Chapter 26: The Hospital

Cassie's point of view:

My head hurts.

Everything hurts, really, but my head especially. And my leg.

I don't know why.

The last thing I remember is going to school and then leaving in a car and being upset, and then...

Nothing.

Why won't my eyes open?

And what is that incessant beeping? Just over and over again.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Shut the fuck up already.

I groan as I attempt to open my eyes. They flutter, but trying to open them is giving me a raging headache.

Another groan leaves my mouth as my eyes open and I'm blinded by white lights.

My eyes adjust, and I see I'm in a white room. Noise filters in through the closed door and I glance down at myself to see me in a hospital bed, dressed in a hospital gown.

What really freaks me out, though, is the fact that my left leg is in a cast.

A shriek leaves my mouth as I scramble to get up, pain shooting through my leg and my head and my ribs.

What the hell happened to me?

"Woah, woah, Cassie," someone says as they rush to hold me down and prevent me from moving. "Calm down, it's okay, you're okay."

I look up to see Aaron standing over me.

"Aaron," I say, panicked. "What happened? Why am I in here?"

"Shh," he says as two nurses come through the door. "Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be fine."

The nurses inject something into the IV drip I'm connected to, and the last thing I see is Aaron's green eyes staring into mine, filled with worry.

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The next time I wake up, I'm calm. Still freaked out, but calm.

Aaron is by my side immediately, scanning my face. "You okay?"

It takes me a while to register the question, but I nod and end up letting out a grunt as the intensity of the pounding in my head increases, and I rethink my answer. "Not really." Aaron opens his mouth to speak, but I interrupt him before he can. "What happened?"

Before he can answer, a doctor in a white coat walks through the door, a nurse close behind him. "How are you feeling?" the doctor asks, looking down at the clipboard in his hands.

I think, the question taking a while to process. "My head hurts a little. And my ribs."

He nods. "That was expected. I'm going to go over your injuries and give you a recovery plan, okay?" When I nod, he continues. "Your leg broke in two different places, hence the cast, and you'll have to have it on for at least the next three months." He flips through his papers. "You also have two broken ribs, as well as a few bruised ones, along with a concussion. You're going to have to stay off of your feet and take it easy for a while, no exerting yourself." He waits until I give him a nod of confirmation. "We will be supplying you with painkillers to deal with the pain. You're going to be feeling dizzy and might experience mild memory loss in relation to the events leading up to the event that caused your injuries, along with difficulty talking, thinking or swallowing, as a result of the concussion. We want to keep you here to monitor you and the concussion to make sure no serious brain damage occurred, but you should be out within the next day or two. Sound good?" I nod my head and he smiles at me. "Buzz the nurse if you need anything."

He leaves, the nurse following, and I shift my gaze to Aaron.

"Did I fall down the––" Fuck, what the hell is it called? "The things?" Aaron gives me a confused look. I'm confused myself. I know the word, I know I do, but I can't say it; it's aggravating because it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't say it. "The things you use to go up or down in a house."

He thinks. "Stairs?"

Relief floods me. "Yes, those. Did I fall down the stairs?"

The amusement fades from his face and his eyes drop to the bed to avoid my eyes. He swallows, and I watch his Adam's Apple bob in his throat. "You don't remember." He doesn't phrase it like a question."You, um, you got into an accident."

I blink at him. "I what?"

"You got into an accident," he repeats, his eyes flickering up to meet mine. "The cops are saying it looks like you ran a stop sign. The other driver was on his phone and not paying attention, and he hit your side of the car straight on. The doctor said it could've been worse, your ribs could've punctured an organ or something, and that you were lucky to come out of that accident with the injuries you have."

I stare at him, blinking. "I ran a stop sign? Why? Was I upset?" Even though I don't have a car, I'm normally a very safe driver.

He flinches, almost like he was hoping I didn't go down that road by asking that question. "We, uh, we had an," he pauses, trying to find the right word. "An argument right before you left."

I check my memory, trying to remember the argument and what it was about. What would I have argued with Aaron about?

I continue thinking, feeling Aaron's eyes on me, but the only thing I can come up with is me realizing that I like him in a more than friends kind of way. Everything after that is blurry enough to the point that I can't make it out. "Sorry," I say, shaking my head. "I don't remember." He nods but stays silent. "Are you going to tell me?" I ask slowly.

