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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ; OUCH!
also known as;
( will the wise; part one )
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"IT'S DEFINITELY BROKEN," PATTY COLLINS NOTED, HER FINGERS DELICATELY TRACING OVER STELLA'S PURPLING WRIST. Stella winced at the feeling, her other hand gripping the bottom of the bed she was sitting on. She had just sat through half an hour of X-rays and was confined to the waiting room before she was called into see her mother. This, surprisingly, didn't go as horribly as she thought it would. Granted, she was still in trouble for breaking her wrist, but at least there was something else on both their minds instead of her future. "How on Earth did you manage to do this to yourself, Estella?
"It wasn't me!" Stella grimaced as Patty carefully placed her arm back in the sling. Her squinted eyes opened a little more, following her mother as the middle aged woman walked towards the bandage supplies. She wasn't too pleased when Stella walked through her doors with an injury, especially since she was in tears, muttering about how she was completely fine and didn't need any help. But, despite the earful Patty wanted to give her daughter, the pale, pained expression on her face was enough to assure her that everything would be alright. "The new kid tripped me!"
"Wait, what?" Steve finally piped up from where he was standing beside Richie, his arms crossed. The two boys had been silent up until now, as both their expressions went from worried, to surprised, to angry within a matter of seconds. Richie shot up from his chair with an incredulous look on his face, while Steve's cheeks turned a funny shade of red. He clearly didn't know what to do with himself, he instantly began fuming. His hatred for Billy Hargrove was well established from when they first met, but now it had skyrocketed. "You mean that asshole did this to you?!"
Stella had never seen him angrier, and frankly, it began to stress her out. Her eyes went wide as he began feeling around his pockets for his car keys, while Richie was spluttering beside him, trying to form a sentence, as he too was outraged with Billy's actions. "Guys, calm down. He probably didn't mean to -- and Steve, I know what you're thinking, and you're gonna get in trouble!"
"Wait, who's this new kid?" Patty asked, her arms filled with bandages and plaster for her cast. Her expression was confused and borderline furious, seeing as she was understandably protective over her daughter. She could see that Stella was growing nervous and more panicky as the two boys became adamant on tracking whoever had hurt the teenager down, but she, herself, wanted to meet him to give him a piece of her mind. "Estella?"
"It doesn't matter, Mom," Stella insisted, before moving to try and get up to stop Steve from leaving. What was making her most anxious was the fact that she could barely bring herself to stand up, as she was so tired and she knew she would only be pushed back down again. "Steve, stop."
"You can't expect me to sit around, watching you in pain when he's just parading around like a fucking king!" Steve argued back, and Stella rolled her eyes, becoming even more exasperated than she already was. Patty clearly noticed this, as she turned to Steve with raised eyebrows, finally giving up. Besides, she could always bring the antagonist up later on.
"Steve, you had better listen to her, because I don't want to deal with a stressed out teenager, do you understand?" The mother muttered, beginning to prepare the wrapping for the cast. It was times like these when Stella was grateful that her mother had her head in the right place when she wanted it to be -- well, when she wasn't yelling about the teenager's future. "And watch your language."
Steve groaned, running a hand through his lengthy hair. Finally choosing to give in, he approaching Stella, who held her free hand out towards him. He hesitated for a second, before taking it. She stared up at him with red-rimmed eyes (seeing as she had spent the last hour crying), and smiled softly up at him. Even though she was the one who should have been comforted, she still managed to be warm and sympathising towards the angsty boy before her. "He's not worth it, okay? Yeah, he's a prick (language!), but I've handled worse."
"But he hurt you," Steve mumbled softly, which made Stella's heart swell a little -- she couldn't help the feeling. A few seconds later she sighed, squeezing his hand and tilting her head to the side slightly.
"And I'll get better," she responded, and he exhaled in disappointment. "But what's the point of giving him the satisfaction of knowing you care? He's gonna end up in prison someday, and I don't want you to be in there with him."
Steve couldn't help himself -- a hint of a smile appeared on his face, and he nodded once, before turning slightly and sitting up on the bed next to Stella while Patty began wrapping her wrist. The mother wasn't impressed in any way, in fact, she looked like she wanted to murder Billy more than Steve did. "You aren't going to school tomorrow, I hope you realise that."
"But-" Stella began to protest, but her mom shook her head.
"Nope, you need a day of rest, no exceptions," Patty interrupted, and Stella groaned, before yelping once the bandaged tightened on her wrist. Steve grunted as her grip on his hand tightened considerably, though he didn't voice his pain. "This is a nasty fracture, Estella. You can go back on Monday, but there's no way you're going to last a whole six hours."
"I'll bring you some food after school," Steve offered, and Stella huffed, before nodding. "I'll tell Mitch you can't go in tomorrow night as well, okay?"
"Fine," Stella gave in, and Patty flashed Steve a grateful expression.
"Does anyone want anything from the vending machine?" Richie finally spoke, attracting the attention from everyone at the other end of the room. He had been relatively quiet over the course of their visit, besides the small talk he made with Patty about his plans for Thanksgiving.
