Fighting For Life (published)

Nice to have a friend

Aubry's POV-

I had spent pretty much the whole day at the gym. Tom was keeping an annoyingly close eye on me the whole day. It was sweet, but I felt a little bad for keeping him preoccupied all day long.

I had actually learned a lot about Tommy in that single day. I had learned about his mother's death just after his birth. Then, he told me of father's death; a car wreck... just a couple months after Aiden's dad died. Then, a month later, Bri was attacked. I felt awful for their whole family. One family shouldn't have that many tragedies all at once.

I also learned about how much he hated his stepmom and stepsister. Not that I blamed him, they were both disasters. I'd hate to be stuck with them too.

I enjoyed Tommy's company. He was funny and high energy. He also was honest and never looked at me weird. He spoke to me easily and accepted me... It was a change, for sure.

I was also finally able to get some sleep. Some deep wonderful much needed sleep. It was amazing. I would never take sleep for granted ever again.

I was ashamed to say that I was missing Aiden all day. I was annoyed at myself. I wanted to see him again, and it irrationally bothered me that he hadn't come to see me. I knew that it really was irrational, it was completely ridiculous that I wanted him around so much. I felt completely pathetic.

When Monday came I was hurting. All over, I was hurting. Every time that I breathed, moved, or even just stayed still and held my breath blaring pain washed through me. The only thing that helped was the little pill that Tom had given me the night before for me to take in the morning. It helped... but it wasn't much and didn't last long enough.

When I got to my regular lunch table, I sat down heavily. I was absolutely exhausted. I was hurting and the pill was beginning to wear off. It had been a rough day.

When I had fully sat down and got as comfortable as I could get, a chair was being scraped out in front of me. I looked up, surprised. Nobody ever sat with me. Briana was standing behind the chair with an apprehensive look on her face.

"You don't mind if I sit with you, right?" She asked cautiously. Almost in a scared manner.

I shook my head slowly and moved my backpack to the side slightly. I was surprised as hell. I mean, I knew that we had bonded, but I didn't realize that she had liked me enough to sit with me. I thought it was more so that I was at the right place at the right time, and she was vulnerable.

"Have you always had this lunch period?" I asked.

I could feel eyes on us, but I tried to just focus on Bri. I tried not to let the eyes bother me, but I was not very good with attention. Although, it was a bit easier to ignore the stares of the high schoolers because I had absolutely no interest in what anyone else thought.

She smiled slightly and nodded while looking down.

I knew that she felt the looks too.

"Yeah... I've always sat right over there." She pointed behind me.

"Ah, that explains why I've never seen you..." I said quietly.

I watched her pull out her lunch and wanted to cry. I shouldn't have been all that hungry; Tom had treated me to lunch the day before... But watching her pull out food in front of me activated a primal part in my brain that instantly triggered hunger pains. I was suddenly very jealous of the girl across from me who was eating a simple sandwich.

"Well if it isn't ugly and uglier! You make such a cute couple!" A boy from a group of semi-popular kids said while walking up to the table.