"Right, tell you, well..." He trails off and I narrow my eyes at him. If we got into an argument so bad that I got distracted enough to get into an accident––one where I could've died as a result––he must have done something really bad. Shit, maybe I did something.

"Aaron, what happened?"

"I yelled at you," he says, his eyes closed in shame. "We weren't...arguing for very long, but it was long enough to make you upset, and then you left, and I followed you and they were loading you into the ambulance."

"Did I say I hate you?" I ask him curiously.

"No," he says, running a hand through his hair, causing it to gain a messy, just rolled out of bed look. "But it sure looked like you hated me."

"But did I say it?" Whenever I'm angry, it's like I've taken a truth serum; I unashamedly drop truth bombs all over the place.

He shakes his head, sucking his lower lip into his mouth to bite it. Why is he so fucking hot? It's honestly not even fair.

"Then I don't hate you," I say softly. His green eyes bore into my grey ones and he looks at me with a string mix of shame and regret. I shoot him a smile. "And we're still friends." No way am I telling him I like him. Not when he has a girlfriend. "Promise."

A grin slowly shows up on his face, and his eyes shine with happiness, a happiness that I feel is reflected on my own face.

"Cassidy!"

I instantly wipe the smile off my face as Jake, followed by Ricky, Cole, Adrian, and Gracie, walks into the hospital room. They crowd around my bed and smile down at me.

I look at Cole with a smirk on my face. "Hey, Finn."

His smile drops and he rolls his eyes. "Of course. I come out here, against my will, for the record, and you disrespect me the first chance you get. You're lucky Ella here is your best friend."

My smirk grows. "Ella, huh?" A blush rises on Cole's face and Gracie giggles. "Dude, you're so whipped." He rolls his eyes and I turn my attention to Adrian. "How 'bout you, Frilly? Do you have a special someone?"

He shakes his head, but I don't miss the blush on his cheeks, or the shy smile he has as he stares at the floor.

I direct my attention to Gracie. "Where's Gabs?"

She keeps her eyes on the floor, and it's obvious she doesn't want to answer. Cole bristles at Gabs' name, but I ignore it; besides, there's no reason for him not to like her––they've barely interacted. "She said she had something important to do."

I sigh and gaze sadly at my hands in my lap. We've drifted apart during the last three months, and I regret letting our relationship deteriorate to this point, but I think it's too late to go and rescue it. I'm not even sure if she's interested in doing that.

I glance up at everyone again to find them staring at me with concerned looks on their faces.

"Cassidy," Jake says slowly. "You know we love you, right."

I smile. "I know."

He smiles back at me before clapping Ricky and Adrian on their shoulders. "Let's get going boys. Grace looks like she's dying to tell Cassidy something."

True to his word, Gracie is literally bouncing where she stands, much to Cole's amusement. I swear, all he ever does is smile at her.

Gag.

All the boys––including Aaron––leave the room, closing the door behind them, and Gracie is by my side in an instant, sitting down in the chair previously occupied by Aaron.

"Oh my gosh, Cass, I was so worried about you. Driving when you were upset, what were you thinking? Like, I get why you were upset, but, come on, you know better. Oh, before I forget, your parents are out of the state and can't leave, they wanted me to tell you. They want to make sure you're okay and give you instructions and whatever. I don't know, just call them. I don't know why Gabby didn't show up, like, I know she doesn't like me, but you were in a near-fatal accident, doesn't that count for som––"

"Hold up," I say, interrupting her, holding up one of my hands. "Why doesn't she like you?"

Gracie tilts her head at me, confused. "What?"

"Gabby," I say. "Why doesn't she like you?"

Gracie's eyes widen and she coughs nervously. "What? Why would you think that."

"You said it," I deadpan, her reaction to my question making me a little upset.

"When?"

"Just now."

"Did I?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"But, like, are you sure?"

"Gracie––"

"Because you never know, sureness about things are relative. It's a science. You have to cross-reference what you know with what you can infer and it's a very complicated proc––"

"Graciella."

She snaps her mouth shut and looks at me silently.

"Why doesn't she like you?"

A defeated sigh leaves he mouth and she looks at me through her lashes, her head bowed. "Promise you won't get mad at her?

"No. Now tell me."

