Suicide, Skittles and Skates [✓]

Chapter 03

CHAPTER THREE

"Umph!" Alex groaned as he fell out of his bed the next weekend.

It was a Saturday morning and two months ago he would have been watching movies and maybe eating tubs of ice-cream with Alice like they had been doing every Saturday morning for years. Now looking around the empty flat he lived in, everything seemed pointless. All there was in his life was school, hanging out with Lacey and Tyler occasionally before coming home to sleep.

He slept during the day. Not because he was bored or lonely, but because every time he tried to sleep at night he woke up screaming, covered in a layer of sweat, reliving the accident in his mind.

Each time it was more and more vivid.

Picking himself off the ground, he noticed his phone was flashing with an unread text message. That must have been what had woken him up; he had always been a light sleeper. He grabbed his phone and walked over to the kitchen, rubbing his half-closed eyes along the way.

Pulling milk out of the fridge for his cereal, he checked the message and couldn't help smiling. He needed something to do – anything at all – instead of moping around the flat all day. And here was his answer, in the form of an unlikely text message from a girl he barely even knew.

are u busy today by any chance?? got an idea for art & its a nice day outside so thought id ask. let me know :] -kalila x

While simultaneously stuffing a spoonful of cereal in his mouth, he quickly typed out a reply. nope im free all day. whats the plan? x

its a surprise! I'll meet u outside south kensington station at 11, bring ur camera tho x

okay, see u then :) x

He finished eating as fast as he could and ran to have a shower and get ready. By the time he left, he still had ten minutes to spare so he walked the longer way to the train station, holding up his camera. He looked through the viewfinder and took a few random pictures of anything and everything. Alice had gotten him his camera on their birthday a few years ago, confident that he would have a hidden talent in it. And she was right; although he had always been seen as a future footballer, he secretly wanted to be a photographer.

'Kalila was right, it's a really nice day,' he thought to himself, adjusting the shutter speed. He wasn't sure what to expect. Although she was quiet and kept to herself, he knew she was made up of bubbling enthusiasm and good intentions on the inside. Whatever she had planned would be interesting.

Interesting was good.

He saw her straight away, sitting on a bench outside the station, her gaze lowered, doodling in that little notebook as usual. Her head rose a little – as though she had run out of ideas about what to write or draw – and she smiled as she caught sight of him. Shoving the book back in her navy shoulder bag, she made her way over.

She grinned, leading the way to the train that they needed to board. "Ready for your surprise then?"

"I happen to love surprises. Lead the way," he replied confidently.

He always had loved surprises – as a child he had never felt the need to snoop and find out beforehand what his birthday presents from his parents were, unlike Alice who had always been far too impatient to wait.

Shoving that thought to the back of his mind, he resolved not to think of anything sad. Today was a day for their Art project, to capture the utter crap that Mr Jamison called the 'beauty of life' in order to pass the final year of school. No time for depressing thoughts today. But somehow, it was harder to pretend to be happier around Kalila than it was around everyone else.

---

Half an hour later and after a lot of walking, they found themselves in front of a field. Unable to wait any longer, Alex just had to ask. "So where exactly are we?"

"My cousin used to take me here as a child to go strawberry and cherry picking every spring, sometimes there'd be the odd blueberry and raspberry too. Since its winter and the only winter berries that grow here are cranberries, that's what we're going to do."

And with that, she beckoned him to the entrance where she paid for two plastic boxes to collect the fruit in. As he walked in, Alex took in the view around him. The sky was clear and the sun shining – an unusually warm day for the middle of winter in London. There were rows upon rows of plants with different fruits hanging off them. He could see a lot of orange and red, and vaguely recalled that tangerines were sold in winter too. The red had to be the cranberries Kalila had mentioned.

This was amazing.

Although he hadn't previously taken any notice of fruit other than when he ate them, he had to admit this was an interesting activity. And the view was so beautiful! As a photographer, he could always appreciate picturesque scenes around him and there was so much potential here. While Kalila happily pulled the bright red cranberries off the plants, he held up his Canon camera and took some photographs, adjusting the controls to get the best images.

Kalila chuckled suddenly. The ringing of her laughter sounded so sweet and happy, Alex couldn't help the corners of his mouth turn up a little. He turned around to see her holding up a large heart-shaped cranberry with a smile on her face. Without any warning, he took a picture of her.

"Hey!"

He just laughed at her and ran off, under the pretence of collecting more cranberries to fill up the baskets. Seeing him not making a move to delete the unexpected photo of her, Kalila threw a cranberry at his head without thinking about it. Unfortunately for him, she had better aim and more force than she'd anticipated; it exploded on his right cheek, leaving red pulp all over his face.

Although she felt bad for that, the look of utter shock on his face was so comical she doubled over laughing. He clearly wasn't expecting the quiet girl who he'd not spoken a word to for years to have the confidence to throw fruit at him the first proper time they talked. 'Ha, shouldn't underestimate me then,' Kalila thought, running away to avoid him retaliating and throwing fruit at her like he was currently attempting to do.

---

"I can't believe you got us kicked out of there!" Kalila grumbled an hour later, trying to look angry but failing. How was Alex supposed to take her seriously when her face was streaked with red juice and there were leaves and cranberry pulp residing in the waves of her dark hair?

He just laughed. "You're the one who decided to attack me!"

It had been a good day. Although they barely knew each other, there was something about her that lessened the depressing thoughts Alex had become accustomed to. Perhaps it was the fact that she knew he had tried to kill himself and yet she didn't treat him any different than if she hadn't had any knowledge of it at all.

She didn't walk on eggshells around him like everyone else did.

The journey home was quiet, he was lost in his own thoughts and before long they were back at South Kensington Station.

"Hey, Kalila?" he started, not so sure how to put his feelings in words that would make sense. "Thank you for today, I haven't had that much fun since Alice–" He couldn't continue. He didn't need to though because she understood. She knew the pain of losing someone so close to you and how hard it was to be genuinely happy again even for a little while.

"I'm glad."

She smiled at him before waving and walking away without another word.