Thought Bubble: The Story of Phone Calls

Prologue
August 31st

I had the absolute pleasure of officially meeting Karma Williams on the very last day of summer. The Roth Community Pool was full of adolescents, either sucking each others faces or beating each other up. Roth was an...interesting town. We have a population of idiots. Mainly teenagers. The town for some reason had been a popular moving spot back when we were all born, or something like that.

This particular morning, Karma Williams was banging Jacob Carner in the showers. She was a slut, you could say. Nothing special about her. Well, one special thing. She had cancer. She had cancer that no one, not even her parents, her regular doctor, or anyone knew about. Except me. I had been volunteering at the "Talk-To-Me" center in town to get college credit, and she called. I had recognized her voice, barely though. She'd been sobbing like crazy. She whispered quietly that she went to see a doctor about a pain in her hip, and he evaluated her and gave her a catscan and everything. This was behind her parents back. She said she didn't want them freaking out. She only told her Great Aunt about it. She had paid for all the doctor's visits. Sadly, her Great Aunt was slowly dying herself. Bedridden. So, Karma was on her own.

Until she called. I talked her through it, told her she would be fine. Eventually, she asked me if we knew each other. I said we went to school together. She was all giddy. She thought I could be her friend. Sadly, I wasn't worthy of her status of popularity, so all I got were tiny smiles from her in the hall. And of course the weekly phone call.

Karma and I never talked in person. She used to sob and say how sorry she was for being so rude. I told her it was fine. I understood. Roth High was a kingdom. You never saw a princess associating so kindly with a slave.

Jacob walked out of the locker rooms, so hard that you could see his dick sticking up from under his disheveled swim trunks. Later, Karma strode out in white shorts and a blue tee. Her cotton-candy pink and blonde hair was hanging in her face. As she brushed it away, she put on black sunglasses. She started walked toward her stuff, when her face took on a pained expression. She clutched her side.

I ran over.

"Are you okay?" I whispered. She gritted her teeth, wincing. She managed to shake her head.

"You want a ride to the ER?" I asked. She shook her head again and murmured, "Parents. Find. Out." I sighed and bit my lip.

"Just. Drive. To. Doctor," she said.

So, in half an hour, Karma had gotten into my car and I'd driven her to her doctor. I waited outside for a while. Pretty soon, they informed me that Karma was being taken into surgery. I was terrified. I tried keeping calm as they wheeled her out on a stretcher, to another room in the office.

After several hours of waiting, cups of coffee, lies to my parents about where I was, and pacing, a nurse came out and called me.

"Ava Wells?" she asked. I stood up and walked over.

Well, two things happened that day. I officially met Karma Williams.

And she died.

Part One
November

Chapter One

It was Thanksgiving time in Roth. That meant plastic turkeys were stuck around the perfectly trimmed yards with white picket fences. I despised all holidays. Most of them meant nothing but extra expenses thanks to Hallmark. Thanksgiving, a time of thanks, a time to have a somewhat large meal with family. Not, a ginormous feast with every food ever shared with millions of relatives who you only see twice a year if you're lucky.

I was hoping to work on Thanksgiving night. I hated my family. I was still working at the phone center. Karma's death had convinced me that I had to do more in the world. I thought I could start there. The phone center was run out of Alice Kint's apartment in the middle of town, above a bakery. Alice Kint was one of the smartest people in Roth. She'd grown up here, then miraculous made it out. She'd been in the Peace Corps for years, then she traveled the world doing volunteer work. She was the model of what people should be. She was my role model, really.

My co-workers were Terri Gardener, an old woman who used to be a social worker, Sam York, a guy with one leg who'd served in Afghanistan, and Georgia Klein, a sixth grader who was kicked out of Girl Scouts by the appallingly rude troop leader for not doing the same amount of work as everyone else (she'd done more on her own, you see). We were a small company. But we did our part. We did good.

Karma Williams had been my regular for a year. After she died, I explained to Alice what had happened. She asked me if I wanted to take on more than one regular at a time. I agreed. I thought I wouldn't get as attached to these people as Karma. Oh, how wrong I was.

There was Robbie Tucker, who always insisted I call him Robert, but I always called him Robbie no matter what. He was a semi-popular senior at Roth High. His problem was, he was being forced to be an accountant. He was crazy good at math, and his parents were both accounts. Everyone had assumed that he would be one too. But he wanted to be a journalist. He owned one of those old typewriters even. He told me how he wrote articles on everything, and hide them in a shoebox in his closet. I always laughed when I talked to Robbie. He wasn't seriously depressed, he just needed someone to talk to.

