Chapter Text
“I’m the omniscient narrator,” Simon says.
“There’s no such thing in teen movies.” Bronwyn retorts.
“Ah, but Bronwyn.” Simon winks and chugs his water in one long gulp. “There is such a thing in life.” He holds his cup up, grimacing. “This tastes like crap.”
Bronwyn scoffs, turning back to the window to watch as the two cars speed off right as Mr. Avery walks outside the building.
The sudden sound of coughing filled the room, followed quickly by pained gasps. Startled, the 4 teenagers turn to face their classmate as he collapses on the floor, hands on his throat as he struggles to breathe. Simon took in strangled gasps of air as he clawed at his collar, face turning paler by the moment.
Bronwyn was the first to his side, grabbing Simon by his arms to keep him upright and figure out what was happening. “Simon, what's going on?” She tried to get an answer out of him as he grasped at her arms, his iron grip bruising her flesh as his panicked eyes met hers.
“He’s having an allergic reaction!” Nate realizes, racing to Simon’s school bag and dumping it on the floor in search of Simon’s EpiPen. “Cooper, go check the Nurse’s office for an EpiPen!” Cooper nods, frantically running out of the room with newfound determination.
As Cooper Left, Bronwyn ran to Mr. Avery’s desk and grabbed her (not fake) phone out of his desk, dialing 911 as fast as her fingers would let her. Her conversation with the operator became background noise as Simon’s pained gasps grew louder.
Addy, standing back in shock, watched with horror as her classmates searched and failed to find Simon’s EpiPen. “Wait,” She realizes, “I have an EpiPen!”
Bronwyn and Nate snap their gaze to her, their horrified expressions morphing into hope as Addy rushes to her bag. She quickly finds her own EpiPen for her wasp allergy, and slides next to Simon on the floor before stabbing it into his thigh.
The rest of the time in detention went by in a blur. Cooper came back empty-handed, relief filling his features as Addy told him what happened. Mr. Avery had returned shortly after and, after learning about what happened, ran to the front of the school to direct the paramedics.
Nate and Bronwyn stayed by Simon’s side until the paramedics appeared, watching as they whisked him away to the hospital to retrieve professional care.
The 4 remaining students were dismissed immediately after, each in their own state of shock and worry.
—----------------------
He survived, barely. The Paramedics confirmed that without Addy’s EpiPen, Simon would have most likely passed within his time at the school.
The thought was horrifying.
—----------------------
Simon sighed, staring up at the fluorescent lighting of the hospital as the steady beeping of his heart rate monitor filled the silence of his small assigned room.
Damn Addy. Damn her to hell.
It had been about 10 hours since his failed attempt at dramatics, and the guilt and regret were eating him alive.
He should just go downstairs to the hospital cafeteria and down a bag of peanuts right now, but his love for theatrics persisted his longing for death.
His parents had met the paramedics at the hospital, supposedly. He didn’t believe them, but they were there when he woke up, so he had no real proof against the fact.
“Simon, what happened?” “Simon, are you ok?” “Simon, sweetheart, we’re here for you,” they both insisted, over and over again. It was as irritating as it was nauseating.
All he had to do was deny, deny, deny.
“We found peanut oil residue inside your cup. Do you know how that got there?”
“Why wasn’t your EpiPen in your bag, Simon?”
“Do you know if anyone has it out for you?”
The questions were bound to roll in sooner rather than later. His mom would refuse to believe this was just an accident, and she’ll be ready to pursue a legal case with the school if she has to.
He couldn’t tell them why; they’d just put him back in therapy, or worse. Besides, his mom would never believe he would be capable of killing himself.
Well, I suppose she’s right on that front, Simon thought bitterly to himself.
The medics had already questioned him about the cuts on his arms, they gave him the whole mental health speech, he didn't want to hear it from his suddenly caring mother too.
He just desperately needed to get out of this damn hospital, go to his room, and sleep. And preferably never wake up.
How could he face school now, when it was already a living hell before?
—-------------
It was 2 days before his parents let him go back to school. Simon had foolishly hoped news of his near-death would have been kept under wraps, but alas. Noting at Bayview was a secret. Especially when Simon was involved, although he was usually on the other end of things.
“You should’ve stayed dead.” Some girl with bottle blond for brains muttered as she shoved past him, laughing as she left.
“Maybe now you’ll quit with your stupid app,” someone else said as he stopped by his locker, examining the more-than-normal amount of notes taped on and slipped into his locker. Most filled with ‘Quit posting about me’ followed by a few choice words. Although he did find one or two slips of paper with kind words, such as ‘I’m glad you lived, maybe now you understand what I suffered through. -Leah’ oops, never mind.
Simon dumped the useless trash into the nearest bin, watching as his hate mail fluttered down. He grabbed his books, shutting his locker as Jake appeared behind him, with an unusually shy Addy hanging off his arm.
“Hey, Simon, buddy! I heard about what happened. We should talk about it later.” Jake gave him a subtle not so not-so-subtle look, his eyes barely hiding the hateful glare in his eye that so many of his other classmates shoot his way.
“Yeah, sure, Jake,” Simon replied, his more than normally dark eyes meeting his former friend’s and current(?) scheming partner’s for just a moment before returning forward. He started to tear down the crude imagery and less-than-tasteful notes from his locker door as Jake continued speaking.
“Well, you know,” his irritating voice drawled on mock sympathy trailing through every syllable. “I figured we used to be friends, and this must’ve been traumatic. Well, I’ll swing by later tonight. Oh, and Addy says she’s glad you’re ok.” Said girlfriend hits him on the shoulder, clearly annoyed with his words, and her boyfriend laughs.
By watching them, you’d never assume what Jake’s intentions really were.
And if it weren’t for her, everything would be perfect right now.
With that thought running through his mind, Simon muttered a half-assed response before walking away, stewing in his newfound anger.
How on earth would he get through this day without blowing his brains out is beyond him.