The School of Lost Causes

Chapter 14

Jax

I was relieved when Noah finally cleared the stage. Keeping myself and him calm was more of a challenge than I thought. I was out of the chair first and scanning the room I couldn't find Roxanne anywhere. Panic settled in my stomach but I had to push it down. After what Noah just went through, I knew he would lose it the second he woke up and found her gone. Preparing myself for the outburst I stood right in front of him as he woke up. Just like me he looked around the room a mix of panic and anger clear in his eyes. When he couldn't find her, he jumped up in rage and it took every ounce of strength in my body to keep him contained. "Where is she?! What did you do with her?!" IT hurt me seeing him this emotional. And it hurt even more that I couldn't help him. She wouldn't just leave. She knew how disorienting it was to wake up after that stupid machine made you believe you were in danger. Only after Noah had calmed down enough to the point where I was certain he wouldn't beat the shit out of our teacher did I let him go and turn to the woman. She was standing a few feet away a calculating look in her eyes that made me even angrier. "She is with the nurse. We arranged a special treatment plan to make sure her injuries heal fast and proper." We didn't wait for her to continue as we stormed out of the classroom. It was stupid really. Being this worked up about her not being by our side. We had seen her not even an hour ago. But that machine... that go awful machine. I needed to know she was okay. Needed to see she was unharmed. And I knew Noah felt the same, he maybe needed this even more than me. All of this felt odd. The fact that she had to leave before we were done. How the simulation changed so drastically.

We bust through the doors of the nurse and they immediately pointed us in the direction of a room. I quickly stood in front of the door facing Noah stopping him from going inside. "What are you doing?! Let me go in!" The wild look in his chocolaty eyes hadn't left. I couldn't let him in there like this. "Breathe dude. You have to calm down. If she sees you like this shell know somethings up. Shell feel horrible for leaving and might refuse treatment in the future. Shell probably be very anxious. You saw how she reacted to the hospital last time." My words seemed to have the affect I hoped for as he took a deep breath and his body relaxed. Slowly he returned to his normal calm self and nodded determination in his eyes. I turned around and knocked twice before opening the door.

Before I could even comprehend what I was seeing, Noah was already passed me stripping his jacket of and laying it over her body. I was next to her a second later. She was dressed in nothing but a thin t-shirt that barely covered her knees. She was ice cold to the touch and sweat glistened on her skin. She was pale and her muscles were stiff. "Rox...?" His voice was quiet and I could hear the hidden desperation in it. When here eyes opened my heart almost shattered. They were brimming with tears and bloodshot. What had they done to our girl that could put her in this state. When she spoke, her lips trembled as if it took immense effort for her to form words. "Noah? Jax? A-are you guys okay?" I couldn't help the soft chuckle tat fell from my lips. This girl. Here she was obviously in immense pain and still her first concern was us. I brushed the hair from her face and nodded as Noah took her hand and rubbed it trying his best to soothe her. "We're fine starlight. Just scared the shit out of us. But, how are you? What happened?" She forced a smile her eyes giving away just how much she was hurting. "They... brought me here and told me to go into that bathtub. It was actually nice and helped a lot. Then the nurse told me something was going to hurt "a bit" and poked me with something. Then all that i could feel was pain... Hot burning pain all over my body. I don't know how long it was... She left right after leaving me. I don't remember how I got dressed, or out of the tub for that matter... Its better now though." Something inside me protested at the thought of someone dressing her. Touching her while she was vulnerable but I pushed it out of my mind. "Let's get you back to our room get you in some comfy PJs Yeah?" I didn't care if we had classes, I just wanted her away from here. Somewhere we could keep an eye on her. Somewhere she was safe. "We helped her sit up and put on her own shirt and jacked. She made us turn around as she put on her pants and I couldn't help but feel upset. Someone else could pull her out of the tub and dress her but we had to turn around. It was stupid really and I knew she needed her privacy but it upset me nonetheless. Once she gave the OK to turn around again I picked up her shoes and socks and Noah lifted her into his arms ignoring all protests of her wanting to walk on her own.

We ignored the looks we got and the whispers surrounded us as we walked back to our dorm room. Some were sympathetic, like how the new girl was already this hurt and how much the treatment hurt. Others were nasty saying things like she wouldn't make it here and how she needed to toughen up. They didn't know how strong she really was. How she fought on her own and won. How she didn't hesitate to pass her only weapon to us when she saw we were struggling. How she still took out someone twice her size. This girl was a warrior and nothing in this world could change my mind.

Finally back, Noah put her on the bed and I grabbed her Pajamas placing them next to her. We went to the bathroom to let her change and as soon as the doors closed my shoulders slumped. "She's going to be okay Jax. She just needs rest and I'm sure she'll be back to normal." Noah's voice was soothing as always. I appreciated that he was trying to calm me down. And I smiled in his directions before running my hand through my hair. "I know I just hate that they took her to suffer through that alone. They knew what they were doing." The room fell silent with my words. He knew I was right. They separated us on purpose. Wanted to see how we would react. And we fell for it. "Guys? You can come back out now." He soft voice flooded through the door and we glanced at it. "I..I cant go back out there.. not yet." I hated how desperate my voice sounded but it couldn't be helped I needed to calm down before I did something stupid. "Go shower ill look after her. Just.... Join us when you're ready." He was out the door a second later. Running my hand through my hair again I sighed. Stripping off my clothes I turned on the shower and waited till it heated up. Getting under the spray I let the hot water wash over my shoulders and Back using the wall to stabilize me. My breaths came in short bursts and I couldn't control the way my body shook. What was wrong with me. Why was I so protective of her and why was I getting this worked up over seeing her in pain? We were friends sure but given the time I knew her it didn't make any sense. I tipped my head back into the water. This wasn't good. The water wasn't calming me down fast enough. I wanted to get back out there. I twisted the knob to the lowest setting the water turning freezing soon after. The cold burnt my skin after standing in the warm for so long but I didn't mind. I let it run down my body.

Stepping out of the water soon after I dried myself quickly and got dressed. The scene before me when I opened the door was both the most beautiful and heartbreaking thing to me. Roxy lay there in the middle of the bed in her oversized band tee and a pair of shorts her face peaceful but still tearstained. Noah was sitting behind her letting her head rest on one of his leg. His attention fully n her as she clung to his leg while sleeping, stroking her hair softly his touch gentle as if he were scared she would break if a gust of wind came. He slowly lifted his head his eyes lingering on the sleeping girl in his lap a second longer before they landed on me. "I gave her some water and one of the pain killers the doc gave us earlier and she knocked right out after... You should have seen it she could barley sit up right or hold the bottle on her own, but she refused to let me help her." I shook my head as I made my way over to the bed and sat next to them. "Stubborn as dawn, refusing to let the sun go down." I heaved a sigh and carefully caressed her cheek. "But just as beautiful." Noah gave me a confused but kind look.

"What? Don't think I didn't notice you calling her starlight earlier..." My eyes landed back on her. "I just went with the Hebrew origin..." He shook his head slightly. "By the way Ashley was here earlier. We don't have to go back to class again today so we can just chill. She said shed come pick us up for lunch in an hour or so." I nodded my head in understanding, as we watched Roxanne sleep. It was good she was allowed to rest for a while. She needed it. We all needed a cooldown after everything today. "We can't let something like today happen again. We've only been here a day and she's already this hurt. We need do keep her safe." I kept my voice low and not wanting her to hear. Noah was silent his eyes on her as if he was making sure she was still breathing. And I understood him. Understood why he didn't dare take his eyes off of her. If I was honest neither did I and I was scared of what exactly that meant.