"Just Like Everything Else"

September 21, 2018; Elements of Story

Grasshopper, Indiana is about the size of a shoebox. Everyone knows everyone. The whole town runs like a cliche, not just Grasshopper High School. My own, personal, hell.

“Dude, did you hear about Lacy and Jonathan?”

Introducing Bryn Carlisle, emo. She’s been my best friend since kindergarten, granted she wasn’t emo then, but you get my point.

“That he knocked her up? That rumor goes around every year, Bryn. You know Lacy well enough to figure out it’s not true.”

“You guys talking about me again?” Lacy’s face appears between us.

“Maybe, Maybe not,” Bryn shrugs, “You pregnant this year?”

Lacy snorts, “No, B, I barely leave my house enough to do anything, let alone get pregnant.”

Lacy Janz, prep. Dresses like a total popular chick; Birkenstocks and bleached blonde hair, the whole package. We think she does it to hide that she’s a massive gaming nerd.

I stop paying attention to the girls’ bickering as we arrive at our first period. We all secretly think the teacher, Mr. Henry, is Satan.

“Hey Lacy, I heard I got you pregnant again!” Jonathan Brune, jock. Total sap, couldn’t hurt a fly. Asked me to tutor him the first week of school and accidentally got stuck with us for friends.

“You wish, Jon.”

Our desks are all right next to each other. Gabby, of course, is already seated.

Gabriela Marlowe, sweetheart. Gabby is barely five foot and I don’t think she’s said a mean thing since she left the womb. She’s been best friends with Jon since third grade, and thus was forced to join the group when he did.

The class passes mostly uneventfully, but by lunch, it’s clear something’s happened.

“Did you guys hear about Lexie?” Lacy asks, getting out her salad.

“That she killed herself?” Bryn asks, “Yeah, I heard it was pretty gruesome.”

“Wait, Lexie Thatcher? That Lexie?”

“Yeah, found her body last night, ruled it a suicide.”

“Huh, guess that explains why all the cheerleaders are crying,” Jon mumbles, before taking a massive bite of his sandwich.

“No offense, but the most intelligent thing I’ve seen Lexie Thatcher do is breathe. It’d make more sense for it to be murder, not suicide,” I point out.

I’m glancing around the cafeteria just in time to notice the kid at the adjacent lunch table flinch. Xavier Rolland, resident creep. He always had such twisted thoughts about how things should work. It also doesn’t help when the school counselor has to call him in because he was caught drawing girls from school naked and dead. Needless to say, he spent a bit of time out of school after that and we mostly moved on.

“You guys remember that Xavier kid?” I ask, though my eyes are still stuck on him as I speak. The group turns to follow my gaze, sounds of affirmation following.

“I bet it would be him, if she was murdered.”

Gabby, of course, reminds us that betting on the death of a suicide victim might be a bit wrong. The lunch bell rings, and the chaos of rushing students whisks Xavier away.

Last period, we’re told we have an assembly. The class shuffles into the gym, but unlike usual, no one’s talking. I find Gabby in the bleachers, but we can’t see anyone else we know.

Gabby leans over, “You think it’s gonna be about Lexie?”

“One of the most popular students in the school just killed herself, I know it’ll be about Lexie.”

Before she can respond, the principal, Mrs. Teel, steps up to the mic, “Students and faculty, I’m sure most of you have heard about the tragedy that has occured. Alexis Thatcher commited suicide last night. I, and I’m sure I speak for the faculty as well, care greatly about each and every one of you. If you are ever in need of someone to talk to or ask for help, please come to us. Lexie Thatcher will be loved and missed.”

“Uh, Gabby, are you seeing this?” I point at Xavier, and we both look over to see him standing, tense. The students around him shove in their attempts to scoot away.

“Sir, please sit down,” Mrs. Teel reprimands, “you’re being rude.”

He mumbles something, shakes harder.

“Could you repeat that? And please, sit down.”

His hair flies away from his face as he jerks his head up, “It wasn’t suicide! She didn’t kill herself!”

“Why does he sound so angry?” Gabby whispers, but I notice her hands are shaking where they’ve grabbed my forearm.

“What do you mean, Xavier?”

“She didn’t kill herself. I doubt she was even capable of it!” he starts laughing, and shoves his way onto the gym floor. Mrs. Teel backs up, and shares a few worried glances with the other teachers. The school is so small we don’t have an SRO, but I bet they wish we did.

Xavier steps up and grabs the mic from its stand, holding it to his face and pacing, “I did it! Xavier “he’s never going to do anything with his life” Rolland killed her! I might not be able to do anything with my life, but I could do something with that smug brat’s!” He’s gesturing wildly, and I should be scared, but really I think I half expected it. Gabby is crying now. One of the teachers is frantically talking into his phone, and I think all of us are praying its 911.

“See, this whole town is boring. It’s just like everything else! Just like Alexis Thatcher! She deserved it, and no one else was doing anything! Little ol’ me had to step in, spice it up.”

For once, I’m glad Grasshopper is small. The sound of sirens blares from outside the gym and Xavier almost looks relieved, like he wanted them to show up. In a matter of seconds, Xavier is surrounded by cops and the student population erupts in screams. Like we’d all been underwater and have finally emerged, only to finally hear the sounds of everyone’s cries. Gabby is clutching onto me and sobbing, and somehow I’ve never seen her look smaller.

In a sea of crying people, I start to laugh. Maybe it’s the shock. Maybe I’m glad Bryn and Lacy weren’t here to barrage me with “I told you so”s. As Xavier is escorted out, I slam my mouth shut, scared to realize that he’s laughing too.