Troubled

TWENTY EIGHT

KYLE GARCIA

I had gone through two packs of cigs by the time Miss Suzie's therapy session rolled by. I was irritated through out the day. Dawson and Ray kept a noticable distance from me. I hadn't even bothered to hide the cigs from mom or grandma. Mom gasped dramatically as she saw it, she ran out the room. Honestly I did feel a pang of guilt, but she had to know one trip to a quack was not going to remove every trace of smoke permanently from my life.

"She's not picking up anymore." Xander paced the house, his face had a crumpled look of worry etched into it.

"She doesn't want to talk to you. That's the kind of friend she is."

He turned to face me sharply.

"I don't know the kind of friendship you have with her, but you don't know her. Besides she was right. I had the chance to take a shot, I didn't, even when you told me to. That should have been my motivation but I still took the pepper."

I scoff at him. Either this boy was extremely loyal to her, or just very optimistic.

"A friend should not let you suffer because of your mistake."

"To be honest, she didn't let me suffer. She said the thing about the milk and it worked. She just didn't panic like you did, and my mom always said to keep your cool in every situation. She is right. You running around trying to fix it with an ice cube could have made it worse."

Okay so he was overly loyal to her. I was about to retort before he stopped me.

"I don't mean to hurt your feelings but that's how she is, she is always calm, that's how she handles her problems and so far she's lived her life without wanting either of us to solve them with our different problem solving skills from her. She's different. But that doesn't mean we can speak to her the way we like when we can't agree on something."

I was speechless. The kid surprised me with all the deep stuff he just spilled. You would take a look at him and will guess everything wrong about him. The guy had depth. He understood things on a different plane than him.

"And you told her everyone in school hates her, which is false. They are scared of her, they don't hate her."

If I didn't feel shitty before, I sure as hell did now.

"And she is on her own when the warning hasn't been cleared. Do you think it got her?" He asked while peeping through the window.

"Should we go out and look for her?"

"That would be foolish actually, what if she is safe somewhere and the tornado hits us instead?"

I look outside, the roads are bare.

"There are no cars outside, I don't think she could have gotten that far. Let's just do a quick scan and we will head back inside."

He swallowed. The kid has depth but he was a scaredy cat. I would admit I was scared, and I did go too far when I spoke to Cora. She is apathetic after all, it's not her fault. I should have never said that.

I put up a brave front when I was the first to walk out of the house. Xander had to see I wasn't scared.

"Cora?!" Xander called out immediately we walk outside. He was calling in the direction his car had come from.

But we were met with silence. I scanned the entire stretch and find not even a shadow in the distance. Where was this girl? I could only hope she is okay.

Xander called her out a few times before we gave up or got too scared and we walked back in.

"Do you know her house address?" I ask him.

He shook his head no.

"Her house phone number?"

"No, Cora loves to keep her family separate from me.

I rubbed my palm against my face in frustration. What had I done? What if something happens to her? What was I supposed to explain to people? Her parents.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" I ask. I needed to release the pent up frustration.

He looked up and pointed at the fire alarm.

"You can do it by the pool though, just don't drop the butt into the water.

I nod gratefully and find the spare I put in the hidden pocket of my bag.

And that was how I started smoking two full packets of cigs. Trying to take the frustration off, but I only got irritated. She managed to avoid me skillfully. Xander said she was in class when the teacher was in, after the teacher left, she too left. He didn't have the chance to talk with her. I waited for her in the cafeteria, but she was no show.

I manage to convince myself that I would be seeing her at miss Suzie's office later. Then I could apologize. But when I drove there, I had a strong conviction that she was not going to listen to me.

I quickly use the cologne I dropped in my car, popped a fresh gum in my mouth and quickly spat it out. I didn't want to come for therapy today but I was still intrigued by her. I still want to see her.

I know how crazy I must sound I thought as I took the stairs to miss Suzie's office.

"Let her be in there already." I shot a quick prayer to whoever heard me.

And there she was, wearing her regular dark washed hoodie with her whole face tucked into it. She wore a leggings with it. Her face was expressionless. Even when she looked up at me, I expected some kind of hate, anger like she usually did. But she looked emotionless.

"Welcome to today's intervention, we have a few exercises today. First, one is individual. And the second one, you have to do it with your partner. Since they are just the two of you, you will be partnering up."