Chapter seventeen.
Concussed.
{not heavily edited}
"Where did you go?" Lark asks skeptically, I stare at him for a moment before deciding I'll tell him the half truth.
"Outside. I needed to breathe." I reply before taking the jacket off and setting it on the dresser before coming back to the bed.
"Y-Kat, do you want to talk about something?" He asks with a curious look on his face. Of course I wanna fucking talk about something! He never elaborated and even though I'm almost certain he doesn't love me I still want a goddamned explanation because if he does then I'll gladly be with him for real.
"Yeah, actually. I want to know if you were telling the truth. That you actually want me." I reply in a stern voice with narrowed eyes . A part of me knows he's not gonna tell me, I know he's probably gonna tell me he doesn't wanna talk about it then he will proceed to go to sleep and or leave. The look on his face tells me he's thinking really hard. My jaw is clenched to keep me from snapping.
"Can we please just go to sleep?" He asks, I take a deep breath and roll my eyes. I should kick him out. I should yell at him. But I cant bring myself to tell him to go. His eyes are scanning me, he's trying to find out what I'm thinking. He always knows whats going on inside my head. I grab another blanket from the closet and stroll outside to the living room. He's not going to leave and I refuse to sleep in the same bed as him. I get comfortable and pray he doesn't come looking for me to "fix things". I close my eyes and snuggle under the blanket, hoping when I wake up tomorrow I can pretend like tonight didn't happen and I can just make tomorrow better. I'm almost asleep when I feel that I'm being lifted. My eyes snap open and I look up only to see Lark's face.
"Put me down." I demand.
"Shut up." He replies, I roll my eyes. He takes me to my room, setting me down on the bed. I stare at him for a moment, curious on if he's going to crawl in alongside me but he doesn't.
"I wont let you sleep on the couch only to wake up tomorrow feeling sore. Now, get a good night's sleep. G'night, Kitten." He says before leaving the room. I watch him leave, he shuts the door behind him and all I want is for him to come back but I know that I shouldn't. Even after we fight he still cares about how I feel, mentally and physically. I sigh and cuddle into the bed. It feels weird to sleep without him next to me, either way I'm too tired to stay awake. My eyes flutter closed.
~*~
I dreamt about Ryder last night. I don't know why but I did, I felt so guilty when I woke up. Lark said his neck hurt and I immediately felt bad because he slept on the couch because of me. He had soccer practice today, I did too but before him during lunch break. I finished getting ready for school and went to leave but Lark stopped me. I look back at him, hes really close to me face. His head is dipped down so his lips are levelled with my forehead. His arm is on the door frame and I'm under it. He looks down at me, he leans down a little more and I part my lips prepared for him to kiss me. He's about to kiss me but then when I'm about to close the space he kisses my cheek instead. Lark pulls back with this smirk, I look at him unamused before rolling my eyes and turning. We walk together outside across campus. Liam, Pogue, Jordan and Lucy join us.
"How was your night?" Lucy asks me, wiggling her eyebrows comically. I chuckle and roll my eyes.
"My fuckin' neck hurts." Lark groans, Liam and Pogue exchange glances with Jordan.
"That's not why, dumbasses! He slept on the couch." I say, that's what causes eyebrows to raise and I realize I just told everyone that Lark slept on the couch, implying that we fought.
"Trouble in paradise?" A voice asks from behind us. We turn and see Allison...wearing our school uniform. Her nose has a cut on the top and I know its because I hit her.
"The hell do you want?" Lark asks, when he reaches for my hand I put it in my pockets. Allison's eyes drift to me before she narrows her eyes.
"How are my leftovers?" She asks, a quirk in her mouth. Lark's jaw clenches and before he has time to respond I jump in.
"How's your nose?" I retort with a malicious smirk, everyone seems a little surprised at first. Her jaw clenches and she steps forward a little. To my surprise, Ryder steps in front of me. I roll my eyes and step next to him. I can protect myself and I don't appreciate being treated like a damsel in distress.
"I'll-"
"You'll what?" I cut her off. Its silent. She's pissed but I couldn't care less. I smirk and walk away. I walk into the school and let the others deal with that crazy bitch. Jordan had followed me in, walking off to his class. I go to my locker, shoving my books in them. I look back and see Kai, he smiles at me and leans against the locker next to mine.
"So...You and Everlake?" Kai asks, I glance at him for a second before shrugging. Lark and Ryder walk inside, they're arguing silently, until it's not silent. They start yelling and Lark gets a fist to the face. My eyes widen, the whole school starts to crowd around. Kai runs over to break it up but he gets thrown against the lockers by Lark. I can't bring myself to move. That is, until all three boys are aimlessly throwing fists at each other. I take a deep breath and run down the hall and push passed the crowd of people. Lark's face is bloodied and so is Kai's. Ryder continues, Lark gets up and is about to get punched in the face but of course Kai just has to stand up at that time and get the punch. He falls to floor unconscious. I clench my fist and punch Ryder in the face and kick him in the balls before grabbing Lark and pushing him back.
"That's enough!" I snap. Ryder's lip is bleeding as he looks at us. He goes to hit Lark but he moves and I'm not fast enough, getting the fist to my temple. When I hit the ground head first the fight stops. My eyes can't seem to focus and neither can my hearing, my head had hit the ground hard along with that punch. I feel myself get lifted up but it's not by Lark or Ryder. I don't know who it is since I can't focus on anything. Before I know it I'm in the nurses office, theres a bright light in my face and I loosely push it away. My eyes open and close, I feel tired but I know better than to sleep. A few minutes laying down on the bed and I can see and hear. My eyes focus in on Liam, he looks worried.
"Liam?" I say, his eyes drift to me and he walks over. He takes my hand in his and he sighs.
