I sat down my pen. Finished. A slow smile creeps up on me as I turned in my AP Econ pre-exam quiz to a grateful Mr. Burke before collecting my things and leaving the classroom. I huffed a sigh, knowing that lunchtime was in a few minutes, but feeling a bit glum that my friends were still in classes with preparations for exams.

"Demario."

I whipped around to see both Zoe and Valerie, both dressed in casual winter clothes, walking towards me before giving me hugs. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We just stopped by to take you to lunch," Valerie commented as she brushed back a braid from her face. "Zoe and I were finished with our finals at SMU and we just came home for Christmas vacation. That, and we owe you a visit since we missed out on your birthday party yesterday."

Mr. Tucker had explained that his daughters were busy with term papers and exams as they were graduate students and were unable to make it, but did send over an amazing portrait of my late maternal grandparents that one of their classmates did alongside a set of sheet music and skincare products.

"Well, I'm down for a good lunch myself, but I have to be back in time for classes," I told them.

"That's why the Callaways offered to set up a catered lunch in the conference room," Zoe replied. "And Val and I want to talk to you about something."

"Well, then. Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later, we were in the conference room of the main office as the girls (alongside the newly-arrived Nguyen twins,  Gianna, and Jose) sat down to a lunch of steaks, baked potatoes, and gourmet salads from a trendy bistro with glasses of iced tea and brownie cake for dessert. "Demario, I'll cut straight to the chase," Zoe began. "You remember the day of your suicide attempt, right?"

I nodded slowly. "I wasn't feeling my best version of myself back then," I admitted. "Back then, I was newly disowned and left wondering what was happening next. I wasn't street-smart enough to survive; and going into drug-dealing or prostitution wasn't my forte, never mind the fact that Grandma Lottie Mae would haunt me from the dead if I did either."

Valerie bit back a smile, knowing that my grandmother didn't play around with youths involved in the street life. "Well, Zoe and I were checking in on you that day when we found you," she intoned. "Demario, what we saw made our blood run cold..."

****************

FLASHBACK (The Day of the Attempt, Third-Person POV)...

"I still can't believe that Mrs. Bader just up and cut Demario from her life, not to mention arranging for him to be homeless," Zoe spat angrily as she and her family reconvened at their apartment, groaning at the sounds of rap music playing in the hallways as the remaining members of the Bader-Simmons-Ingram families were whooping and celebrating Demario's misfortune. "I knew that his family were full of snakes and shit, but this is a new kind of low even for them."

"I worry what'll happen to Demario now that he'll be homeless in seven days," Mrs. Bader commented as Valerie joined her in the kitchen while her other daughter and her husband were in the living room. "That poor boy did everything right, even planning his parents and siblings' funeral without any help, but he ended up getting kicked in the mouth."

Mr. Tucker harrumphed loudly, sitting down in his favorite recliner, the TV playing the news. "Lottie Mae made me and everyone else in this aparment complex promise to take good care of her grandson," he said morosely. "No thanks to her daughter, we failed to keep our promise to him. I failed."

"We didn't fail him, Daddy," Valerie hummed, helping her mother with covering some chicken wings in flour. "Vivian blackmailed anyone and everyone she could to ensure that Demario didn't have it easy. And while most of these people aren't as squeaky-clean as others are, she wanted to have an iron-clad grip on Demario's welfare and wanted him miserable. Some of us tried to ease his load, but you know how her crooked-cop brother is. If the Ingrams has their way, they'll jsut hire someone to kill Demario and make it look like he killed himself."

Zoe turned to her sister, eyes lit up in fear at the mention of suicide. "You don't supposed that today would be the ultimate breaking point for Demario to even commit suicide, do you?"

"What do you mean?" her father wanted to know.

His daughter inhaled sharply. "What if Demario being disowned and set up for homelessness might give him cause to end his life? I mean, he kept his emotions in check and never lashed out, but what if this is all too much and..."

The twins raced out of their home and made a beeline for Demario's apartment, Zoe knocking on the door. "Demario?!" she hollered, not caring if anyone started to open their doors and see what the commotion was. "Demario, are you okay?"

"What's going on?" an elderly woman asked. "Miss, are you looking for that boy?"

