Charlie
I couldn't get his smile out of my mind as I hobbled on crutches down the hallway to Food Tech, the following Wednesday. It was so authentic, so real. You could tell by looking into his dark blue eyes, that he was truly happy at that moment. It was such a beautiful smile and it is a shame that he rarely shows it.
I had to pass the quadrangle we had roll call on to get to Food Tech, and I was shocked when I rounded the corner.
Jack was yet again, beating Chase. It didn't look as innocent as last time, it looked far worst. When I came closer, I could see the damage better and I gasped.
The anger inside of me rose as I screamed, "what the fuck are you doing to him?!"
Jack stopped for a moment and turned to look at me. "Don't scream girly, or your crush will get it worse."
My eyes widened. I looked around the small group of boys surrounding the two. Joseph stood there, looking worried.
"Jack, stop. He'll pass out and remember the last time he ended up in hospital." Joseph warned.
He stood up, spat, and turned to leave, just as the bell rang for fifth period.
Chase was on the ground, legs curled up close to his chest, blood flowing down his face. His wheelchair was nowhere in sight and not a single person was around.
I sat down on the cement, next to his body. "Chase?" I said, softly touching his shoulder.
He flinched. He didn't turn to look at me, nor did he move.
"Chase?" I tried again. No response. "Tell me where it hurts."
He still didn't turn to look at me. "It hurts Charlie," he sobbed. "It hurts everywhere."
It broke my heart to hear him this broken again. It reminded me of Sunday.
"Can you move?"
Another sob retched his body, making him shake like no tomorrow. "I wanna die. Please let me die."
He slowly turned around, so he was now lying down facing me. Tears ran down his injured face. His eye was black and his jaw was starting to swell. A few more bruises were starting to form on his face.
"Chase..." I cried.
His eyes were closed as I looked at him. He laid there for a while, not moving or opening his eyes. The bell rang again, signalling the last period before lunch. I stayed beside him, not moving away from him.
After a few minutes, he slowly sat up and opened his red, tired eyes. "It hurts so much."
I frowned. "Boys are so stupid."
He flinched again as he moved to get more comfortable. "Ow," he cried in so much pain, it broke my heart yet again.
I moved closer, and as gently as I could, I leant in and hugged him.
He cried a bit more, sobbing into my school uniform and saying muffled things. He lifted his head off after a while, my white shirt was covered in his blood and tears, while his face was swollen, bruises covering most of his skin. His hair was very messy and his eyes a sickly red.
"Crap, I'm so sorry for your shirt," he apologised.
I smiled shyly, "it's okay."
His face was so close to my own. Mere centimetres away. His eyes were staring down at my lips while he still had a few tears flowing down. His eyes, they were such a deep blue, the darkest I had ever seen them. Pure anger and hurt were showing themselves, not hiding like they had before.
He was gorgeous, even if he wasn't the prettiest or that he had bruises and cuts all over his face. He wasn't perfect, but at that moment all his flaws made him perfect.
So when I made my next move, I was certain it was the right one. I closed the gap between us and kissed his swollen, imperfect lips.
At first he didn't kiss back, probably surprised. But after a while, when the tears and a speck of blood started to blend in with the kiss, he was kissing back. I didn't touch his face, or put my hands in his hair. I badly wanted to, but I knew not to touch his injured face.
I closed my eyes savouring the moment we had together. It didn't matter that we were both injured. It didn't matter that we were jigging class and would probably get in trouble. It didn't even matter that we were at school. Nothing at that moment mattered around us, our kiss was the only thing that mattered.
I pulled back after a while, a smile on my face. Chase was looking back at me blankly with his deep blue, hurt filled eyes.
"We should get you to the front office," I said breaking the silence. "If the bell for lunch goes, chaos will begin and it'll be harder."
He sighed. "Can you see my chair anywhere?" He asked weakly.
I looked around the quad, no chair in sight. I stood up, with my crutches and I still didn't see Chase's chair.
"Those bastards hide it well."
He sighed and slowly laid back down, on the dirty ground. He closed his eyes and said, "Try the girl's bathroom. They hid it there last time."
"Will you be okay here alone?"
He opened his eyes and tilted his head to look up at me. "Probably not, but maybe a teacher will find me and help me or they could find me and come back for round two."
"I'll be quick," I said and quickly limped away on crutches.
I hurried in the direction of the girl's bathroom, carefully, so I wouldn't get caught as classes were happening. I kept limping down the hall, nearly there when a janitors closet nearby struck my attention. I came closer and saw Chase's chair in there.
"Idiots," I muttered under my breath.
I somehow managed to bring it out of the closet, before the bell rung. Students flooded the hallway and I cursed for being stuck in the worst possible place. Students pushed past each other, nearly knocking me over and the chair was close to disappearing out of my sight.
After it calmed down and I was left alone in the hallway I sighed. "What the hell am I gonna do?" I asked myself to an empty hallway.
"You could ask for help," a voice said and I turned around and saw a happy Darcy, walking down the hall.
"Hey Darc. Nice timing."
"Did it happen again?" She asked.
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, did they steal his chair again?"
"Yeah. Could you help me bring it to him? I kinda have no hands here," I said gesturing to the crutches.
She chuckled, "sure. Hope in."
"Chase would kill me. It's his chair."
"Don't be a party pooper, it'll be fun."
I sighed and sat down. I laid my crutches on my lap and Darcy grabbed the handles.
