• 06:48 Hours

    Just another cold winter day in Ohio. As I was getting ready for school, I was debating on whether or not I should pack lunch for myself.
    "Zach!" My dad yelled from downstairs.
    "Yeah?" I shout back.
    "You ready?"
    "Yeah, give me a minute!"
    "Hurry the hell up!" He shut his door.
    I mumbled under my breath, and realized that I had everything done in time to make a sandwich. I head over to the kitchen, whip out some peanut butter, two slices of bread, a butter knife, and a plastic baggy. I had noticed that there was no more jelly. "Dammit." I quickly grab the marshmallow cream and spread it on the sandwich with the peanut butter, slap the two slices together, slid it in the bag, and put away the goods.

    06:59 Hours

    I get in the car with my 124.8 pound book bag, and slide it between my knees.
    "Dude, how much s**t do you have in that ********' bag?" my dad asks, irritated as he gets into the driver seat.
    "Jeez, It's not that much!"
    "Don't you get snippy with me!" He closed the door and started to pull out of the garage. "Do you have any tests comin' up?"
    "No, the teachers don't give the exams until after the break."
    "Make sure you get all the s**t so we can study."
    "Got it."

    07:14 Hours

    We pulled into the parking lot. As I got out, I the winter chill smacked my face with a damn glacier. "Remember, ALL the s**t! Love ya."
    "Love you, too," I said, and closed the door.

    Throughout the day, everything was normal. I socialized with emos, nerds, jocks, soc's, and normies. Until lunch, that is.

    11:45 Hours

    As I was walking to the cafeteria, the sound of teens blocked out all hearing for me. The hallways were crowded with flesh and hormones, but I had managed to pull through the crowd. I had promised to meet with the girls today, but something pulled my attention off of that. It was a kid sitting at an empty lunch table with his head down. Normally, the emos would do this at my school and I would just let them sleep (they'd usually end up inviting me over to the table, anyway), but this kid looked different. I've never seen him around the school. I decided to try and talk to him.
    I sat down next to the kid, and he looks up, as if startled.
    "Hey, man. You look a lil' down. Everything okay, bro?"
    He looked as if he didn't know how to answer, or even speak.
    I was silent for a second, feeling a little awkward. "You hungry? I got a sandwich." My offering seemed to brighten his eyes. "Yes? No?"
    I could see that he was too afraid to answer, so I assumed it was "Yes." "Here." I slid him the baggy with the sandwich. "I hope you're not allergic to peanuts."
    He stared at the sandwich, silent, as if he was waiting for something to pop out of it. After a moment's worth of staring, he stuffed his face with the sandwich.
    I laughed a little bit. "Hungry much, dude?"
    He smiled a little after he was done, but still no word. A minute later, the bell rang, and he took off before I could say anything else. I was puzzled.
    I did not see him through the rest of the day.

    The next day, I was determined to find him and get him to say something to me. However, he was not at lunch this time. "The hell..."
    I walk around the school, avoiding the teachers in order to get places. He was nowhere to be found. I was in the annex when I finally gave up, but just then, I felt a tug at my shirt from behind. I turned around, and it was the kid. "Hey, man, I've been-" I was cut off by a hug.
    He had embraced me tightly, saying, "All I needed was a simple 'Hello'..." He started to sniffle. "I was gonna do it... I was gonna end it last night... But then you came.."
    My face had a frozen shocked look, and I hugged him back, sniffling a little myself, patting his back.
    "Thank you... All I needed was one simple 'Hello'..."