Adopted by Heathers: The Sequel

Well, There Goes Junior Year!

Catlynn's POV

I had been in the hospital for almost two weeks now, and it had been really hard on me. First, Elle has been sobbing nearly constantly for a week and a half, Ryan was a mess, and Red...Red had called me every night crying, worried that I'm going to die.

I'm starting physical therapy and rehab in a few days, and that's the last thing I wanted to do right now. Junior year was fast approaching, and with all the advanced classes that I was taking, the summer work kept piling up. And with me on bed rest and not being able to do much of anything else, I was pretty much all caught up on summer work and summer reading and whatever essays my future teachers were assigning.

Elle had a feeling that I wouldn't be out of the hospital in time for the first day of school. School started at the end of August, so in less than two weeks from now. And truth be told, as much as I hated school sometimes, I would be crushed if I wasn't able to go to school with all of my friends. It was my second to last year of high school before I graduated, and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.

And when senior year arrived, I would be an adult. I would get to go to prom, hopefully with Red by my side.

And if all goes well, I would come out that year. 

I opened up my laptop and got to work on the essay for an AP class that I had been working on for the past couple of weeks or so, even before the crash. I was trying to get to 1,000 words, the minimum requirement for a passing grade. And I certainly didn't want to fail school the first week in. 

I had zoned out for so long that I didn't notice that Elle was gone from the chair she was sitting in just twenty minutes instead. In her place was the girl Fritz I met at the hospital right before my sixteenth birthday. She appeared to have cut her hair, it was shorter than I remember. And a guitar case was slung over her shoulder.

"Hey. Cat. Answer me." Fritz said, laughing and pushing her hair back. I laughed and slammed my laptop closed.

"You'll only understand the struggle when you're in high school, Fritz." I said to my friend, who rolled her eyes at me. "So, what's up?"

Fritz's smile became a little softer and her eyes were twinkling in the sunlight that was streaming through the window. "I...um...just came here to thank you."

"Thank me? For what?" I asked, generally curious.

She took her guitar case off of her back and showed it off to me. "For giving me confidence. You know, ever since you complimented me on my singing, it's...um...boosted my self-esteem. Thanks to you, I'm now in the middle school jazz band."

"What school do you go to?" I asked, temporarily ignoring what Fritz just said to me about me giving her a bit of confidence. Fritz sighed and said, "Hamilton Middle."

Judging by her facial expressions, she must've hated the place as much as I did back in the day. Poor kid. And this girl was a seventh grader. She still had another two years to go at that horrible school.

"You know, Fritz...that was my old middle school." I said. Fritz seemed to light up. "Really?" she screamed at me. She was about to get up and hug me, then said, "Wait. Sorry, I forgot."

I chuckled and said, "Come here, you dork!" Fritz ran over to my hospital bed and threw her arms around me. I heard someone say, "Aww." in the middle of our hug and looked up to see Elle standing in the doorway.

"Oh. Sorry. I'll leave." Fritz said, grabbing her messenger bag and her guitar and sprinting out of the room, saying a quick goodbye to me before leaving. I laughed and called out, "Bye Fritz!" to her, then turned to where Elle was sitting on the bed.

"Where did you come from?" I said, laughing.

"Someone's feeling better." Elle said, laughing and putting her hand on my leg. "But seriously, how are you feeling?"

"Decent. Got some schoolwork done, at least I won't be failing junior year first thing." I said, laughing. "Almost done with this horribly long essay, finished my summer reading book yesterday...what else can I do anyway with my bed-ridden state?"

Elle sighed and inched away from me, quietly talking to herself.

"Mom?" I asked, setting my laptop down on the floor. "Mom? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing...wait...when did you say school started?" Elle asked.

"Next Tuesday. August 29th. Why?" I asked. It suddenly hit me. It was quite possible I wouldn't be out of the hospital for my first day of junior year. 

"Because...according to your doctor, you won't be out of here for another two weeks. So the first week of September. And...um...remember in seventh grade when we homeschooled you because of your brother and stuff? And because I was trying to get the adoption settled and all that?" Elle asked.

I nodded, realizing what she was trying to do. 

"Well...we might have to do that for a few months. Until after Christmas, at the most. I'm so sorry, Sunshine." Elle said.

Why was everything from my seventh and eighth grade years coming full-circle? The homeschooling and now me recovering from a crash? 

"At least I'll still have ballet. Obviously, when I'm mostly better, but still, I can't wait for that day when I can do what I love again." I said, giggling. I saw Elle look away with tears in her eyes. This really worried me. A lot.

"Mom?" I asked, about to cry myself.

"Cat...you can't do ballet anymore. Ever." Elle said.

AN: I'M SO SORRY, EVERYONE! This evilness is needed for plot reasons, I promise. And I promise, it'll get better. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and catch ya later! Love ya guys!