The pool area wasn't very well-lit; most of the lamps were blown out, so it was hard to see anything. The screaming continued and I noticed a shadowy figure standing at the pool gate. By the sound of the scream and the shape of the person, I could immediately tell that it was Tawny.

"Tawny, where's Sandy?" I yelled as I ran up to her. She didn't reply, but continued sobbing and pointed towards the deep end of the pool. I immediately went through the pool gate and ran towards the deep end. Sure enough, I saw Sandy floating in the water, face down. Then Jose appeared from under the water; he was pulling her out. He swam to the edge as he held onto Sandy with one hand. I pulled his other hand and helped him out of the water. Just as Jose got onto the ledge though, he collapsed. I had to grab hold of Sandy before she fell back in; she wasn't completely out of the pool yet. Finally I pulled her out and I fell back, panting. Jose was still conscious and breathing hard, but Sandy looked lifeless.

I kneeled down and moved in closer to see if she was still breathing, which is when she coughed water into my face. She leaned over and continued coughing for a good while. It was too dark to tell, but I’m almost positive that she was coughing up blood.

"Come on, let's get you some dry clothes." said Tawny as she approached us. Tawny helped Sandy up and they both walked out of the pool area towards the apartment. I could hear Sandy's violent coughs fade as they walked.

I looked over at Jose who was now sitting down comfortably against the wall of bars that surrounded the pool.

“You alright man?” I asked. He didn’t answer my question. We shared an uncomfortable silence for what felt like a minute until Jose decided to break it.

"Your nose is bleeding." he said in a monotone voice. It must've been bleeding badly if he could see it in the dark.

"Uhh...yeah, must've bumped into something on the way here or some shit."

He just let out a lazy laugh and sighed. Five minutes of silence passed and Jose began talking again. "Will’s inside…He’s on the computer. I had a long talk with him about you.”

I raised my eyebrows and looked up abruptly. “Wait- Will’s inside Sandy’s apartment this whole time, and he doesn’t care that she’s out here drowning?”

Jose chuckled, coughed, and then replied, “He thought she was lying. Do you want to know why he said he was hanging out with Sandy today?"

I didn't say anything but I knew he would continue. "She wasn't cheating on you. She just wanted Will to tell her more about you. She says you act very reserved and secretive around her and he thinks she really likes you."

I let out a loud "HA!" and replied, "Dude she likes everyone. I don't like her and I never really even agreed to be with her. I was on something."

Jose didn’t seem to take my words literally.

"No. She likes you. She didn't like Carlos or Case or Andrew or Mike. Those were crushes, but you, she actually likes you." he said in an ‘I'm-right-and-you're-wrong-and-that's-that’, kind of voice.

I was more stumped over who Andrew and Mike were than the realization that Sandy wants to have an actual relationship with me. The slut was with guys that I didn't even know about. I couldn’t even keep track of all of them. I continued talking with Jose for a good thirty minutes until he realized that he's soaking wet and is probably gonna get pneumonia. I pretty much explained to him that I don't like Sandy and it was literally, a huge misunderstanding when I got with her. Jose seemed to understand where I was coming from and went on to give me a lot of “advice” about relationships. It was nothing too relevant if I recall correctly. I wasn’t listening to half the shit he was saying.

Finally, we got up and Jose started walking towards Sandy's apartment. I just stood there.

"Hey, are you coming in?" he said, looking back.

"Nah, I'm gonna head home. It's late and I'm tired."

"Alright man, later."

He turned around and continued walking. I stood there until he was out of sight and then scooped a handful of water out of the pool to wash my now, bloody face. Then after that, I took the back-gate out of the apartment complex to avoid walking by Sandy's apartment; the floor creeks around that area and I was in no mood to talk to anyone.

I hated Jose; he was a super-dick. I’ve heard stories about him that made me hate him more and more by the second. Apparently, he was very manipulative, and persuasive; according to Will and Sandy, he had gotten Sandy in bed with him, and Will’s sister, Jessica, in the shower with him in the same night. So I wasn’t about to trust anything that he would say.

