My Life, My Rules

Chapter 18

   Freen read the message and sighed. At this point, her friend's text only made her tired, and Hailee needed punishment for all the teasing sessions. Even if she believes her friend is wrong, and all the conclusions were wrong, except that she still has something for her middle school rival. She always thought that Jacob reminds her of her father in his good looks. As much as she wanted to strangle him when he had a faster answer in class than hers, she also loved that he was a smart guy, like in any love-and-hate relationship.
   That was true that her heart skipped a bit when she saw him after so many years, and she was extremely nervous when she saw him. As far as she thought about this, she also started overthinking: What if Jacob wasn't single? What if he wants to get revenge for the rivalry between them? What if he only sees her as a friend? She remembered the day when he said happily that he will be on The X Factor show and she begged her mother to pass him to the next stage, but Demi stopped him when she found out that he started dating Bea, and Bea didn't make it to the final either. Demi loved her daughter, and she noticed that Freen might get hurt, and she acted on purpose, like always, without her daughter knowing.
   Freen scanned her message again and tried to figure out her best answer. "You're wrong! None!! Bye!" That's what she sent to her curious friend. She threw her phone away and her thoughts were interrupted by her mother's yelling.
"Don't care about the stupid interviews! Don't you understand that I'm busy next week? Just reschedule everything! Damn!" Demi yelled, and that made Freen jump off the bed and went to her mother's room.
   It was empty, meaning that her mother might be on the terrace. She quickly scanned the room and found something on her mother's bedside table: two parenting guides about how to connect with a teenager. It was clear evidence of why her mother stopped being so strict with her and how she tries hard to bond with her. She never expected to see her mother from being kinda cold and ignoring her, to turn into this warm sweet mother. So her mother loved her so much and tried her best to be a perfect mother.
"I told you that I am busy! Reschedule!!" Demi yelled and entered the room angrily.
"Mom! Is everything ok?" Freen whispered to her mother, and Demi nodded her head.
"Great! I have to go. Call me when you fixed it! Bye!" Demi angrily hangs up the phone sighing deeply.
"Mhm... I heard the yellings." Freen tried to explain her presence.
"Yeah... I arranged my schedule for the next week, baby! Now... By the way, I have to decide my mini-tour dates. I think I'll choose your break, so you could join me, and not stay alone... Or you go to Texas, to your grandma's place. However, you decide."
"Don't know... Where are you touring? U.S. or worldwide? Won't the staff notice me?"
"8 concerts. Probably 2 of them are in the UK and the rest in the US. Don't worry about my team!" Demi said in a serious tone, and Freen kept thinking about this.
"Probably, I'll stay with grandma. It's better for us. But thanks for inviting me, mom! And you should not stress about me and fitting me into your schedule. I get that you love me. I love you too." Freen said and hugged Demi tightly, and kissed her mother's cheek.
   The weekend went by very fast, and on Monday, Freen and her parents were in the doctor's office. The doctor analyzed their worried faces and pushed some documents in front of them to sign.
"Well... On Wednesday we have the procedure. I suggest for both of the girls to be charged in tomorrow for some blood work and screening if that's alright." All three of them nodded their heads at the doctor's words. "And... Something you should know, Mr. Jonas. After the procedure, your younger daughter might share the same DNA as Freen, and she can have similar allergies to her: hay fever, metal allergies, Levander allergies, or any other allergic reaction to other substances. Note that it is not 100% sure." The doctor added.
"Yeah... That's fine. I prefer her with allergies rather than dead." Joe sighed, making Demi and Freen look at him with sadness.
"Alright... Please read the following documents and have them all signed. I'm here in case you need any information." The doctor said looking at the three of them.
"Mhm... Freen never had general anesthesia.." Demi tried to speak her mind.
"Don't worry, ma'am! The anesthetist will take care of her." The doctor interrupted Demi, and she nodded sighing deeply.
"Ok... Of that's what you wanted..." Demi looked at Freen and then at Joe and angrily took the pen in her hand and signed the papers. "Happy?" She ironically asked looking at them again. "Freen, I'm waiting for you in the car! Have a nice day, Dr. James!" Demi said and rushed through the door, and as soon as she was out, she let her tears fall. Five minutes later, Freen and her father signed the documents also and they went to their cars silently.
   On Wednesday morning, Freen was all set up for the donation. The nurse came and placed the iv, while she was hiding her nervousness behind a poker face expression. There was a silence that made you shiver in the room, and she didn't wanna break it.
"Good morning, Miss Jonas! How are you? Nervous?" The doctor broke the silence.
"Good morning! No. I'm fine." Freen said with her poker face still on.
"Ok... So... We will go to the surgery room. I see that you have the iv placed... The anesthesiologist will use that to make you sleep a little. You should not be afraid.  We will only insert a needle in the pelvic area and extract what we need. That will be all... You will wake up and monitor yourself all night. But we will talk more when you wake up, ok?" The doctor smiled, and Freen nodded. "Ok... In 15 minutes, please bring her to the surgery room." The doctor told the nurse, and he exited the room.
   Freen didn't have time to collect her thoughts, because her mother entered the room with a big smile on her face and open arms to hug her daughter.
