Thomas sat down next to John, John had his phone out and was paying no attention to anything else, Thomas looked around. Julia wasn't in her place, but Ethan was sitting with Burke.
Suddenly, the classroom door opened and Olivia Parker walked in, wearing her pants as usual, followed by Molly.
"Why are you late? " Olivia asked her.
"I'm sorry, I just... "
"Take your seat".
Molly wiped her face and sat down at her desk.
"I ask for everyone's attention" Olivia said in her monotone voice, adjusting the glasses on her face.
John suddenly looked up from his phone for a second and glanced at the teacher.
"There will be no physical education class today and we will have a math lesson instead".
Suddenly everyone in the classroom went wild.
John exhaled a frustrated breath.
"Damn, it is unfairly"
"I'm going to ask you to be quiet, you're already way behind in math, so I think this lesson will be helpful. Now Derkins, come to the board".
"Why me" John snapped as he approached Olivia.
"Because I wanted you to expain the task"
"She was being a little too strict today" Thomas thought.
"Did you do the homework? "
John suddenly bit his lip and furrowed his brow.
"I ... "
"It's clear, Derkins, you're going to get the worst grade".
Julia still wasn't there. John sat back down.He was angry. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and started reading something.
"Hide the phone, Derkins" Olivia commanded.
There was a laugh from behind them.That was Ethan and his friends.
"Take out a notebook and a pen and write down, maybe you will learn something"
John nervously shoved the phone into his pocket and took out a notebook with a pen from his backpack and threw them on the desk.
"I'm already fed up with that" he muttered.
"Molly Maine is coming to the board" the woman said.
Molly suddenly stood up, pushed her hair out of her face, and said:
"I didn't do my homework".
She tugged frantically at her green dress.
"Do you want me to complain to my parents? "
"No" Molly suddenly groaned and everyone in the classroom quieted down listening "My mom is in the hospital right now".
Olivia arched her eyebrows.
"You can sit down" she said afterwards.
Thomas looked at Molly. She slowly sank into the chair and looked like she was about to burst into tears.
Thomas felt sorry for the girl. Was her mother really in the hospital or was it just a way to get rid of Olivia?
"George is coming to the board now"
George Auckland was Olivia Parker's favorite, and he always knew everything.
George stood up and Thomas looked at him, his hair was pitch black.
"You're ready as usual" Olivia smiled as George painted the board with formulas which Thomas hadn't even known.
"You can sit down, you'll get the highest score".
George took a seat and John snorted.
"I think you know what you need to pass your exams, which are in a month".
"Damn it" John said in frustration after class as they sat on the windowsill, "exams are in a month and I don't know anything".
"Me neither, but don't worry, buddy, I think you'll pass".
"Are you sure about yourself? "
Thomas exhaled a heavy breath.
"Of course I'm not".
John smiled.
"What's the class now? "
"I don't know, but I wish I could go home now".
"Maybe after this class we can go home".
Thomas shrugged his shoulders.
"But exams"
"You said yourself that we'd pass".
"I didn't actually say that... "
"Calm down, buddy" John slapped a hand on Thomas' shoulder.
Suddenly Thomas noticed Julia who wasn't in math class.
"I wonder where she went" John said quietly. It had started to rain outside and Julia's clothes were wet.
Molly walked past them.Suddenly Thomas grabbed her elbow.She looked at him in surprise.
"Listen, Molly, can I ask you something? "
She looked around and then walked over to them.
"What's wrong with your mom? " Thomas asked suddenly "Is she really in the hospital? "
"Yes" Molly answered, looking down, and Thomas could feel the despair in her.
"How is she doing now? "
"I don't know, but the doctors said she was in very serious condition. "
John looked surprised, because this morning Molly had seemed upset about Ethan and hadn't said anything about her mother.
"What's wrong with her? " John asked suddenly.
"She...she just had an accident".
Molly suddenly cried leaning against Thomas's shoulder.He held her close looking at John, he felt sorry for the girl.Molly suddenly pulled away and wiped her tears away.
"Don't touch me" she growled.
"I was just trying to help".
"You're just making fun of me" she said and tears welled up in her eyes again.
"Why would we make fun of you, Molly?" John asked as the rain pounded on the windows.