When I got outside of Sandy’s apartment complex, I realized how cold the air was and got a sudden rush of adrenaline. It must've been the drug, but it made me want to run. I ran and got home twice as fast as usual. When I got into the living room, I saw my mom sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"It's late." she said calmly.

"I know...it was an emergency." I replied as I walked out of the room. To my surprise, she didn't reply. It actually seemed like she didn't care.

I hopped in bed only to realize that I was still not tired. I ended up staying up until 5:00 AM, thinking about Cheryl and the concert. The next morning, I woke up with a crazy hangover. To tell you the truth, I don't even know if it was a hangover; it could've just been the different drugs that have been swimming around my body; I wasn’t used to taking any drugs at all, let alone so many different drugs in the course of a few weeks.

So I decided to get ready because Cheryl would be stopping by my place early so we could hangout for a while before the concert. Before I knew it though, I was too tired to even keep my eyes open (I barely had any sleep). I was determined to stay awake though- I wasn't gonna ruin this day. First, I tried drinking lots of coffee, but it didn't help. After that, I took a walk outside to catch some fresh air but it just made me more tired. Then a dumb idea hopped into my head: more meth. I went inside and picked up the phone to call Sandy.

"Hello?" it was her mom.

"Hey, can I talk to Sandy?" I said in a run-on fashion.

"Umm...she's not feeling too well right now, can you try again later?" Then, that's when my brain switched to automatic.

"No, just let me fucking talk to her, okay? It's important; I really need to talk to her." I almost didn’t realize that I snapped at Sandy’s mom. I'm talking to her mom here, an adult.

"Okay..."

I could tell that Sandy now had the phone because I could hear her breathing, but it took her a really long while to start talking. I didn't really care though, I was still on automatic.

"Sandy, listen to me. This is really important."

"Okay...I'm listening." She sounded like she was crying but I didn’t care.

"I need you to hook me up. Who gives you your drugs? Your meth." I said in an almost begging voice.

"Richard...do you even remember what you did to me last night? Why are you doing thi-"

"SHUT UP!" I was getting impatient...what was wrong with me? I couldn't control myself, let alone my emotions and instincts, "Just tell me who it is that gives you your fucking drugs. What's his name? Give me a number. Hurry."

No answer, but I could hear her sobbing. I was just about to yell again when she said, "Jerry." She went on to give me his number, then proceeded to tell me something about "us" which is when I hung up in her face. The craziest thing about that whole situation is that I didn’t really realize how much of a dick I was being at the time.

I practically spazzed and twitched with excitement as I called Jerry. This mother fucker must've been desperate because he came to my house about an hour later with 40 dollars worth of powder and he sold it to me for 20. I decided to try it differently this time and mixed the drug with my coffee before downing it. Less than ten minutes later, I was wide awake. Cheryl said she would be at my place within the hour so I decided to keep drinking coffee just to make sure I didn't get tired. I was becoming very paranoid.

Finally there was a knock on the door. I opened it and sure enough, Cheryl was standing there.

"HEY!" I said, enthusiastically.

She replied by smacking me across the face so hard that my left ear went numb and I practically fell over. I hadn't notice how mad she looked.

"Sandy? You were with Sandy and you never bothered to tell me?"

I was dramatically sliding down to the floor as I leaned on the door.

"Wait," I said, panting, "You…you know Sandy? How'd you know…?"

"Case told me, you jerk." screamed Cheryl. I was confused. How did Case talk to Cheryl…he doesn’t have her number - better yet, why did Case talk to Cheryl? I helped myself up and walked out onto the porch. My face was searing with pain from Cheryl’s slap and I couldn't help but feel angry because of it.

"So you've been talking to Case?" I asked in a low, evil tone.

