I was able to leave the hospital the next day, and then go back to school on Monday. It was a little difficult, going back to the place where the person that hit me could have been. I didn't want to think that way, but I just couldn't help but do so.
"Hey," Blake smiled at me as we made our way through the parking lot and towards the front of the school. "Don't worry, okay? You've got me to protect you."
I knew I did, and I was the luckiest girl in the world because of it. How I ever let him go was beyond me.
As we got closer to the front of the school, I slipped my hand into Blake's. He gave me a look that asked if I was sure about this, and I smiled and nodded. I hadn't ever been so sure of anything in my entire life.
As soon as we entered the school, almost everyone stared at us. A few girls looked very displeased, and I knew it was because they had been pining after Blake for some time. Too bad they didn't care about him before he was popular.
"Leah, I'm so glad you're okay!" a random girl suddenly said to me as Blake and I continued to make our way down the hall. "When I heard that you got hit by a car, I was afraid you wouldn't make it!"
"Thank you," I simply thanked with a smile, since there wasn't anything else I could have said to her.
I was stopped by multiple people as we continued down the hall, and it was strange. I had gotten so used to people hating me that it was still weird that everyone liked me again. I didn't really know how I was supposed to handle it.
We didn't see any of our friends before school, so I knew lunch would be the best time to tell them all that Blake and I were back together. We would all be together, so they'd all get to find out at the same time.
Blake and I approached our usual table, hand-in-hand. To tell you the truth, I actually was a little nervous about them seeing us. I didn't know what reactions they were going to have. But I wasn't going to let what other people think influence me anymore.
Mona wasn't at the table, but I wasn't expecting her to be. After seeing Blake and me dance at the prom, I was sure she realized that she had lost. Blake loved me and not her.
Cassie was the first one that saw us, and that was what I had wanted. She stared at our interlocked fingers for a moment, as if trying to process the sight in front of her. She didn't seem to know what she was supposed to do.
"You... you two..." was all she was able to utter, still just staring at us.
"Yes," I nodded, my grip on Blake's hand tightening as I turned my head to smile at him. "We're back together."
Thomas and Derrick were both smiling at me, and I couldn't help but smile back at them. Even Christian was smiling. Everyone else at the table looked shocked, but not as shocked as Cassie. She looked like she couldn't even fathom what was going on.
"About time," Derrick muttered as Blake and I took a seat.
Cassie nearly fell out of her chair. "You knew about this?"
Derrick merely shrugged. "Yeah."
"I knew, too," Thomas chimed in with a grin, and Cassie looked like she was going to faint. Jane gave her boyfriend a look on confusion. "I've known for quite a while."
"Quite a while?" Cassie now squawked, flailing her arms now. "What do you mean, quite a while? How long has this been going on?"
Thomas gave me a look, as if asking if it was okay to tell Cassie about everything that had been going on behind her back for months. I shook my head, not allowing him to tell her. Because I wanted to.
"We've been going out ever since Blake woke up," I clarified simply, looking down at my nails.
Now, everyone at the table except for Derrick and Thomas looked absolutely shocked. Blake had woken up in August. It was now May. That was definitely a long time, though we hadn't been together for all nine months.
"We broke up in January, two months before I started dating Christian," I now continued, just so they wouldn't be too confused when they remembered that I had dated another boy at this table during these nine months. "And we just got back together on prom night."
My friends looked absolutely stunned. Thomas and Derrick looked smug. Blake and I did nothing but continue to hold hands under the table.
"We understand why you all wanted us to stay away from each other back then," Blake now told them, and he squeezed my hand, "but we didn't agree with it. So we secretly dated behind all of your backs. And unfortunately, after a while, we let what you guys said get to our heads. We really thought that we were unhealthy. But then we realized that we weren't the unhealthy ones, it was the people around us."
"We realized that the only reason we ever got close to being unhealthy is because we lied to you guys," I continued. "We lied to you and told you we were single. Because of that, we had people coming onto us. Mona with Blake, and Christian with me. That's completely natural. But we got ridiculously jealous and let it ruin our relationship for a while. Keeping it a secret ruined our relationship. So we're not going to keep it a secret anymore, because that was the only unhealthy thing about it."
We let what others thought of us influence us too much, but that was about to change. All my life, I wanted to please people, but I was never able to. But now, I've accepted it. I knew life wasn't fair, and I wasn't going to be able to please everyone. That was just how life was supposed to be.
The fact that Blake and I were back together took some time for Cassie to get used to. Everyone else accepted it almost right away, but she was skeptical. But I was expecting her to be this way, because she was still Cassie and she hadn't changed all that much. She was friends with Blake, but she hadn't ever liked the fact that we were together. She had always preferred me with Sean or Christian, two guys that she had ended up dating herself.
Two weeks after Blake and I had gotten together, I was lying on my couch on a Saturday, flipping through channels lazily. Everything was pretty much back to how they used to be, and I was unbelievably happy. Even my parents didn't have a problem with Blake and me getting back together. At first they weren't very happy about it, but they finally accepted that Blake was the only person who could make me very happy.