"I don't know" Molly wiped her tears again, Thomas and John looked at each other.
"Come on, Molly, we were just trying to sympathize with you". And these words of John turned out to be very inappropriate
"What do you mean?" Molly screamed "Do you think that my mum…" She suddenly started crying "I just didn't want anyone to know, so I pretended to be okay, but... "
"Don't worry Molly, everything will be okay, we understand you" Thomas said, looking at John judgmentally.
"No you don't understand, no one can understand me".
"How about Ethan? " John suddenly started to say, but then stopped and said quietly "I'm sorry".
"I don't want to talk about it" Molly said affirmatively.
"Are you going to the hospital now?"
"Yes, why do you ask? "
"Can we go with you? " Thomas asked.
Molly and John looked at him in surprise.
"Why not" Thomas shrugged his shoulders.
Molly suddenly thought.
"All right, then, let's go".
"Do we have some classes? "
"It seems yes" Molly said.
"But even so, I don't think it's a big deal if we skip it, especially since we've already had the math" John said.
Thomas suddenly wondered why he couldn't sense Molly's sadness when she was pretending to be happy.
"Do we have a long way to go?" John asked later.
"No, we're almost there".
They were standing in front of a large building.
"Is this the hospital?"
"Yes" Molly said, and suddenly she became upset.
John and Thomas went inside.
"Can we see your mom?"
"I think so, but she's in a coma right now"
"She will get better, Molly" John said, looking at the girl.
Molly found her mother's room and before entering she looked at Thomas. He looked at her and suddenly felt a strange sensation.
Molly went inside, Thomas and John followed. Her mom was lying on the bed motionless.
She was connected to different machines. Molly walked over to the bed and sat down on a chair next to her. She was very sad.Thomas looked at Molly's mom sadly, John was sad too. Molly took her mom's hand in hers and it seemed she was crying.Thomas decided to sit down next to Molly too, but John suddenly held him back.Thomas looked at his friend.
"I think we will disturb" he said
"No, stay here please. My mom had an accident just when she was supposed to come for me" Molly sobbed.
Thomas and John looked at each other sadly and Thomas said:
"That's really terrible Molly, but we hope she'll get better".
"She won't be able to walk" Molly whispered, and Thomas felt a terrible despair in her voice, and he got goosebumps.
He suddenly looked at her mother. She was like a sleeping beauty, lying still.
Suddenly Thomas felt she was dying.
"No" he shouted.
Molly and John suddenly got up and rushed to the woman, started to call a doctor, but it was too late…
"This was the worst day of my life" John said the next day when he met Thomas.
"Molly, how is she going to survive this" suddenly said Thomas, looking down at the floor, they both were going to go to the funeral.
"I don't know, dawg, it's going to be really hard for her".
"By the way" John said suddenly "how could you feel that she was dying when the heartbeat hadn't stopped?"
Thomas didn't know himself.
He looked at his palms "Can I really feel something? "
"Thomas" suddenly shouted Molly approaching to them. She was dressed in black, her face was pale and her eyes were puffy.
"You have to endure this, Molly, do you hear me?" Thomas touched the girl's arm and she hugged him starting to cry".
"Thomas, I can't, it hurts so much."
"I know it does" he pulled her away and looked into her eyes. Now she seemed so defenseless to him and her cold hand was still in his palm.
"She would have suffered anyway, Molly, you must realize that".
Molly suddenly pulled away.
"But she would be alive" Tears appeared in her eyes again.
"I'm sorry" Thomas said, looking down at the floor.
"Thank you for coming" Molly said later.
"We couldn't leave you alone" John put his hand on her shoulder.
Molly wiped her tears and walked over to her father.Thomas looked at him. He looked very lost.
"Let's go outside" John suggested.
Thomas watched as Molly hugged her father and cried, he patted her on the back.
"Are you going?".
"Yes" Thomas said and followed John out.
"Why is life so unfair?" John suddenly said as he sat down on the bench and watched the funeral preparations.
"Life has always been unfair, John, but what happened to Molly is really terrible, and even words of encouragement won't help".
John pulled the cigarettes out of his pocket and handed them to Thomas, who surprisingly accepted. He handed him a lighter and Thomas lit a cigarette.
