Smile for Me

By the time we got back to Brian’s house, my high was wearing off and all I was left with was a killer headache.
I followed Brian inside and collapsed onto the couch, clutching my head.
I groaned. “It hurts. God, it hurts.”
Brian was silent and I moved my fingers to peek through them, seeing him sitting on the coffee table with his arms resting on his knees as he watched me.
“What did you take?” He asked curiously.
“I don’t know. Just some pills Haylie got from her brother.”
He sighed heavily and got up to walk into the kitchen. I followed him, wincing when every step I took jarred my skull, and leaned against the wall.
“What’s wrong, Bri?”
“Nothing.” He replied, getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“Don’t lie to me, please. Are you mad at me?”
“No, I’m not mad. I just…Katie, I don’t like you taking pills.” He admitted gruffly, twisting the cap off the bottle.
I gaped at him. “Oh…why?”
“Why?” He scoffed and leaned against the counter a few feet away from me. “Because you didn’t even know what the hell you were taking, for one. And anything could have happened to you up there, Katie. You could have had a bad trip, you could have overdose, a guy could have…” He cut himself and took another drink of water.
I watched him silently, finally realizing how stupid I had been. I never really knew what we took, but they had come from Haylie’s big brother, so we trusted them because we trusted him. But what if something had happened?
“I’m not trying to tell you what to do, Katie. But I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
I nodded. “I know. I know, and you’re right. I shouldn’t take something when I don’t know what it is. I was just being stupid.”
He put the water down and came over to hug me. “Just…please be careful? I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”
I nodded and kissed him before pulling back to ask, “Now can we go to bed?”
He smirked. “Oh yeah, we can.”
I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed, putting me over his shoulder to carry me up the stairs.

“Was Brian mad at you last night?” Emma asked the next day at school.
“Mad at me? For what?”
“Taking pills.” She whispered so that no one else in our Chemistry class would hear.
“No, he wasn’t mad. He was just worried that I would get into trouble or something.”
She nodded and turned her eyes back to her worksheet, which so far just had doodles, hearts and Zacky’s name along the margins.
“Was Zacky mad?”
“No, he said the same thing as Brian. And made me fell like I was an idiot.”
I laughed, knowing how that felt.
“I don’t want to do it anymore.” Emma announced, tossing her pencil down onto the desk.
“Then don’t do it right now. It’s not due until Friday, and you might want to erase your boyfriend’s name from the pages. I don’t think Paulson will accept him as an answer.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “No, I mean…I don’t want to do the parties anymore. They’re fun, but…I’m tired of getting trashed.”
I nodded. “Yeah, me too. I honestly didn’t even want to do those pills last night, but I felt pressured.”
Emma turned in her seat and leaned towards me. “Let’s make a pact. No more pills, no more getting drunk – unless our boyfriends are around – and no more shit. Okay?”
I smiled. “Okay.”
“Good.” She hugged me, resting her chin on my shoulder, and I hugged her back.
“Girls, save your PDA for the hallway, please.” Mr. Paulson ordered humorously, making us laugh.
“Okay.” Emma picked up her pencil and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Let’s get this bitch done so that I can have the rest of the week for Vengeance.