Patricia's POV

I sat in French class bored, copying how to conjugate the verb 'to go'. I dropped my pencil onto my paper after it was written into my notes. The entire class was practically asleep. Jerome actually had fallen asleep. Even Fabian could hardly keep his eyes open! I raised my hand and Mrs. Andrews nodded her head towards me.

"Could I use the restroom?" I asked, looking for any excuse to leave this damned room.

"You may." She said and I hopped out of my seat. I happily walked from the classroom and into the hallway. The air was less warm out here and the air vents gave a nice breeze. As I stood under one of the vents trying to cool down, I heard someone talking.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for letting me know...Yeah, I miss you too... Alright, love you too, bye." I heard and then the click of a phone. I walked to the end of the hallway and saw Eddie sitting with his knees to his chest on the floor, clutching his phone in his hand. His face was wet and coated with thick tears. His eyes were all puffy and the tip of his nose was red. He heard me approach, but didn't turn to acknowledge me.

I dropped to the floor beside him and stared at the side of his face.

"Are you alright?" I asked timidly. I was used to seeing him joking around and being sarcastic; him crying and upset was completely foreign to me.

"Not really." He responded honestly before chuckling lamely. "Not at all, actually."

"What's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and wiped the tears off his face before launching into his story. "Well, you know how the United States are in a war against Iraq? My dad was a soldier. He was in an airplane, supposed to be coming back to America after a year of being deployed, when they sent a missile at his plane. It burst into flames and crashed. That was my mom on the phone, telling me that no one survived the crash." Eddie explained, his voice thick with tears. Tears filled my eyes as I stared at him.

"Eddie, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah... Me too. The last time I talked to him was a few weeks ago. He was all pissed off at me for getting kicked out of my old school. He hung up on me before I could even say goodbye." Eddie said quietly. I slid my arms around his neck and hugged him into me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and cried into my shoulder. I smoothed the back of his hair down, rubbing my hands over his back and shoulders.

"I'm so sorry..." I kept whispering over and over. I don't know how long we sat there for. I held him, swaying back and forth, while he cried. Finally, he pulled away and released a breath. He wiped the tears off his face and calmed down.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have told you all that." He apologized. I shook my head vigorously and rubbed my hand over his shoulder.

"No, no, I'm glad you told me. I'm always here for you if you wanna talk about it." I told him, sounding nothing like myself. He nodded and looked up to the ceiling.

"This sucks." He muttered before standing up and helping me off the ground. "We better be heading back to class."

"Yeah. Again, I'm so sorry." I whispered and pulled him into a hug. I felt his arms hook around my waist and I kissed his cheek softly. "I'm here if you need anything."

"Thanks, Yacker." He said softly into my hair. I released him and gave him a small smile. He smiled back and sighed, preparing to take on the rest of the day.

In that moment, Eddie wasn't just some new guy from America. He became real. He had raw emotion just like everyone else. He had a serious side, with problems and worries and regrets. As horrible as the memory is, I think this is the moment I truly fell for him.

My friend's dad just passed away in the war, so I was inspired to write this. Though it's sad, I really like it. Review for me? And someone shoot me a PM, I'm feeling lonely & need a new writer friend(: