eyes of the mind

chapter 2

Since I have study hall I decided to take a smoke break on the abandoned side of the school, where no one goes besides the burn outs of the school or the kids pressured by the parents to overachieve, to let off steam by smoking with the burn outs.

I pull out my cancer stick, I call it that to take some type of accountability to stop but then someone pisses me off or my anxiety gets the best of me so I use it for what it's branded for, it's cause of stress relief, a pause from reality, a blink of void from your current emotions felt.

As I light up I hear the murmurs of the people around us get quieter and quieter and turn to see the cause of it.

There goes August and Stacy, the girl who I presume Brock and August dated is named. They seemed pretty chummy and I found that weird but I minded my business.

"Wassup brah, and girl" Brett the most known stoner and drug dealer around this cursed and dull town says.

"Leave." August demands which causes Brett and his posse to scram but I had my headphones on with my music low crouched and unseen so I stayed because honestly I'm nosy and bored with life.

"So when are you going to clear your conscience and tell Brock that you came onto me? That it was you who told those nasty rumors that began as secrets he told you in confidence about? Because I hear that it was me who told all those tales which in result lead to my leaving of school", says Stacy.

"You're not innocent in this either, I may have came after you but you kept coming back and well, I kept you coming. I know Brock was so confused, with how after a horrible fight with him you showed up happy as can be", says August with a smirk.

"Do me a favor? Choke on the fact that I was a better companion to him than you ever were. Because I admitted my faults and you were a coward to omit yours", Stacy states and then walks away.

I finished my smoke so I flicked it against the pole of the bleachers but burned myself in the process. So as I loudly curse at the stinging sensation I hear-

"I heard you" followed by an exhale from August. I ducked out from my hiding place and noticed he was smoking too.

I dusted myself off, removed my headphones and force myself to communicate other than staring at him.

"I thought I was the only one here" I say.

"Well you thought wrong", he paused and then continued with, "Whatever you heard, you didn't" He says before he spits on the dry grass.

"Heard what?" I say to him acting clueless. But he smirked because we both knew I heard, a communication of our eyes and upturned crevices of our mouths revealing our truths.

"So, do you think I'm a coward? A bad person for the actions I made toward my best friend?" He asks sarcastically but a hint of seriousness in his green eyes.

"I think you know the answer to that question, or else you wouldn't have asked me that" I state.

I don't know where the boldness comes from but I move in closer, invading his personal space to take his cigarette and he lets me with a stoic look on his face.

"You're human, mistakes are inevitable but it's what you do to try and progress to learn from those mistakes" I say as I exhale the smoke from my lungs to the hot summer air.

He looks at me like I am a mystical creature you've only heard about in folk tails, the look of 'where have you been this whole time'.

He grazes my fingers to get his cigarette back and opens his mouth to say something as we're having this moment, a moment of being true to who we are and what we truly represent.

The bell rang signaling the end of study hall which in turn leads me away from the bleachers but my presence and interaction ingrained in his mind.