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Get up, get ready, go to school. That was the routine for Skip, so surely today, a normal Monday, would follow that routine.
Well, they were wrong.
Everyday they met Jeremy either outside of the building before school or in their shared math class, but today Jeremy wasn't responding to their texts as they sat outside the building.
Skip> Hey Jer, you up?
Skip> Jer?
Skip> Jeremy?
Skip> I know you have your notification sound on
Skip> Hello?
All left unread. Was Jeremy okay? He always answered their texts. Maybe something happened to him over the weekend?
They sighed, setting their phone down. They would ask him about it during math, 1st period. It wasn't that far, they could wait. But they couldn't ignore the feeling of their stomach doing flips as they worried over something so simple.
When the doors finally opened and they sat down in math they calmed down a bit. Jeremy was probably just asleep and didn't hear his phone or something. It was silly to worry.
They piped up when they saw Jeremy walk through the door.
“Hey Jeremy,” they said, to him as he walked passed to his seat. But he didn't even look at them. He sat down in his seat, the one left of Skip, and didn't even wave.
Looking at him they also noticed he was wearing a weird outfit, a grey jacket with an Eminem T-shirt underneath. Where was his blue jacket and nerdy T-shirt? He sat oddly too, not slouching but rather sitting with perfect posture.
They looked down at their desk, trying to ignore how weird this day already was. Once the late bell rang the teacher started taking attendance.
“Abbey?”
“Here.”
“Asu?”
“Here.”
“Atborough?”
“Here.”
“Azu, not Asu?”
“Here.”
“Canigula?”
“Here!”
Christine was all too cheerful for 7 am if you asked Skip.
“Duvoknovich?”
“Here.”
“Goranski?”
“Here.”
“Heere?”
Now was Jeremy’s time to awkwardly say ‘present’ and–
“Yo.”
They turned to stare at him. ‘Yo’? What happened over the weekend that they missed?
“Jackson?”
“Here.”
“Marks?”
“Here.”
“Parks?”
“H-here,” the word stumbled out of their mouth as they were too busy being confused to think about attendance. They hear a few snickers from kids around the room at their stutter.
“Rolan?”
“Here.”
That was the whole attendance. Was nobody else confused about Jeremy acting differently? Or, were they all too busy in their own little worlds to notice the people around them?
They barely focused the rest of math, too lost in their thoughts and confusion to care about numbers.
Once the bell dismissing them to their next class rang they attempted talking to Jeremy.
“Hey so, I was wondering why you didn't–”
He walked right past them again. Was he just ignoring them!? They wanted to chase after him and wave their hands in front of his face to get a reaction but decided not to as to not make a fool of themself. The kids already bullied them, they didn't need more. They just silently walked off to their next class.
At lunch they sat down at the table they, Jeremy, and Michael sat at everyday and waited for Jeremy as Michael was already there.
But he never showed up. They were left sitting in awkward silence across from a kid that hated them. They pulled out a book they were reading and opened it to a random page, they stared at it for the rest of lunch.
Once everyone was leaving lunch they spotted Jeremy. He did show up to lunch, but he didn't sit with Michael?
They paused and watched him leave the cafeteria, not moving.
“Hey,” Michael said, walking up behind Skip.
“Yeah?” They said nervously.
“Was Jeremy in math today?” he asked, seeming a bit concerned.
“Yeah, he was in math, science too.” They also shared science with Jeremy for 3rd period.
“Then where is he?” Michael asked aloud.
“I, uh, saw him leave the cafeteria,” they said, “he didn't look at any of the texts I sent him this morning and ignored me every time I tried to talk to him.” They felt like they were gonna be sick. Jeremy was ignoring them, their only friend was ignoring their existence. Was that what it was? Did they mess up so badly he would avoid Michael just to stay away from them?
They stared at the floor as they felt a lump form in their throat. Maybe they would be better off if they–
“Hey,” Michael said, pulling them from their thoughts, “He has drama today, we'll have a talk with him after. M'kay?” They nodded, not knowing what else to do. Michael nodded back and left the cafeteria, they solemnly followed behind, trying to ignore their mind coming up with everything they've done wrong since moving here.
