***Connor's POV***
Thursday morning, and she still hadn't called.
Was she done with me?
This whole problem had spiraled out of control, and I just wished that she would come back to me, and things could return the way they were before.
Before I moved.
Before Jc.
Before Jennifer.
If only Jennifer had never come into my life, this never would have happened.
Why did I let myself trust someone who I didn't even know?
I was naïve to believe that there was something real there with her.
The only real I had truly felt was with Veronica.
And now she was gone.
But was she gone forever? Or would she eventually come back to me like they always do in those sappy movies that she loves so much?
I was beginning to feel like Noah, and my very own Allie was slipping away from me to be with a better man.
But who was this other guy that she had been spending all of her time with?
The only thing I knew of him was that he was related to Kara.
Was he any better than me?
"Connor?" My father asked, leaning his head in front of me.
I didn't respond, I didn't want to talk to that man. If he would've just stayed away from me, I never would've lost Ronnie.
"Connor, son, look at me," He said again.
"Son," I uttered sarcastically and chuckled a little.
He sighed and sat down in a large armchair in front of me.
"Michelle talked to her sister about that job," He tried again.
There had to be some catch to this, Michelle didn't want to help me. Why would she go out of her way to do that for someone who I knew she despised? The only people she really liked were my father and Jennifer.
I stayed silent and stared at a small crack in the wall.
"Connor, If you want to be successful in life, you just have to start somewhere. This is a great opportunity for you to work around something that you are fond of," He said.
"Don't even try to talk to me about being successful," I retorted.
I looked around me at the stained walls, cracks everywhere. My eyes stopped when they reached the kitchen and I looked over the oven that didn't work most of the time, and the dishwasher that you had to kick to make it start.
This was not the definition of successful.
"I know that's not what I am, but I want it for you. I'm trying to help-" He said.
"You're not trying to help me, you never have been!" I raised my voice now, and I was glad that Kinley left early to make up a test.
"Don't you dare yell at me, or I swear-" He started, his face cold now.
"Swear what? Are you gonna threaten me? Well I've heard it all before, so give it to me, what are you gonna do?" I said.
His fists clenched and unclenched, and I could tell that he was fighting the urge to start a physical altercation.
He looked really angry now, but honestly, I didn't care.
"Go to school, son," He breathed.
"Son? I am not your son! I will never-" I was stopped by the palm of his hand making sharp contact with my face, then pulling away, leaving my cheek stinging.
"I said go to school," He practically whispered, his words like ice.
I picked up my bag from off the table and turned for the door. Slamming it behind me, I practically ran for the little white car that had been mine for the time that I was here.
I wasn't paying very much attention to anything while making my way to school, I was too pissed off at my dad, myself.. everything. It wasn't the safest thing to be driving while I was this upset, but I had to get to school somehow.
My phone was sitting on the passenger seat, and it beeped. Was it Ronnie? Did she want me back?
I leaned over to grab my phone off the seat.
There was a loud crash.
Then everything went black.
***Ronnie's POV***
I got out of Timothy's car and rushed into the front building of the school to escape the cold air. I hadn't talked to Connor yet, and it had been a few more days than I wished.
It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him, I was just really stressed out with school projects and I couldn't have another argument with Connor.
I started towards my AP World History class but was stopped in the middle of the hallway when I heard a loud voice come from the speakers and ring through the campus.
"Veronica Gresham, please come to the front office. Veronica Gresham."
Startled, I turned back around towards the other building and began to think, why would I be called to the office?
Did they find out that I wasn't at school for fifth and sixth period on Monday?
After my conversation with Connor on Monday, I stayed with Jc and Kara for the rest of the day. I just told Tim that I left with them after school, but I really didn't come back to school at all after lunch.
He would kill me if he found out that I skipped.
I began to panic.
I had never gotten in trouble before. What would they do? Would I get detention?
By the time I made my way to the front office, I was on the verge of a panic attack. I looked around and started to walk towards the desk when I was stopped with a hand grabbing my arm.
I turned around quickly to see that it was Mrs. Dillon, Connor's mom.
"Come on honey, I've already checked you out," She said in a hushed tone, physically pulling me out the door.
"What's going on?" I asked, clearly confused.
"It's Connor," She replied, turning on the car. "He got in an accident. Luckily, he just has a broken arm that they're setting right now, but I figured that you would want to go and see him, so I just decided to grab you on the way," She said, her words rushed.
He got in a car accident? This was not at all what I expected when I got to the office this morning. I pushed all of my previous anger towards Connor to the side and just focused on the present situation.