She bites her lip. "I don't know why she doesn't like me, I just know she doesn't like me." I narrow my eyes, but she hurriedly continues talking before I can get a word in. "When school started, she started calling me names––annoying, talkative, things like that––but then that escalated to things like bitch, whore, slut." I felt my blood begin to boil. I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't severely injured I would've leapt out of this bed and tracked Gabby down so I could murder her.

"And then she started saying how you were only hanging around with me because you felt sorry that I had no friends, and that you didn't really like me, and that I should just kill myself because I was alone and was going to be alone for the rest of my pathetic life and––" She cuts herself off, and I'm glad because I'm not sure how much more if that I could've sat and listened to. "So, yeah, she doesn't like me," she says, looking down at her hands, clenching and unclenching them in her lap.

"Gracie," I say softly, reaching out to hold her hands in mine. "You didn't believe her, did you?"

She looks at me, and i can see the huge amount of pain in her eyes before she breaks eye contact and looks down at her hands again. I feel whatever hope I was holding on to for my relationship with Gabby to work out disintegrate. "I'm not proud, but yes, I believed her. I believed her when she told me that I was worthless because I thought she was my best friend and I thought that meant she would never lie to me. But then I met Cole." Her gaze shifts back to mine, and I see the unrestrained happiness in her eyes. "He likes me, Cass. He likes me for me. He doesn't care that I talk to much, or that I can be annoying, or that I'm hyper. He told me that's why he likes me." I resist the urge to start fangirling because aww, that's adorable. "And I really like him. He's sweet and cute and adorable and he listens to me and I really like him."

I smile, but it turns into a frown pretty quickly. "Why didn't you tell me she was telling you those things?"

"She told me that she would start telling people that you were sleeping with Aaron and Cole and Adrian if I told you and you confronted her, and I knew what rumors like that do to you, and I didn't want what happened with Kyle to happen again."

I close my eyes. How could I have ever considered Gabby as one of my best friends?

"Don't feel bad," Gracie rushes to get out. "It doesn't bother me anymore. I know she was wrong now."

I stare at her, still unbelievably pissed at Gabby, but I open my arms for a hug, and Gracie very carefully wraps her arms around me the best she can, trying not to mess with my wrapped ribs.

She pulls away at the sound of a knock, and we both turn to see Cole looking through the window on the door with a smile. He holds up his watch and points to it, which makes Gracie giggle. Turning to me, she says, "I have to go. He said he would take me out on a date."

I smile at her excited state. "Go and have fun." She turns around and starts walking towards the door. "Gracie?" She stops with her hand on the doorknob and turns to face me. "He's good for you." She shoots me another smile before opening the door and walking through, letting it slowly close behind her.

He really is good for her. Ever since they started hanging out and talking more, Gracie's become less shy and more confident when it comes to making friends, and I know that's thanks to him.

I'll have to thank him for that.

I shudder at the thought.

Maybe I'll threaten him––give him the whole, if you hurt her speech––after I thank him.

Now, what do I do about Gabby?

I can't just stop talking to her. She hurt Gracie, and while I am ashamed––not really––to admit this, I'm petty, and I'm not going to just let this go.

Gabby hurt Gracie, innocent little Gracie, and because of that, I'm not going to let her think she crushed someone's spirit and there were no consequences.

But what do I do?

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It is 2:39 in the morning, and I am so exhausted, but I couldn't sleep––my anxiety does that sometimes, don't worry––so I decided to write this. Jeez, who knew the human body needed sleep this much; I swear I'm about to pass out.

Gabby, Gabby, Gabby, bullying is not okay. Be prepared to face the wrath of Cass. (Bro, I could be a poet, look at that rhyme, I'm the modern day Shakespeare lol.)

Cole likes Gracie, isn't that adorable. I'm so single and it honestly sucks. My ex and I broke things off for the second time, and the heartbreak doesn't get any easier. Word of advice: if you and a person have already broken up once before, think about why the relationship ended and if that problem has been fixed because I got back together with him and things only went down.

Well, enough of that. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one should be out by Wednesday, but, again, might be a little earlier. I literally have nothing to do except write, so expect more productivity up until Monday, when school starts. I hate school so much; literally one of the only things Cass and I have in common.

I'm so very tired and I go to sleep now gn

--Rose

P.S. I don't think my sleeping habits are healthy, somebody pls help I'm gonna be getting up at like three in the afternoon tomorrow