My eyes immediately shoot wide open. "Ethan?!"
I turn around to give Julian a glimpse but he's already rushing his way to the ballroom with so much fury, a few people being abruptly pushed away in the process.
"Wait, Julian!" I yell, my heart racing so wildly. "Don't go in there!" I turn back around to look at Scarlett and run my hand down my hair in despondency. I don't want to go in there. I don't want my eyes to see what everyone else saw.
"Is he okay? Did someone already call an ambulance?" I ask Scarlett.
"I—I don't know," she cries, wiping tears off her face. "I heard someone yell that he was unconscious, I..." She sobs. "I couldn't even look at the car a second time because all I kept seeing was blood and smoke and his eyes deeply shut and I... How did it even happen? What was he doing?" She sobs once again, her hands shakily rising to meet her head. "I'm so scared, Ky."
My heart tightens as I pull her for a squeeze. "It's going to be okay. I'm sure someone already called an ambulance. Until then let's wait outside near the others, okay?"
"I want to go with him," she says, pulling away from me, her eyes intruding mine. "I need to stay with him, even though the sight of him in that state will hurt."
"But, Scar—"
"I have to," she says, using her nervous hands to dry tears off her face before taking a double breath.
"I know, but are you sure you'll be able to handle seeing him in that state again?"
She takes a glimpse around, watching the frightened groups of teens practically running in despair. She takes a deep breath, turning to face me and nodding. "I'll have to."
I sigh but decide to consider her preference and shortly after I offer her a tight and soothing hug, my eyes shutting firmly. "I'll go find Julian. Text us the address of the hospital once you get into the ambulance."
She nods, sniffling.
***
I look up at the round clock that's on the wall. It's almost 12 AM.
I have one of my arms around Scarlett's back and the other laying on Julian's lap, his hand caressing mine. We are all seated at metallic chairs in the waiting room, waiting impatiently for a doctor to come rushing to us with good news.
No one has informed us of anything.
"What is taking them so long?" Julian barks, his left leg bouncing up and down. It is now more than obvious that his anger is starting to get mixed with all the impatience and concern.
"I want to go find him..." Scarlett says in a soft tone, her eyes brimming with tears. "...hold his hand and tell him that everything will be fine."
I let out a long sigh. "Do you guys know what happened?" I glance at Julian. "Where was he trying to go?"
Julian shakes his head as he tries to come up with an answer. "I was with you, babe, how am I supposed to know?" He frowns.
"We were both having fun dancing and then all of a sudden he got a call from someone and hurriedly said he had to leave and that he'd be back soon. That was the last time we saw him before..." Scarlett takes a deep breath and shuts her eyes. "Before his car crashed the wall and almost injured other people."
"I'm glad it didn't. It would've been more tragic," I highlight, placing my hand on hers sympathetically
"Isn't this tragic enough?" She snaps, getting herself up from the chair. She runs her hand down her face and crosses her arms. "He's hurt!"
"We should all just remain calm, alright?" Julian says, running his hand down my back.
And just as Scarlett opens her mouth to expel her anger on us, the doctor finally appears. "Are you Ethan's relatives?"
"Uh, no, we're his friends," Julian quickly says as we hurriedly get up from our seats. "But his parents are on the way."
"How is he?" Scarlett asks urgently, uncrossing her arms.
"Well, we were able to take care of him before anything more concerning happened. Unfortunately, he fractured his left arm and got whiplash."
At least he's okay.
"He broke his arm?" Scarlett exclaims. "But he has to play the piano for his sister's school recital!" She shakes her head and presses her hands on her temples. "How long will it take to heal?"
"It can usually take one to two months to heal."
She frowns, running her hand down her face as she takes a seat. "He won't be able to play next month. He's going to be so mad about it. Ugh!" She covers her face with her hands.
"Can we go see him?" I ask the doctor.
"Follow me," she flashes a small smile.
***
"Hey, man! Catch," Mark yells as he throws a football at Mario.
And just like that, I feel a breeze of air accompanied by a brown object pass by my precious nose. "HEY!"
The two kids begin to laugh as if they've never been happier in their entire lives before.