I looked over at Mrs. Dillon and noticed that her knuckles were white from gripping the wheel too hard. I put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, but I was very on edge about the situation as well.
"He'll be ok. It could've been much worse," I said, trying to convince her and myself.
"That's very true. I'm glad that you're here with me. If I was all alone, I could've caused another accident with all of the stress. And I know it will make Connor feel better with you there," She responded, and I could tell that she had calmed down a little.
"I hope so," I muttered breathlessly, and luckily she didn't hear me.
I took many deep breaths on our way there, mostly because I know that Mrs. Dillon needed me there for support, and if I was freaking out then she would never be calm.
We walked up to the front desk and Mrs. Dillon asked the lady at the desk where Connor was. She gave us a room number and pointed in the right direction.
Connor's mom headed that way immediately, but I was sure to thank the woman before I headed towards the room.
When I had finally caught up with Mrs. Dillon, she was talking to a doctor.
"He blacked out at the scene of the accident, and we had to make sure that he was under when we set his arm, but he should be waking up anytime now. Just make sure to be quiet when you enter the room," The doctor informed us as we waited outside the door of Connor's room.
Mrs. Dillon slowly turned the handle and almost ran into Connor's father.
She stopped in her tracks before nodding and muttering, "Daniel."
I suppose that was his father's name.
"Jessica," He said back, his voice slightly warmer as he offered a smile.
I really didn't know why Connor despised this man so much. I mean I know who he used to be, but couldn't Connor see past that and realize that his father had changed?
Mrs. Dillon pushed lightly past Connor's father towards the bed that Connor was laying on. I looked past her but was alarmed to see the other figure sitting beside Connor's bed and.. holding his hand?
The blonde head looked up at me and it took everything in me to not slap her right there.
"Jennifer?" I asked quietly, careful not to raise my voice.
I looked at Connor's peaceful body that now had a dark green cast on his left arm.
"Yeah," She responded, wiping a tear away from her cheek.
I almost believed that she was upset until she flashed me an evil smile when she made sure that no one was looking.
Why was she even here? Did Connor ask for her?
"What are you doing here?" I asked her, sitting down in a chair next to her.
"I figured that Connor would want to see me when he wakes up, don't you think?" She made her voice small and innocent.
I couldn't believe her, she always felt the need to get in the middle of my relationship. But would he rather see her than me? Maybe I should just leave.
"Come on Jenny, give them some time," Mr. Franta's voice called from the door.
She huffed and stood up. I smiled to myself and then moved to where she had previously been sitting, putting both of my hands on Connor's left hand.
The doctor came back into the room and asked Mrs. Dillon to come and sign some papers.
That just left me alone with Connor.
His hand moved a little under my touch, and within minutes his eyes were open.
"Veronica," He said, slightly incoherently.
"Yeah, it's me," I said, a huge smile spreading across my face.
"You came," He replied in disbelief.
"Of course I did," I said.
Did he really think that I wouldn't have come? Maybe he expected Jennifer to be sitting here instead of me.
Maybe he hoped that it was her..
I pushed the thought out of my mind and proceeded to ask him what happened.
"Well I was fighting with my dad and then he.. well, he.. um-he made me angry and I left to go to school. I wasn't paying attention and I reached to check my phone and.. that's all that I remember," He said, still sounding tired.
"Why did you check it while you were driving?" I asked, disappointed.
"Because I thought that maybe it was you," He responded.
I reached over to the counter where his phone was sitting and checked the message that was apparently so important that he had to check it while he was driving.
Jennifer: Thanks for last night ;)
What?
Last night?
My eyes clouded with tears and I handed the phone to Connor. His face became very confused, and he looked over to me.
I dropped his hand and backed away slightly.
"Is that why she was here? Because you've replaced me?" I asked, still keeping my voice down.
"What do you mean? She was here?" He replied.
Was he really more concerned about the fact that she was here? I couldn't believe him right now.
"Really, Connor? I thought that you were better than that," I said.
"It's not what you think, Ronnie. I don't know why she said that. My father made me help her with a project. Nothing happened-" He tried.
"Save it, Connor. I don't have time for this," I responded.
The door swung open to reveal his mom and she rushed over to his side. She smiled at him and I frantically wiped my tears away. I didn't want her to ask anything.
"I've go to get back to school," I said to Mrs. Dillon and walked out the door before anyone could ask questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ugh, school is next week. Kill me now.
Love Always,
~shelbigrace