Roses

A cacophony of gossip and other such meaningless conversation filled the halls as Joey walked up to her. Every day he would walk down the east wing to see her, even though his next class was in the west wing. He didn’t care, he just wanted to see her smile, it would always brighten up his day like the sun, that impostor, never could.
“Hey Katie,” he said, shyly.
“Joey!” she replied, the epitome of excitement. “How’s the English test?”
“It’s not too bad, actually. It’s fifty multiple choice and three essays. I rocked its face off.”
“What were the essays?”
“One was about explaining the symbols and then there was one asking if Nic was a reliable narrator, and I forget the last one.”
The bell began to ring and the halls started to clear. She said, “Thanks, Joey! I’ll talk to you later,” and started walking to her next class.
“Yeah, see ya. Good luck on the test!” Joey continued down the east wing to make it look like he hadn’t come this way just to see her. When he got to the end of it he turned around and walked towards the west wing. On the way he stopped by Katie’s locker and put a rose inside, like he had every day this year. Every time she found the rose, she would speculate on what perfect man had put it there for her. She would never have guessed that it was Joey.
Joey was a bit of a social outcast and would get physically assaulted on a weekly basis. It never really bothered him. He just always wondered what he had done to offend them. It was always nothing, just that he was different and different was scary. He spent a lot of his time, outside of school, reading in the shade of a tall oak in the park.
Katie on the other hand had never known the pains of ostracization. If there was a party, Katie was invited to it. She didn’t always go but she was always invited. She was also very bright, not that she showed it. Her friends were incredibly shallow but she always saw that as a good quality.
The next day, Joey left a poem in her locker that read:

“If the Sun were half as radiant as your smile,
There would be no such thing as night.
If the stars were half as intoxicating as your eyes
Everyone would become a stargazer.
If the sunset were half as beautiful as you,
The world would know peace.
And if I were half as lucky as a four leaf clover,
You would let me take you to the prom.
Joey”

For the rest of the day, daggers flew through his mind. He was so frightened that she’d reject him. Fifth period, the same as every day, he walked down the east wing to see her. She had a rather bewildered expression when she saw him. The poem had caught her completely by surprise. Her friends would abandon her if she ever even thought about going to the prom with Joey. In fact, a few of her friends were telling her just that as Joey showed up. Joey was almost too scared to approach her with them there but it was too late she had seen him.
“So, what do you think, Katie?” he asked, as shyly as ever.
“She would never go to the prom with a loser like you!” chimed in the rather plastic looking blonde to her right.
“ Yeah, Joey, I thought you were gay this whole time. It’s the only reason I ever talked to you!” added Katie.
Laughter emanated from the hall as Joey ran away with tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. He ran right out the school doors and started his way home. When he got there he took a bottle from his father’s liquor cabinet and drank until the tears stopped. Katie felt terrible. She hadn’t meant to be so cruel but everyone was watching.
As the days went by the roses had stopped appearing as had Joey. He was absent a lot and even when he was there he seemed distant. Katie was really starting to miss him, not that she would ever admit it.
One night she stopped by Joey’s house. She didn’t care what anybody thought any more. His parents seemed friendly enough when the led her to his room. The door was open and Joey was lying in bed. She walked up to him and kissed him lightly and said “Guess who?” Joey doesn’t respond. She shakes him and yells “Joey!” Still no response. She runs down to tell his parents and in no time they’re on their way to the hospital.
As soon as they got in, Joey was rushed to a room to get his stomach pumped and everyone was told to wait in the lobby. The wait for the doctor seemed an eternity, not the twenty minutes that it was. When the doctor finally did come in, he had a melancholy look on his face and he said “I’m sorry, but Joey is in a coma.”
“But how could he be in a coma!?” asked Joey’s hysterical mother.
“Well, we’re not sure yet, but it seems that he may have done this to himself.”
“When is he going to wake up?” asked his father as his wife and Katie began crying at the last answer.
“He may never wake up. He’s suffered extensive damage. I’m sorry, I really am but there’s nothing we can do at this point but wait.”
The doctor made his way out of the room that could only be described as the embodiment of sorrow.
After that night, Katie would visit Joey every day. She would sit with him for hours telling him about everything he was missing and begging him to wake up. She liked to think that he could hear her.
On the night of the prom she was dressed as nicely as anyone ever was. Her dress was a deep shade of orange with a golden accent. She looked truly elegant. She went to see Joey, again. While she was telling him about how Casey got arrested, he started to stir.
“Joey?!”
“Katie…You look beautiful..”
“Oh my god, Joey!”
“You know…I’ve always loved you…”
She kissed him passionately. He was incredibly weak but that didn’t stop him from asking her to dance. She had to support him but she didn’t mind. He was awake and that was all that mattered. Joey couldn’t believe what was happening. He knew he should be resting but he just couldn’t, not with her looking as pretty as she did. After awhile a nurse came in and told Katie that visiting hours were over.
She kissed him one last time and said “Promise me you’ll get better.”
“I promise…” As soon as she left, Joey missed her and she missed him. Neither of them could believe what had happened.
The next day, Katie came back to visit Joey. She walked in the door with a charismatic “Joey, how ya feeling?” What she saw when she made it in was too much to bear. Joey was lying there motionless and his parents were crying over the bed.
Between sobs his mother got out “He died this morning.”
“But he was awake last night, he can’t be dead!” Katie yelled in disbelief.
“The doctor said he was just too damaged…”
Katie cried like she never had before.
In the next week, Joey’s funeral was held. The service was filled with people from school who didn’t even know him. Their lives revolve around drama and death is a delicacy that they cannot produce. Katie really wished that they wouldn’t have come. They didn’t care about him in the least.
“Joey was a boy with a bright future. When he was young he would spend his days riding his bike up and down the streets. Then he moved on to reading, oh how he read. I’d like to think that you’re looking down on us, Joey. It’s always such a tragedy when someone so young is taken from us. But each of us have a memory of Joey to remember him by so he will never be forgotten,” said the pastor from the front of the church. Katie was crying as were all of the drama fiends.
Joey was buried in the shade of his oak in the park. They even named the park in his honor. Every day, Katie would stop by his grave and she would leave behind a tear and a rose.