The Popular Depression is a book I wrote in my first year of college.

It was inspired by a cigarette pack on a coffee table that I noticed at a house party.

My eyes were drawn to the Health Canada warning on the box of cigarettes.

I think the statistic about tobacco-related deaths was supposed to be the scary one. But, for some reason, I was more alarmed by the fact more people died by killing themselves than by getting into car accidents.

I never did anything with the book I wrote. Looking back, some of the amateurish writing makes me cringe. But, the concept behind The Popular Depression is an important theme for us to think about.

Here is the thirteenth chapter from The Popular Depression.

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Chapter 13

Pointing, laughter, and gossip.
Ethan clenches his right fist and feels no pain from his bruised knuckles. The slight stinging tingle is nothing but a tickling sensation compared to the emotional catastrophe that is this Monday morning.
He wonders if everyone knows already. How could it have spread that fast? As he walks down the taunting hallways he questions if this is really happening, or if it’s all in his head.
“I heard he gave her a flower right before he stole hers.”
Ethan hears someone say this faintly. It is followed up with laughter.
Ethan looks back to see who said it. All he sees is a group of people and he can’t determine the culprit.
Ethan turns back around and keeps walking in his original path.
Lately Ethan has wanted so badly to just escape. He wishes that there was somewhere he could go where no one knows his name.
“I still can’t get over the fact that he nailed Liberty Hollingsworth. The boy is a legend in my books,” Ethan hears out of his right ear.
He turns quickly only to see people going about their usual business.
“Am I going insane?” Ethan wonders to himself.
He keeps walking until he gets to his locker. As he begins to undo the lock, he feels a pat his back.
“Hey bro.”
TJ stands beside Ethan as Ethan swings open the door of his locker.
Ethan nods and gives a quiet, “Hey.”
“Listen… I’m sorry for what happened on Saturday night. It was messed up. Jerrod shouldn’t have said what he said, and I probably should have stood up for you and told Winston to screw off,” TJ says apologetically.
Ethan looks up at him.
“Nah man… it’s not your fault.”
TJ shrugs.
“But hey dude… if it’s any consolation, Winston has a shiner. He wouldn’t tell me where he got it. I like to think karma came and kicked his ass,” TJ says laughing.
Ethan gives off his first smile of the day and says, “I’ll look forward to seeing that.”
The two begin to walk down the hallway to their respective classrooms.
“So, what ended up happening with you and Lib? Was she able to forgive you?”
Ethan looks down, looks back up at TJ. He then shakes his head, “No.”
“Ahh, I’m sorry bro.”
The two walk until they get to the end of the hallway and prepare to disperse for class.
“Hey TJ, one more thing…” Ethan begins.
“What is it man?” TJ asks.
“Is it just me… or does everyone in this school already know about me and Lib?”
TJ walks towards Ethan and places his hand on Ethan’s shoulder.
“I’m not gonna lie to you bro, when everyone gets their hands on this kind of story, it’s bound to spread. You and Lib were basically king and queen of the social hierarchy that defines popularity at CCH.
“Most people walking these halls love stories about the popular kids having tough times. It makes them feel like they’re just like us.”