"Could you get me a water?" Stella asked, before nodding over to her backpack on the ground. "I've got a few dollars in there, I'll pay if you wanted something?"
"Nah, it's fine," Richie smiled, before turning to Steve, who shook his head. "I'll be back in a few."
"And, I need to get some more plaster for your wrist," Patty sighed, rinsing her hands and following the curly haired boy out of the room. Stella and Steve were left by themselves, and the raven haired girl exhaled as she examined her covered forearm.
"My palm is itchy," she grumbled, and Steve chuckled softly as she pouted in annoyance. She then glanced up at him, her eyes easily displaying how upset she was. "Does this mean I can't use my skates?"
"It's probably not the best idea," Steve responded, amusement lacing his tone as she voiced that her biggest concern was not being able to glide around the school anymore. He felt his stomach tighten as her face fell, before leaning in and kissing her forehead ever so softly. Stella leaned into him as he pulled away, and he wrapped an arm around her side comfortingly. "Hey, you're gonna be fine, Star. You've got a bunch of people to take care of you."
"But I'm the one who takes care of people," she mumbled defeatedly, and Steve couldn't disagree. Since they had made up and become close again, the amount of times she had come to his aid or been willing to sacrifice time and effort for his benefit. She was one of the most selfless and kind individuals he had ever come to meet, all while being fiercely independent and protective.
And it was only now, as they sat side by side in an emergency room that he was beginning to realise how much he admired her.
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Stella always found herself extremely bored when she had days off school. In the last few years, she'd had a total of six days off, most reserved for when she was sick or injured (with the exception of Will's disappearance). She didn't really enjoy school in general, but it gave her something to do rather than lounging around at home with nothing to do. She was tempted to walk down to the general store to get some food, but her motivation to leave her bed disagreed.
The Billy Joel album, An Innocent Man, played softly from her tape player on the other side of her room, and she dreaded when the side was going to finish, seeing as she'd have to get up. She hated how lazy she was being, but her injury seemed to be sucking the life out of her. Her roller-skates sat unused in the corner of the bedroom, where they'd live for the next few weeks until she was better.
"This sucks," she grumbled to herself, trying to shift but wincing when she was hit with a rush of pain. "Ouch!"
As promised, Steve dropped in around quarter to four, just before Stella lost her mind. She had opened the door wiht an exhausted expression, but happy nonetheless to have company again. He had picked up some food from Indigo Diner on his way over, which Stella gratefully accepted and dug into.
"Do you know how difficult it is to make cookies with one hand?" Stella grumbled through a mouth full of food. Steve snickered, reaching across the front counter to pick up a freshly baked chocolate chip biscuit. "You'd better savour that son of a bitch, it took me way longer than it should've to figure out how to get the tray into the oven without spilling everything."
"They taste great," Steve shrugged (actually, they were a little burnt, but he wasn't about to tell her that). "You've got a real knack."
Stella beamed.
The pair ate in silence for a few minutes, before they migrated to the living room, where Stella put on one of the only films she owned, Jaws. It was really only because her dad was obsessed with the movie and the video store was getting annoyed with him renting it all the time, so he decided to buy a copy for himself.
"Have you talked to Nancy?" Stella asked once she remembered the break up that had ensued only a few days ago. She frowned a little as Steve shifted in his seat on the couch, not sure how to answer the question. "Sorry."
"No, it's okay," he mumbled, shrugging, though Stella could see he was still healing. "It was pretty clear that she doesn't care for me the way I do for her."
"Don't lose faith," Stella insisted, but Steve seemed a little deflated. "Bring her some flowers! Tell her how sorry you are."
"For what?" Steve retorted, and Stella shrugged.
"Dunno, but apparently it's better to just apologise for shit you didn't do rather than argue about everything," she responded, and Steve scoffed, crossing his arms and fixing his eyes on his lap, utterly disheartened.
"Yeah, well, I doubt she'd take me back," he said dejectedly, and Stella found herself unsure of what to say. So, she sighed and smiled half-heartedly.
"She doesn't know what she's missing out on then," Stella returned her stare to the television screen, curling up in the armchair with her bad wrist resting on a pillow. The film continued for another hour and a half, in which she dozed off, unaware that the boy sitting a few metres away from her was a complete mess, fighting several feelings that he wished he knew how to control.
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HAHAHAHA THIS IS SO BAD I'M SORRY
tell me if you'd like a dedication!!
i'm really not proud of this chapter cause i wished it could've had more happen in it, but soon we'll get to the actual storyline and it'll be more exciting!!! but at least shit's kinda going down with steve and stella?? it's really confusing as to how i'm gonna write their relationship cause i don't want stella to be a rebound for steve cause my girl doesn't deserve that!!
but anyway, tell me what ya thought of the chapter, hopefully there should be another one up soon !!
ALSO !! last chapter i mentioned a sirius black or poe dameron book -- surprise surprise i posted them both so pls go and read them !! the sirius one is called 'imagine' and the poe one is called 'the lost knight' -- it would mean a lot if y'all gave them attention cause i'm hella excited for them lmao
see ya fellas later ! xo