"Jonah Marshall!"

Jonah lifted his head up quickly off his desk, looking at the teacher standing over him. She gave him a scowl as he mumbled an apology. "Sorry ma'am..." Kids in class quietly snickered at him as he went back to taking notes. He never slept well at home, so he tends to fall asleep during classes at school. That's pretty much what he was known for. Sleeping during class, and also being high as fuck. That's all he was to anyone. A tired stoner. It was only the second period, too. 2 more classes to go, which sucked. History was almost over though, which he was thankful for. It was the last class he'd have to go through alone, since his last 2 classes of the day were with his friend, Adam Murray. He scribbled down the last of the notes on the board and sped through his worksheet. Despite what the other kids believed, he wasn't completely stupid. He knew enough to be a B average student. He'd have better grades if it weren't for...certain circumstances. Mainly his home life. But it's not like he could TELL anyone. It'd just make things so much worse. He'd tried telling Adam about it, but he got too scared and just let it go. As much as he hated school, being home would ALWAYS be far worse. Sometimes he wished school would never end. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the ringing of the loud school bell, indicating the end of second period. He'd stressed himself out way too much, he needed a smoke. Grabbing his bag and shoving his binder into it, he got up and left towards the school bathrooms. He did this all the time, it's not like no one knew. Even the teachers knew. If they didn't, he'd be surprised. He's not ashamed of how obvious it is, really.

He reached the bathroom and went into the last stall, pulling out a small bag that had some pre-rolled blunts in them. He pulled one out, holding it between his lips as he dug into his pocket for his cheap lighter. He held the lighter up to his lips, giving it a few flicks before lighting his blunt. He put the light away as he smoked, inhaling and exhaling. He got pretty good at smoking fast enough for it to take effect, while also not being late for class. The bell warning him that he only had 2 more minutes to get to class rang through his mind. He put out the blunt and discarded it before exiting the stall, and looking at himself in the mirror. His black-to-silver messy hair was more tangled than ever. He rarely ever brushed his hair, he had more important things to focus on. His eyebags were very pronounced, and his messy gray hoodie looked like it hadn't been washed in days. Probably because it hadn't. He wore a black jacket over his hoodie as well, which of course made him feel a bit stuffy, but he didn't care. He slightly pushed his hair out of his face before leaving the bathroom and heading to his third class of the day; English. This was probably one of his better subjects, he actually had an A in it at the time. He enjoyed writing, and he did like to read. His imagination ran wild sometimes, especially when he was...well, "lovesick" is the best way to describe it. He had so many wild fantasies. Some magical, some just plain unrealistic. He tried to deny what these could mean. He didn't want to think about it too much. He already had to deal with taunting at home over this, he couldn't imagine how the kids at school would react if they knew. God, he prayed they'd never know.

Jonah took his seat in the English classroom, somehow he'd gotten there before Adam. Adam was late to everything now that he had a girlfriend, Evelin. Jonah didn't mind, though. I mean hey, Adam got a girlfriend for a reason, he was allowed to have a life outside of his friendship with Jonah. It was just something he picked up on. He pulled out his English binder and went over some of his notes while waiting. Right before the bell rang, Adam rushed in along with a few other kids. He took his seat next to Jonah's, out of breath. Jonah looked over at him and noticed that Adam looked...upset. Well, more upset than usual. Adam wasn't a very happy person. There always seemed to be something on his mind, no matter what. Jonah tapped on his shoulder. "Adam, you okay?" Adam shook his head. "I swear, that bitch is psycho! She doesn't understand anything! She always brings up how our paranormal investigations are ridiculous, she doesn't let me explain anything!"

"Wait, you mean Evelin? I thought you guys were doing okay."

"We are whenever this subject doesn't come up. But she keeps bringing this shit up! It's so fucking annoying..."

"Yikes, I'm sorry, man. Maybe she just doesn't believe in that stuff, I'm sure you guys will work it out. I'm here if you need something like advice."

"I appreciate it, but you don't have a girlfriend do you?"

"No, but I know a thing or two about arguments."

Adam looked at Jonah in a concerned tone but Jonah just looked back down at his paper. He always gave concerning messages like that, it made Adam worry about him. But he never opened up about his love life, home life, or anything. All he knew about Jonah's home life was that his mom traveled for work a lot. And now, that Jonah is also single. He just hoped that Jonah was okay. The teacher had walked into class by that point and had started explaining the lesson plan. They were in the middle of their poetry unit, that's all he really knew at this point. Jonah seemed to be invested in this though. Jonah never struck him as the type to be into all this poetry nonsense. Yet here he was, excited as hell any time they started a new poem. Jonah had confessed to Adam that sometimes he'd write poetry or stories in his free time. Adam had asked to see but he said it was private and embarrassing, so he never pushed further. Jonah was good at English class. Him? Not so much. He never had much to write about during their creative writing assignments. He wasn't GOOD at expressing his thoughts or his feelings. Apparently Jonah was. Which was weird, since Adam was always still more open about his home life than Jonah was. Jonah knew Adam's living situation. He lived alone, the closest thing he had to someone else living with him was a stupid Amazon Alexa. This led to him being bored a lot, though, so he would always invite Jonah or Evelin. They were the only ones who'd come over anyway, not like he had other friends. The other kids thought he was a bit...odd. It could be worse, though. At least people leave him alone. But after all he's gone through, people bothering him still would be the least of his issues. Nothing compared to what he's gone through most of his life.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the teacher handing out worksheets to everyone. He hated doing the worksheets but their English teacher was laid back and they didn't get them often, so he always sucked it up long enough to get a decent grade. He read over the top of the paper; this assignment was to write a poem based around something important in your life. Well, that just became ten times more difficult. Adam didn't cherish things the way other people did. Not that he didn't cherish them, he just didn't know how to in such a way. Meanwhile, Jonah was writing away. He admired how much he had to say about anything. He wished he could know what he was writing about. But he's said before that it's private and Adam respected that. Jonah was always so passionate about things he liked, he always seemed so much happier whenever they were hanging out at Adam's than at school. He wondered if Jonah was like this at home, too. Jonah was his closest friend, basically his only friend. Excluding Evelin of course. He could make even Adam, as serious as he was, laugh.

Suddenly, Adam knew what he wanted to write about.

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