“We thank you, Chloe, for everything you were, all that you gave, and may you now, forever, rest in eternal peace with certain knowledge that you were, are, and always will be dearly loved and terribly missed.”

This tragic event took place just seven months ago. My phone rang on Friday night, October 31st. It was Chloe’s mom calling. I thought it was weird that she was calling but I assumed she thought Chloe and I had gone to the party together. But that wasn’t the case. Uh-oh. Where was Chloe? I just couldn’t lie to Mrs. Johnson.

Before I could even say hello to Mrs. Johnson, she was sobbing and could hardly breath as she screamed, “Ellie!!!”
“Yes, what’s wrong?! Is everything okay?”
She could hardly get the words out, but she said, “Chloe!! She’s gone!!!”

I was so confused as to what she was saying, having just woken up from sleeping, and then it hit me. She had gone to Andrew’s Halloween party! The party where lots of people get drunk and do drugs. The one that Chloe tried to get me to go to. Yep, as soon as I realized it, I knew, but she had hung up the phone moments before anything made sense to me.

I was in complete shock. The next week of school had officially been canceled due to the news of Chloe’s sudden and tragic death.

Everyone went to Chloe’s funeral. Everyone except Cole. Cole is the goalie and captain of the hockey team. The really “hot” guy everyone likes but me. Nobody really expected him to come, but still it would have been nice. That is until my childhood best guy friend, Jack, who also happened to have gone to that same party with Cole, told me what he thought may have happened to Chloe that fateful night. Cole had a crush on Chloe since freshman year but always left her guessing if he really liked her or not. Hard to tell why he didn’t come to her funeral, but it sure was noticeable that he was not there.

Jack went to elementary school with me but he, unfortunately, moved to a private, elite high school. Somehow our two schools always seem to get invited to the same parties, so we still get to see each other often, just not everyday. Jack called me the Tuesday after Chloe died. I could tell something was “off” just by his voice.
“Hey, Ellie Belly,” he said with a gulp.
“Hi, Jack. What’s up?” I said.
“I want to talk to you about the Halloween party that Cole and I went to.”
“Okay,” I said. “The one my best friend died at?!”
“Yeah. So about that, I was completely sober, I want you to know, but Cole wasn’t. He was hammered. I don’t know Chloe that well since she came to Riverview High after I had already transferred, but I did watch Cole put something in someone’s drink.”
“EXCUSE ME, WHAT?!?! So you’re telling me Cole put some sort of drug in Chloe’s drink and you said nothing?!”
“No, I did say something to her; I told her that I saw someone put something in her drink, but she didn’t seem to believe me, or care, and just kept drinking.”
His soothing words and calm voice brought my temper back down. I fully trusted what he was saying, but at that moment, after hearing his story, I got so upset all over again and I said,
“Jack! My best friend died, you could have at least done something!” Then I quickly told him I had to go and I hung up. I was sobbing hard again and now mad at Jack, too.

A few days later, I called Jack to apologize for my attitude and told him that I didn’t mean to react the way I did. He forgave me like always and he brought me the prettiest bouquet of all sorts of flowers. A little card peeked out of them, and I assumed it was the same as all the others and said, “I am so sorry for your loss, etc.” But this card was different. It was a handwritten note. It said, “Ellie, I have loved you from the day we met. Will you go to prom with me?” I was shocked. My mind could only think about Chloe and how we were planning on going in our matching dresses and hairstyles. After a few minutes and tears, a new thought came into my mind. “What would Chloe want me to do?” I thought. She would want me to go. Chloe knew that we liked each other, and she always commented on how well Jack treated me and how he always used his manners, opened doors for me, put me first, and was so respectful. Through my tears, I told him, “Yes,” and I hugged him.

Seeing Jack’s camouflage green Jeep show up at my front door, he had on a dreamy suit with a hot pink bow tie and cumberbund that perfectly matched my dress. His brown, fluffy hair was perfect and his stormy blue eyes were as gorgeous as ever. My heart was pounding.

As we arrived at the dance, we got settled, and put our things down on the table, we sat down and chatted with several friends. There were drinks on the table. After we talked a while, a song came on and Jack asked me if I would like to dance. Then some other good tunes came on, so we continued to dance. Eventually we got too tired. I sat down and reached for my bottle of water, Jack leaned over and handed me a new one. He said, “I knew you were going to want a drink as bad as I do, and I just want to make sure we are being safe. Here’s an unopened one.”
I said thank you. Chloe was so right. Jack was a true gentleman and he always looked out for me.