Reputation: Book One

Qrow

All I could think about since my surprise party was those three words Tripp said while we were alone in the dark.

"I love you."

Everything in my body, every part of me felt like it had ignited; a burning sensation traveling through my figure and rushing through every nerve, making my fingertips tingle. My lungs flopped around in my chest as my heart flatlined for a few beats, but once I processed what he had said and how much he truly meant to me, I knew right then and there, we were going to last. A very long time. I had finally found who I was determined to spend the rest of my life with, so I said it right back. And I meant it with every cell in my body.

I was just falling asleep when my phone blared loudly in my ear. I groaned, rolling over and putting my pillow over my ear. The vibration was sent through the mattress sheets, tickling my ear after every pause. I must've been so tired, I didn't even put it on the charger by my bedside. The buzzing finally ceased and I sighed, rolling back over onto my back to settle.

A chime from the other side of my bedroom signaled a new email. I ignored it, closing my eyes again. Then there was another. And another. Then my phone began to ring again. I growled out loud, slamming my pillow into my face and cursing under my breath. I jolted up, violently siezed my cell phone and glared at the screen. To my surprise, it was Jerzei. My eyebrows furrowed and I jabbed the glowing ACCEPT button.

"Do you know what time it is?" I snarl into the speaker.

A quiet, muffled sob sounded through her end and then her raspy, broken voice cut in.

"Qrow," She cried. "I-It's Tripp, and he's badly hurt and it's all my fault I just wasn't watching where I was going and we hit the guardrail and felt right over the underpass and crushed my car and everything is ruined it's all my fault!" She gasps. My heat began to beat faster and faster, my eyes widening as I tried to control my breathing.

"Y-You did what?" I ask, my voice not as calm as I'd wanted it to be. "Jerzei, what the hell did you do?!" I tell into the phone. "Is he dead?" I scream. "Did you kill him?"

She chokes on another round of sobs.
"I-I don't know, brother, I am so sorry," She howls. Tears build on the rim of my eyes as I try to process this.

"Oh my God," I whisper, cupping my hand over my mouth. My forehead began to sweat and I was hot and cold all over. I suddenly felt sick. I jumped out of my bed, grabbed my slip-ons and pulled on a pair of basketball shorts.

"Where- Where are you guys at?" I ask as I pull a white T-shirt over my head.

"Adrien's hospital," She tells me. "He's here now assisting with the nurse."
I nod, biting my lip to keep from crying. Please God, I pray. Please, please please let him be okay.

I hung up on Jerzei without saying bye. She didn't deserve that right now. My feet pounded against the upstairs hardwood, echoing throughout the dark, empty house. I hear a door open as I run down the stairs.

"Qrow?"

It was Autumn. I spun around, staring at her blankly. I swallowed, my throat stinging and my head pounding.
"Is everything all right? You were yelling up-"

"It's Tripp," I tell her. "He's in the hospital. And it's Jerzei to blame," I say softly.

"Wait what?" She asks, voice rising. I let the tears fall and covered my face.
"They got into an accident on the way home," I explain. "She said they hit the guardrail and plummeted over the overpass, and that's all I know," I croak. She gasps, running over to the entryway and slipping her feet into a pair of sandals as she yanks her pair of keys off the keyrings, tossing them to me.

"You drive."

*                 *                    *

The next hour was a blur. I couldn't see Tripp because he was unstable and getting tests done; they didn't want me interfering. Adrien kept running back and forth, regurgitating the data and any positive updates. I didn't see Jerzei either, which I was fine with. I don't think I'd be able to control myself. Autumn held me close the entire time, petting my hair and reassuring me that everything was okay. And that's how I knew it wasn't. A new doctor, Dr. Idalia, called me in her office to 'talk'. My stomach churned as I stood up on unsteady legs. Autumn walked beside me as she led me to her office. I could hardly stand upright, any less even see straight, so she was beside me every time I looked over.

"Okay, we have some things to exchange with each other," Idalia starts, sitting down in front of us behind her mahogany desk. She runs a hand through her long brown, stick-straight hair, flipping open a manilla file. I swallow, staring at her while I took my cup of water from Autumn with shaky hands.

"Go on," I say. She takes a deep breath, pushing her glasses up her ski-slope nose, just like Autumn does when she's nervous.

"We have an official report that we pieced together from other 911 calls and what your sister had to say," She starts, glancing up at me through her eyelashes. Autumn laced her fingers with mine, squeezing my hand thrice.

"So, what we assume to have happened from the beginning was Jerzei came and picked him up from Summer's house, is that correct?"
I nod. "I was there."

She nods back. "Okay, great. And then from what Jerzei said is that Tripp went off about something about their breakup, which triggered a response from Jerzei," She tells us. I slowly nod.

"And?"

"And that's when she claims she'd taken her eyes off the road to respond and ran a red light, smashed into the guardrail beside the overpass, and because of the force, the car then flipped over the edge and into lower oncoming traffic," she says. I inhale sharply and Autumn puts her arm around my back, rubbing my arm.
"Which then another car hit the passenger side and sent the car spinning," She says in a whisper. I lurch forward in my seat, covering my mouth to muffle my scream. I squeeze my eyes shut to prevent more tears. I felt crazy, sitting there, unable to control myself. I felt like a psycho. A maniac. Like I was slowly being torn apart from the inside out.

"Is he atleast going to be okay?" I choke. "Please tell me it'll be okay," I plead. Idalia leans forward, biting her bottom lip.

"We," She starts, folding her hands together in front of her. "don't think will be possible."

And it only takes those few words to year me down faster than anything else could. My eyes widen and I hear indistinct voices trying to get my attention again.

"No," I whisper, looking at my feet. My vision blurred and the world seemed to stop spinning. I lifelessly fell into Autumn's shoulder and I cried. And I cried. And I cried.