The only person we hadn't told was Carrie, and that was because I was actually very afraid of how she would react to it. I still didn't know who hit me with a car, or why they even hit me. But every time I looked down at my stupid cast, I was reminded of how someone wanted me dead.
When my phone started ringing from the coffee table, I almost fell off of the couch trying to reach for it. I really hoped that it was Blake that was calling me, because I hadn't been able to reach him all day, and I didn't know why. Snatching it, I was able to regain my balance and stay on the couch, answering it without even looking at the caller ID.
"Hello?" I greeted cheerfully.
"Leah, you need to come to the hospital, now," the person on the other line ordered, and I immediately recognized the voice to be Sean's.
I immediately grew terrified. "Why? What's wrong?"
"It's Jaz," he answered, choked up. My breath immediately caught in my throat. "She... she... Leah, I just really need you here right now."
I said nothing more. My best friend needed me, and that was all that mattered. I didn't even tell my mother where I was going; I just hopped right off the couch and to my car. If she grew worried, she could call me.
All the way to the hospital, I called Blake. When none of my calls were answered, I texted him. I got no reply.
It took me ten minutes to get to the hospital, and I ran in, fearing the worst. Sean did not sound good over the phone, and I knew that was a bad sign. I didn't know what had happened to Jaz, but I knew that it was not good.
I found Sean in the waiting room, sitting with his head in his hands. I was almost afraid to approach him. I did not want to know why he was upset; I didn't want to know what had happened to Jaz. They had only gotten together a few weeks before, and now...
"Sean," I gulped once I reached him, sitting down beside him and tentatively touching his shoulder. "What's wrong? What happened to Jaz?"
He finally looked up at me, and what I saw made my jaw drop. Sean had tears in his eyes. Sean had tears pouring down his cheeks. Sean was crying, and this immediately made me start crying, too.
I had only ever seen Sean Bakersfield cry once before this. He was thirteen, and I was twelve. His family was over at my house for dinner, and while our mothers were cooking, Sean and our fathers were outside playing football. His dad said it was because he wanted to show off in front of me, and back then I only thought it was because Sean was full of himself.
When his dad had tackled him, he somehow landed on Sean wrong, twisting his leg. I heard the crack before anyone else did, maybe even Sean himself, and immediately started screaming. I didn't know if it was because I knew Sean was hurt, or because just the sound brought images to my head that I wished Iwould never have to see.
When he realized what had happened, Sean started crying as well, though he tried to hide it as hard as he could because I was watching. But he could only hide it so much. His leg was completely bent out of shape, and after being rushed to the hospital, the doctor said that it was so bad that there was a possibility Sean would never be able to walk again. Luckily, he made a full recovery and was perfectly fine within a year.
Sean hadn't ever cried for Cassie before. He hadn't even cried for me; at least, not that I was aware of. If losing Jaz was as painful as breaking his leg almost to the point where he could never walk again, I knew how much he cared for her without even having to ask.
"She was in a car accident," he explained, letting out a deep breath. "She was in a bad car accident."
There wasn't anything I could say; I just stayed completely silent. I was afraid that if I did say anything, I would just upset him even more. And that was definitely not something I wanted to do.
"Is Blake coming?" Sean asked me now when he saw that I wasn't going to say anything.
I shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but I don't think so," I answered honestly. "I've called and texted him like a hundred times, but he hasn't answered me yet. I have no idea why.'
Honestly, I was kind of scared. I didn't know why Blake wasn't responding, and it just worried me. He always got back to me right away, and now that he wasn't... I didn't know what was going on.
When a doctor stepped out and asked who was here for Jaz Williams, both Sean and I shot up. I didn't know where Jaz's parents were, but I wasn't about to ask that question at that moment.
"How is she?" Sean asked, sounding so desperate that it broke my heart. "How is she doing?"
"I'm sorry," the doctor began, a solemn look on his face. "I don't think there's anything else we can do. I don't think she's going to make it."
Sean was completely frozen for a moment, his eyes wide and red. Finally, he collapsed onto the floor and started sobbing, not caring who was watching him any longer.
I crouched down beside him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and holding onto his tightly. I couldn't help but cry with him as he shook in my arms and clutched onto me as if his life depended on it.
The doctor left us then, knowing that we wanted to be alone. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, so I just continued to hold him and let him cry.
Was this how it was when Blake had jumped off the bridge? I could remember it as if it was yesterday. The pain I felt at that moment was absolutely excruciating, and now Sean was going through the same thing.
Sean, who had once been in love with me. Sean, who had made fun of my boyfriend for having the exact same illness his girlfriend had. Sean, who was really one of the most thoughtful guys in the world, was losing his girlfriend.
Was this how it felt for everyone else when I was the sobbing mess on the floor? I never thought I'd be on the other side. I'd never hoped I'd be on the other side. Honestly, I just wanted to never step foot in a hospital ever again.
