Chapter 1.

          Eric sat in his English Honors 11 class, bouncing his foot up and down lightly. Polly sat in front of him, her hair falling down to her mid-back. She wrote with a thin black sharpie on her notebook paper.

"Alright, sorry I'm late, my wife decided to drain my car of fuel without telling me. So, yesterday's assignment was to write a short stanza about closure. It didn't  need to rhyme, or have a rythym. Just write. And it had to be less than ten lines. Does anyone want to read theirs aloud?"

Everyone looked around awkwardly. Mr. Goldstein sighed.

"Oh, come on. Any boys want to strap on a pair?"

Polly raised a relaxed hand. He nodded at her. Polly stood up, and walked to the front of the class. She unfolded the crumpled paper and took in a breath.

"Title?" Mr. Goldstein said quickly.

Polly shrugged.

"I don't know. I just called it "Yeah,"

She took in a breath again.

"I'm glad I broke you're stupid little heart.
Now I don't have to listen to your insults and bear your condescending attitude
that broke my self esteem down that you once built up.
I've found another boy who can build up my self esteem and not feel the need to break it down.
I'm finally happy.
I've finally found hope in the world."

She looked up through her bangs and raised her head slowly, looking at Mr. Goldstein. He nodded his head in approval.

"Excellent. A plus."

Polly smiled, and walked back to her seat. She avoided Eric's eyes and sat down. Polly pulled her shirt sleeves down on her arms more, so her hands were almost trapped in them. Eric leaned forward.

"That was deep. Just saying." he whispered. Polly looked back slightly, and nodded.

 

          Eric walked home, his Chuck Taylors sole that was ditached from his shoe slapping loudly. Polly yelled his name and he stopped. He smiled and turned to her as she caught up with him.

"Well, hello, Mr. Greyson, how are you today?" she said in a fake Southern accent.

"Oh, I'm just fine and dandy, Miss Garcia. Just livin' life like I should," Eric imitated back. They both sighed, obviously pleased with their jokes. "I really enjoyed your writing today in English. It was really good."

Polly smiled, and looked at him sideways, "Thanks." He nodded, hia throat suddenly dry. He grabbed her hand and ran ahead of her, both of their shoes lously clapping along. She knew exactly where they were headed and smiled at the thought of all the times that her and Eric had spent their free time there.

Polly hung upside down on a tree branch, her hair nearly touching the ground beneath her. Her face was slightly red from all the blood in her face. Eric layed intront of her on the ground, and he playfully touched her head with his feet until she became irritated and got down. She stood there for a second, holding her temples until the blood rushed out of her head. She wobbled a bit, then steadied herself once more. Eric grabbed her legs before she could fall.

"You okay?" he asked. Polly brushed his hands off of her legs and nodded. She sat next to him, sighing loudly. She fixed her shirt sleeves like she always did, so only her fingers peeked out. Eric took took notice of this and grabbed her hand before he could think to do anything else. She looked at him with her piercing gold eyes.

"What?" she asked, obviously confused, "Is my hand really that interesting?"

Eric looked back at her, his gray eyes mostly blank and empty. Polly knew there was something wrong with Eric. He had a temper, and became depressed easily. He mostly would keep to himself if she was not around, only for him to open up to her about everything he was thinking. He would pop pills, and he didn't know that she knew. As she looked back at him, she saw his lips slightly tremble and his nostrils flared in and out quickly. He slightly moved his face closer to hers, and she finally realized what was happening.

He looked back and forth from her eyes to her lips.

No, stop! Her mind whispered.

Stop!

"No!" Polly yelled. She pulled away from Eric's grip and stood up without looking at him. "Eric, I can't. I can't do this. We're best friends, and I just - I - No..." she rambled and her voice broke at her last words.

Eric looked down as he tightened his hands into fists. His nostrils flared more frequently than before. His stomach was in a tornado at the moment, from anger or confusion, he didn't know which.

"What do you want me to say?" he whispered.

"What?" Polly shimpered.

