What The People Don't See

Best of You

I sat up so fast that I banged my head off of the ceiling, pain shooting through my skull. I yelped and instantly slapped my hand over my mouth, not wanting to wake anyone. Great, I thought, I'm Stella Barker, Queen of Casualties! Eloise groaned from the bunk below and shushed me but I ignored her, already routing around the bedcovers, trying desperately to find my phone. She always agreed that Adam had been acting strange around me since Cal and I started going out and now, I had the proof. But by the time I'd found my phone underneath the pillow, guilt was seeping through my veins, making me shiver. When Calum rang me during our search for El, he'd said that Adam was "doing a striptease in my fucking sink!" Adam, the lad who usually kept to himself and sat in the background, must have been fairly pissed to feel the need to get naked in his friend's kitchen sink. He would wake up in a couple of hours and completely forget the messages he left me. There was no point in bringing him shame and embarrassment by telling big mouth Eloise.

And so, I did something that took every inch of my willpower, and lay back down, trying to calm myself. The lights above me continued to flicker and change, casting strange shadows across the white walls. Despite the chill in the air and the fact that I was still on top of the covers, sweat was trickling down my back. I could feel it thick between my shoulder blades and at the base of my spine. My mind wandered to my ankle, wondering if maybe I was getting a fever. It was highly unlikely. I'd gotten a tetanus injection only seven months or so before, after I'd fallen in barbed wire at the skate park and torn open my thighs and knees. Adam had been with me that day; we always went skateboarding together. He'd carried me the whole way to the doctors, reassuring me that my board, which had been snapped in half, could be repaired no problem. I hated showing weakness in front of people, and that day, I whimpered as the needle pierced my skin. Adam let me hold his hand; I squeezed it so hard I left a mark. You could still see it there, if you looked hard enough. You can still see the scars all over my legs too, although you don't have to have 20/20 vision to see those.

I rolled on to my stomach and my legs were suddenly submerged in cool liquid. I sat up, slowly this time, expecting the worst. But there was no blood seeping from my ankle. It was just the icepack beginning to defrost, a puddle of water soaking the bed. I quickly untied the bandages and hopped down from the bunk. The bottom of the trackies were drenched so I tugged them off and left them to dry over the radiator, hoping Pete wouldn't think I'd weed in his pants. I crept out of the room, hoping that the lads had a freezer or at least a fridge I could put the pack into.

The kitchen was dead silent, except for the occasional snore from Pete who was curled up on the couch, all snuggled up in at least seven different blankets. I grinned but it faltered almost immediately. If Pete was taking up the couch, then where was Ross sleeping?

"Stella?"

I almost jumped out of my skin at his voice, smacking my shoulder against the door as I spun around to face him.

"Holy shit, are you trying to kill me!" I hissed, but he was too busy fretting over my latest accident to pay attention to me.

"Oh my god, are you alright? That was some hit you took there!"

I shrugged, my heart still racing at his sudden appearance. "It s'okay. I'm always hurting myself. You get used to it after a while. That's why my legs always have at least ten bruises on them" I laughed.

His dark eyes flickered from my face to my legs, a small smirk playing on his lips. I didn't really know a thing about this lad, but I knew all about the smirk. The amount of times Eloise had gone completely gooey describing it to me, I would never forget it. It was one of those smiles that just oozed with confidence, with an air of 'yeah, I know I'm all that'.