The rest of the day seemed to blur on, every subject bleeding into the next, until finally it was time to be released from Hell so we could run away back to the safety of our houses.

The bell rang for end of the last period, and as everyone went to get their things, our History teacher Ms Cooper barked "The bell does not dismiss you, I do!"

Everyone groaned and sank back into their seats.

I looked up from the piece of paper I had been scribbling on and saw my friends giving each other eye-rolls.

When they didn't make contact with me, I felt a small but unavoidable pang of sadness.

"Okay, get going." Ms Cooper ordered.

As students burst into chatter around me, getting up to leave, I shoved my book in my bag and zipped it up.

The zipper jammed.

Dam!

"Hold up, guys," I called to my friends. 

I did up the zipper as Ms Cooper sat at her own desk, glowering at the pile of papers she had to mark.

I finally did up the zipper and whipped my bag around, slipping my other arm through the strap.

I lifted my stiff head up and looked skyward; my neck ached from looking down for so long.

"Okay, now let's –"

I looked back down to see nobody in front of me.

I thought I had been talking to Casey, Skye, Gracie, or Lily.

But I hadn't. There was nobody next to me.

Because they were all gone.

<⚙︎>

My feet thudded on the concrete, sounding like thunder against the pavement.

I ran to Lyn's classroom and peered in.

She was still there, packing up her utensils and things, the only one left. I waited outside the door.

She finished and walked out, where I surprised her.

"BOO!" I yelped as she glanced at me.

"Heyup, Gypsy," she said instead.

Disappointing. Guess I'll have to surprise her a different way.

I walked with her to the gate, talking along the way.

"I heard Jason in chemistry likes you," I said with a straight face.

Lyn stopped and gaped. "Really? Where did you –"

I laughed. "Sorry, Lyn," I apologised. "He doesn't. But at least I surprised you now!"

Evelyn got really quiet and stared at the ground as she walked. "Not funny," she said.

I felt a sense of dread swirl inside my ribcage, like I had done something irreversible. "Hey," I reassured, "it was just a joke."

Immediately I realised that was the wrong thing to say.

Evelyn glared at me. "Don't joke about someone liking me," she said.

I felt the dread get heavier, more dense, more real.

"Sorry!" I said, forcefully. "I didn't know you'd get so defensive over it, I was just tryna play around!"

"What's wrong with you?"

The dread took form of a dark cloud hanging in my chest, a storm in my stomach.

"I told you not to mess with my feelings and now you're playing victim. You're always like this!" She exclaimed. "Just – not today. I don't wanna do this today."

With that, Evelyn turned and walked away. Like nothing had happened.

As if she hadn't just broke my mind.

Rain that hadn't been there seconds before started trickling, then came down all at once like it was trying to beat me into the ground. It was personal rain, like it was specifically targeting me. Like I couldn't escape it, even if I ran indoors.

What was funny was that even though every raindrop felt like a brick to my skin, Lyn's words, shaped like needles and stinging just as much so, hurt more.

<⚙︎>

When I got home, I was soaked all the way to the bone. No one else was there, so I took a shower, wondering why my other four friends had just bailed.

Oh yeah, and why Lyn got so bent out of shape about my joke. She totally flipped out.

I felt awful.
And angry.

Awful and angry are not a good combo to be feeling when it's raining outside (raining enough to fill at least twenty swimming pools, mind you).

After I got out of the shower, I tried to make myself somewhat decent, dressing in casual clothing I didn't really like.

I padded to my backyard deck, watching as the rain splattered down onto everything: our outside furniture, our grass, our wooden swing, our clothesline, our trampoline.

I focused, sitting in the dryness of the back deck, closing my eyes and concentrating.

In my mind I imagined all the rain on the ground collecting into one large ball of pure water.

I opened my eyes to see a gigantic sphere of rotating water floating in my backyard.

I gathered all my anger.

Closed my eyes.

Stood up.

And hurtled the water into the sky.

Then it exploded, scattering raindrops over everything and coating the world in a layer of dew.

I specifically made it rain hardest on the houses of Casey, Lily, Gracie, Skye and Lyn. 

Yes, because I was petty, and yes, because I was in a bad mood, but I felt like the reason for my anger justified my actions.

Hey, they did the bad thing. I was just giving them a small repayment, a gift for their behaviour.

For abandoning me.

I ran inside, all my anger screeching to get out somehow.

I grabbed all the spare paper from my bag and anywhere I could, the pieces I didn't and would never need.

I pulled them outside, onto a dry patch of concrete.

And I watched as they burst into flames, coiling as the heat licked at them, and my anger screamed satisfyingly.

Burn it all down.

I opened my mouth to let out any kind of noise; a scream, a bellow, a roar, it could've even been a squeak for all I cared. But to my pity, all that came out was a sob.

I let the tears fall.

I let the fire burn.

I let my brother find me there when he got home from homework classes, shaking me to get me to stop crying and screaming when he saw the fire.

I let my neighbours peek in to see what the crying and screaming was about, and they joined in the pity party too, their shrieks most unpleasant.

I let the fire consume our backyard, not doing a thing to stop it.

I didn't care.

Didn't care about anything.

Yeah, I know there are worse things in the world happening right now, but when your friends have left you and you're filled with such anger and you have the power to destroy, you can't bring yourself to care about the consequences.

I knew I was gonna regret this later.

But like I said before, I didn't have the energy to think about anyone but myself right now. Maybe my selfishness would someday be my downfall. Who knows.

It wasn't until two more people arrived did I realise how much of a mistake I'd made.