I closed my eyes, hearing the cries of nature that I thought would be the- last sounds I would hear. And with the song of a flock of migrating birds and the howl of the wind, I shifted.

"Don't do it."

You would probably be thinking; "thank goodness, somebody stopped him. I thought he was going to jump!". Well, you're right. Thank goodness somebody stopped that idiot, otherwise he would have.

I turned my head, the remainder of my tears still streaking my face with a hollow expression.

"What?" I growled. The same guy from my desk stood with his hands in his pockets, his backpack sagging over his shoulder. This guy had no right, I thought. He didn't make the decision of whether or not I wanted to get rid of myself.

"Whatever you're thinking, whether it's jumping off that building or if you're worthy of someone's pity and compassion for you, just stop thinking about it."

I waited a beat.

Two beats.

Three beats, merely staring at the guy.

"I've been where you are now, and trust me when I say that it only makes it harder not only for you, but for the people in your life as well. Come on bud, get off there." I wanted to believe he knew how I felt, but my stubborn self didn't budge from the corner of the building, still debating with myself.

The guy smiled at me- keep in mind it was the first real smile someone has ever given me since the accident. "Seriously dude, I'm lonely and hungry. Let's eat lunch together, yeah?"

His words made my self-doubt diminish slightly, fading along with the grey of the sky. Finally deciding on my answer, I stepped back from the corner and jumped off the ledge, the action sending a few vibrations of pain through my right leg.

"Luckily I have another sandwich with me. Wanna share?" the guy knelt down onto the cement of the rooftop, opened his backpack and tossed me a water bottle, followed by a plastic wrapped sandwich.

"The name is Joshua Goodman, don't forget it. It's probably the most realistic name you could ever hear in your life." Joshua cracked a laugh, causing me to lose a bit of my impassive demeanor. I gave the faintest of chuckles and sat down against the wall of- the rooftop. "You must be a very realistic person then, Joshua." I smiled a bit, removing the sandwich from it's plastic seal and biting into it.

"Oh trust me, I am."

After a full hour of ranting on about the things in life we hate and how we wish to find the yin to our yang, a comfortable silence settled in the air, the fresh smell of frost whipping against us every now and then.

The silence is interrupted by a content laugh. I look beside me.

"What?"

Joshua shrugged.

"Nothing, I was just thinking of what to call us. The duo of stupidity?"

I smiled, leaning my head back and watching the movements of clouds unfold from their previous shape into a new one.

"The social pariahs." I stuck my hands into my pockets and smiled, enjoying the idea of a new, realistic friendship.

"Wait! I got one."

I looked over at Joshua who's facial expression is practically eating himself away with eagerness.

"The social pariah and wonder boy! How's that?"

We both erupted in a fit of laughter, a comfortable pain from all the humor grouping in my stomach as I doubled over in hysterics. It wasn't the name that he called the both of us, but the fact that I actually felt comfortable with someone. It's a stupid excuse to laugh, but in that moment, I felt alive. And that was all I ever wanted to feel in my whole life.

So in full honesty, though I thought the idea of friends was just an illusion or an excuse to be someone you're not, I sat there on the rooftop, abandoning the bustling students and classrooms filled with the smell of Chanel perfume and alcohol in exchange for a simple conversation with one of the most realistic people I met that day.