"What the hell do you want me to say, Polly?" He bellowed. Tears spilled over her cheeks as he stood up and moved closer to her. He kept his fists behind him so he dare wouldn't hit her if it came to it. She did what he least expected her to do at that moment. She wrapped her arms around him and cryed into his chest. Eric stopped and suddenly felt guilty. He rubbed her back and she sniffled and sobbed.

"Eric, I'm so sorry...I just...I can't do that to someone else. I can't break someone else's heart." She sobbed, loudly.

"Shh, here, sit down.." Eric whispered. She sat down, arms still wrapped around his waist. She leaned into him, and attempted to calm her breathing. He pulled her up so his eyes met hers, now puffy and red.

"Heartbreak is inevitable. You know that." he calmly said.

"Not with you. I do the smallest things and you blow them out of proportion already. And we're only friends at this point..." she sobbed, wiping her face. Smudges of mascara came off on her hand and she rubbed it off on her jeans. Eric stood up and walked away from her without saying anything, his blood boiling and fists clenched.

 

          Eric knew there was something wrong with him. It hadn't been his choice when he got angry or depressed, it was just one of his attributes. He hated seeing Polly upset like she was, but her emotions weren't even close to what he had to deal with when it came to his own. Eric looked at himself in the mirror. His gray eyes were slightly bloodshot as he solemnly swallowed the four pills in his hand. He didn't know what they were for, he had just found them in his mom's medicine cabinet one day and stole them. She hadn't seemed to notice. Yet, Eric thought. He knew that eventually he would have to be honest with his mom about his drug problem. But she had enough on her mind as it was with him just existing. He also knew that his temper was a growing problem and someday his mom wouldn't stand for it. Maybe she would send him off to live with his dad in Pennsylvania. No, he thought, I can't leave Polly behind. As much as he would like to leave New Jersey, he would hate to leave his one best friend behind. She meant the world to him without even realizing it.

          As much as she would have liked to, Polly put down the phone to prevent herself from calling Eric's mom. She was so worried about him but didn't want to upset him more than she already had. Polly shook her head and picked the phone back up. She dialed and waited for an answer.

"Polly, sweeteart! How are you, honey?" her sweet-as-candy voice asked. Polly smiled. She had forgotten how much Ms. Greyson loved her.

"I'm okay-"

"Oh, I'm assuming you want to talk to Eric?"

"Uh, no, Ms. Greyson, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Polly could hear her pause, slightly shocked and confused.

"You're not pregnant, are you, sweetie?" she almost whispered.

"No! Not at all. Nothing along those lines, ma'am."

Ms. Greyson exhaled in relief, "Oh, thank God. I wouldn't want a little Eric running around while his parents are finishing up high school." Polly was shocked. Had Eric been telling her they had had some type of physical relationship? The most they had ever done was hold hands, and that was just a 'best friend' thing that they did.

"No, Ms. Greyson. I needed to talk to you about Eric though."

"Well, what about him, dear?"

Polly stopped and tried to form the words before she said anything. She didn't want to sound like she was insulting Eric or anything. Lord knew that Ms. Greyson was touchy about Eric.

"I think something is seriously wrong with him. He scares me. He gets depressed and angry so easily, and usually it's over things that aren't that big of a deal."

Ms. Greyson sighed., "I knew I wasn't the only one who noticed. Thank you for your concern, dear. I was actually planning on taking him to a doctor to see if it's an actual medical condition or if he just had a short temper. Lord knows his father had a mean temper." Her voice broke slightly at the end of her sentence, and Polly felt for her. Mr. Greyson had left when Eric was around ten, and his older brother had just turned fifteen. Eric had frequently told Polly he didn't miss his dad, even though she knew he was lying.

"Polly, sweetie, would it be too much trouble for you to come with us? I know Eric would feel better if you did." Polly 's lips tugged toward the floor in a melancholy fashion.

"Of course I will." she tried to sound supportive. Ms. Greyson sighed, delightedly.

"Good, good. Well, dear, I guess I will see you sometime soon. Have a lovely day, honey."

Polly tried to smile.

"You too, Ms. Greyson."

Author's Note

The prologue and epilogue will be the only chapters in present tense.