"Damn, it's so low. It's so weird," I said pointing to the backrest.
We started to head towards the quad, Darcy pushing me in Chase's chair. We got there, to find a huge group of students. I stood up and limped through the crowd to get to the front.
Jack was there with his group, standing near Chase, who was lying on the ground. Joseph was tugging Jack to go, but he stayed put. Chase didn't look like he was breathing as he yet again has his legs curled up to his chest.
This made me panic.
I limped into the circle and crouched down next to him. Tears clouded my eyes as I thought about my parents. It was the same situation. They were lying down, not breathing. I started to sob as I checked his pulse. Relief rescued my thoughts when he still had a beating pulse. I was still crying however when I stood up and hobbled over to Jack.
"You fucking bastard!" I yelled. "You're such a fucken dick to do this to a guy who's never done anything wrong to you!" I punched him as hard as I could out of anger.
He stumbled back, blood rushing down his face. "You bitch. Fuck, you can punch."
I turned to look at the crowd, my knuckles throbbing in pain. "Don't just stand there like cowards, call the fucking ambulance!"
____
I winced in pain as I placed the ice on my bruised knuckle. I was sitting in a hospital room, Chase's room. Miss Lancy had the younger children to take care of so she wouldn't be able to make it. I was sitting in the chair besides Chase's bed.
He looked so lifeless but at the same time so at peace. His jaw was swollen, and the black eye had worsened. His left arm was bandaged, thankfully only fractured. His hair was still messy and he was wearing one of the ugly hospital gowns.
"I'll be back," I said to his sleeping body, kissing his bruised cheek.
I left the room to go to a nearby vending machine as I was hungry. I was passing the children's room when an unusual sight caught my sight. I saw Jack playing with Tiffany. He had a smile on his face as the two talked.
I couldn't help but enter the room. Thankfully I saw Sam nearby, so I went to sit by him.
"Hey."
He jumped, a smile coming to his face. "Hey. Charlie right?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you here?"
"Chase is in the hospital," I sighed.
"What? Why!" He exclaimed.
"He was bashed up but an idiot over there," I said in anger.
"What? The guy who did it is here?"
"Yeah, he's talking to Tiffany."
"Tiffany? Oh you mean Jack. That's her brother."
"Her brother? What a fucking hypocrite! His own damn sister is paralysed!"
"Sshh, calm down. Maybe we should go visit Chase. Could you lead me the way?"
"Oh, I kinda can't. I broke my leg a week and a half ago."
"Oh, oh yeah. Chase told me. How are you, by the way?"
"I'm okay, still hurts but I'm fine."
____
"So what exactly happened?" Sam asked, as he sat down in one of the plastic chairs in the room.
I sat down in the other one before replying, "I was walking to Food Tech, when I saw Jack punching Chase. He was on the ground, curled up in a ball, while Jack was beating him senseless. He went away when the bell rang. I stayed there, he cried on me, then after a while I went to find his chair, since the idiots hid it. Just as I found it, the lunch bell rang and when I came back with my friend who helped me, Jack was at it again. Only this time it looked as if he wasn't breathing. I panicked, since it was the same sight I saw my parents in," I sobbed.
"Hey, it's okay." He grabbed my arm unsure, rubbing it a bit, in a comforting gesture. "He'll wake up and he'll be alright."
"Damn right, I'll be fine," a groggy voice said weakly.
I looked over at Chase, tears clouding my vision, to see him slowly waking up.
"Hey man. You okay?" Sam asked, a small smile on his face.
"Chase. Oh, thank god." I hobbled over to his side.
He reached out his hand and I gently took it. With droopy eyes he smiled, a lazy smile. "I'm fine. Stop worrying."
"That's great dude. I'll go get the Doc." Sam stood up and tapped his way to the door.
"How are you feeling?"
"Could be better. Don't really feel anything. I'm guessing it's the drugs."
"I think I know why Jack bullies you," I whispered.
His eyes widened and the smile slipped off of his lips. "Why?"
"I'll tell you later."
He frowned and the door opened. The doctor came in with Sam by his side.
"Well Chase, you're very lucky. Only a slightly fractured wrist, two broken ribs and lots of bruising. Thankfully your spine wasn't hurt so everything is well. You'll be able to go home tomorrow afternoon. Do you have any questions?"
"No Doc."
"Well then, I wish you a speedy recovery," he smiled and left the room.
"That's not bad man. Recover quickly. I better go. Still need to see my cousin and my mum should be picking me up soon. Later guys," Sam said, leaving us alone.
"Why are you still crying?" He chuckled.
"I thought you were dead Chase. You were lying there like my parents were," I started sobbing again.
"Hey, sshh. Come lie down next to me," he scooted over, patting the spot next to him.
"Don't over work yourself," I said sitting down. I placed the crutches by the wall and laid down.
"Get some rest, you've had an eventful day."
"I should be saying that to you, you're the one in hospital."
He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Thank you."
I fell asleep a moment later.
____
"Aww, look how cute they are together. Oh, and they're holding hands," someone said.
A noise went off and I moved around. I rested my head on a nearby pillow and hugged it tightly. I fell asleep yet again.
A/N
Chapter Twenty-One!!! And they finally kissed!!
Thank you to everyone supporting this story through reading, voting or commenting on it!! I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and this is my present to you fans!! It's about a few minutes away from Christmas Day here in Australia.
Once again, Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for supporting this story!!!