Say No To The Voices

Looking Back

Michael woke up before Jeremy. He looked down at him and played with his hair.
"What are we going to do with you...?"
Michael thought to himself. Poor Jeremy. He'd dealt with enough in the past year. Even though he only had the SQUIP for about a month or so, it really messed with him. There was no sign of it for so long and then suddenly there it was again. Michael didn't like to show it, but he was scared too. He didn't want to be abandoned the way he was before. Even if it wasn't Jeremy's fault. The way he felt in that time. Totally alone. He didn't want to go back to that.

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Jenna was at a locker with Chloe.
"You'll never guess."
She was obviously doing her normal thing. Gossiping. That was the only thing people thought she was good for.
"What?" Chloe said sharply, applying more lip gloss.
"Jeremy Heere is going to be at Jake's Halloween party."
"Well it does make sense. Since he started hanging out with Rich and started dating Brooke." Chloe rolled her eyes.
"Yeah I guess, but isn't it kinda weird how quickly he changed? It's like one day no one knew him apart from that weirdo with the headphones and now he's invited to every party!"

Michael was a few lockers away from the conversation. He closed his locker and sighed. He pulled his bag up onto his shoulder after putting the books he needed in.

"I guess, but maybe he just realised it was better for him to change?"
The bell rang and Chloe turned quickly to walk away, accidentally hitting Jenna with her handbag. This made Jenna drop her bag. Michael was walking past and saw this happen. He picked up the bag and handed it back to Jenna without saying another word. Jenna smiled slightly and pulled her bag over her shoulder.

Michael headed to his class. Math. Dammit.

He sat at his normal seat and looked around the class. Of corse. No Jeremy. Jeremy hadn't shown up to any of his classes on time since the SQUIP. At least that gave Michael time without having to see the person it made his ex best friend become. 15 minutes of no Jeremy. No worries. Until he arrived.

Jeremy had changed a lot. He was followed in by Brooke. She was holding his arm. Jeremy stood taller and more confidently. He wore his Eminem shirt with pride and seemed to wink at every girl that looked his way. Girls wanted to be with him. Guys wanted to be him. All except for Michael who rolled his eyes at him.

Jeremy sat next to Brooke and she could not keep her eyes off of him. They were practically glued to him. Michael's were too, as much as he hated it. He hated this new classmate. He missed the old one. The one who would write notes, rip them up and throw them in the toilet all because of nerves. The one who would shake after answering a question in class. The one who he was with through the good times. The bad times. Everything.

Too bad really. Michael knew that classmate was gone.

The bell rang again soon enough. Michael looked down at the work he had done that lesson. Not much. His moms were not going to be happy when his grades started to drop. Michael didn't care though. He never realised how much Jeremy kept him going.

Class. Alone. Lunch. Alone. 7/11? Michael stopped going. He stopped going out. He would just stay on Warcraft with the only 'friends' he had left. His online ones.

Michael had his night planned out. Go home, play on his computer, eat snacks, research. That was running through his head. He knew that the SQUIP had worked. Since he last talked to Jeremy however, Jeremy hadn't even tried to talk to him. He wasn't going to give up. Even though it seemed pointless and he was close to letting it go, he wasn't going to. Sleep? Who needs it? Michael was willing to stay up all night to help Jeremy.

Soon enough, it got to the night of the party. Once again, Michael's moms were trying to get him to go out somewhere. Michael hadn't told them about Jeremy.
"Ina! Are you sure you don't want to go out tonight?! Jeremy might be doing something! You should text him!"
"I'm good, Mom!"

Michael got a message. As he read through it, his eyes widened and he scrambled to get dressed.

"On second thought.. Yeah! I'll go out! I'll be back soon!"
"Okay, Michael! Have fun!"

"Hey dude. I heard that you were looking around for something about a SQUIP. If you're thinking about getting one, don't. They're pretty bad news. My brother took one of those things and sure. He went from a D student to a freshman at Harvard at first, but he went a bit crazy trying to get rid of it. He kept saying that it was telling him to do something. He couldn't tell me what and I haven't seen him in a while. He's in a mental hospital now. Please be careful, man."

Michael had never driven faster. It was the weirdest thing he had ever done. Drive over the speed limit in a full body monster costume to warn a guy at his school about a super computer. Michael couldn't care less. That was more important than people judging him. He was going to get his friend back.

The house wasn't hard to miss. It was huge and multicoloured lights were there to serve as a beacon. Michael pulled over and got out of the car. He took a deep breath and walked in as if he was meant to be there. He looked around. First of all, it was very loud. Too loud to focus. And second, Michael knew that his school was big, but seeing that many people in one place at the same time really made him realise how insignificant he really was in comparison to everyone else.

He spent a while searching. He went to the punch bowl, the kitchen, the sitting room, even upstairs. After an hour of looking, Michael gave up. He hated it there. There were too many people. Michael had never felt so anxious in his life and he just wanted to go home. But then, he'd have to go home without his friend. That was when he saw it. A girl walking out of the bathroom. Michael got in there as quickly as he could and closed the door behind him. He sat in the tub and gathered his thoughts. About 5 minutes later, someone else walked in. They pulled back the curtain and screamed as soon as they saw him. Michael recognised that screech. Jeremy.

"Michael..?"
"Sup."

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Michael thought about what happened next a lot. He never liked it, but once it came into his head, it took a while to leave. Michael stared at Jeremy's ceiling with his arm around him.

"Michael? Are you alright?" Jeremy yawned.
"Hm?" Michael looked down at Jeremy.
"Yeah... Yeah I'm good..."