She's Bad News

Chapter 30 Final

I bit my lip and nodded, still not facing her, not wanting her to see that I was kind of falling apart over here.

“I should get a nurse.”

“Wait,” I gasped, my body turning towards her without conscious thought. I winced as my ribs protested and I vaguely remembered the sound of at least one of them cracking during my beating. “Just...can you just stay here for a second?” I whispered, looking at Rachel and for the first time in a long time, seeing the friend I’d once had.

Her eyes were a bit wet as she looked back at me and nodded slowly.

We were silent for a long time, both of us just breathing. Finally, in a quiet voice, weighed down with things that should’ve been said a long time ago, I croaked, “I didn’t want you to understand, you know that, right? I didn’t want you involved in any of my shit.” I shrugged and gave her a pained smile. “I shouldn’t have shown up at your house that day, on your fourteenth birthday. I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” My smile got a little wider, a little more wry. “I’m sorry Leslie Young’s parents saw me puke and wouldn’t let her stay for your party.”

Rachel’s lips twitched. “Leslie Young was kind of a bitch, anyway.”

I gave a short laugh which cut off abruptly when my ribs protested.

After a moment, I swallowed hard and looked her in the eye, needing to see the truth when I asked, “He’s really okay?”

She tilted her head to the side slightly, examining my expression as she nodded. “He’s fine. A little banged up but he looks better than you.”

Something inside of me lifted and my lungs were able to expand more fully when I breathed in deeply.

“You really love him, don’t you?”

I stiffened slightly, my eyes sliding from hers as her words made my heart beat a little faster. I did. I loved him so much that it was a physical presence inside of me. But...

I couldn’t ignore that little voice in my head, that slight whisper that wouldn’t leave me alone.

He deserves more.

I shrugged in answer to Rachel’s question, internally wincing at that stupid voice, hating that it was right.

Flynn had been shot.

His blood had coated my shirt, my hands.

And it was my fault.

If I’d just stayed away from him, if I’d listened to that voice all those times it had whispered that I was getting too close...

He wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed right now.

“Cory?” Rachel said softly, drawing my eyes to hers. She was frowning slightly, her eyes concerned as she looked at me, like she could see right through me. “You―”

The door to my room opened, drawing our gazes that way.

“Cory,” Sandra breathed, tears immediately springing to her eyes as they latched on me. “You’re awake,” she said, her voice cracking. She drew her hand to her mouth to cover a sob as Donald followed her in, lifting his arm to wrap it around her shoulders.

I nodded stiffly, keeping my expression as blank as I could.

How was I supposed to react here? Confusion and fear were crowding into my brain. I didn’t know what to think, how to behave. They weren’t looking at me like a criminal anymore, they didn’t see the Corinna they saw that night, months ago when I’d strolled back into their lives.