The next day, Archie and I decided to find Jaden’s room.
Apparently all of us had a room in this hospital, and once all the police questions and our own medical crap was taken care of, we were free to go and find our friends.
I had made my mum go home and get me some clothes because I refused to roam this hospital in that gown any longer. She had even gone to Archie’s house and got him some sweatpants and a T-shirt to change into.
This was the exact reason why she was the only parent in this whole situation to still be sitting on her thrown of a pedestal in my mind.
Once I was changed into my own set of grey sweats and a black t-shirt, I helped Archie off the bed and we went to Jaden’s room.
I smiled as I saw them all sitting there. Harry, Gavin and Frankie all crowded around Jaden’s bed. Gavin was doing some sort of impression with his arms and Jaden was laughing with a hand over his mouth as we opened the door and walked in.
All heads turned our way, and Frankie was up like a shot as she flew at me. I chuckled as he arms engulfed me into a hug.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” She said, pulling back and placing both hands either side of my face before lowering her head and kissing me full on the mouth. I scrunched my face in a mixture of disgust and humour “They told us we couldn’t come and see you yesterday.”
“Can give her another one of those?” Gavin commented, raising his brow as he pointed between Frankie and myself “You know, for yesterday when you couldn’t be with her?”
Frankie ignored him and smiled at me. I returned it before she turned her head to look at Archie. I saw her face fall before she stepped from me to him and wrapped him up in a hug of his own.
“I’m so sorry Archie.” She whispered against the hug, and his lips pressed together as one arm went up to hug her back. As she pulled away from the hug, I didn’t miss the watering of her eyes or how hard she was trying to hold it back.
Gavin and Harry stood to their feet and each one of them hugged Archie, neither of them said sorry though. I think as his closest friends, they knew that Archie had heard enough apologies about Alex. Gavin nodded once at Archie, who returned it and that was it. That was their conversation about it and I didn’t miss Archie’s grateful expression in the matter.
Harry and Gavin went back to their seats by Jaden’s bedside, and Archie limped forward until he was at the side of the bed. Jaden looked up at him, following Harry and Gavin’s suit and not saying anything. He lifted one hand which Archie slapped with his own as a greeting.
“How you holding up man?” Jaden asked, looking at his friend carefully to see just how hard he would lie to him.
“I’m good. What about you, heard you went in for surgery yesterday?” No one missed the speedy change of subject, and no one commented on it. Archie didn’t want to talk about it, and everyone was going to grant him that wish.
Since what had happened to Alex, he had not cried and he had barely talked about it. As soon as the subject was mentioned Archie would stay quiet and change the topic. Apart from the tears he cried back at the school, he had shown no emotion.
Jaden nodded “Yeah, they took the bullet out. Apparently it was in there for so long it did some nerve damage. I told the doctor I didn’t really have a choice in the amount of time it stayed in there, it’s not like I had 999 at hand or anything.”
Archie breathed a laugh, looking down at Jaden’s leg automatically even though it was covered with the bed sheets.
“So what did they say? Can you walk or will you spend the rest of your life being a lazy bastard getting wheeled around in a chair?” Archie smiled at Jaden, who faked a laughing face but made no actual noise.
Frankie pulled me towards the bed, taking her seat back next to Gavin and finally letting my hand go so I could sit at the end of Jaden’s bed. I shot straight back up to my feet when he let out a loud scream of agony.
“Oh my god Jaden I am so sorry!” I exclaimed, guilt pouring through me as I realised I must have just sat on his recently operated leg.
A massive grin spread over his face as he laughed like a hyena “I’m only playing.”
My expression -along with everyone’s in the room that jumped just as I had- turned into a glare as he sat there placing a fist over his mouth to muffle his laughter. He gestured his hand for me to sit back down.
“I should sit on it this time.” I muttered angrily as I sat back down, but I was a little more careful in case his leg was anywhere near.
“Apparently it did a lot of damage. Doctor told me I’m going to have to go through physiotherapy so I can walk on it properly again.” Jaden explained, and my mouth fell open slightly. I did not expect that. I think it was because while we were at the school, he was so sarcastic and still making jokes he seemed fine. We all assumed he would be fine.
“Can I just say, you are probably one of the most loyal friends that walks on this planet.” Gavin commented, before he flinched slightly “Well, that will eventually walk on this planet again.”
