Denied Attraction

Denied Attraction Chapter 9

AMELIA'S POV

Santana laughed lightly and I watched with a smile as she linked her arm to mine. It felt good to act slightly normal. I spent the whole day acting like a completely different person. I pretended to be the person I was last time I was at school. That was almost three months ago.

I had sat with "friends" and made it seem like nothing bad has happened to me within the last few weeks. I made it seem like everything was just peachy. It was a pretty bad act and I thought no one would fall for it. Of course they all believed it though. Carter did as well. He barely even acknowledged it when he saw me in the morning.

"Hey Amelia, what's going to happen to your house?" Santana asked quietly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"It's going to wait for me until I turn eighteen," I replied calmly.

Santana stopped dead in her tracks. Watching me carefully, a frown lined her forehead.

"You won't be staying with us?" she asked me.

"I don't want to intrude on your lives," I replied as I began walking, pulling her with me.

"But you won't be. We all love having you around. Even Julio does. He's just too stubborn to admit anything," she blabbered on.

I smiled to myself. I'd actually become pretty close with Santana and even though she was two years younger than me, she became more of a best friend to me than any of my friends. I enjoyed having her company. I would definitely be sad when I left her.

As we made our way back to her house, realization occurred to me. I needed to go to the hospital. First however I needed to make a quick stop.

"Can we go to the shops quickly?" I asked Santana.

She nodded and we were on our way.

~~

Together, we entered the hospital. I led her down the now familiar path leading to the children's ward. In my hands I carried a card and a large toy soldier.

We walked into Tommy's room and I went to him automatically, Santana staying behind, uncertain.

"Happy birthday little man," I whispered, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

His face seemed relaxed and I smiled sadly. I have been visiting him every single day and nothing has changed. I could feel myself accepting this future, but I wouldn't give up hope that easily.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I motioned for Santana to come in. Her eyes looked to Tommy and back at me before she took a few steps in, standing awkwardly in the middle of the small room. I held in a laugh as she looked towards the chair.

"You can sit," I replied with a grin, but my sudden words made her jump. She opened her mouth to say something but a voice from behind silenced her.

"Good news, Miss Jordan," the doctor said walking in with his clipboard.

He stopped, realizing there was someone else in the room. He smiled at the sweet innocent girl in front of him, and turned uncertain eyes to me. I nodded for him to go on. And so after clearing his throat, he continued.

"Your brother is expected to make a full recovery. All the tests that we've run show that everything is fine or in the process of healing. What we are uncertain of is when he'll wake up."

"How can you not know when he'll wake up?" I asked puzzled.

"You see his body has gone into a sort of shut down so that it may heal. So it's uncertain when the body will feel like it's all better. We just have to wait and see," he replied calmly.

I looked to Santana, happy tears flooding to my eyes.

"My little man's going to be fine," I cried, my throat feeling slightly tight.

Santana jumped towards me, embracing me tightly as we jumped with joy together. Finally, I got good news. Not everyone in my family left me. Tommy was still here for me. And even though I'm his older sister, I needed him more than he or anyone else knows.

~~

It's almost ten at night. Santana and I had been back for more than three hours. We had told Maria the good news and she was just as excited. I was looking forward to telling Julio but when I asked where he was, I was told that he was still not back. I didn't take it as odd. He was always coming back late.

Somehow, though, I was really worried for him. Normally he would be back by now. I decided to wait for him while Maria and Santana called it an early night and went to sleep. I stayed up, lying in the bed and just scanning through my messages on the internet.

It was nearing twelve and just as I shut off my lap top, intent on giving up hope, I heard a slight shuffle on the other side of the dividers. Instantly I stood up and walked over to the gap that was seen as a doorway into my half.

Peering in, I saw Julio taking off his shirt. It took a lot of effort to tear my eyes away and look down, slightly embarrassed. I heard a small gasp and instantly looked up. He was trying to see something in the dark. When he realized he couldn't see it, he turned and put the light on. I forced myself back a little, where the shadows could hide me.

Taking in what I saw next, I was shocked. I saw cuts all across his side and bruises lined the area over his ribcage. His lip was split and he was sporting a slightly swollen eye. An involuntary gasp escaped my lips and automatically, Julio's eyes locked onto mine.