The Coma Patient

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Three Weeks Later

            I walked down the hall, my ponytail swinging back and forth with each step. I couldn't help but be proud of myself. I'd finished everything. I'd gotten caught up on all of my assignments and my teachers kindly put the grades in without penalty. I was back to my almost perfect GPA.

            I hadn't seen Christian again since the time in the woods. He'd done what I'd asked. I could finally start to move on with everything. It felt good to be free of him.

            "You look happy today," Belle commented as I opened my locker. "What's up?"

            "I got everything turned in," I shrugged. "It feels nice." I hadn't told her about the meeting with Christian. I wasn't planning on telling her. I lied and told her I realized my insanity and was going to move on. So far moving on was going well.

            "That's good," she nodded. "So, how is everything going at home?" I knew what she really meant by that question: "How's everything going with Crazy Chastity?"

            "Great actually. Mom hasn't been hovering as much and I've been sleeping better." Translation: "Crazy Chastity is long gone."

            "That's good. Does this mean you're up for a proper movie night?" she asked, hope swirling in her blue irises.

            I smiled widely. "Absolutely. That would be so amazing."

            Her returning smile faltered and I saw hesitation cross her face. "Um..."

            "What?" I asked, my mind blanking.

            "Well, I was just wondering if you'd want me to avoid inviting Josh—I mean I wouldn't but someone else might and I don't know if you want me to tell them—"

            "Don't worry about it, Belle, you can invite him. It's okay. It's not like he's not your friend. Excluding him just because we broke up isn't fair," I assured her. The thought of Josh coming made my stomach turn a bit but what I told her was true. Besides I couldn't avoid him forever.

            Her face lit up again and she pulled out her phone. She spoke aloud as she typed out the text message. "'Movie night tomorrow after school. Meet at my place. Bring food, movies, and drinks. Genre preference?'" She looked up at me after it sent. "Genre preference?" she repeated, this time actually to me.

            "Nah, I'm not picky this week," I replied with an easy shrug. My phone buzzed with an indication of her text's arrival.

            "Perfect," she grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

            "Absolutely," I nodded.

            It was about three hours after Belle sent the text that I received another from her. Everyone's in. "Josh wants to know if he can bring someone called Anna???" I hadn't told her everything about Josh and me breaking up. I just told her that neither of us really wanted to be together anymore. I left out the part about him dating Anna behind my back—she didn't need to get angry at him over it. It was done and I was over it.

            Josh wanted to bring Anna to our movie night. Our movie night. I couldn't help but feel a bit angry about it. This was something that we kept within our friend group. We'd been doing it for years. Bringing in new people wasn't something we did. I took a deep breath and texted back. "That's fine with me". My finger hesitated over the send button. I bit my lip and pressed it.