I’m intercepted by Bella and Leah and they’re more than happy to eat their lunch outside instead.
I can’t believe I lied to everyone at school, I don’t even know what possessed me to do it. Maybe it was Octavia shouldering me in my still tender ribs that were finally getting better or the dozen razor blades slid under my door. Maybe it was just the fact that I can’t take much more and have to get away for a little while.
I mean it wasn’t a complete lie, I do need to see the doctor today. I just don’t need to stop off at the ICU ward after.
“Hey H, how are you doing today?” I ask as I look at his chart and see there’s little improvement.
“You’re back, we wondered if we’d see you again,” says the same nurse as last time, Maria.
“My school wouldn’t let me out before today, how’s he doing?”
“I really can’t say, sorry chickie.”
“I understand, it’s hard not to worry though. And the boy who did this is wracked with guilt, I just wanted to give him some good news,” I say softly, taking his hand and trying unsuccessfully, not to cry. Maria doesn’t need to know the tears are for Amias.
Once she leaves, I go back through his folder, I don’t understand any of it until I see a treatment scheduled for tomorrow. Fuck me, he’s having surgery.
Fifteen
Mrs. Hutchinson confirms that he is set for surgery, she is royally pissed that I went to see him but there isn’t a lot she can do.
She doesn’t tell me a lot, only that it’s being done to improve his chances and to drain the fluid that is building up in his skull. I can’t tell Amias, it will only make him worry even more. I’ve looked it up and I know his chances don’t look good, even if he survives he won’t be the same person he was before the fight.
If that isn’t bad enough the guys are still acting like children in general. So much so, that I’ve taken to eating with Bella and the girls instead.
“Are you really going to keep ignoring them?” Leah asks, and it makes me laugh.
“I’m not ignoring them, Amias comes to my room most nights. It’s innocent I swear, I see Noah in the afternoon and we do our homework together. And Elijah is always bugging me, I just can’t be around them together at the moment when they’re acting like moronic twerps.” I laugh, but this situation is making me feel uneasy, and the guys are not making it any easier.
“So, you’re really going to go on your own. There are three hot guys happy to take you.”
I don’t understand why this is so confusing for her, what is the big deal about going to a party by myself? “No, there is one who wants us to go as a foursome, another who can’t be with me and won’t tell me why and the last who has made it clear that if I’m with him that’s it. I’m not even ready for all that serious crap yet, and even if I was, how the hell do I choose?” Groaning in frustration, I throw my hands in the air whilst the others laugh at my misery.
“If it isn’t the little tart, oops,” comes from Britney right as a hot liquid is poured down my back.
I scream in pain as Bella jumps to her feet and Britney runs off pretty much cackling like the hag she is.
The girls help me up and it’s agony, they quickly get me to the nurses office and she wastes no time in cutting my top off. Unfortunately, she can’t remove the material from the burn because it caused me to shriek and cry. Too damn painful. She’s now getting me into a wet room and running cold water over my shoulder and down my back.
I can’t contain my scream, it’s agony and the girls have been shown out.
“It’s okay dear, this is the best way to ensure it doesn’t get any worse. We’re going to have to have you sit here for at least twenty minutes and I’ll wrap up the rest of you so you don’t get too cold.”
She leaves the door partially open and I can hear voices coming from the other room, that vicious little hag. How could she do this? I’m not making the same mistake as before, I’m telling the headmistress this time, how could it make things any worse?
“Bloody hell little cub, we can’t leave you alone for a second, can we?”
Amias is better than any salve or compress, especially as he crouches in front of me.
“You’re getting wet,” I grit out through the pain and he strokes his hand down my face.
“I don’t care, I can always get dry and you need me.”
It isn’t long before Noah and Elijah are joining him on the wet floor and the nurse gives up trying to get them to leave. I guess keeping me calm is better than the rules at the moment, and once twenty minutes pass she leads me out of the wet room wrapped in a towel.
I lie down on the observation table and she covers the burnt area with some kind of cloth before bandaging me up.
Once she deems it safe for me to leave and it takes a lot as she has to make sure I haven’t gone into shock. The area is quite large and it’s concerning her, but at least it wasn’t a third degree kind. I guess there's always a bright side or some crap like that.
The headmistress gives me the rest of the day off, although that’s probably because I have to spend the rest of the day at the hospital where it takes hours to see anyone. The nurses had seemed concerned by my injury but a well-placed laugh here and there and a feeble excuse of ‘accidents will happen’ was enough to keep them away from the police. Thankfully I’m now lying on my stomach in my own room and it’s definitely comfier.. I got lucky really, my skin is probably red and will more than likely blister. But we got to the nurse fairly quickly so there shouldn’t be any real complications. I have three days until the party and right now, I think I might just skip it all together.
Elijah comes in an hour later and he’s so excited, at least someone has something to be happy about.
“Britney has been suspended, her parents looked super pissed with her.” Elijah is laughing but I’m failing to see the funny side right now.
“Hey, come on hot stuff, cheer up. You’re doing alright and the nurse seemed fairly confident that you wouldn’t have any long-term scarring,” he says, and his word choice is only making my mood worse.
“Oh, I see, so as long as I haven’t got scarring it’s all okay. Wouldn’t you be interested if I had a few burns on me then Elijah.” My tongue can burn just as easily as the drink that was poured over me, and Elijah is in the firing line.
He tries to backtrack, but I don’t care right now. Noah comes in to see him getting flustered and asks what’s going on.
“You really need to think before you speak,” he says once Elijah explains everything.
“I didn’t mean it like that, I was just trying to cheer her up. I didn’t mean to insinuate that I only care about her looks.” He sounds desperate to make it right, but I don’t want it right now. I’ve had just about enough for one day.
“Can you guys just leave me alone for a while, I want to be alone,” I shift onto my side so my back is to them, and I let the tears fall once I hear them leave.
One more day until the party, Britney will not be coming back until the start of the new term. We have no idea how Harrison’s surgery went and I’m still being kind of bitchy to the guys. I’m sick and tired of being injured and with them always keeping an eye on me, I feel like they’re my babysitters. How can they not be fed up with it, when I am.