Sophia, who art thou?

29. AMELIA

I'm safe. I think. Well, I'm as safe as I think I can be. Up until two days ago I was bunking with one of the waitresses at Espresso Coffee. Then she kicked me out. So now I'm at the hospital. Hopefully I'll run into Noah. Poor, innocent, gullible Noah. I know his shift ends in about half an hour. Half an hour I can spend in the waiting room without anyone getting too suspicious. Half an hour I can figure out what I want to say to him so he'll let me stay with him.

*

It's almost time for him to get off work. I crumple my shirt and mess up my eyeliner so I'll come off as weaker to him so he'll want to help me. So that he'll feel like I need him, not the other way round. I take the lip liner I stole from my "roommate" and smear it around my scar so it looks raw, recent. Don't judge me. It's the least she owed me after kicking me out.

I lean forward in my chair, waiting for Noah to walk through the glass doors. I sit up straighter as I hear a soft creak and turn around. And that is...not Noah. It's Ollie? Why is she in the hospital? God, is Jade okay? There are so many questions I want to ask her, I need to ask her right now but for some reason I...cant. If Ollie sees me here she's going to kill me. It's going to be a flurry of "where were you?", "do you have no shame?" and "how could you relapse after so long?" And quite frankly, I don't have time for that. So I sink into my seat, pulling the hood of my jacket over my head, hiding between my knees. But my spy skills aren't good enough because I hear a very surprised "Ace!?" from behind me. Maybe if I don't turn around, she'll walk away.

"Amelia. I know that's you. In the green hoodie. Sitting in front of the vending machine. I see you."

Dammit, I curse under my breath. I turn around, smiling the most innocent smile I can muster. "Oh, you said Ace? I thought you said something- never mind. Hey, Ollie."

"What the hell are you doing here? Why haven't you been home? Jade is worried sick about you!"

I feel my heart sting a little. "Only Jade?"

"Yep," Ollie says, unfazed. "Only Jade. I stopped worrying about you the second you stepped foot into this ER."

"Technically I was wheeled in, so..."

Ollie does not like that joke. I can feel her jaw tighten, her fists balling. I mean, I could take her but I don't want to. "Call your sister," she says, rage and hate coursing through her eyes. "And pick up your stuff before I send it away to Goodwill."

"Yeah, about that. I was thinking. I'm kind of in between places right now, so maybe I could live with you guys?"

Ollie laughs. "I had one ground rule, Amelia. Just one. And you couldn't even follow it for 12 hours. You'll be lucky if you see our faces again."

"But what about my stuff?"

"It's in garbage bags outside our apartment."

"But what if someone steals it?"

"Then they'll steal it," she says as she walks away from me, back into the hospital.

"Why are you here?" I shout behind her. I still need to know if Jade's okay.

She turns around, holding my gaze. "Drew was in an accident. Don't pretend to care. Now go find someone else to hurt."

Ollie walks away and I let her words sink in as I see Noah exit the waiting room, earphones in his ears.

I guess I found someone else to hurt sooner than she'd expected.