Yours Truly

Chapter 1

NOW

I always hated Tuesdays. Nothing good ever happened on a Tuesday. The wall street crash of 1929, my parent's divorce, the birth of Hitler. Actually, I have no idea when Hitler was born, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were a Tuesday.

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Tuesday, 16th April 2019

I watched the cereal in my bowl absorb the milk around it as I swirled it round with my spoon, seeing it turn into a soggy mess.
"Stop playing with your food Mag." My mum told me abruptly, immediately turning back to her phone.

Sometimes I wondered if she ever thought there was a reason why I've been extremely moody and at the brink of depression for the past month. But then again, I could shave off all my hair and she wouldn't notice, as long as I was wearing my longer skirt for school that didn't make me look "cheap" like the other one.

Before, I never cared that my mum didn't care. I mean, I did, but I wasn't bothered much by it. I had my dad. He is the complete opposite of my mum, and always understood me. He still does, but it's different now that he doesn't live with us. He got married a few months after the divorce to this lady from his office. He wasn't having an affair when him and mum were still together, but he knew he wasn't in love with her anymore, and most times he doubted she was ever in love with him. And Catherine was there for him after he moved out. She helped him find a new place, brought him home cooked meals twice a week, and literally any other thing a wife would do. Sooner or later, she would become one, and she did. Sooner than my mum had expected.

I wanted to feel bad for her. I really did. But she gave this emotionless look when dad came to tell us about his engagement. And after, I was sure she would break out in tears. But instead she put some water in the kettle and asked if my sister and I if we wanted some tea.

After stirring my cereal around for a few more minutes, I heard my phone ring. Jude was here. Jude is my stepmom's son. He's a year older than me, and a senior. He transferred to my school after the wedding, and we hit it off. In a few months, it was like we'd known each other our whole lives.

"Mom, Jude's here. I'm leaving"

She acknowledged my statement with a nod, and I walked out of the house.

I noticed Kira still wasn't down. I picked up my phone and quickly sent her a text that we were leaving without her and got into the front seat.

Jude gave me a smirk when I got into the car. "Don't you look exhausted this morning."

"You always know how to put me in a good mood, don't you?"

I turn to the back.
"Hey babycakes."

Kevin looks at me and rolls his eyes. "Calling me babycakes isn't going to make me hate you less for banishing me to the back seat."

Kevin is Jude's best friend. They met on Jude's first day of school, and bonded over their love of indie boy bands and Popeye's. I've never fully understood their friendship, cause they're so different, yet have so much in common. Jude is scrawny, tall, wears an abundance of jewellery all the time, and is always either wearing a crop top, baggy shirt, or hoodie. No exceptions. Kevin on the other hand, is way more all American. You could just put some hair gel on him, and he'd look exactly like a Lacoste model.

"Where's Kira." Jude asked me.

"I don't know what she's been doing in her room for an eternity, but she knows that I go to the hospital before I go to school, so she will find her own way to school if she can't be punctual."

Jude goes quiet and drives out of the driveway. I noticed how tense they always get when I seem irritated. I know they just don't want to get me mad, but for some reason it makes me even more mad. I decide to lean against the window, feeling my head vibrate as the car moves along the minorly bumpy road. I let myself fall asleep while The Regrettes plays in the background of the car.

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I feel a gentle tap on my shoulder and hear Jude's voice.

"Hey, get your ass out of my car, we're here."

I open my eyes, and shove him in the shoulder before picking up my bag and getting out of the car.

"Bye losers, thanks for the ride." I say, peeping my head into the car and waving them off.

"You don't want us to wait up?" Kevin asks.

"No thanks, I think walking would be good for me."

They both gave me the 'stay strong' nod, and drove off.

The reality of why I'm here hit me once I turned towards the door and walked in. I've been coming here every day for a month, but yet it hasn't gotten any less depressing.
I smile softly when I see a familiar face.

"Hey Darla, how's your recovery going."

Darla gives me a thumbs up and a weak smile. I met her like two weeks ago when she was getting prepped for surgery, and the hospital was short staffed and needed someone to make sure she didn't eat any food. So, I offered to stay with her, since it was after school, and she became my hospital mum after that day. Recovery has been tough for her though. Almost as bad as Tyler's.

I get to the room and open the door. I see Mrs. King asleep on the chair beside the bed. I walk over to her and drape the blanket folded on the table over her body. I was happy she was getting some sleep. She hadn't been getting much lately.

I walked over to Tyler's side and hold his hand. It's been hard seeing him like this. Tubes hanging out of him from every which way. Ok, maybe not EVERY which way, but there are like four of them, and that just feels like a million since he's usually tubeless.

He's been in a coma for about three weeks now. Three weeks, 4 days, 17 hours. But who's counting.

My mum doesn't even know Tyler. She thinks I'm way too young to date, at 17. And all a relationship would do is distract me, and increase my likeliness of getting an STD by 37%.

I think that's one of the hardest parts about all this, not being able to be sad at home while my boyfriend fights for his life, because my mum would think I'm just being my "overdramatic" self.

I can't even begin to count the amount of times my mum told me to never get depressed.

"Why be sad when you can just be happy. Depression is for white children, drug addicts, and middle-aged alcoholics."

Before, statements like that used to bother me, but now, I just try not to focus too hard on her words when she speaks. She just doesn't know any better. I mean, my mother was raised in a two bedroom house with her black ,republican, catholic mother, dead beat dad; who beat her mom at any given chance, and four older sisters; who were smarter than her in every way. If that doesn't scream toxic household, I don't know what does.

I wish I could tell my mum about Tyler. But I know she wouldn't understand. I haven't even told my sister Kira, but that's because she has a big mouth and tries to undermine my already struggling integrity at every moment she gets.

I notice Tyler's mum shuffling awake in her chair. She opens her eyes, and sees me, with a smile on my face.

"I told you to stop coming here before school Maggie. You're going to be late."

"I'm sorry Mrs. K, but you know I have to."
I looked down at Tyler, and squeezed his hand a little. I know he couldn't feel it, but it was comforting, knowing that at least I could.

I looked back up.

"And, I started leaving home 15 minutes earlier, so now my chances of being late are slim...ish."

She smiles at me. "You don't know how lucky we are to have you Mags."

She gets up, neatly folding the blanket and placing it on the chair. Then she picks up my backpack from the floor beside me, and places it in my hand.

"Go to school, keep on living. I know you love him, but he wouldn't want you spending all your time here."

I squeeze her shoulder lightly, and give her a sad smile, before leaving.

Walking out the door, I suddenly regret asking Jude and Kevin to leave. Its suddenly a lot colder than it was when we got there.
I bring out my airpods from my bag, and put my music on shuffle. It's a ritual me and Tyler had. Whenever we listened to music, the first song had to be a random shuffle. To kind of set the mood you know. Tell you your destiny for the rest of the day.

I winced slightly as goodbyes by Jorja Smith played from my phone.

I regretted putting my music on shuffle, cause all I could think about the rest of the walk to school was about Tyler never waking up again.

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WRITER's Note:
Thanks for reading the first chapter. I'm going to try my best to post 2 chapters every week. Comment what you think about the story so far. I love getting feedback from you guys!

Stay tuned, cause there's a lot more where this came from
*insert uncomfortable wink here*

Byeeeeeee