Two days. I just have to get through two days of school and then we’re free for Thanksgiving break and I will be across the country with my family that I never see. It will be uncomfortable and irritating most of the time with old aunts pinching my cheeks and uncles claiming that they feel so old because I’m about to graduate high school, but at least it’ll get my mind off of Andrew and how we broke up yesterday.

Pulling myself out of bed on Monday morning is almost impossible. All of my limbs feel like they weigh a ton and my head aches from all of the crying, but I have to get to class. If Sienna and Mason didn’t come barging into my room twenty minutes before class started, however, I’m sure that I wouldn’t have been able to make it on time because I was still sitting in bed, waiting for the heaviness of my body to wear off but it never did.

“I didn’t shower,” I mumble as Mason pushes a pile of clothes into my arms.

“There’s no time,” She tells me. “You smell fine so just get dressed and hurry.”

“Fine,” I sigh, realizing that I didn’t get up in time to go for a run this morning, which is something that I do every morning. I guess I slept through my alarm though, because I don’t even remember waking up to turn it off or anything.

Sienna kindly ushers me into my bathroom and closes the door behind me so that I can get dressed out of my pajamas that I’ve worn for over 24 hours now. After I ended things with Andrew yesterday morning, I never changed out of my pajamas. Instead, I just called Mason, who came over right away with Sienna and we all stayed in my room all day while I pigged out (which is something that I rarely ever do) on ice cream and popcorn and Sienna even ordered pizza and I ate a lot of it. I also cried a lot and watched sad movies and then cried some more. It was a rough day.

Today, my face is sticky with tears and I think there’s crumbs nesting in my ratted hair but I brush them out since I don’t have enough time to shower. In the bathroom, I get dressed in the sweatshirt that Mason handed me that’s gray with a black lipstick kiss print on the front and my favorite pair of jeans. They are really comfortable and not too tight but they still look kind of cute. I’m too tired to put on real shoes though, so I just slip on my Ugg slippers and pull my hair up into a mess bun.

“How terrible do I look?” I wonder with a yawn as I grab my bag ten minutes later to head for the academic building and one of the toughest days that I’ve been through in a while. I’m already considering the option of skipping English today.

“Not so bad,” Sienna assures me as they both push me out of the room and into the hallway that’s now empty since most people are already on their way towards class. We have a little less than ten minutes to get there so the only way we’ll make it on time is if we speed walk, which is hard on my heavy feet but I don’t want to make my friends late so I push through it and keep up with their frantic pace.

“I’m sorry if I make you guys late,” I speak up as we’re halfway through campus.

“We don’t mind,” Mason assures me. “How are you feeling today? Any better?”

I think for a minute. Ever since they pulled me out of bed this morning, I haven’t really given myself any time to think about how I’m feeling on this gloomy morning, so I speed walk and think at the same time. That ache in my chest is still there like a black void where a chunk of my heart used to be. My eyes still feel heavy and swollen, holding back a heavy dam but doing a much better job at holding it back.

“Not really,” I finally decide. “I’m not collapsing into a puddle of tears though, so I guess that’s an improvement.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay with seeing him today?” Sienna asks sympathetically from my right side. We enter the academic building with five minutes to go so I’m confident that we’ll make it on time but we continue to speed walk just in case.