Saving Madison

Chapter Eight

Tyler's p.o.v »»

I started my morning with a run, seeing the sun about to rise. I turned up my music as loud as I could, moving faster with the pace of the song. All my thoughts about the lake, Madison, and my family vanished as I ran, sweating heavily.

A while later, I looked at my watch, seeing it was almost 7:15. I headed back home, getting ready for a shower. When I got out, I tossed on a black and white baseball tee, cargo shorts and sneakers, drying my hair with a towel as much as I could.

"Ten minutes!" Will called as he walked by my room and into his own. I made sure I had my bag packed before going downstairs, where my mom was in the kitchen.

"Can you sign these?" I asked, putting papers I had gotten on the first day on the table in front of her, underneath a pen. She sipped her coffee, nodded and taking the pen to sign the papers.

"How was your first day?" She asked.

"Fine, nothing special." This was probably the last time I would be able to say that for the rest of the year. Since last night, I figured she wouldn't make me say more than I wanted to.

"Here you go," she said, handing me the papers.

"Thanks," I went to the cabinet to take out a chocolate fudge pop tart, followed by a bottle of water. "Will, let's go!" I called upstairs to him, hearing his fan go off followed by his feet running down the stairs.

"I'm working late tonight, I'll see you boys tomorrow." She said, giving us both kisses on the cheek.

"I'm going to Jake's house tonight," I reminded her.

"Right, right." She turned to Will. "Are you going to order food?"

"Yeah, we have a coupon for the Golden Dragon." We said our goodbyes, going to the truck and waiting to see the Taylor's door open and Madison soon walked out.

"Hopefully this won't be uncomfortable." Will muttered, taking out his book of sudoku puzzles.

"It's a ten minute car ride, it shouldn't be that bad." But even I knew that a lot could be said and done in ten minutes.

The car ride hadn't been as bad as I thought, nothing more than smart comments and nothing but the sound of the radio to occupy my attention.

With Madison now back at school, it was tough to avoid the rumors. It was 8:45, and I had already heard things from "Madison Taylor ran away and got lost, then tried to kill herself and failed", to "She couldn't even kill herself correctly." Those were the sickest of them all. I knew that once football season started, I wouldn't be able to stop hearing about it.

"You going to the party tonight, Ty?" I heard, looking up as Emma came to sit beside me. Her hair was in the infamous dark ponytail, swinging slightly when she moved. I hadn't seen her in the longest time, and although she was my ex-girlfriend, she was still a close friend of mine.

"It's not optional if Jake's throwing it." I laughed, watching her movements. She had clearly changed, gotten about taller, bigger in the right places and her shiny smile was just as bright.

"Well, I can't wait to see you there. You better bring your swimming trunks because I'm pushing you into the pool no matter what." She gave me a wicked grin, something I expected.

"Of course, I can't wait." The bell rung for the class to officially start, our chemistry teacher walking in hurriedly with a stack of papers.

"Good morning, class, take out your textbooks!" The class groaned in unison. It was going to be a long day.

If I thought the morning was bad, lunch was even worse. Trying to avoid a rumor at Harrison High was like trying to avoid the water in a flood. I moved slowly in the lunch line beside Jake, the chicken burgers they were serving looking more appetizing than normal, probably only because I was hungry.
"It's like watching a depressing movie," I heard him say, and I followed his gaze to the corner, where Madison sat alone. My heart felt like it was being stepped on, breaking at the sight, but I didn't say anything.
"It'd be different if she had friends, but nobody is going over there." When I remained silent, he finally acknowledged it.
"Sorry, I know you guys..." he dragged on, and I shrugged. Jake was one of the two people who knew how I had once felt about Madison, but as far as he knew, that ended when her life did.

"That's the past, things are different now." I lied, walking over to our table that was in the middle of the cafeteria. I hated it; there was no privacy and there were so many people around me. I always sat on the end, keeping myself partially secluded from them.

Emma was beside me, and apparently her new best friend Lily beside her. Lily was questionable to me; she was only upset for about two days after Madison's death, but she quickly got back in the cheer and popularity game, starting to sit at the "athletes table" last March.
Their friendship was one I couldn't wrap my head around, and seeing as Lily's "best friend" was sitting by herself, I figured she had been taken over by the cheer and softball team. I had tuned most of them out, but couldn't ignore the loud laughter at something that must have been said.

"You're mighty silent over there, Ty," Emma said, putting her hand on my arm.

"Sorry if I don't want to spend all of lunch talking shit about a girl who just came back from the dead." The table went nearly silent, Emma giving me an apologetic look as I walked away, tossing my tray in the trash on the way. Luckily, my last period of the day was study hall, so I could get my homework done before the end of the day, and before the party.