Zach's POV

I stride slowly into the classroom, only to find that someone is already in my seat, feet propped up on the desk. It's that girl, Cameron Morgan, the one that tried to kill herself last semester. What is she doing back? I thought she was put in rehab. It was only a couple of months ago that the incident happened.

(Flashback)

There's a girl on the roof. Those were the whispers as people crowded around the front of the school. Sure enough, there she was, balanced carefully on the edge of the school roof, staring blankly down at the crowd below her.

I sprint back inside and run up the stairs. I know how to get to the roof. I go up there during lunch hour sometimes. I take the maintenance elevator to the corridor with the door leading to the roof. I burst through the door and run towards the girl. Just as she takes a step forward, my hands catch her. I pull her away from the edge and fall backwards with her. She lands hard next to me. We both sit up.

I glance over and see the tears on her face. She glares at me. "What the hell are you doing?" she asks furiously. "Isn't it obvious that I didn't want to be saved?"

I nod my head. "Of course it is. But I didn't feel like watching someone from my school become a statistic," I snap back at her.

The girl's face goes blank before she seems to realize what she was about to do. "Oh my god," she whispers. She looks up at me. "I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't put people through that… oh, god, what was I thinking? Shit."

I reach out hesitantly and pat her shoulder. "It's alright. Let's get you down to your friends and family." I help her up, but she's been rendered helpless after the adrenaline has drained from her body. She stumbles and collapses against me. She pulls in a shuddering breath and tries again, only to fall once more.

With a light sigh, I pick her up and carry her down through the school and to the EMTs waiting just outside of the crowd. The girls clings to me like I'm her lifeline… which I guess I sort of am. I set her down on the gurney waiting for her and watch as she's loaded onto the ambulance and taken away.

(Present)

"That's my seat," I say, my voice coming off more aggressive than I'd intended.

Cameron smirks up at me. "Last I checked, I was here first—" she chokes off when she realizes who she's looking at. "Oh… it's you," she mumbles, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I take in her appearance.

She's skinny. Unhealthily so. Her cheekbones are too sharp, and her eye sockets are sunken in slightly. Her dark blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun. Her outfit is unextraordinary, just ripped jeans and a loose t-shirt with the Led Zeppelin logo on it, and black Doc Martens on her feet. Her hands are stained with what looks like charcoal pencil and oil pastels. She has a splotch of dark green on her left cheek.

"Whatever. Don't worry about it," I tell her, settling into the next seat over. "I don't think we've properly met… I'm Zach Goode."

The girl rolls her eyes. Her… deep… blue eyes…. I shake my head to rid myself of those pesky thoughts. "Everyone knows who you are," she informs me. "Zachary Goode, star student and captain of the basketball team." She waves her hands in front of her as though depicting my title. She snorts. "And apparently a loner. I thought I was the only student who knew how to get to the roof. I've never seen you up there after school, so I think it's safe to guess you eat lunch up there, no?"

I nod. "Sometimes," I say

"Right. Never would have guessed if I hadn't seen you up where when… well, you know," she trails off.

I shrug, not really sure how to respond. "Where've you been for the last two months?" I ask, hating the awkward silence that had settled over us.

Cameron sighs. "Rehab," she says quietly. "They let me out earlier than planned on accounts of 'good behavior'. Basically I didn't try to kill myself again. I took my medicine, ate, and talked to the psychiatrists like a good little girl. And I hated every minute of it."

I feel my brow crease. "I just don't get why you did it. I mean, I asked about you, after you were taken to the hospital. A few of the kids who were in your classes said that you always seemed so happy. That you were friendly and smiley. What they didn't know was what happened to change that."

Cameron's face falls. She turns her face away from me, and I hear her take a shuddering breath. "Yeah, I was a happy person prior to those last few weeks before the roof. But I don't really want to discuss that. What I will say is that I was heartbroken. I remember vividly how badly my chest ached, and I couldn't find a way to just be numb. The psych ward fixed that. I learned quickly that they don't want you to be happy, they want you to be content. And I am now."