Jaden glared at him for the comment, but I could see he looked pretty flattered by the comment. Let’s not forget Jaden had a chance to get out. He was by the door and he came back to take the crap that the Principal was going to throw at him right along with his friends. He then took more crap when he pushed Gavin out of the way of a bullet and saved his life.
The guy deserved a damn medal for extraordinary acts of friendship.
“I can’t believe you went back when you could have gotten out.” Harry commented, shaking his head in disbelief.
“What can I say, I set a very high standard for friendship, which is why I expect one of you to go and get me a cheeseburger at some point today.” Jaden gave us all a toothy smile and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Whatever you want man.” Gavin grinned.
“Right, I know this may not be appropriate right now but can we please discuss dumb and dumber’s hook up please?” Harry finally said like it was killing him to hold it in any longer. I smiled as I stared between Gavin and Frankie. She was smiling in embarrassment while he was glaring at Harry. Archie breathed a laugh, lowering himself to the ground slowly with one hand on his ribs before he sat down, leaning back against Gavin's chair.
“YES PLEASE!” Jaden exclaimed, leaning his head back on the pillow as he said that a lot louder than necessary.
“There is nothing to talk about.” Gavin rolled his eyes, before his brows scrunched together “Actually yes there is, dumb and dumber? What is it with that shit again?”
All of us laughed, realising their secret nickname was no longer secret. Even Archie was laughing. It was nice seeing him like this, sitting with his friends taking his mind off of everything that was yet to come when we left here.
“Probably the most appropriate nicknames ever given apart from Jaden the Whale Hunter.” Harry grinned, earning him a punch in the arm from Jaden.
“Right I want to see this video. I call bullshit unless I see this video.” Jaden stated, shaking his head reusing to believe he really did hook up with a woman of larger proportions on the night of his birthday. Harry sighed.
“Alright hold on…” He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. After a few seconds he groaned in disappointment “There’s no Wi-Fi in here we’re going to have to wait ‘til we get home.”
Jaden looked at him confused “Why do you need Wi-Fi to show me a video on your phone?”
“It’s not on my phone. It’s on YouTube.” Harry told him simply. As Jaden’s eyes widened to the point where I thought they were going to pop out of his skull, the rest of us burst into laughter.
“You are a dead man. All of you. Dead men and women. As soon as I get my wheelchair I'm running you all over.” Jaden growled, not looking any of us in the eye as he threatened us all. A few more minutes went by of all of us laughing at Jaden’s annoyed expression before Gavin jumped up in his seat and screamed. We all looked at him like a freak for the weird outburst.
He pointed his finger in my direction, then in Harry’s “If we’re going to discuss hook ups, how about yours two’s passionate Riot Romp last year?”
Harry’s eyes widened as he looked at Jaden, clearly realising he had spilt the beans. Jaden looked up at his best friend with a smug smile.
“Man really?!” Harry exclaimed as he looked at Jaden.
“Karma’s a bitch your curly haired prick.” Jaden’s sing a song voice said though his toothy grin.
“To be fair, he was high when he told everyone.” I chimed in, giving Jaden some credit.
To my surprise, Harry turned and looked at Archie. He looked a little weary, like a little boy who had been caught doing something wrong by his parents.
“Are you going to hit me?” Harry asked carefully, his face flinching almost as if he was waiting for the blow any second.
Archie let out a laugh “No I’m not going to hit you. I have no reason to; this was way before anything between us happened.”
“Yeah but you were always so weird about her-“Harry stopped in his tracks, Archie’s words finally clicking “Wait, what?”
I closed my eyes and let out a breath, realising that if our friends curious and deer in the headlights expressions were any indication, we had to explain every damn detail from room 666 to the fact we almost had sex in the hall when I attempted to seduce him with my sexy words of ‘hop on.’
“You guys hooked up? When?” Harry exclaimed looking between us. Archie tried to hide the smile on his face while I glared at him for letting this slip.
Gavin gasped. Literally gasped like an extra off Mean Girls before his hand went flying over his mouth “Oh my lord, you two were getting dirty while we were all getting held hostage.”
“We never got dirty.” I told him, rolling my eyes.
“Although one of us did beg for it.” Archie said trying to hold back a laugh as he referred to the scene in the hall where I literally threw myself at him. I glared at him, warning him if he says anything to these morons about that I would make sure he was sporting two black eyes instead of one.