I now pulled Sean back up onto a chair, since I didn't think staying on the floor was the best idea. We stayed like that for about fifteen minutes until two people came through the doors, looking around frantically. The woman looked so much like Jaz that I knew they had to be her parents.
I pointed them out to Sean, who immediately made his way toward them. They obviously had already met, because they recognized Sean immediately.
I knew I wasn't needed here anymore. It would probably be best if I left. I wasn't family, and I wasn't her boyfriend. Sure, I was her friend, but I didn't think that was enough. Honestly, I didn't really want to be there anymore. I didn't think I'd be able to handle it if Jaz was really gone.
My phone then vibrated in my pocket, and I took it out to see that I had a text. I hoped that it was Blake, but I was then disappointed to see that it was from a number I didn't have saved into my phone.
Leah, it's Mona, the text began, and I couldn't help but find it odd that Mona was texting me, please come over to my house. I really need to talk to you. It's about Blake.
I wasn't very surprised that our conversation would be about Blake. He seemed to be the only thing Mona cared about, so of course she wanted to talk about him. It wasn't like I was expecting her to ask me for help on her math homework or something.
Her address was lower in the text, and I just stared at it for a moment. Why would Mona want me to come over to her house? Every time we talked, it only ended in a fight. I didn't think it would be a good idea to go over there.
Maybe she knew where Blake was, and why I couldn't get a hold of him. I was definitely started to get worried, so I decided to go anyway. I decided that if she went through the trouble to get my number and text me, then I guess I could go through the trouble of visiting her. Maybe talking to her could end all of this for good.
And that was what I wanted, to be completely honest. I just wanted closure. And if talking with Mona was going to get me that, then I was going to do it.
I didn't listen to any music on my way there. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to do so. With everything that was going on with Jaz, and then the random text from Mona saying she wanted to talk, I just felt like driving in silence.
I parked a little ways away from Mona's house and silently walked up to the front door. Before I could ring the doorbell, I noticed that the door was already open just a crack. That was definitely strange.
I entered the house cautiously, not knowing what I was supposed to expect. Was Mona going to jump out and try to kill me? This sure felt like one of those stereotypical movie moments. She could have been anywhere, lurking and waiting for me to step in front of her. Then she would strike, I would go down, and then she would kill me.
I was thinking way too out of hand. The door being open was probably just an accident, and that was all. She was probably upstairs in her room or something.
Without a second thought, I made my way up the stairs two at a time. It was kind of creepy, being downstairs all by myself in a quiet house. When I got upstairs to the hallway, I didn't know which door was Mona's room, so I felt completely stumped. I really didn't want to have to deal with anyone else in her family, so barging in or knocking on the door was definitely out.
So I decided to use this time to awkwardly look at the family photos that were hung up in the hallway. There were both old pictures and recent pictures hanging up on the wall, and I was surprised when I came across a picture of what I thought was, at first, two Mona's.
They were obviously sisters, and it was weird, because I didn't even know that Mona had a sister. I just assumed that she was an only child. I knew that she had a step-mother that didn't like her very much, but that was it.
They may have even been twins. But Mona was tan while her sister was pale, and then Mona's hair was a much lighter shade of brown, but I was sure this was only because her sister obviously dyed it, considering she had multiple colored streaks in her hair.
Mona was much brighter than her sister, as well. Mona liked to wear bright colors while her sister liked black and dark colors. It was strange to see two people that looked so much alike be completely different from each other.
I wondered why Mona's sister didn't go to our school. She could have been older and out of high school, and not twins like I assumed they were. But I couldn't have been sure.
I then looked down the hall to see two doors right beside each other. One was open, and one was closed. The opened door had the name Mona written in pretty, bubbly letters. The door next to it was closed and had the name Fiona scrawled across it in thick, dark letters. So that was Mona's sister's name.
I then looked across the hall to another closed door, but this time, there was light peeking out from the bottom, so I knew that someone was in there. As I got closer, I could hear a shower running, so I knew that this room was the bathroom. Assuming that Mona was the only one there, I knocked on the door and simply uttered, "Mona?"
I got no reply. Just complete and utter silent. But I knew she was in there; I could just feel it. And now that I was here, I was going to talk to her. She knew something about Blake and I was going to get it out of her.
So I didn't even think twice about it when I barged in. If it was Mona inside just taking a shower and she hadn't heard me knock, then she would have had to already be in the shower, so I wouldn't even see anything because the shower curtain would be covering her. If it was another family member of hers in the shower, then, well... they'd just have to deal with me barging in and blame Mona later.
When I opened the door, what I was met with was one of the most shocking things I have ever seen in my entire life. All I could do was stand there, unable to believe what was in front of me.
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I got a new laptop... The keyboard's really weird. It's definitely going to take some time to get used to.
Only two more chapters left... That's so weird. I've been writing about these guys since I was a freshman in high school. Now I'm a junior, the same age they were when they story first began. It's just... weird.
An update a little earlier for you guys... because you deserve it. :)
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D