"Here," Valerie said, giving her twin sister the master key that unlocked all the apartment doors. "Take this, girl."

Zoe took the key and unlocked the door, she letting out a shriek of fear at the sight of Demario in a daze as he swallowed down what looked like some antidepressants and chased it down with a sip of alcohol from his late father's flask. "Demario!" she screamed, coming to the teen's side. "Oh my God, Demario! What the-"

"Shit!" a rough-faced young man said, looking inside to see what was going on. "That kid looks like he was takin' his momma's happy pills and drinking some vodka."

"Call an ambulance!" Valerie ordered as her parents came inside, her mother bursting in tears. "Demario, stay with me."

"Hello, can I get an ambulance to Fairlake Arms Apartment Complex?" someone said over the phone. "Yes, a young man was discovered by the landlord's daughters as he was attempting suicide. Yes, we're at the Fairlake Arms Apartments and he's at apartment 221. Please hurry!"

Minutes later, the paramedics and police arrived on the scene, the former group placing Demario on a stretcher.

"Shit," one of the younger gangbangers cursed to himself. "Man, the litle dude's family pushed him until he finally snapped."

"This is fucking messed-up, bro," one of his friends agreed. "We all stood by and let this happen no thanks to his momma and her brood."

"Poor Demario," one of the teen moms said in dismay, guarding her infant son from seeing what was going on. "He's a good kid who didn't do anything wrong."

"Lord Jesus," an older man said, shaking his head. "Lottie Mae would've come down to beat his family silly for pushing him to do this. That poor boy's been broken."

"They did him so wrong," his wife commented. "I hope the Baders and Ingrams burn in hell for all of this."

Zoe and Valerie were crying and hugging each other, the former looking as if she was about to have a panic attack before another paramedic attended to her with an oxygen mask on hand as her parents came to Valerie's side. "Demario's being taken to St. Luke's," Mr. Tucker commented. "He'll be under suicide watch until someone can find him a home."

"Let's hope that his foster family can help him, Daddy," Valerie sobbed. "His family won't care, them thinking that he'll be out of their hair and lives. For them, he wasn't a part of their family and they wanted him gone. I'll never forgive them for this. And I won't forget this! Ever!"

And for Valerie and her family, that was a firm promise as they knew that Demario's breaking point pushed him to try and end his life...

***************

PRESENT-DAY, Demario's POV

"By the time we learned that you're in suicide watch, everyone back at Fairlake Arms was breathing sighs of relief," Valerie finished for her sister as everyone was soon misty-eyed. "Your stomach was pumped out, but you didn't wake up until the day after we found you, Demario. Everyone was so heartbroken for you."

Zoe hummed, accepting a tissue from the receptionist.

I also accepted one to wipe my eyes. "I'm so sorry that you saw me like that," I breathed. "I was feeling so numb from the shock and just so tired of being rejected for all of my life that I wanted the pain to go away."

"We can't blame you, but we can't forget what might've happened if we didn't get there in time," Zoe pointed out. "Don't EVER think that you'd need to do something drastic to get rid of anything that's been bugging you, Demario Bader. You aren't a lost cause and you're not unwanted. You have so much to fight for and it took you a while to see that. All that you are and all that you've been through shows your character. Life is meant to be lived and nurtured properly. You're here and alive, Demario, and I thank God almighty that you're coming back with a full force. Any time that you're in need of a friend, you can count on people who can wish you the best. Let yourself exhale and breathe, Demario. You are worth it."

There. She said it all and the dams broke all around as we all had a good cry. And all I could do was promise myself to keep my promise and remember Oliver's.

This was one of the most-emotional chapters that came to my mind, even as I finished writing this. And I bet y'all are crying as I was getting ready to while writing this! At least we know what went down while Demario was lost in a daze.

Anyway, it's time for the lighter side of things as we're two chapters and the epilogue away from ending this story, folks! And in the next chapter, it's time for the Winter-Break Concert and Formal Dance as Demario performs a new song and then enjoys dancing with Oliver before they head over to Boston! Folks, the time is coming when we get ready to see how it all ends!

Dedication: MatthewD_Writes and iamRodneyVSmith. Song: "I Can See in Color" by Mary J. Blige (from the "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" official soundtrack).

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