I Never Told You What I Did for a Living

I walked through the hallway and I could feel Kevin before I could see him. When I turned a corner, I found him glaring at me.

"Happy?"

"I was until just now," I smirked a little, but the look he gave me wiped it off my face.

"Not funny. You haven't seen her since Friday. She's not doing good."

"I'll talk to her, calm down. You can't always protect her, Kev."

"I can for now, Lily. You'd better make things right, or else I'll have to find a way."

"That sounds mysteriously like a threat."

"All I know is Mikey better watch out."

I raised my eyebrows. I'd never heard Kevin talk like this. It was then that I realized just how much I'd pissed him off with my little experiment.

"It won't come to that, don't worry."

I continued down the hall until I found Angela. She was with Josh and Natalie by her locker.

"Can I talk to you?"

She nodded, and we moved a few steps away from the others.

"I'm sorry about Friday," I began.

"Why?"

"Umm... it didn't exactly turn out good, did it?"

"I'm glad you brought him. Actually, I'm grateful."

"Wait... what? Why are you grateful? You sounded really pissed at me."

"Yeah, I was. But I got over it. I figured out that you were trying to help, and you did. I guess I just needed to know why we broke up and that there was no chance of us getting back together. Now that I know, I think I can move on."

"But Kevin said you weren't taking this very well," I persisted.

She shrugged. "Kevin only sees what he wants to. Don't let it get to you, he won't follow through on any of his threats."

"How did you know he threatened me?"

"It's just what he does."

"So, we're okay?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah, we're good."

I watched her walk away and stood in confusion. I couldn't grasp why she'd forgiven me so readily. I thought I'd hurt her, but here she was smiling and being nice.

"What was that about?" Natalie asked when I returned to them.

"As if you don't already know."

"Right, Friday. I forgot."

"Yeah, right."

"So," Josh interjected. "You're boyfriend seems... nice."

"Glad you think so, because he might be spending a little more time around here."

"What? Why?"

"Because Dad's decided not to be a complete asshole. Apparently he likes to see me happy."

"Cool," Natalie grinned. "Let's throw a party at your place."

"A party? Nobody would come. I'm not exactly popular, in case you haven't noticed."

"None of us are, but if there's a party, people will come."

I shook my head. "He's just started being nice, I'm not going to blow it by trashing his house. If I were to do that I'd be back at my mom's within an hour."

She smirked. "Okay, we'll wait for graduation. That way, you can go out with a bang."

"I had no intention of going quietly."

It was then that I realized just how soon graduation was. I hadn't given my future a second thought in months, and I had no idea what to expect once it arrived. It was a terrifying thought to have no plans. I didn't know where I would go, or who I would go with. I didn't know if I would take some time off to work, or if I would go straight to college. I didn't even know which college I would go to.

Of course, I now felt in debt to the art school. It was where I had met Gerard, and where my life had changed completely. It was definitely an option, and probably a pretty good choice.

The bell rang and I was separated from Natalie and Josh. That was when another thought occurred to me. Soon enough I would be separated from everyone. I had always sort of been alone, and I had finally found myself in a group of people that cared about me. It wasn't fair that it had to end so soon.

The more I thought about it, the more I hated the idea of graduation.