School has never been hard for me. Grades are easy to keep up, band is a breeze. I'll swear up and down that you only can accomplish great things with hard work and constant vigilance, but honestly I have always just coasted by on natural talent and common since. A God given talent I suppose. But that does not mean I was excited to go back to East Ridge High school after 3 weeks of sleeping till noon with the excuse that 'getting up makes my chest hurt.' But I was excited to get back to the band. I'm sure the wind ensemble has been missing there favorite fish, and first chair euphonium player. So here I was, six A.M. sitting at my vanity mirror, trying my best to create image I wanted to portray as I returned from the traumatic event. Innocent scared girl? Hardened girl that nobody can mess with? Depressed girl who had retreated inside herself? Or the girl she felt like, the shaking girl who has flash backs and has to take pills to sleep at night and is about to burst into tears at any moment. I decided that I'd just go looking as normal as possible, using my hair to hide the hideous gash on my face. But I knew I would have to be constantly adjusting it.

Neal honked outside, I sprung up grabbing my backpack, and running to the bathroom to grab the pills I had special permission to carry with me at school. I twisted the handle, but it was locked.

"Patrick!" I yelled at the door, "Neal is here, hurry up!"

"Chill spaz, I'm coming" Patrick replied his most annoyed tone.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Grab my pills okay?" I said, my voice dropping a little at the end. I knew how much it was hurting Patrick that I was still on pain medication from the accident. Even though it wasn't his fault, he blamed himself, maybe if his reaction time had been a little bit faster, he always said. But I knew there was no way he could have avoided that stupid driver. Who drives high on weed on a Tuesday afternoon? And without a license or insurance? He tried to drive away too, but only came back when he saw how damaged the car was and me sobbing on the ground.

"Alright" Patrick replied, his voice even softer than mine, all traces of annoyance gone.

Patrick finally finished primping and we walked to Neal's jeep together and of course I called shot gun and beat him there for good measure.

"It's so nice of you to finally join us, Miss Larrett!" Neal said, in his typical tone of condescending arrogance. Patrick and I knew this tone well though, it was how Neal showed how much he loved us and I could see that he really had been worried just like the rest of them.

"Yeah, I just couldn't bare the thought of going another day without seeing your beautiful face" I said cheerily, trying to convey to him that I wasn't any different than how I've always been, same smart mouthed little brat as always.

"No problem!" He said, a small smile spreading across his face. Neal was a junior, a close friend of Patrick's since sixth grade, so I'd known Neal since I was a fourth grader. By now I had grown used to his style changing monthly, and his hair color changing even more often. But Neal really was a sweet guy; he cared about Patrick and me. I used to have a huge crush on him, but then I grew up and realized that attractive older guys would never go for a girl like me.

We finally pulled into the parking lot of the school, and my stomach was doing back flips. I had been dreading this ever since I'd woken up in the hospital. I glanced over at Patrick and saw him clenching and unclenching his fists. I looked down and swung my extremely light back pack over my shoulder; my mom had purged it, taking out everything that she deemed useless, including my Spanish book, saying that I'd learn Spanish if I went to Mexico. Neal swung the band hall door open and held it for us with a quick "after you Larretts!" and we walked into the brightly lit room. The familiar smell of sweat and old musty instrument cases hit me like a brick wall, almost stopping me in my tracks.

Then the rush of emotions flooded into me, as heads turned and people saw that we were back. I closed my eyes, trying to block it out, but I couldn't. There were too many different voices invading my head, to many different styles of thinking. I opened my eyes and walked straight, the migraine began to set in, as the minds melding with mine refused to fade away. Fighting for my consciousness, battling for my attention. Kaitlin reached me first, tackling me in a bone crushing hug, Jen jumped in a few short seconds later.

"OMG Laney! We missed you soooooo much! OMG we are like sooo excited you back! " Kaitlin squealed. "I was like, so worried like I couldn't stop thinking about you, like seriously!" she continued, Jen nodding in agreement.

"Aw you guys are so sweet…" I replied. I knew she was full of crap, I could read her like a book. She knew everyone had their eyes on me, so she would play the heart-broken-best-friend clinging to me, so when people stare, they would have no choice but to stare at her too. Jen was just Kaitlin's puppy dog, copying her every move, and worshipping the ground she walked on. I smiled at them briefly and removed myself from the strangling hug. Kaitlin and Jen disappeared from my mind. Only two voices were left, Cooper's and Jordan's. It was easy now, to hear both of them, to understand both of their minds, and the way they thought. I walked to my locker and put away my instrument and carried my backpack to the table where my group meets every morning. It was easy with them, the people I loved. They were easy to tune out. Almost as if their minds didn't exist, like the hum of the ceiling fan you don't hear until it stops. I got the real hugs I had been craving, being a hug-a-holic like myself. So far only Allen, Neal, Katherine, Emily, Jordan, and Patrick and I were present from our group. I slipped into the basic school morning chatter, and let my mind wander.