"Hi, baby!" Demi said in a lovely voice. "How are you feeling?" Demi hugged her and moved her hand in a comforting way.
"I'm fine, mom! Can't believe you are smiling!" Freen said in the hug.
"Well... I support your decision. I know you need me right now, and I am here for you... I love you the most!" Demi kissed Freen's forehead. "You are the most perfect daughter! I'm very proud to be your mother, you know that?" She kissed Freen's cheeks and hugged her tightly.
"Mom! Stop exaggerating! I love you too! I'm not perfect... I wish I could be.." Freen mumbled under her breath, and Demi broke the hug.
"I'm sorry I wasn't the best mother in the world for you as you deserved... I'm sorry, baby!" Demi felt her eyes filling up with tears, and took Freen's knuckles and kissed them.
"Mom! Stop it! I'm not dead yet.." Freen added with a tired voice, and she took Demi's right hand in hers, drawing circles with her thumb on her lion head tattoo. "We are lion hearts, aren't we?" She copied what her mother previously said, and kissed it.
"Yes, we are lion hearts, Freen!" Joe said and rushed to her, and broke their conversation.
"Dad? What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be with Eda?" Freen said almost with a scolding tone.
"Well... you're as important as Eda.." Joe took a seat on the other side of the bed, took Freen's free hand in his, and kissed it, while Demi looked at him sadly. "Thank you so much for doing this for Eda. If there is something you need, please tell me!" Joe gave her a sympathetic smile. Freen looked at both of their hands holding hers and she softly placed them together, making her parents look into each other's eyes.
"Please... if anything bad happens with me dad, I would like you to be on my mother's side," Freen said making Joe and Demi look with a worried faces, exchanging looks between them.
"Freen...How can you say that? If you start the procedure with pessimistic thinking..." Demi snapped angrily.
"Promise, dad?" Freen insisted, and this made Demi angry.
"Promise. May I kiss your cheeks now?" Joe smiled softly to his daughter, and Freen nodded.
"Sorry to interrupt! The time is up! We need to move her to the surgery room." The nurse said, making her way to Freen's bed.
"Ok. Let's have a group hug here." Joe said and he squeezed his daughter and his ex into a hug. "We'll be here when you wake up! We love you!" He said and kissed her cheeks and forehead.
    Freen never experienced this before. They really looked like a family right now. Too bad that after the surgery everything will be back to normal. So, this will be her first and last moment with them this close without yelling at each other, and she sighed. Demi kissed her whole face and squeezed her in a hug alone. "Don't be scared! Mommy's here!" Demi's voice cracked a little, and Joe felt the need to come and pick his ex up off the bed. "I love you!" Demi said while the nurse started pushing the hospital bed. "We love you!" Joe said sighing. Both of her parents remained in the hospital room, watching Freen going to the surgery room. Demi took a seat on a chair and started sobbing. "Go away to your family, now, Jonas! You were a great actor playing Freen's dad! Thank you!" Demi let go of her anger, and Joe left her alone, sighing deeply.
   When Freen arrived in the room, the anesthesiologist started to sedate her, and she was looking at the IV, after asking her if this is the first general anesthesia. Suddenly, there were sirens in the whole hospital, signaling "Code Blue!".
"What happened?" The anesthesiologist asked.
"You are needed for an emergency intervention! We paged the resident to take your place. It was a gunshot in a school and there are a lot of patients in the ER." The nurse said.
"What the hell?? You cannot interrupt me in the middle of an intervention!" The anesthesiologist yelled and ran away from the surgery room, and the resident came quickly. At that point, Freen's IV was already empty, so he thought she wasn't sedated yet. "Ok... Don't worry! I'll put you to sleep now.." he started giving Freen a second dose of anesthesia. "Ok... I want you to count for me.." He told her.
"1,...2,...3,....4....,5....,6......,7...." Freen's eyes suddenly closed and fell into a profound sleep.
Soon enough, the doctor entered the surgery room and watched Freen sleeping. He told the staff to move her so he could have access to her back, and he started his procedure.
"There's hell downstairs! I almost had to cancel this surgery." The doctor said to the medical staff. "So you are the resident... I hope you knew it is her first general anesthesia. Please check her vitals carefully." He continued.
"I didn't know it, sir!" The resident confessed and the doctor started yelling.
"And you couldn't ask? What are you?? Great thing I didn't drop this case! Freen, please be safe!" The doctor started the procedure.
   Outside, Demi was moving through the hospital room nervously. She started praying for Freen to be alright. Max was standing in front of the room, protecting her from being seen.
   On the other side, Becky was hanging out with Hailee and Zendaya at Starbucks, and they were enjoying themselves. Zendaya kept teasing Becky that Freen wasn't there and that she wanted so badly for Freen to be there.
"Seriously, now! Becky, have you talked to Freen lately? Since our last hanging out with the group she hadn't replied to my text. I mean, she only replied once and that's it." Hailee said worried a little.
"No... I mean, I texted her too, and she didn't answer. I thought she might be busy." Becky replied. "Do you have her parents' number? Maybe you could ask them." Becky said starting to worry a little.
