Our Shot (LAMS school au)

Chapter 41: Angelica

(A/N: Okay y'all there's only gonna be like 3 chapters left including this one, because my idea tank has gone dry. Maybe i'll find inspo in some other ffics, but this is the warning ⚠️
- Daryn 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸)

Alex's POV

I had thought about what Eliza said to me almost all of that day, and what I had said to her. I hadn't been lying about any of it; I only hoped that what Eliza said about John not planning to break up with me was also the truth.

We ended up not going out for lunch after all. The chance that I would talk to John to invite him along, as was Eliza's condition, was very slim. I hadn't talked to John since... yeah.

I assumed he wanted his space from me. It wasn't as tense as I had feared, but then again John avoided me entirely now.

I pushed the laptop off of my lap onto my open mattress, and shut it closed briskly.

I hadn't been working long; I had spent most of my time in my top bunk looking out the window at the rising moon, simply thinking, mostly about the boy I knew was sitting in the bunk below me.

I knew John was there, even though he hadn't spoken yet, but I could hear the soft ticking of the keys on his laptop. Whenever he paused I held my breath, and I wondered if he was listening to me, as well. I wondered what he was thinking.

Maybe about me. I hoped about me. He told me that he needed time to think. It had been four days.

What I had told Eliza was no lie; I wanted things to go back to the way they had been. I wanted John back.

Stop thinking about it, I told myself, you don't want to go and start crying again, do you?

I didn't have the chance. My phone began to ring in my pocket, and I rushed to find and stop it. The typing stopped. I pulled the phone into my hand, and recognized the photo that appeared on the screen along with the name. It was Eliza.

I swiped the screen, answering the call. "Hey Eliza," I said, "It's so late; what's up?"

She ignored my question. "I-Is John with you?" I heard her voice come softly on the other end.

Her voice was shaking.

"Yeah, he is," I responded quietly, and I heard the quiet typing in the bed below me stop again; John was listening.

"Put me on speaker, will you?" She began, her voice still trembling, and I did so.

"John," I muttered quietly, just loud enough for him to hear, "Eliza has something to tell us."

His head soon popped up on the other side of my bed railing. His eyes scanned mine, and then, perhaps noticing the look in my eyes, matched my expression. "I'm here, Eliza," he spoke gently, "What is it?"

"It's Angelica," Eliza began after a moment, "The hospital called me a few minutes ago; she's been raped."

______( -_- )______

John's POV

Eliza had already called Hercules and Lafayette. They had been out at the mall in the next town over; we would beat them to the hospital. After we ended the brief phone call with Eliza, Alex and I had rushed out of our dorm; I don't even know if I remembered to lock the door, and Alex had forgotten a jacket.

I was the only one with a car, so I drove us both to the hospital, and I wasted no time. Alex and I rode in silence through the town, the streets both dark and near empty; it very was late by then.

After what was perhaps the slowest twenty minutes of my life, the two of us arrived at the hospital. When we came into the lobby, there was only one or two people inside, not counting the woman at the desk who definitely looked like she wanted to be home this late in the evening.

We were met with an exhausted looking Peggy, who was sitting in the back of the waiting room; however, she seemed revived when she saw us and stood from her chair. "Slow down!" She cried when she saw us burst in.

She stopped me in my tracks by grabbing onto my shoulders. "We can't see her yet," she exclaimed, "They won't even let Eliza in to see her!"

"What happened?" Alex asked breathlessly, the two of us still catching our breath from the run inside.

She shrugged. "All I know is that Angie told us she was going out on dancing with her boyfriend; that was like, 2 hours ago," Peggy explained quickly, shaking her head, "I don't even know his name."

"Paine," I stated, and the two of them looked at me, "Thomas Paine, I think. Eliza told me."

"Oh," Peggy said quietly, "But that's all I know. Eliza says I'm too young and won't tell me anything! Wait, where's Hercules and Lafayette?"

"They're on their way," Alex confirmed, and Peggy nodded.

The four of us heard footsteps behind us, so quiet we could only hear them because the area was deserted, and we whipped around to look. It was Eliza; she was walking down the white hallway towards us.

She had stopped a few yards from us, but after she noticed the three of us standing there she fell down into a nearby chair. Her eyes were red and puffy, but I only saw them briefly as she put her hands over her face, and rested her elbows on her knees.

Alex and I stayed where we were, but Peggy sighed and approached Eliza silently, leaving Alex and I to stand alone. She crouched down beside her elder sister, and said something I couldn't hear.

Eliza removed her hands from over her face, and looked around at the three of us. "What happened to Angie," Peggy asked her imperatively, although careful not to upset her sister further.

"Um, t-two guys on a run found her by a park, about a block from where they were all dancing. I'm not sure who she was all with," Eliza began to explain, her voice faltering in several places, "The doctors said they found a close to lethal amount of ketamine in her system; she's lucky it didn't kill her."

"Ketamine," I confirmed,  mumbling it mostly to myself, "If I remember right that's..."

"It's a common date rape drug," Eliza explained briefly, and buried her face in her hands again, "My God, I can't believe this actually happened."

She ran both hands over her face, obviously stressed. "How is she," Alex asked, and took the seat beside Eliza.

I was the only one left standing. Eliza sighed again, and let her hands fall down into her lap. "Bruised," she admitted simply, "No broken bones, though; that's only what I hear from the doctors."

We heard several echoing footsteps, but didn't have time to turn before the owner of then spoke. "Miss Schuyler?" A plain voice sounded from down the hallway.

Eliza and Peggy turned around in their chairs, and Alex and I simply looked behind them. It was a young man, dressed in medical garb and holding a clip board. "My sister is here too," Eliza explained when she saw him, gesturing to Peggy, and the man nodded curtly, afterwards jotting something down on his clipboard.

"You can see Miss Schuyler now," he explained, smiling subtly and looking at the two girls, "The other one."

Eliza nodded, and put her hand in Peggy's as she stood up. The clinician ushered them past me, but when John and I tried to follow, but the doctor stopped us by stepping into our path. "Only family for now," he explained kindly, putting his two hands up, "But you should be able to see your friend soon."

"How soon?" Alex continued to infer, but I stepped away to find a seat.

It seemed me and Alex would have some time alone this evening after all.