Yours Truly, Ramona

chapter twenty one | new beginnings.

I ruined my sleep schedule. Falling asleep at noon on a Tuesday probably isn't the best way to catch up on missed sleep.

I couldn't help it, I was tired as hell. It's hard to sleep at Marta's when all I can think about is Allen or worry about Mason. But now, laying in this cold, stiff hospital bed, I've got nothing to think about. Sleep comes easy.

My eyes crack open later around five o'clock to see a kind, familiar face looking down on me from above my hospital bed. Luis smiles when he sees that I'm awake, bending down to pick up something from the floor.

"I thought you might want this," he says with a smirk, holding up my backpack. "I would've brought it last night, but I was still stoned. I put your phone in the front pocket."

"Oh my god, thank you."

I take my bag from him, reaching into the smallest pocket to check my phone. I've got streams of messages from Nadia, all some kind of variation of, are you okay? and what happened?

I attempt to text her back, but it's a slow process using only my right hand. I don't dare lift my left arm to text in fear of Luis seeing my scars.

Reece and some of the other dancers texted me too, however, the one person I really want to hear from is Jasper. He hasn't texted me, but then again, he wasn't there when I passed out. He doesn't know, so I can't really expect him to text me.

"Everyone's worried sick about you. Nadia wanted to come see you with me, but she had something to do for her college admissions. She sends her love, though," Luis says.

I smile, scrolling through the numerous texts she sent me.

"I can see that."

I close my phone, not bothering to text her back.

Luis looks different from this angle. He looks a little less helpless and wimpy from down here; a little stronger and smarter, even. Maybe this is what girls like Keelia see when they hit on him despite the fact that he's gay. They see him through a lens that I, for some reason, usually don't.

"So what happened? Why'd you pass out?"

"I—I umm, I was just really tired. I haven't been sleeping."

He raises an eyebrow.

"You passed out because you were tired?"

I nod. "And I was just really dehydrated."

Luis looks me over for a minute as if trying to decide whether or not he's going to believe me. He's pretty easy to deceive, though, and he shrugs it off.

"I'm just glad you're okay, chica."

I feel a smile appear when he looks at me, a knot forming in my stomach right along with it.

I hate lying to him.

"Umm... so," Luis begins. "How about you and Jasper, huh?"

My smile fades. "Wait—how do you know about that?"

"Honey, everybody knows about that."

I pick up my phone again, ready to call Nadia and yell at her for telling everyone even though I specifically told her not to.

"It wasn't Nadia," Luis says quickly, reading my mind. "Claire told some people she walked in on you guys kissing and Jasper also told a few people. Then those people told other people, and so on. You know how it goes at our school."

He shifts his weight back and forth, his feet shuffling uncomfortably on the floor.

"I just... why Jasper? He's not worth it, Ramona. He's not good for you."