What had gotten into Stacey? I tried calling again, for the third time, but it rang all the way to voicemail.  I sighed and opened my locker and rummaged around for my things. Why did she seem to fall off the grid more all of a sudden when I needed to talk to her? I slammed my locker shut and sat down on the floor to wait.

People walked by me but I paid them no attention- I spent enough time in this school, I didn't want to be here any longer than I absolutely had to. I was getting ready to cut my losses and walk home when I saw a flash of blonde at the end of the hallway; I stood and waited for her to make her way over. She walked slowly. The guy she had practically draped herself over seemed to be in no hurry... But she clearly didn't want to see me. Why?! I frowned and nodded to her.

"Stacey, did you get my message?"

She didn't even look at me all the way. "Oh, hey Tim. Yeah, listen, I can't drive you home today. Zack needs a ride, I'm gonna go with him." She nudged the guy she was with. He poked her in the belly, and she slapped his hand away but giggled like she used to when I would tease her.

Zack. Captain of the football team, star wrestler, National Honor Society president... and he played the guitar. That Zack.

"Oh," I said. "So... Are we still on for tomorrow night?"

Zack frowned. "Sorry, I didn't realize you guys had plans. My band is playing a show tomorrow night so I got her a backstage pass..."

"We can meet up some other time, Tim," said Stacey, pretty insincerely.

"No, it's fine. I understand," I said. "My needs aren't that important." I gathered my things, tears in my eyes that I wouldn't let them see, and I stormed out of the school. Stacey had been my girl for three years... We had been through so much! I had supported her the whole time, and now as soon as she loses twenty pounds she ditches me for some guy with big muscles and a band! I walked home slowly through the rain, feeling thoroughly betrayed. She had ripped my heart out without as much as a second glance.

...

"Geez, Stace, is your pal gonna be alright? He seemed pretty upset earlier," said Zack.

Stacey shrugged. "Tim? He'll get over it."

"You two dated for a long time, didn't you?"

She shrugged again. "That was back when we were different people. He called me six times yesterday night while I was in the shower. Six times! He was so much less needy back then... And I was fat."

Zack barked out a laugh. "Well, you look like you're doing a little better now!" 

Stacey smiled, wryly. "Better how? With men? Or with my weight?"

Zack winked. "Well you landed the best guy in school, and you look like a walking Abercrombie model. So I guess I'd say both."

Stacey laughed, blushing, and Zack gestured out the window at a house coming up on the right. Stacey pulled to a stop, and Zack leaned over to kiss her goodbye. "I'll catch you tomorrow night." He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.

Some of the heat faded from Stacey's face as the door shut, and she slowly made her way home. She took the long way, twisting and turning through side streets and main roads, trying to delay the inevitable. When she finally made it to her apartment she sat in the car for a few minutes... But she couldn't stay there all night. She crept up the stairs and opened the door as quietly as she could... Mom was passed out on the couch, good.

Stacey cleaned up a few of the empty bottles and swept up a patch of broken glass on the floor, and she poked her head inside the room she shared with her sister.

"Stacey!" Sarah's face lit up.

"Sarah, how was your day?"

"Mom was drinking again," said Sarah. Stacey understood what she meant but she didn't actually use those words; the doctors said Sarah probably wouldn't ever be able to talk like a girl her age. Her condition had a name; Stacey couldn't think of it.

"I'll make us dinner," Stacey said.

She cracked open a can of soup and poured it in the only clean pan in the kitchen, and sat down at the only table in the apartment, a little card table, while it heated up. 

Stacey took a deep breath. She looked at her mother, dead to the world on the couch. She thought of her poor sister in the other room. She checked her phone. Four new messages from Tim. Tim just didn't get it.

Stacey put her head down on the table.