"Kat, this is what happens when you get involved with Lark and Ryder. Keep your distance." Liam warns but I'm hardly processing a word he's saying. He hands me a water bottle and I drink from it, feeling better.
"I want to hope that that's not true." I mutter before sitting up. I look around and see Kai sitting down on a chair with ice pressed to his head.
"You okay?" I ask Kai and he nods in response. I frown. All this trouble caused by two boys and for what? The door to the nurses office opens and in walks Lark. I roll my eyes. He comes over to me with a worried look on his face. I keep my face stoic...until I notice the bruises and cuts on his face.
"Are you okay? Did you get cleaned up?" I ask him, starting to sit up. He comes over and I look at the cuts and bruises before sighing.
"Don't worry about me, kit. I'm fine. How are you?" He asks, I shrug slightly. I guess I'm okay considering I'm concussed.
"Where's Ryder?" I ask curiously. If Ryder is still on campus after that I'll be really surprised. Not to mention Allison is going to be going to school here now since she was wearing our uniform. Ugh, could this day get any worse?
"He left campus for now. I'm sorry this happened to you." Lark says, I nod slightly before glancing at Liam who's glaring heavily at Lark.
"You're so fucking idiotic, y'know that? How the hell did you let this happen?" Liam snaps, standing up. Holy crap. Lark turns around with his eyes narrowed, he's pissed. I know he is.
"Get out. Both of you. She's hurt and you still manage to find a way to stress her. Go." Kai snaps. Lark looks at him and opens his mouth to yell.
"Leave." I speak up. They both look at me in surprise. Lark looks hurt and Liam does too. Liam told me that this is what happens when I get involved with Lark and Ryder but this is what happens when I get involved with them. With this group of friends specifically. My life was normal and fine before I met all of them.
"C'mon, kit. Y-"
"I said leave. I'm tried of hearing you argue. Im tired of getting hurt because of you." I snap, cutting him off. My words cut like a knife which is evident when silent tears come to his eyes, he chews on his bottom lip and doesn't bother protesting. He just walks out of the room. I lean back into the bed and close my eyes for a split second. What even is my life right now?
~*~
I'm in my room. It's been a week. Lark hasn't come to see me since I snapped at him. He texts me every morning and every night to assure I'm okay. I'm returning to school soon but I got told to stay home and rest. Lucy's been bringing me my homework. Jordan, Pogue and Kai come to see me every now and then when they have a chance. We haven't seen or heard from Ryder since the incident, or so Pogue's told me. Liam told me he's keeping his distance since he says it's better for the both of us. Lark is obviously doing the same.
"How are you feeling?" Pogue asks. He and I are in my room eating ice cream and waiting for Lucy to come back from practice. Lark has a game tonight and I really want to go but no one will let me out of the house. However, I refuse to miss this game. I missed my game but I won't miss his.
"Eh, I'm alright." I respond with a small shrug. He'd brought me a tub of my favourite ice cream which is mint chocolate.
"Lark asked for you today," Pogue remarks, I look up at him as I take a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. I frown as I eat it. He chuckles slightly. "He feels really bad about what happened."
I roll my eyes, "funny how he couldn't tell me that himself," I begin, since he brought it up I guess I'll vent a little.
"He hasn't come to see me at all, y'know? Just because he's butt hurt that I kicked him out the other day for fighting with Liam when I was all concussed and shit." I explain. Pogue sighs before taking a spoon of my ice cream even though he has his own.
"He's gotten...angry. He fights people in the hall. I think Ryder pushed him over the edge." Pogue says with this look on his face that's hard to explain besides that he looks like he's thinking hard. I wouldn't be surprised if Ryder pushed Lark too far, but now I'm a little worried about him. He wasn't so bad when I was with him but if he goes bad then I guess there won't be anything I can do beside hope he won't do anything horrible and be a full blown sociopath like Ryder.
"I can't do anything about it, Pogue. He made his decision." I reply with a frown. The door opens and Lucy strolls in. She smiles at us and crawls on to the bed and sits next to me.
"Discussing Lark?" She asks and I nod. "I think you should talk to him. Fix him." Lucy gives me her input and I wonder if I can change him. It's stupid to think like that but if there's any way I can make him and his life better than I will.
"I will. Soon." I reply. We all sigh and then Pogue checks his phone for the time.
"Luce, we should go to the field now. The games gonna start soon." Pogue says. Lucy nods and they say their goodbyes, hugging me before leaving. I wait a few minutes and sigh. I need to be at that game. He needs to know that I haven't given up on him.
I get up and start changing. I know he gave me one of his old jerseys. I just don't know where I left it. I look around the room and find a light blue jersey with the number thirteen on the back with "L.Everlake" written on the top. I slip on a white long sleeved shirt since it's a bit chilly outside before slipping on the jersey which is short sleeved. I tie my hair up so you can see the back. I take a sweater in case It gets cold. I leave the dorm and jog to the field. The bleachers are packed, there's the opposing teams side then ours.
I look toward the bench and see Lark sitting on it with a jersey almost identical to the one I'm wearing only it's a darker blue and long sleeved. His eyes catch mine and I smile at him, there's a faint smile on his face as he notices the jersey. I walk over to the bleachers and find a seat next to Lucy. Liam is sitting on the bleachers. Kai is on the team too but he won't play much due to slight injuries from that fight.
"You came." She states. I smile.
"I wasn't gonna miss this." I tell her and she smiles at me. The game starts and the first few minutes are just the ball getting kicked around. Lark is sent onto the field and I watch as he zooms in quickly, it's not long before he makes a goal. We all cheer but I cheer the loudest. Lark turns and looks at me, he winks. I grin before pulling my phone out to record some of the game for Lark, I look next to me and my smile fades.
"Did you think I was gonna miss my baby brother on the field?"