"Yeah, we’ve been talking on the phone ever since Sandy and he broke up. He told me everything. You thought you could hide it?"

Case…He's been talking to Cheryl behind my back. Paranoia hopped back into my head like a parasite. Now it makes sense; why Case was so happy that Sandy was with me. He'd tell Cheryl about Sandy and me so she'd be mad at me for it, and in turn, he can comfort Cheryl so she'll turn to him. Revenge is a bitch…or is it paranoia that’s the bitch?

"Richard, did you think you could hide this from me? Who do you think you are? You think you’re a fucking pimp or something? Playing two girls at once. Hah! You can barely talk to me, let alone other girls. You don't even know how to flirt. Who else would want you aside from me? You’re lucky I can see past your shyness..."

She kept rambling, and I was becoming frustrated.

"Shut up."

But she didn't. She kept talking, but oddly enough, she started crying. I didn't understand why she was becoming so emotional - it's not like I was officially with her. It's when I started walking away from her and I told her to fuck off that she stopped crying and snapped back to normal. I continued walking and she followed. It was awkward at first, we were both quiet. She was obviously not happy and I was obviously pissed off. The awkwardness let up after a while though, and Cheryl broke the ice by asking me how I’ve been.

We ended up on Main street, which was the biggest street in town. I told her all about how it was a big mistake when I got with Sandy; how I never really even said yes to her and she just thought I did, and about how I wasn’t sure how to break up with her. I also told her that it wasn’t that big a deal, as I was only with her for three days and I ended it last night. Cheryl didn't seem to believe it but she also didn't seem to care; at least she might have pretended not to. The subject later moved on to her wrists when I noticed that she had scars on both of her arms. She said she was cutting when she found out that I got with Sandy. This intrigued me. Did Cheryl really care so much about me that she'll hurt herself over me? I was sadder over the fact that I didn't feel bad about her cutting herself. In fact, I lost some respect for her at that point; first that lame breakdown when she knocked on my door, and then this. I pretended to care and told her not to do it again and before I knew it, she jumped on me and we were making out. I felt like an asshole, this wasn't like me at all- lying to get a girl to like me and furthermore, actually going along with it when I realize the horrible things I'm doing. I decided in the end, to blame it on the drugs, rather than myself. Yeah…that made me feel a lot better.

Cheryl was the first girl I've ever been with that I liked. Actually, technically, she was the first girl I've ever been with, period. We ended up killing the day just hanging out on Main street, and we also ended up blowing off the concert. Cheryl was okay with it though, as she said she'd get tickets to the next concert in Hollywood which wasn't too long from now.

I got home late again and my mom was sitting on the couch just like the last time.

"Late again." she said in a not-so-caring voice, "Are you going to do your homework? Progress reports aren't too long from now."

Ah...crap; Homework. I don't even remember the last time I thought about it, let alone did it. I started walking towards my bed as I said, "It's Saturday. I'll do it tomorrow." Once I got in bed, however, I forgot all about homework. I ended up staying up the whole night again after finishing more of the meth I got from Jerry.

I spent the next day doing nothing. I avoided all phone calls that I got from my friends, including Cheryl and slept. Finally it was Monday and it was time to go to school, but I felt scared for some reason. I felt insecure; like I can't be myself around people and they might notice that there's something wrong with me. I decided since my friends always considered me to be somewhat of a jackass, I'll go to school drunk- they'll never notice the difference. “Alcohol would allow me to let loose and by myself”, I thought. So I stole one of my dad's flasks, filled it with whatever liquor I could find and went to school. I had done such an insane amount of meth the night before, that it was still swimming around my bloodstream.