After 6th period they met up with Michael just outside the theater as everyone else shuffled outside to leave or the room their extra curricular was taking place in.
Once the hallways settled down it was just them. Michael and Skip. Standing in silence by a door to a room they didn't need to go in.
“So, um…” they began, awkwardly forming a sentence, “did something happen over the weekend?”
“Hm,” Michael thought for a second, “not that I can think of at least.” A pause. “Well… he did start ignoring me at the mall.”
Weird. Did Jeremy just decide he was tired of both of them? They didn't get a chance to expand on that thought as, BAM! Jeremy came running through the doors to the auditorium.
Michael quickly pushed off the wall he was leaning against and began chasing him, Skip followed not far behind. He ran through the nearest exit, which led to the football field, and stopped. Michael began to take a step but they grabbed his arm.
“Wait.” They do know why they told him to wait but it felt right. Surprisingly he listened and stepped back, walking behind the bleachers and hiding instead. They followed behind him.
Silence began festering again as Jeremy stared blankly at the air in front of him. They thought he might have fallen asleep standing up with eyes open for a second before Brooke walked around the building to the field. Then he started… crying?
They barely had time to focus on that as he moved over to Brooke like he was being pushed around by a ghost.
He began talking to Brooke about something and she pulled him to sit on the bleachers, luckily not the ones in front of them and Michael. They spaced out a bit as Jeremy and Brooke talked.
“I'll go get your stuff from the theater,” Brooke said walking back inside. Jeremy got that blank look on his face as soon as she left. What was wrong with him?
The exit door opened again, only this time it was Jake and Christine walking out.
“So I was gonna ask,” Jake said, holding the door open for Christine, “if you wanted to come over to my place? My parents won't be there so you don't have to worry about them. They, uh, laundered money. And left me.” Christine stared at him in shock.
“That's illegal!” She exclaimed. Jake stared at her in bewilderment, as if he didn't expect that to be pointed out.
“I know that!” He said quickly. “But, um, the house will be empty, and that's fun! Right?” He asked, as if he wasn't sure what normal people thought of being home alone.
“I guess…” Christine paused. “I'll text my mom and tell her I'll be at yours for a bit,” she said, pulling out her phone.
“Cool!” Jake said, his face lighting up. “C'mon, my house isn't far so we can walk.” Christine nodded and grabbed his hand, texting with the other. Jake gently began leading her away from the school as he began talking about something else.
Once they left Michael stood.
“I'm going to talk to him,” he said. They nodded and followed, going into the field in front of Jeremy. Jeremy looked at them both, almost surprised.
“Michael? Skip? Where have you two been all day?”
“Us? So you–”
“Why have you been ignoring us!?” Skip shouted. They didn't know where that came from, they weren't just angry, but now they were. They felt it in their chest.
“I wasn't ignoring you, I didn't see you!” Jeremy said, making his way down the bleachers.
“Didn't see me!? Motherfucker–” they ran towards Jeremy as he got to the last seat on the bleachers. He didn't step onto the grass. They moved without thinking. They grabbed both sides of the opening of his jacket and threw him down onto the grass.
“AH!” He let out a yelp as he fell onto the grass, tearing some of it up. Dirt got on his clothes and he sat up, looking at them in fear. He scooted back, afraid.
“SKIP! OH MY GOD!” Michael ran over to Skip and Jeremy. They stared at Jeremy, before he stood up, almost like he got pulled up. Words came out of his mouth in an odd, almost robotic, pattern.
“What the hell asshole!?” His body jerked in a way that made it look like he was being controlled by someone who's never been a person before. He went to push them back but they ran. They ran away from the field, away from the building, all the way down the street to their house and didn't stop until they collapsed on the first step of their front porch.
They sat down, out of breath and stared at the ground. They hurt someone. They hurt Jeremy, their only friend. It was like they were taken over by anger. Why did they do that? They were a horrible person. Guilt overcame them and they began crying. They cried and cried till they couldn't anymore. They stood up, walked inside and put a smile on their face, telling their mom about the great day they had.