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The rest of the morning goes by at a snail’s pace. Every classroom Ethan enter it seems as though everyone is looking his way. He wonders if what TJ said was true. If the whole school really does have their eyes on him. Ethan would never admit to being popular; everyone else in the school wouldn’t see any other term better suited.
After what seems like an eternity, the bell rings for lunch. Ethan is delighted to see TJ as soon as he exits the classroom.
“Let’s get outta here,” Ethan says.
The two walk outside and hop into Ethan’s Tacoma. TJ scans through Ethan’s CD binder and then throws in Kanye West’s debut album. TJ clicks the forward button until he reaches song 18. Two Words begins, and the teammates head over to McDonalds.
Ethan and TJ eat their burgers in silence. The silence, however, is not awkward. It allows Ethan to focus on how he will handle the rest of the day at school. It allows TJ to focus on how he will eat all of his fries before lunch break is over. Once finished eating, Ethan motions his head to the left signifying his intent to depart.
Ethan’s wish that things would be different at CCH in the afternoon is one that does not come true. As soon as he returns from lunch, he witnesses the same pointing and staring that were apparent in the morning.
“Social and English… only two classes left,” Ethan keeps telling himself. “The day is almost over, things will die down tomorrow.”
Surprisingly enough… Social class whizzes by. The teacher gives out an assignment on the First World War to be completed in class. Ethan finishes with ten minutes to spare, and gets back his first essay assignment that he did a few weeks ago. Red ink at the top of the page reads, “98%, very good work!”
The grade takes Ethan’s mind off of the miserable day he has experienced thus far.
Ethan is about to walk into English, the last class of the day, when he wonders if there may be a permanent reversal of fortune. He sits down and waits for the teacher, Mrs. Chomery, to begin class.
A few minutes after the bell rings, Mrs. Chomery walks into the classroom. The self-proclaimed English genius is five-foot-nothing. Her frizzled hair and wacky glasses are intimidating at first glance. She has a slightly hunched back that may or may not have resulted from bad posture. Rumor has it she claims to have a better knowledge of Shakespeare than Coles Notes itself.
She is definitely on Ethan’s top five favourite teachers list of all time.
“Hello darlings,” Chomery starts. “Since we have just finished our first novel study, The Grapes of Wrath, we will now watch the film that it inspired. Yes, it’s in black and white. No, you can’t leave for a doctor’s appointment. I don’t want to hear any conversation while the movie is on.”
Ethan quite enjoyed the book so he assumes he will also enjoy the movie. Ethan foresees a miraculous turn-around to the day he thought would be pure hell. Chomery puts the movie into the VCR. Ethan waits anxiously. Anxiousness soon turns to disappointment. Ethan realizes that the imagery he created in his head while reading the book definitely was not in black and white. English class crawls by slower than any other class.
As the boredom becomes unbearable… Ethan pulls out a piece of paper and takes out a pen.

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Liberty stands in front of her locker and fiddles with the combination lock. She looks to her left and sees Ethan walking down the hallway with his head down. She imagines that his day was probably just as bad, if not worse, than hers. Her stomach aches and feels unsettled… not so much because of all the gossip at school, but more because she feels that breaking up wasn’t perhaps the only option. The more she thinks about it, the more she comes to the conclusion that their relationship is salvageable. She is still disappointed at what Ethan said… but for the first time Liberty is starting to look at it from the other point of view. There were things that she did and things that she said that didn’t help the cause at all. She really does still love Ethan. She doesn’t want it to end like this. It’s not how it’s supposed to end.
Liberty pulls off the combination lock and opens the locker. She has come to a decision. She is going to phone Ethan tonight and tell him that she is not ready to give up on him. On them.
Liberty puts her English and her Math binder into her backpack as she has homework in both subjects.
But what will she say to Ethan? She feels that he still owes her an apology. She can’t come off as too desperate. But she is desperate. She can’t stand to see him slip away.
Liberty is just about to leave when she notices something sitting at the bottom of the locker, something that she did not put there. On the locker floor lays an envelope, which looks as though it was slipped through the crack of the door on the locker. On the front it says, “Liberty,” in hand-writing. She picks up the envelope… slowly tears the top of it… and then, while standing in front of her locker, she pulls out the letter that is inside and begins to read.

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Dear Liberty:
It’s Monday, I’m sitting in class, and I can’t stop thinking about our fight. I’m so sorry that we broke up, and it hurts me to think that we’re no longer together. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and though it pains me to say this, things may just be better off this way.
I do love you Liberty… and I don’t want to lose you. But you have to realize that sex isn’t as big of a deal as you've made it out to be. If you're not willing to be in a relationship where we express ourselves physically, then I think breaking up was probably the right thing to do.

Ethan

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Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12