School made me realize what was going on in the world outside of my bubble. The remainder of the students didn't get to see Nia or Kate, and their assigned reading wasn't full with ambiguous stepping stones. Even nevertheless, death had an impact well beyond my personal experiences.
It wasn't as bad as the day Kate died, but it was still a significant improvement. In the corridor, friends huddled around, but there was significantly less laughter and chatting. At the very least, if there was gossip, it was kept quiet. The conversation on why Kate would kill herself had a different tone from the conversation about weekend gatherings.
It was as if the stone had fallen into the pond and resurfaced to see waves on the shore.
I stuffed my books into my locker, forgetting all of the notes I