So I got to school and I was greeted by a group of kids that I didn't recognize at all, except one, who was Sandy's sister, Behemoth. There were about six or seven of angry looking kids, and they all looked like dykes and bisexuals. I couldn't tell which ones were the girls and which were the guys. They basically asked me things like, "What did you do to Sandy?", "Why did you leave her?", "What has she ever done to you?", and other stupid bullshit like that. I decided to ignore them and walked away. On my way to first period, about six strangers yelled at me and told me off. What the hell is wrong with these people? I know Sandy's popular but that doesn't make me a bad guy for leaving her. I figured that I better stay away from everyone and not reply to any of the insults thrown at me by these strangers for the sake of avoiding a fight. The only people I hung out with now were my Asian nerd friends. Even they bothered me about it - mainly Wisconsin.

"Oh my GAWD! Why did you leeeeave her?!" he said, in his normal, girlish voice.

"I dunno man, why do you care? Mind your own business." I replied.

"UH! Whateverr!" I couldn't tell if he was trying to gossip or if he really cared.

So days passed and nothing has changed. I hung out with Cheryl some more, people at school still kept telling me off, my nerd friends were becoming more annoying by the day, and Will and Sandy continued to hangout together. Nothing eventful happened for the next couple of weeks, aside from Sandy trying to keep in touch with me. She'd stop by every once in a while and call at least twice a day but I tried my best to avoid her altogether.

Then finally things changed. It started off as a normal day: I got out of bed, did a couple lines of meth, raided the house for more alcohol (and usually found none), and then walked to school. I realized when I got there, that I would be getting my progress report today. Great. I got it in my first period only to see that I failed every single one of my six classes. This left me feeling pretty damn bummed out.

After third period, I went off to lunch and passed the usual crowd of strangers that told me off and sat with my group of nerd friends. They were all showing off their progress reports. When they asked to see mine, I simply said, "I failed everything". No one believed me except Wisconsin, who kept rubbing it in.

"Haha, that's what happens when you get with Sandy. Your life goes downhill."

"Shut up." I said, flatly.

"Hey, what's with the arguing?" Will appeared. He must've ditched because he doesn't have my lunch period.

"Hey Will," I said, "where's your companion?"

"You mean your ex?" he said humorously. I didn't really see what was so funny about it but it made everyone laugh- especially Wisconsin. He kept cackling; it sounded almost forced. His cackling kept echoing in my fucked up brain, and within seconds, I couldn't stand it. I was sick and tired of Sandy. She was with me for a few days and my high school identity has become ruined. I walked up to Wisconsin, ready to smash his brains when he stood up. I realized, however, what I was about to do when I raised my arm to punch him and slowly proceeded to put it down. Everyone was silent; they must've felt the same tension I was feeling. I turned around and started walking when Wisconsin lightly nudged me in the back and said, "Coward".

I looked around and replied with, "Faggot", then turned around and continued walking. I heard large footsteps from behind me followed by Katie screaming. I turned around and BAM. Wisconsin had charged at me and hit me straight in the face with his shoulder. The craziest part was that I didn't feel it...at all. I was still thinking slowly (remember, I'm on drugs and booze), and proceeded to punch him in the face. He continued pounding on my face with his fist in a hammer-like motion. I didn't feel any of it though, my face was completely numb, and so I continued punching him in the face. Left, right, left, right, left, right, taking in about two slams on my face, for every one punch I got in on him.

"Stop it! Will, stop them!" I heard Katie yelling to Will. I looked over and saw him watching the fight. He looked happy.

I continued punching Wisconsin, over and over and over, and he continued pounding my face. Then Wisconsin put his hands down. It looked like he was trying to take off his watch or something, but I didn't take that as a cue to stop. I continued punching him. Then my fist landed on his throat and he let out a loud "OW" and retaliated by swinging his arms wide and hitting me straight in the eye. This time, I felt it. It didn't feel like a hand or fist that hit me though, it felt like metal. I fell to my knees and I could only see out of my right eye by then (he had hit me in the left). Once I fell, Will ran from behind Wisconsin and held him back. I noticed a bronze, metal, bracelet on Wisconsin's hand just as I fell to the floor and fell unconscious.