Graduation was hell, to say the least. Everyone was looking at me with pity in their eyes, and they didn't even try to hide it! It annoyed me to no end. Austin didn't even look at me, and he had a new girl on his arm already. Hell, it might not have even been a new girl, I never pay attention to people before they talk to me. Or maybe he was cheating on me with her, I don't know.

After it was over with, I drove my grandmother home, helped make dinner for her, and then went out to meet my two friends for dinner. I had a kind of annoying song stuck in my head as I entered the restaurant of the town that all of the kids gather at, that was surprisingly empty for it being after graduation. 

I walked over to my friends, and, honestly, the closest thing I have to brothers, or family at all, besides my wonderful grandmother, of course. "Hey guys," I told them as I sat down.

"Hey, Enoch," my friend Danny replied, waving at me with a piece of pizza. Our third friend, Caden, nodded in my direction while chewing on a piece of the same pie. "We got your favorite: taco pizza!"

"Racist," I called as I sat down.

"Like you care."

"Eh, fair enough." I smiled, and actually laughed, for the first time since the day before the break-up. Caden looked at me, utterly surprised that I actually laughed. I glared at him, and he put his hands up in a sign of surrender. I smirked back at him. "Yes, I laughed at a joke. Why so surprised?"

"The only reason I began staring," Caden replied, swallowing, "Is because you look genuinely happy today."

"Well," I began, taking a slice of pizza, "I'm with my two best friends, I just graduated, and I'm single. What reason is there not to be happy?"

"Austin broke up with you?" Danny asked. "Damn, I called it."

"No need to act so happy about it," Caden chided him. "Sorry, we didn't know," he apologetically told me.

I just shrugged him off. "It's alright. Honestly," I said, taking a bite of pizza, "He was kind of getting to be tiring. He was acting a bit too lovey-dovey towards the end anyway. Y'all know I hate guys who are too romantic." They both nodded, agreeing with me. We continued to eat, until I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. Danny and Caden both became tense, and I could instantly tell who it was. "What do you want, Austin?" I spat.

"Well, look who's Miss Prissy," an annoyingly high-pitched voice interjected. "Oops, did I hurt your fag feelings?" I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to get up and do something harmful to them both.

"No, you didn't." I replied. "I'd expect nothing less from you, Janet." Well, I lied about not knowing the girl. She was always jealous of me, although there's nothing to be jealous about when it comes to me, in my opinion.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She shouted at me. I looked down at my plate, with half of a cold piece of pizza on it. I felt dizzy, like I was drifting away. Fuck, not now. Not another one. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

"Let him go!" I heard Caden yell. "He's having a panic attack, let him go!" I was suddenly in the middle of a very dark place and I was utterly alone. Whatever was going on in the pizza parlor was just background noise, distant background noise. Great, I'm here again. This is always the place I go during a panic attack. I shut my eyes, and the fireflies came. I taught myself to envision them whenever I have a panic attack and end up here. I saw the light of the fireflies being reflected in something, and something told me this wasn't something that was supposed to be in this dark place. Before I could see what it was, I was shaken out of my panic attack by Danny.

"Come on, Enoch! Austin swung at Caden after he yelled, and Caden knocked him out! You need to tell Traylor what happened!" Danny whisper-shouted to me. I groggily shook my head, shaking the image of something that I saw in the place, that has never been there before. About a half-hour later, Danny, Caden and I walked out of the parlor and went to our bikes. "So, where to, guys?" Danny asked. Caden and I hopped on our bikes and began to ride off, with Danny whining for us to wait behind us. "I know it was a stupid question, but don't ride off without meee!"