Twisted Turnaround

Chapter 7

MILES

"Leaving so soon?" I hear as soon as I open the door to Andrea's bedroom. I had woken up a few minutes ago, and as soon as I did, I looked around the room for any sign of the girl I've been watching. When I didn't find her, I felt myself panicking. I looked all around the room, and when I declared that she wasn't hiding somewhere to scare me, I grabbed my phone and ran out of the room.

Which is where I almost hit Andrea in the head again.

I place a hand on the edge of the door firmly to stop it from making contact with her skin. Then I look down at her, wondering where she had come from. She hitches her tote bag over a shoulder and says, "That wasn't an invitation to stand there and stare at me." I only draw a blank, so she gestures between the both of us. Leaning closer to talk to me, she says, "When I said that, I didn't mean I wanted you to stay. You can leave now."

"Oh, okay," I say when my brain finally registers words and not just the fact that she's actually fine. I was scared that she was off somewhere getting worse, but she was doing good. She was wearing a red sweater with some jeans. The sweater hung off one of her shoulders and revealed the soft tan of her skin. Her hair was in a braid past her shoulders, and the bandage was still there. "I didn't know that you'd kick me out right after I took care of you."

"Yeah, well, you slept with me and then bolted out of my room, so I'd say my reasonings are valid," she says with a shrug. She looks over at me, genuine interest in what I was thinking where she protrudes. "What? Don't you think so?"

"No," I start but then stop. I feel my hand moving on its own when I touch the side of her head. "Andrea, your bandage," I say slowly, eyes frantically looking from her face and then to her head.

She rolls her eyes, "I'm fine." Then she steps closer to me and, without warning, pushes into her room. Her body brushes past mine, and even then I couldn't stop her. "Hey," I say slowly, following after her. "You need to get your bandage redone."

She shrugs, pursing her lip as she throws her bag on a chair. "I did it this morning."

"Then why the hell are you bleeding again?" I ask, this time angry that she wasn't taking her health with a little bit more concern. She looks up at me then, and there's a ghost of fear on her face. She gets worried about blood as well. The thought of it makes her faint, which is something I share with her. I move closer to her, but before I can touch her head again, she briskly steps back. Keeping a distance, she says, "I did it myself this morning; I'll do it again."

"You shouldn't," I say to her. Then I tilt my head as I look at her, realizing that she had gone out the morning after suffering a head injury. "Where the hell were you?"

"Wherever the hell I wanted to be," she says out loud, voice sharp. Her brown eyes cut to mine where she says, "Don't use that tone with me."

"Tone—" I start, but then realize that I am talking harsher than I intended to. I close my mouth and take a deep breath before I say, "Sorry. I'm just worried about why you went out when you were supposed to rest."

"Yeah, well, I do have classes though," she says with a pointed look at me. "What? You expected me to just skip it?"

I squinted at her. "Of course."

"Yeah, well," she says with a little look before rolling her eyes. "Not everyone can just pay for a semester for classes and then decide to skip out on some of it."

"I don't skip any classes," I defend myself at the judgment that she so very clearly is throwing my way.

My comment only makes her snort, though. "Yeah right. We share a class together, and I only ever notice you coming in once a month."