"Just, chill! She might be hanging out with Jacob dude!" Zendaya said and this made Becky sad, and Hailee punched her in the arm. "What? That's right... the dude..." Zendaya continued but the tv from the restaurant started announcing breaking news from the school shotgun.
"Ugh! I hate the US! We have these types of news every day..." Zendaya said.
"Shut up a little," Hailee said, while noticing something familiar in the background of the hospital the journalist transmitted the news... "No... this can't be!" She rushed to the tv analyzing the background and feeling how she almost collapsed. Zendaya and Becky collected her fast. She took her phone outside her pocket and dialed Demi's phone number. As soon as Demi picked up her phone, Hailee started talking.
"I'm sorry for my phone call! I wanted to make sure Freen is fine. She hasn't replied to my texts for days." Hailee said trying to calm down.
"Hailee! We are at the hospital. She is in the middle of the surgery." Demi said worriedly.
"A surgery? Now?" Hailee said without thinking and this made Becky almost faint.
"Let's go! Now! We have to go there!" Becky said and rushed through the door.
"Becky!! No! Sorry, ma'am! I have to hang up! Thank you!" Hailee said hanging up.
   Hailee realized that if Becky goes to the hospital she will see Demi and Joe and no parents, and she will find out the whole truth. She needs to stop Becky as fast as she can. She climbed in the car, and Zendaya started the engine making their way to the hospital.
"Becky! We can not be there! Her family is already there." Hailee tried to convince Becky.
"We are her friends! We need to be there too!" Zendaya said.
"Yes!! Faster, Zendaya!" Becky yelled at her friend.
"Becky! Please! If she wanted us to be there, she would have said. I'm her BFF! Please, listen to me! Stop the car and let us wait for her to wake up from the surgery!"
"She has a point, Becky! Plus, if the ward is busy, they won't let us in... Let's just wait until they announce the situation is stable." Zendaya pulled over.
"But...." Becky started sobbing, and Zendaya pulled her into a hug.
"Listen, Becky! My friend is strong, and they don't need us there. What could we possibly do? Will we replace the doctors? All we have to do is wait.." Hailee said fighting her tears.
After two hours, Freen was brought to the ICU. She was surrounded by medical staff only. They prepared everything for her to wake up. The doctor kept looking at his watch and counted down.
"Come on, Freen! Come on, baby girl! Wake up!" The doctor said to check her vital signs. "Damn! Page the two anesthesiologists here... Why is this girl still under anesthesia?" The doctor said smashing his fist into the bedside frame.
The anesthesiologist and his resident rushed into the room worried about the situation. They scanned Freen's sleeping body and the surgeon near her.
"Explain this! I need a very good explanation, please. Why is the girl still unconscious?" The doctor said gritting his teeth.
"I don't know, Dr. I administrated her the anesthesia and rushed to the emergency room. There were a lot of cases, and they needed me." The anesthesiologist said, and this made the resident slap his forehead, start tearing up, and shake.
"Mhm... Oh, no! Tommy! What did you do? Tell me you didn't give her a second dose.." the anesthesiologist said judging through his reaction, but the guy started crying harder.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know! Sorry!" he said between the sobs. That's when the surgeon went and grabbed him by his collar. "Ugh! Son of.... You have no idea who is behind this girl!! And how could you not ask? Where the hell did you study medicine?" The surgeon yelled and that had the kid frightened.
"Dr. James! Please calm down! It was a mistake!" The anesthesiologist said, defending the resident.
"A mistake?? How can I announce her famous family now?? They will make us all pay for this. If the girl doesn't wake up, I'll have you both fired! Get out!" The surgeon yelled.
   The doctor left the ICU and went to Demi. He had to break the news about Freen's current situation. He did one of the basic surgery and he almost failed. Also, Demi was very stressed about it, and it only made the situation worse.
"Ms. Lovato! I managed to extract the bone marrow from your daughter carefully, and I would like to think that I didn't provoke any nerve damage. Now, she is in the ICU and we are waiting for her to wake up." The doctor said looking into Demi's eyes.
"Thank you! How much do I have to wait until she wakes up?" Demi said with a hopeful expression.
"I'm sorry! She should have been awake by now, but..." The doctor said and that's when Demi interrupted him.
"What?? You said everything went fine..." Demi said with her cracked voice.
"She had an overdose of anesthesia. We don't know when she is going to wake up... I'm sorry!" The doctor said, and Demi let out a painful yelling.
"But she will wake up, right?" Demi said, shaking, feeling shivers taking control over her whole body.
"I'm sorry... we just have to wait." The doctor said and that's when Demi started feeling dizzy. "Miss Lovato! Are you alright?" The doctor said but didn't take long for Demi to pass out. "Nurse!!" The doctor caught Demi and tried to place her into a hospital bed.

...To be continued...
Author's Note: Please don't hate me that much for this chapter! Thank you so much for reading my story! Let me know in the comments your opinions about the book. I know you want me to update more often but I'm quite busy since I just started the last semester of my MA's. I'm still not feeling well, but I promise I'll do my best! Take care all of you! 🤗