“You two hate each other.” Jaden commented, looking between us with a puzzled expression.
Both Archie and I glanced at each other, thinking over Jaden’s words. Simultaneously, we both shrugged and cocked our heads, not disagreeing with him. Archie’s mouth turned up into a smirk, and I couldn’t stop mine from doing the same,
“Fair play though man, you’re in for a treat.” Harry raised his brows suggestively at Archie, and my eyes widened at his words. Gavin and Jaden burst out laughing, and even Archie looked torn at whether to glare at him or laugh. I was staring death in Harry’s direction as he turned to me and held his hands up in defence “It was a compliment.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I had lost my virginity to this man. God help me.
It was amazing though how even though I had slept with Harry, it was not awkward. We were still friends and it was like it never happened. There were no feelings there, it was something that happened when we were drunk and I think both of us knew it was a mistake. I mean he acted like he had screwed over one of his friends by doing it. I was just happy that we were still okay, that we could sit in this room and talk about it whilst laughing.
The conversation went on for a little while longer before we realised we could not avoid the topic anymore. We had to tell them about Miss Vines.
They had no idea she was involved in it. They had been told it was Bradley by the police because they had his body, but none of them knew about Miss Vines or Kevin. The police did obviously, but our friends were still in the dark.
I will never forget their face when we told them. Well, when I told them. I don’t think Archie had it in him to relive it all and I didn’t blame him. He had lost a lot more than any of us had.
They all sat there staring at me with their mouths hanging open and their eyes unblinking, not believing that the quiet little ginger kid and the ‘hot’ art teacher were in on it the entire time. I told them about what Kevin had done, about how he had died to save Archie’s life. As I told them that story, Archie was staring at the ground the entire time. He said nothing.
Once I was finally done telling them the whole tale, there was silence around the room for quite a while.
“Holy…shit above…” Gavin of course broke the silence.
“I can’t believe it. She’s Bradley’s sister?” Frankie repeated, shaking her head in disbelief.
I nodded my head “It was like an episode of Maury.”
“Holy crap on a cracker.” Frankie was still shaking her head.
“She was hot.” Harry commented, looking ahead as he too tried to process it all but apparently that was the most pressing matter in his mind “The hot ones are always psychotic. Touché Kevin though for dipping his wiggle waggle in before.”
Jaden scoffed in agreement, clearly thinking the same thing.
“So they still haven’t found her?” Frankie asked, and I shook my head.
No one said anything; I think none of us wanted to think about Miss Vines. None of us wanted to know where she was, and none of us cared about her as long as we never had to see her face again. Gavin and Frankie were the only ones who had met Bradley when we were younger, Harry and Jaden never did but they knew who he was.
After a few minutes of tense silence, the trusted silence breaker struck again.
“Anyone else want anything from McDonalds while I go and grab Jaden’s burger?” Gavin asked as he looked between all of us.
My mouth fell open in disbelief as I looked at him shaking my head. How was this guy even for real?
Saying that, an hour or so later I was sitting at the end of Jaden’s bed digging into a cheeseburger right along with every single other person in the room.
Everyone dug into their food, laughing and talking about absolute crap as chips were thrown around the room when Harry would make a comment about dumb and dumber or when Harry would make a comment about Jaden the Whale Hunter. Basically a lot of good chips were thrown Harry's way.
I looked between my friends, sitting in a hospital room stuffing our faces with McDonalds and laughing even though we had been through one of the shittest ordeals a person can ever go through in their lives. I realised that with everything we had been through it had somehow made us closer. I knew that I trusted the people in this room more than I would trust anyone for the rest of my life, even Harry. If it wasn’t for him who knows if we would have gotten out.
I smiled as I looked between each of my friends, and it dawned on me that you really don’t have to share DNA with someone for them to be a part of your family.
I thought about Archie and Alex’s parents, realising that even if you did share DNA it doesn’t make them family. The people in this room had done more for the Henderson brothers than their own parents ever did in their life, they had been there for Alex during the last hours of his life and I like to think he knew he was around people who genuinely did love him.
Sometimes if you have a shitty family, your friends are enough. The smile on my face widened as I looked between them all, realising that the people in this room were more than fucking enough.
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