A Place Of Hope And No Pain (Avenged Sevenfold)

Chapter 25

Chloe's POV

What a fucking joke, we'd all been dragged in here, scolded like little children and now Clay and I were being kept after class.

My knee was killing me and I was in no mood for this shit. Carmen that bitch, I wanted to kill her, but seeing her bruised eye's and slightly off centred nose gave me a little bit of satisfaction.

"Right you two." Bruce snapped, closing the door after the other's had left. "What was that all about?"

"Honestly." Clay said. "It was a harmless bit of fun."

"Harmless." Bruce snapped, pointing at my knee. "Look at her or Carmen's broken nose."

"Carmen asked for that." I muttered and she did and she'd be lucky if I didn't break her fucking nose again.

"You two are my senior staff and look at this." Bruce said sighing.

I shook my head. "Like Clay said it was a bit of fun that got a little out of hand."

"I don't want to see anything like it again." Bruce grumbled, looking at me.

"Of course you won't." Clay agreed, smirking at me.

"Good." Bruce said standing up. "And I just want to say you're doing a really good job this time around too, I can see a huge improvement in your partners, especially Matt Chloe."

I nodded. "Yeah he's doing great."

"Especially considering the start you had." Bruce added.

I waved my hand. "I've forgotten about that." And it was true, I had, Matt was a big pussy cat, he'd never intentionally hurt anyone.

"Okay good." Bruce said walking over to the door. "Now get lost and remember, I don't want to see shit like that again."

I grabbed my crutches, standing up and hobbling through the door. God, I was sick of these crutches and I was sick of my fucking knee, I couldn't do a damn thing and I wouldn't be able to for weeks. Fuck Carmen right to hell.

"Why does Carmen hate me?" I asked Clay as he followed me out.

He shrugged. "Now that I don't know."

I did, I knew, she thought I was banging Clay on the side or something, when in truth she was banging him on the side. I guessed her insecurities were showing.

"Is everything okay?" Matt asked, seeing me and walking over.

I nodded. "Yeah we just got in trouble a little, but it's okay."

He frowned. "God, I don't want you to get in trouble."

I shrugged. "It's okay, honestly." I smiled. "Anyway, I'm going back to the room." It wasn't like I could do much of anything else anyway.

"I already got you a coffee." He said, holding a cup up. "And I'll even carry it so you'll have more than a mouthful left by the time we get there."

"Smart ass." I mumbled, heading over to the stairs, smiling to myself.

Fuck the stairs. I hated them. Going up and down them was a nightmare. My arm's were hurting from the crutches and my knee was just hurting because of Carmen. Carmen, that bitch.

"Need a hand?" Matt asked, sensing my struggle.

"I have to learn to do it." I sighed, I'd be on the fucking things for about six weeks and that frustrated the hell out of me.

"Alright." He smiled, watching me as I struggled up the stairs.

Finally we made it to our room and I hobbled over to the couch, sitting down. I was exhausted just from the stairs. God this sucked so bad.

"So." Matt said, handing me my coffee and getting comfortable on the other couch. "What was Bruce talking about?"

I took a mouthful. Fuck, even coffee didn't make me feel better. "About?"

"About all of that confrontational shit." He said moving around, still trying to get comfortable.

"Oh that." I said smiling at him. "Don't let it worry you." But it was too late, I could see he was worrying and I cursed Bruce for even mentioning it.

"Yeah but what's it about?" He asked me, pushing the subject.

I sighed, trying to think of a good way to explain it. "Basically they bring in someone, someone you know, someone who pushes your buttons, sit's you in a room and make you talk to each other."

"Oh." He mumbled.

"Yeah someone that maybe you did something to." I added. "Wronged in some way, I don't know."

"I see."  He muttered. "I don't think I've really wronged anyone."

"They'll find someone." I added. "Trust me, they always do. They just want to push you Matt, see how you deal with your anger, stuff like that."

"Sounds horrendous." He said laying back.

"Yeah it pretty much is." I agreed. "But you know, when you're out of here things are going to trigger you and they want to teach you how to deal with things like that, trigger moments."

He nodded. "Yeah that make's sense."

"Mine was a fucking nightmare." I added. "They brought in my sister, we yelled, screamed, cried and if I knew then what I knew know I'd have even hit the bitch."

"What?" He asked frowning at me.

I shook my head. "Never mind." I wasn't dwelling on the past and it was something I wanted to forget.

He looked at me strangely, but thankfully he dropped the subject, going onto how excited he was to be seeing the boys again in a few days.

"So how do you think everything will go when you leave here Matt?" I asked him, frowning because I was at the end of my coffee.

"Well." He said. "I feel pretty confident, I mean I know it's going to be hard, but I want to stay sober badly, so I'm willing to work for it."

"Good." I said softly, and it was good, I wanted him to succeed, badly.

"Yeah, but you know what I'm going to do?" He asked me, smiling. "One of the first things I'm going to do?"

"What?" I asked him, enjoying his excitement.

"Do a show." He went on. "I want to get out on that stage and perform, sober. I can't remember the last time I performed sober."

"That sounds like a great idea Matt." I told him smiling.

He nodded. "Yep and I expect you to be standing side stage watching." He added. "Because you know, Bruce said that shit about never seeing each other again, but I want you there, watching me."

I smiled at him, not replying. Bruce had said that shit, that we would likely never see each other again, but I don't know, with Matt I was comfortable, with Matt I could be me and he liked me for who I was.

I didn't say it out loud, but I thought it. I wanted to be side stage watching him succeed. I wanted to be there more than anything.