All I Wanted

I dragged my ass out of bed the next morning. Looking at myself in mirror, you'd think I was a reincarnated zombie teenager. I chuckled at my wittiness, but continued to clean myself up. I felt so heavy, so exhausted, I didn't feel like dealing with the world today.

I went to the kitchen, seeing mom. She gave me a cup of orange juice, kissing my forehead, "Just keep going."

I knew what she had meant, but I didn't want to. My body and mind felt like they would give at any moment. I wanted to crawl back into my bed and wait to die.

Instead, I gave her a hard smile and walked out the door. Drew waved to me, crossing the street and taking my hand. Even when I was a total zombie, he was there for me.

"Thanks," I murmured to him.

"For what?" he chuckled, looking down at me.

"Being a good friend."

Drew squeezed my hand, "You need someone, Sunny."
-

At school, he leaned against the wall as I began to twist my combination in. I opened it to be greeted with a handful of small, colorful post-it notes. I let them fall and grabbed a pink one that sat on one of my books; there was cute, little handwriting on each of them.

My mind didn't process the words as I read them aloud, "He's fucking Marilyn now."

My stomach churned as I tossed it to the side. Drew gave me a small smile, trying to be nice. I shrugged and didn't bother with them.

I said bye to Drew and walked into English. I sat in the back, behind Dave, and rested my chin on my left hand. Even though we weren't allowed to be near each other, we were forced to sit near each other. He bothered me on a weekly basis, and today I wasn't gonna deal with it.

Dave turned around just as the bell rang, promoting me to look over at him.

"Yeah?" I mumbled, a smirk appeared across his lips.

"I heard--"

I cut him off, "Dave, why are you talking to me?"

"Because, I know it pisses you off." he smirked wildly at me.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Does it look like I care?"

"Fuck off."

He continued to smirk, that is until Mr. Morrison coughed, "Ms. Romero, Mr. Rivers, is there something you'd like to share with us?"

"No," we replied.

"Good."
-

Exhaustion was the only thing I could describe. My body felt like it was on empty, my mind felt the exhaustion as well. Reading was like a chore, I couldn't process a goddamn thing in class; it took me 6 tries before I actually noticed I was reading another cruel letter from the popular kids.

Drew held me up as I walked toward the cafeteria. I was extremely on the edge of passing out. It took all of my power to keep my legs moving.

"Sunny, you should go to the nurse," he advised as we sat on the bench outside.

"It's only 3 more hours," I mumbled, downing my water bottle.

"You should go to the doctor," Drew looked so worried.

"I'm fine," I lied, "I just need to eat."

Food turned my stomach, I didn't want to eat. I swallowed down as much as my sandwich as I could, before I felt the urge to purge.

After lunch, I made my way down the hall, passing the cheer squad. I didn't have a reason to say or even look at them.

"Dyke," one of them called.

I turned and rolled my eyes. I turned back, rolling up my sleeves on my baseball t-shirt. I wasn't offended, just annoyed.
-

When school finally ended, I waited in the parking lot for mom. Drew sat beside me, on the little curb, and was trying to cheer me up. He started off with dumb jokes, then he started tickling me.

I was giggling, trying to push his hands away, "Stop--stop!" I screamed with laughter, "I'm gonna piss myself!"

"Not until I see you smile," he bribed still moving his fingers around my sides.

I squeezed my eyes shut and continued to fit with laughter, "Please!" I grinned towards him, hoping he would stop.

He took his hands away, "I should have thought of that earlier," he joked.

I looked at him, "I hate you so much right now!" I giggled after.

Drew looked at me with a smug look, "I got Sunny to laugh!" he shouted to the kids in the parking lot, "I got Sunny Romero to laugh!" I rolled my eyes and put my hand over his mouth.

"So what?" I joked at him, "I laughed."

"You haven't laughed in over a month."

I shook my head, "If you lived in here," I pointed to my head, "you'd cry all the time."

Drew frowned, "Don't say that," he really seemed bother by it, "you can't let what that slut did," he pointed across the parking lot, making me look over, "ruin your life."

Looking over, seeing Marilyn laugh and enjoy herself almost made me puke. I turned back and smiled at Drew, "You're right," he nodded, "thanks."