"This story is about the boy I loved. This is about his suffering. This is about my suffering. All of it due to one thing. Affluenza."
TW : Key themes of suicide.
Sebastian Grey. Golden boy, trust fund baby, and Braylen Adams' mortal enemy. Braylen...
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FOR THE FIRST time in eight years, I walk into school alone. It's weird, not having Robyn by my side. I was upset that she was so controlling, she was upset I'd called her out. There was no winning.
Robyn and I had only gotten this angry at each other one other time in the seventh grade when I started dating Gia York. She was like Robyn's Sebastian but with more hair and fewer pranks. Needless to say, I was put in the position to choose between my best friend and girlfriend. The decision wasn't hard.
I always chose Robyn. She always chose me.
I rap my fingers along the library table, mind far too troubled to eat the lunch I'd brought from home. I was thinking about Sebastian, how he sang country and blues music and found the best hole in the wall restaurants. How his eyes had seemed so worried when he left, so suddenly serious. I think about how my aunt and cousins looked when I walked in after he dropped me off, expressions ranging from dismayed to disgusted. I didn't loiter too long in any room with them.
"Josie, come on," a boy murmurs next to his girlfriend's ear. She waves him away, looking put out. "Come on. I saw what I saw."
"No, Wyatt, you heard what you heard. And I'm saying that what you heard was BS," she says, rolling her eyes. "There's no wait Ash Grey would be kicked out of this school; he's the golden boy."
Wyatt sighs, digging his fingers into his deep black hair. My ears perk up as I take a bite of my sandwich. "Why wouldn't he be kicked out, Jo? The kid's one step away from being a criminal. Assaulting officers, buying drugs, breaking and entering. He's dangerous. I'm not surprised the school is taking note of that. "
Josie puckers her lips, seeming annoyed and slightly worried. "Well, all I know is his parents practically pay for me and a bunch of other kids to go here. I'm here on scholarship, remember? If Ash goes, I go!"
"Shh!" the librarian says, pushing her glasses up her face. The couple stops talking quickly, but the worried look on Josie's face doesn't disappear. Wyatt's eyes find mine, eyebrows raised in challenge.
"You staring at my girl?" he asks and the venom in his tone surprises me.
"No," I assure him. After a second's hesitation, I speak again. "What's happening with Sebastian?"
He instantly relaxes, standing up and plopping down at my table. Josie sighs exasperatedly, pressing two fingers to her temple. "I heard from David Carmichael who heard from Austin McCoy who dated Audrey Reyes who told her friend ZaZa Harding that she saw Sebastian Grey getting roughed up on Seventh Street."
I scrunch my nose. That street was notorious for drug deals and criminal activity; I knew if I ever wanted to be jumped I'd just have to spend an evening there. Problem solved. "Why would Sebastian be going to Seventh Street? That's dangerous."