"Damn it, I feel sick myself" John suddenly said, exhaling the smoke heavily.
Thomas took two puffs and began to cough.
"What's wrong with you, I assumed these cigarettes were bad".
"It's not that, I just feel sick too" . He dropped his cigar and looked at his friend.
"I don't drink a lot, but I could really use a drink right now".
"Yes" Thomas nodded "I'm just so sorry for her, I just realized it when she touched me with her hand, I knew she was scared, she was shaking, she's really hurt and I can't do anything, I just feel useless. " Thomas grabbed the back of his head.
"Calm down, buddy" John said, tapping him on the shoulder.
"It's terrible, John".
"She has a father, you said she would get over it".
"I just feel sorry for her".
"So do I" John said, lighting a second cigarette and exhaling the smoke.
After the funeral, John and Thomas stayed at Molly's house until everyone else had left.
"Thank you guys for supporting me" she said sadly as she approached them.
"How are you doing?" Thomas asked.
"Bad, really bad".
Thomas hugged her.
"I'm sorry, I really am"
Molly wiped away a tear.
"Thank you"
After that guys went home and Thomas realized he forgot all about Carol.
"Good evening" a voice suddenly called out.
John and Thomas hadn't said anything most of the way, so the voice seemed to frighten them.
"Who was that?" John asked.
It was Richard, sitting there smoking as usual.
"Has something happened? " he asked.
"No, nothing has happened " said Thomas, not wanting to explain.
"Funeral is always a sad thing, especially when someone you care about dies".
"How do you know about a funeral?" Thomas looked stunned.
"You are gloomy and dressed in black"
Thomas approached the man, turning away from his house.
"Don't you ever watch me around here?" Thomas said reproachfully.
"I just want to know how you are" the man said and lit a cigarette.
It was cold outside.
Thomas thought the man was mocking him.
"I said nothing had happened".
"But that's not true".
"Oh God, what do you want? " John looked mad
"Calm down guys, I just wanted to talk to someone".
"What for? "
"I'm too lonely" the man said, throwing away the cigarette butt "have run out" he muttered. John suddenly put his hands in his pocket and took out cigarettes.
"Here" he tossed them to the man "they'll keep you company".
"You're an impatient boy"
John didn't say anything.
"I'm sorry" Thomas suddenly said "I'm just not in the mood".
Richard handed him a bottle.
"What is this?"
"Bourbon" the man answered shortly.
"I don't drink.... "
"Today you can, Thomas "
Thomas tipped the bottle over with his lips and coughed as he handed it back.
Richard handed it to John and he drank it too, but didn't cough.
"Goddamn, I'm getting goosebumps" John said.
After a while the guys were sitting next to the man and all three of them were smoking. Thomas wondered to himself how he could drink and smoke so calmly, but he thought about today and wanted to drink even more.
"When I looked into her eyes, she was so sad, I can't express it" Thomas said and his eyes shone strangely.
"So she lost her mother".
"Yeah" John nodded "Thomas is telling the truth she is really unhappy".
"I killed her mother" the man suddenly said, drinking the rest of his drink.
"What are you talking about? " Thomas said in a gruff voice.
"How did you kill her? " John didn't understand these words.
"I just killed her and told everyone it was an accident, that she had crashed her car".
Richard suddenly laughed.
"This is a joke, guys, don't you understand me?" He put his hands on the boys' shoulders.
"What kind of jokes are these?"John grunted and took a drag on his cigarette.
"So you really didn't kill anyone?" Thomas asked
"Certainly not! Do I look like an idiot, and if I had killed, I would have been in jail long ago".
"That's true"
"Oh no, I should go home" John groaned "and it's not that far".
"You can stay at my place" Richard suggested "if you want".
"No, I'd rather go to Thomas's, I don't think his mom will mind".
"Let's go" Thomas said and stood up on his feet.
"Be careful, guys" Richard shouted at them.
"Doesn't he seem a little strange to you?" John muttered, when they were near the Thomas' home.
"Not really" Thomas shook his head and then knocked on the door of his house.
Carol opened the door and although it was dark outside, they hadn't slept in the house for a long time, they were obviously waiting for Thomas.
John stared at the girl.