"That was not funny!" I yell, narrowing my eyes at them as I fix my hair as if the football even touched it. "That could've hurt me."
"But it didn't, did it?" Mario says, rolling his eyes as he runs with the football in his hands, his chest naked.
"When will you two grow up?" I groan.
"There's no fun in that," Mark retorts, a smirk forming on his stupid face.
I roll my eyes and continue to head towards the door. "I'm going to visit Ethan at the hospital. I'll probably go to Scarlett's place after so don't wait up."
"Be home before your curfew," Mark says, pointing his finger at me as he stops at one of the steps of the stairs.
"Mom and dad say I don't have a curfew, remember? They trust me, unlike you guys."
"Well, they're not here and you happen to be a rebellious little teenager. So we want you home before nine."
I sneer, "Does Marvin get to have a curfew too?"
He remains silent, opening his mouth a few times.
I scoff, opening the door in front of me. "I'll be back around 11." And with that, I shut the door so loudly that even my petite body is forced to quiver a little.
Assholes.
It's been a week since the accident. A week filled with lots of whispers and gossips around our town, might I add. No one is keeping quiet about it. I remember the news that night. They were mostly about this intoxicated teenage boy who, for some unknown reason, crashed into a wall and ruined Stoneswood's prom.
How great is this? Every selfish and snobby person in this town hates a poor teen who obviously did not mean to cause any harm.
Speaking of that boy... He is doing a little bit better but his arm is still in a cast, as predicted. He's pretty down about it that he won't even open up to us about what led him to crash that wall. All we get from him is a delicate artificial smile and a couple of dishonest and gloomy glances. The rest he tries to hide by looking out the big bay window of the hospital room.
"Hey, bae, you there yet?" Mia asks after I connect my phone to my car via Bluetooth.
"Hey," I breathe, buckling up and putting my phone into the cupholder. "I'm leaving home right now. Do you want me to come to pick you up?"
"Oh, that's okay. Mario is taking me."
"Mario?" I frown, turning the car on. "Is he going to stay there or something?"
"No, he's going to his friend's house for a game or something like that. But why the question? Are you two still not on good terms?"
"Tlis it that hard to guess?"
"Will you two quit with this silly quarrel already?" She groans. "Do you know how frustrating it is to have my best friend and boyfriend — who, by the way, are siblings — hate each other?"
"We don't hate each other," I correct, holding up a finger as though she can see me. "I just... happen to hate his presence and personality." I smile, buckling up.
I can practically feel her eyes roll. "Whatever. I gotta go get ready. I'll meet you there."
"Yup. See you soon."
After about ten or fifteen minutes I arrive at the hospital and head straight to Ethan's room.
"Hey," I smile at Julian after rising on my tiptoes to peck his cheek. I look over at Ethan, who's deep asleep. "He's been asleep ever since you got here?"
"Yeah," he sighs, handing me a cup of latte. "I'm starting to think it's all just a scheme so that we give up and head home and he doesn't have to talk to us."
"Give him a break," I giggle, taking a seat at the sofa. "If he doesn't feel ready to talk about it then we should respect that."
"I know but..." He clenches his jaw, taking a seat next to me. "I just want to make sure that it's nothing serious."
I furrow my eyebrows a little, bringing my legs up to the sofa. "Well, for him to get into his car..."
"Don't say it."
I tilt my head a little and analyze his jaw muscles ticking. I can see that he's very worried about his best friend. I know that the fact that Ethan won't talk, not even to him, is pissing him off. And it bugs me too.
"Don't worry, Jules," I say softly, caressing his cheek with my free hand. "I'm sure it was nothing."
Or so, I hope.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ethan's sleepy and gruff voice interrupts.
Julian and I both get up and step towards his bed, relieved.
"Great," Julian breathes, patting Ethan's shoulder. "You're awake. I thought I'd have to ask the nurse for a bucket of cold water."
"Aren't you the loveliest?" He says hoarsely as he slowly and carefully adjusts himself in the bed, wincing a little. "I can't wait to get this cast off."
