When Love Walked In

Chapter 3

          "Oh my, what happened?" she asked. Damien led me further into the room towards a wash sink in the right corner, and proceeded to fill a bucket with water. The nurse came over and took me to one of the white beds where she began to remove the remaining bits of rice from my hair. "Damien, what happened?"

          Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Damien retrieve a white washcloth from the cabinet and turn the faucet off. He then came over to the bed, dipped the cloth into the bucket, and began to wipe my face. And the weird thing is . . . I actually let him. Instead of flinching away from a boy's touch, I welcomed it, and simply sat there with my head down. The cloth was warm and felt nice against my skin. "Are you okay?"

          I looked up. A mix of emotions played out in Damien's eyes. Warmth, concern, comfort, and even a bit of anger. But no pity or sympathy. That surprised me. A million questions began to form in my head, and they were on the tip of my tongue. But I couldn't bring myself to say them, let alone open my mouth. I just stared at him, lost in his gorgeous green eyes. He smiled at me and turned to look at the nurse, whose name I still did not know.

          "Just your average high school drama, Suzy."

          She narrowed her eyes at him. "How many times have I told you not to call me by my first name while on school grounds?"

          "I can't call you Ms. Suzy. It would just sound too weird. Besides, Taylor will never get off my case."

          "You make it sound like a bad thing."

          "I don't know how you stand her. She's just so—"

           "I'm just so what?" I looked up as a girl with pale blonde hair entered the room. A mix of hot pink, neon green and royal blue streaks colored her straight, translucent hair. She wore a purple gray dress underneath a black denim jacket and black knee-length motorcycle boots. The dozen bracelets she wore on her arms jangled with each little movement.

          "Speak of the devil," Damien muttered under his breath. The girl strolled over and smacked him on the back of his head.

          He swore. "What the hell?!"

          "That's for being an idiot," she said bluntly.

           Suzy smiled. "Taylor, be nice. Is that any way to treat family?"

          "Yeah, it's called 'showing the love' or something like that," Taylor replied. Plus it's so much fun watching his eyes tear up like a baby." Her eyes flickered over to me and she gave me a friendly smile. "Amber, right?"

           I nodded. "Um . . . thank you for helping me," I said to no one in particular. Damien chuckled and continued to wipe my face.

          "Is someone going to tell me what happened?" Suzy asked.

          "I'll tell you," Taylor said. She took a seat next to me on the bed and continued. "Our lovely Amber here was labeled as victim of evil Queen Bee Ms. Courtney Oakley in the cafeteria and the damage done here is thanks to her little parrots, Chloe and Iris."

          Suzy nodded in understanding. "No wonder the rice is hard to get out of your pretty hair. They knew what they were doing when they dumped that plate of rice and chicken and . . . iced coffee? Those girls are just plain evil. It's going to take a lot of cleaning to get all this out."

           Taylor got up from the bed and went over to the cabinet where she pulled out a plastic bag filled with clothes, a large beige towel, and a green bottle of shampoo. "All right, time to wash some hair. Bring her to the sink."