Then there was Margo Townsend. She was a freshman at Roth High, and freaking nervous. Her dad had some blood disease that he was constantly in the hospital for. She had an strict, cruel stepmom who refused to do anything for her. And, Margo was failing a few of her classes. Yeah, she really needed someone to talk to.

Patsy Harrison was depressed. She cut a lot. She was in the eighth grade. She weighed in at 164 pounds exactly. She hated herself. I told her everyday how wonderful she was. How nice, pretty, and smart she was. I tried my best. Some days I considered having Alice take her. Alice took all the severe depression cases normally. She thought I could handle Patsy though. She was somewhat right.

And then there was Derek Austin. He was one of the more special ones. He was addicted, severely addicted to drugs. Anything he could get his hands on really. Usually it was Meth. Sometimes it was Cocaine. Or Heroin. On really bad selling days Pot. He drank vodka like it was water. I told him that he had the wrong number. He claimed he didn't. He said he could tell his dealer to cut him off anytime. Derek said he did to not be depressed. Both his parents had died in a car crash he'd been in when he was a baby. He lived with his ancient Grandfather who was near dead. He had no friends. He was lonely. I told him how talking to me could help him stop. But he said he needed real friends. So, he gave me the idea of Thought Bubble.

Thought Bubble would be an after-school club for middle schoolers and high schoolers. We'd pretend it was a Journalist or Philosophy club. So, I asked the principal. Mr. White said sure. And thus, Thought Bubble was started.

The first meeting was on the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break. We met in the Media Studies room at exactly two twenty-five. When I walked in at two twenty eight, Derek already sat in there, holding his hands neatly and smiling. His golden and light brown curly hair was messed up today. He wore a white t-shirt and jeans. He looked like a beach douche. But, I knew Derek. He was far from a douche.

"Hey," I smiled, putting my bag on a chair. "Ava Wells," he greeted. He always called me that. Never just Ava. It was always Ava Wells. It reminded me of Augustus always calling Hazel Hazel Grace in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. That was possibly the best book ever. I was overjoyed to make a "personal connection" as they say.

"How are you?" I asked him. He shook his head. "My life is still a shithole, but this might make things better. You?" he replied. I was glad to notice that he wasn't high or drunk at the moment. "My thoughts are stars that I cannot fathom into constellations," I muttered, taking out my phone and checking my messages. "Quoting John Green, huh?" an all too familiar voice said behind me. I whipped around to see Mitchell standing behind me. "What are you doing here....?" I began, but I stopped my wondering and ran up to hug him.

"I had to come. I know what this is about," he told me. I smiled, my head resting on his shoulder. Mitchell was the only one who knew about my time the Phone Center. Our hands were instantly locked together, almost like magic. I turned back to Derek. He was staring out of the window, looking rather bored and frustrated.

"Mitchell this is Derek. Derek, this is..." Mitchell reached out and shook Derek's hand. "I'm Mitchell Rutter. I'm Ava's boyfriend," he explained. Derek suppressed a forced smile. "Pleasure," Derek muttered.

We sat in silence for a while. Patsy showed up and sat next to Derek. She looked thinner. I smiled. I asked her if she lost weight and she nodded. I walked over and hugged her. Later, Robbie and Margo walked in together. They were talking about some TV. Once Upon a Time I think. Anyway, they sat and everyone looked at me.

"Um...hi," I began. "So, we all know why we're here. I've been talking to you guys for about three months now. I thought we should all meet up in a group and talk together. Let's go around and introduce ourselves," I suggested. Mitchell went first.

"I'm Mitchell Rutter. I'm a junior. I'm here to support Ava," he said, kissing my cheek. I blushed. Next was Robbie.

"I'm Robert Tucker, though Ava loves calling me Robbie. I'm a senior. I'm here because everyone thinks I'm going to be a goddamn accountant. And I don't want to be."

Margo next.

"I'm Margo Townsend. I'm a freshman. I'm here because my stepmom is evil and my dad is dying. I'm also about to flunk out of school, but, I'm okay."

Pasty whispered, "I'm Pasty Harrison. I'm in eighth grade. I'm here because I hate myself."

Derek.

"Derek Austin. Pleased to meet all of you. I'm here because I'm addicted to everything and my life sucks balls."

And then me.

"You all know me, I guess. I'm Ava Wells. I'm here because I want to help."

Help. I wanted to just help.

I really like this story. It's really well written (although you shouldn't have your main character mention John Green constantly ;p)