Learning A Lake ✔

- Seventeen -

♢ Ryan ♢

I was bombarded by Laura's friends as soon as I got back to camp.

"Is she okay?"

"When is she coming back to camp?"

"Do you know who did it?"

That last question made me stop in my tracks as both Katie and Rachel were following me back towards the cabins.
"Yes, I know who did it." I turned towards them both and spoke with anger in my voice before sighing a little. "And, yes she is okay, just badly bruised and dehydrated. She will be coming back to camp tomorrow morning." I lowered my tone and answered their questions so they would stop pestering me. I could understand their concern though so I didn't blame them for asking so much.

"I have something else to deal with." I said to them both as we reached their cabin.
"And what's that?" Katie asked suspiciously.
"J.A.N.E." I spelt it out for her before stalking off to the next row of cabins.

---

I knocked, more like banged on the cabin door, knowing full well that she was in there. She opened the door with an annoyed face which suddenly turned sweet and innocent when she saw it was me. I rolled my eyes and scowled at her.

"Ryan!" She grinned. "I knew you would come back to me."
"Enough with the bull shit Thomas." I grumbled in her direction. "I actually came here to ask you a question." I walked into the cabin, pushing past her in the doorway.
"Okay." She shut the door and sat on her bed, patting the space next to her. I shook my head and stood in the middle of the room, my arms crossed. 

"I just want to know why? Why did you do it?" I asked seriously. She smiled to herself with a slight laugh before playing the innocent card again.
"I don't know what you are talking about Ryan. Is something bothering you, you look... tense." She got up and walked towards me. I took a step back.
"Cut the crap. Why did you do that to Laura?!" I raised my voice at her just as she started to stroke my arm. She leaned closer to me before whispering something in my ear.

"She deserved it." She gave me grin which was pure evil. Her hand was slowly moving towards my neck and face. I batted her hand away and walked towards the door. "I don't want you back anymore now, I've found someone who's better in bed." she cackled at me.

"You are so sick." I said, turning back towards her. "I knew it was you the whole time. You'll pay for this!" And I left. I had to get out of there before I boiled over. I could just about make out her voice shouting "You will never prove it was me!" as I ran into the woods.

The anger I felt right now was explosive. I took it out on the nearest thing to me, which happened to be a tree. I instantly realised punching the tree repeatedly was a bad idea when the pain sunk in and the blood ran out.

"Fuck." I hissed to myself in the middle of the woods. I fell to the ground with my head in my hands. I didn't realised that I was crying until I could feel the moisture on my face.

The history that Jane and I had was never exactly what I made it out to be. When I first started high school, she was the popular one and had every guy bowing down to kiss her toes. I fancied the fuck out of her but I never told anyone. One day she noticed me and it started from there. After Lacey died, Jane was just my comfort. I didn't tell her that I had crushed on her before but she wanted to keep it 'friends with benefits' and she turned me into the bad boy with my man whore reputation.

So, today, I hate her for what she had done to me, I regretted even speaking to her or agreeing to be her friend with benefits. And now, she had hospitalised an innocent girl because she 'deserved it'. Laura never did anything wrong, the only thing she has done is... like me. I don't see how Jane could be jealous if she was the one making me look like the idiot. I'm done with that girl and i'm going to make her life a whole lot worse when I prove that it was her. I'm surprised that she hasn't done anything worse than this, she comes across as pure evil. 

---

I stayed in the woods for another half an hour in the pitch black so that I could calm myself down. I had finally got up and returned to my cabin.
"Dude, what happened to you?" Matt asked me, looking down at my blood stained hands. "Is Laura alright?" He looked quite concerned.

I took a deep breath and slumped myself onto my bed, the exhaustion finally sank in.
"Laura is fine." I managed to say as I felt myself getting upset again. Matt repeated his question again.

"But what happened to your hands?"
I looked at them and realised how bad they were.
"Well..." Matt sat down on his bed opposite me to listen. "I got back and I knew I had to confront the person who hurt her. I went and spoke to Jane and-"
"You beat up Jane!? What the hell man!" Matt stood up in shock.
"No no no!" I shook my head "Listen to me. I went and spoke to Jane and she admitted that she did it. I left before I got too angry and took it out on a nearby tree." I finished with a sigh and laid down, inspecting my bleeding knuckles. 

"Shit. So Jane actually was the one who beat her and tied her up. That's disgusting."
I turned my head towards him.
"My thoughts exactly."

"How are we going to prove it was her?" He frowned at me. I just gave him a light shrug and decided to call it a night.
"I don't know, I'm going to pick up Laura in the morning and that's all I care about right now."

---

It was 8:30AM and I found myself sat in the waiting room again, tapping my foot impatiently as I desperately wanted to speak to the nurse from last night.

Right on cue he walked out of the ward, adjusting his scrubs a little. I stood up and rushed towards him. He instantly knew who I was.
"Mr Lake, yes?" I nodded eagerly. "I have officially discharged Miss Weller." He handed me a small paper bag. "She will need to take these twice a day though. You can go and see her now, she will need as much TLC as she can get for the next few days, please take care of her."
"Thank you, I will!" I smiled towards him and made my way into the ward.

Her eyes met mine and instantly felt better.
"You're back." She smiled towards me and started getting out of her bed. She looked as better as she could be today, minus the wounds. 
"As promised." I returned the smile and moved to help her get up. She seemed incredibly weak and fragile still, but I guess she could recover better at camp instead of this dreary hospital.

"Let me help you." I held one of her hands and aided her until she was stood up. "Okay?" I looked towards her. She nodded lightly as I let go of her so that she was standing on her own.

"Thank you Ryan." She said quietly and went to grab her carrier bag of belongings.
"Don't worry, I've got that, you look knackered." I replied, picking up the bag and helping her walk out of the ward.

"You don't have to help me so much." Laura said with a small smirk as we got into the lift. "I'm fine."
"You may think you are, but you need to be careful, I need to look after you." I said back to her sheepishly as the lift began to move. Laura wobbled on her feet as the lift made her unsteady. I reacted quickly and steadied her by holding onto her waist which in turn, closed the gap between us.

"See! You are unsteady!" I smirked and looked down at her. She wrapped her arms around me.
"That was just the lift Ryan. I don't like them." She laughed slightly.

We stood in silence until the lift stopped on the ground floor.
"She admitted it you know." I said, looking into Laura's eyes. The doors of the lift opened.
"Who?" she frowned at me in confusion.
"Jane. I knew it was her, and she admitted it to me last night. I just need to prove it." She stayed silent for a little while and her eyes became glassy like she was about to cry.

When I realised people were getting in the lift, I grabbed Laura's hand and lead her out of it before we ended up going back up a few floors.

She finally replied to me and said: "I knew it was her! I heard her talking as she l-left me there, hanging. I thought I was g-going to die." I watched as Laura broke down in front of me, the realisation of what had happened was finally settling in her mind.

I pulled her in close, trying my best to make her feel safe. I felt her crying against my chest.
"I've got you." I said, gently stroking her back in an attempt to calm her down. I knew she was safe in my arms and that's all that mattered.