Those Worse Off Than You

I lazily dragged myself out of bed the next day. I was tired, even though I had gone to bed early the night before. I washed up; got dressed and went to school. At lunch, my mother picked me up. She wanted to take me out to lunch somewhere. In mom language: she wanted to talk.

We were sitting in a local pancake house and a stack of pancakes were laying on the table between us. It had been quiet before our food had came.

"So how is he doing," my mom asked, referring to Ace.

"He's doing... good; better than before. The other day we went to the harbour for ice cream and yesterday, he slept all day and he was in a weird mood. Kind of whiny; kind of miserable."

She smiled. She wanted almost as much as I did, to see him come out of this strong. Perhaps she had finally realized I had a friend. Or maybe she just felt pity after seeing him in the hospital last week. After she and my father went with me the day I had found him in the bathroom, she hadn't returned with me. She would drop me off and pick me up; but never go inside.

"Well," she started. "That's just how these things work. Things have to gradually get better; it doesn't all come at once."

"I know."

It was quiet again. "I... I'm sorry Jayden."

"For what?"

"For jumping to conclusions. For not listening." She looked down atthe table.

"It's alright," I stated. "I'm going to see him after school. You can come with me if you want."

"I don't know... maybe I'll drop you off. Perhaps I could stop by and say hello. But that's it."

I smiled. "That would be nice. I'm sure he would like that."

We began eating the pancake order we had decided to share until only half of it was gone. I had lost my appetite lately. I don't know why; I just havn't felt like eatting much lately...

I was getting excited for after school, and I still had to go for the afternoon. My mom dropped me off at the front door, and I quickly made my way to my class, trying to avoid contact with the other student body...