Melodies

I frowned when Kell's phone directed me straight to his voicemail. Why wasn't his phone on?

Admittedly, it did cheer me up a little to hear him saying "Hey, it's Kell. I'm either sleeping, practicing, studying, or I just lost my phone. I'll call you back as soon as I can. Leave a message, or I'll forget!"

I set Courtney's phone on her coffee table, standing up to see where she'd gone. When I found her in the kitchen, she looked up with a concerned expression on her face. "That didn't take long. Is he okay?"

"He didn't pick up."

I sat on the counter, watching her mix together whatever she was making. In the background, I could hear Ashton, Brittany, and Kim arguing over some video game.

"That's not good. I hope he doesn't go dark on us."

"What?"

"He has his highs and lows, like everybody. But he only gets kinda high and really low. He does this thing sometime where he'll turn his phone off, skip school, and not get on any social site or even leave his house for a few days. It's lasted up to two weeks before, when Jamie went to the emergency room the first time."

"What happened?"

"Well, Jamie has a history of eating disorders. His blood sugar was really low or something, and he passed out. They found that he had some heart problems because of his eating thing, and Kell got so freaked out. He didn't leave his room pretty much at all those two weeks, except to pee and shower, I guess."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it gets scary when he's serious. I keep telling him that he can't do that, and that he needs to talk to someone about his depression, but he never listens to me. I don't even know what was wrong with him today. He just got in my car and started pouring tears."

"I know his viola broke. He seemed attached to it."

Courtney whipped around, looking shocked. "Juice broke?!"

"Juice?"

"Yeah, that's what he named it. Wow, he's had that forever. I can't believe it broke. But still, I don't see how that would make him as upset as he was. I mean, he couldn't stop crying. He tried to, but it didn't work."

"I know he was on the phone with someone in the library. He asked if they were okay, and he seemed worried."

Courtney nodded. "It was probably Jamie. I bet he had a relapse or something, and it scared Kell."

"Do you think he'll be at school tomorrow?"

"If he isn't, I'm going over to his house and talking some sense into him. I love him and everything, but he has this idea that he can just ignore everything and wait for things to get better."

"He seems so capable, though."

"He is, just not when it messes with his head."

"That's weird then, considering how much stress he puts on himself."

Courtney flicked her hand at me. "He loves stress. It's just when it makes him emotional that he starts acting up."

She started spooning the batter into cupcake shells, preparing them for the oven. "Try calling him again. Put him on speakerphone."

I retrieved her phone from the coffee table, dialing his number again and putting it on speaker so Courtney could hear.

"Hey, it's Kell. I'm either sleeping, practicing, studying, or I just lost my phone. I'll call you back as soon as I can. Leave a message, or I'll forget!"