"Oh, buddy, there are about..." Julian looks at his phone, pretending to search for something. "Eight weeks left. Should've thought twice before getting into that car." He looks up and flashes him a forced smile.
"What's with you today?" Ethan groans, massaging his bruised face. "Did you and Ky get into a fight or something?"
"No, he's just being an ass," I say through gritted teeth as I narrow my eyes at Julian. He doesn't have to act this way.
He angrily raises his hands in surrender before exiting the room.
"J!" Ethan calls, but Julian ignores. He gives me a confused look, seeming to be fully awake. "Okay, what the heck has gotten into him?"
I sigh, crossing my arms. "You won't talk to us, Ethan. I know your health comes first and trust me, we all want you to get better as soon as possible but..." I uncross my arms, taking a seat on the bed near his feet. "We want to know what happened. What caused the accident. It clearly wasn't because you were drunk. You had barely consumed alcohol, so what was it?"
He swallows dryly before clenching his jaw and looking out the window by moving his body a little since he has a neck brace for the whiplash.
After absorbing his silence I let out a sigh and place my hand on his leg. "Ethan... We're your best friends. Why can't you just talk to us about it?"
"Because you'll hate me for it," he says in a strained voice, a tear escaping his eye.
I scrunch my face a little. "We'd never hate you, Ethan. Why would you think that?"
"I...I was so stupid," he says as more tears run down his cheeks. It's the first time I see Ethan cry, and truth be told, I am more shocked than I've ever been before.
"Why did you leave?" I press.
"I got involved with some dangerous people, Kylie," he confesses. "I owe them a ton of money and they said they'd hurt me if I didn't pay them that night."
What?
"I don't have that much money so I asked them for some time but they..." He sobs. "They said that they wouldn't give me more time and that I had to give it to them that night or they'd come after my family. I didn't know what to do... I freaked out. I didn't know where I was going to get the money. The only way I could buy more time was if something happened to me. So I decided to..."
"Fake an accident," I finish it for him, my voice soft like a whisper. My mouth falls open a little. I shake my head and grab his hand. "Who are those people? How do you owe them money, Ethan?"
He takes a while to reply, holding back more tears. "Street gambling."
I cover my face with the palm of my hands, processing all. I then look up at him, pushing my hair to the back. "When did you start this? And why?"
"About a month ago," he sniffles. "I thought it was fun. I liked the feeling of winning so much that I got addicted to it. But then, I just started losing and losing and... Now I don't know what to do, Ky." He starts crying again. "I was so stupid!"
If only I could hug him right now.
"It's going to be okay, Ethan," I assure, trying to calm him down. "I can help you pay your debt, okay? You just have to promise us you'll lose your addiction."
He tries to nod but fails.
"You don't have to worry anymore. We're gonna help you. You should've come to us, we would've helped you."
"I was just so scared of what you guys would think of me."
"We love you, Ethan. And we all make stupid choices sometimes. But that's why we've got friends and family. We help each other out. No matter what."
Well, I'm kinda being a hypocrite. What about Mario?
He looks at me with the tiniest smile forming on his lips. He remains silent for a few seconds before chuckling softly. "Julian is going to be so mad, he'll want to break my other arm."
"We won't let him," I smile back, patting his hand before getting up. "Speaking of him, I should go find him. You two need to talk."
"Just promise me you won't leave me alone with him."
I chuckle. "I promise."
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How do I start this? I think an apology isn't good enough anyway so I'll just skip it.
But I'll tell you guys the motive of my longest Wattpad absence.
School. Yes, I know, it's almost always school. But I had exams. I failed one exam and now I have to rewrite it this Thursday. It sucks because I gave my best. This has never happened to me before, it's just...I don't know what happened and I'm so upset about it.
But enough about my life. I've missed this. I've missed you guys! I've missed responding to every single comment and thanking every single new reader. But I'm back. (After Thursday, I'll be 100% committed though.)
What did you think of this chapter?
Next update: I haven't written the next chapter yet so I can't make any promises. :(
Spoiler: Everyone learns Ethan's secret, and of course, they help him out. Also, things at Kylie's home start to get a bit...agitated.