Bullet For A Love

Chapter Fifteen

I'm awoken to silent beepings of a heart- rate monitor. Its steady, which is probably a good thing.

I heard muffled voices, and my eyes slowly fluttered open.
I was laid down, warm and hopefully fresh sheets pulled over my body.
There was a giant thing covering my collarbone, in the spot where I was shot.
My vision slowly cleared, and my eyes slowly scanned the room.

I saw the familiar golden- blonde wavy hair in front of me, Calum's face turned away.
I saw more familiar faces. Danielle, Sukaina, Xander, and Calum were all huddled togethe behind the curtain.
They were looking at something else.

"Jacks?"

I spun my head around slowly.
To my right, Liam was sitting on a chair, squeezing my hand gently.

"I'm alive?" Was the first thing I could say.
Liam nodded, chuckling. His face was red from his tears.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're alive."

I gave him a soft smile, and he leaned down.
The gap between our head closed as he kissed me gently on the tip of my nose.
I could feel his lips press gently against my skin.
When he pulled away, I could feel his nose brushs against mine.

"Jacks?"
"Hm?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Liam."

In the moment, all we had was our noses pressed together.
It felt so bittersweet.

"Oh my god, she's awake!"

Suddenly, everyone was at my other side. Calum was gripping at my arm, but Sukaina pushed him off.
I pulled away from Liam gently, addressing the others.

"Hey, you goofballs-" I murmmered.
"Who you calling goofballs?" Calum exclaimed, feinging offense.
The room erupted in laughter. I gave my best laugh, even if it was pretty weak.

"Where's Max?" I asked, looking around.
"Right here." Another voice pitched in.
Danielle moved back and opened the curtain. On the other side, Max was laying in a hospital bed. He was lying on his side, staring at us.
He gave me a small thumbs up and a smile.

"What happened?"
"While you were out of it, Max tried fighting Tyler. Tyler ended up shooting him in the shoulder." Xander explained.
"I'm fine, though. Don't worry about me." Max chiped in.
I could tell in his voice he was fine.

"How long was I out for?"
"We're not sure. Around two hours, ish. Max just woke up thirty minutes ago." Sukaina shrugged.

An hour passed, and the medication the doctors gave me helped numb the pain in my collarbone.
I was even able to sit up, and I walked around a bit, using Liam as leverage.

I found out later that Calum was put into surgery to get the bullet out of his leg. It was a complete sucess, and now all he had to do was be in a boot and crutches for a month or so.
The doctors added he may never be able to walk properly without limping once or twice, but it wasn't that big of a downside.

"I can just tell everyone that I took a damn bullet and lived." Calum stated proudly, putting his fists on his waist.
Me and Max stared at him for a couple of seconds, silence etching the room.

"Okay, okay. The three of us took a bullet and lived."

I also learned, from Sukaina and Liam, that my heart technically stopped.
So, I technically died for four minutes.
Thats a story to tell.
Well, all of this is.

"I heard that they found Makoy's body in the teacher's lounge?" I asked Max as we were walking around the hospital, everyone else behind us for leverage.
"Yeah. They're gonna have a funeral for him next week. They just wanted the two of us awake first."
I giggled, and Max nudged me gently with his elbow.

When we got back to our room, the seven of us sat around, watching the big television screen. There was nothing good on, so Calum turned it off.

"Don't you just love it? My pact worked out great!" Danielle exclaimed, waving her hands widely.
The room istelf burst out laughing.
"Oh Dani. The moodmaker of the group." I added.

After more silence, Xander pitched in.

"We have to go to school again, right?"

The question hung heavy in the air.

"Yeah, I guess we do." Liam responds.
I bit my tongue. Even if we had deeply cut trauma, we still had to go back there.

Someone turned the television screen back on, and on came a breaking news report.

"Breaking News! A group of teens were trapped in AEC Middle School all night last night. The main suspect was reported to be a teen like them, only chasing them down with large weapons. One dead, the rest are in the hospital recovering. Linda Olsen, Global News."

The television switched off again.

"I guess the news had to be spread at some point. Now all the kids at school are going to know about what happened." I said, sitting up in bed.
"They had to figure it out sometime." Xander added.

We sat in silence, and I was twidling my thumbs.
How many rumors were going to be made about what happened? How many kids were gonna snicker at me in the hallways?
No one had to say those questions. But we were all thinking it.

"Well, we still have Danielle's pact, right? We stick with each other, even after the whole thing is over."
Max said after a long moment of silence.
I nodded.

"We stick together. Always."
"Always." Danielle said.
"Always." Xander.
"Always." Liam.
"Always." Calum.
"Always." Max.
"Always and forever." Sukaina finished, bowing her head down.

"And always and forever."
I bet we could almost hear Makoy say those words with us. The feeling was heartwarming, that our fallen friend was still in the room with us. In spirit.

"Well, I'm starving. Who's ready to eat?"

A few more hours later, and me and Max are allowed to leave.
The feeling of stepping out into the outside world was bittersweet. More sweet than bitter.
We were all driven home by Liam's mother, who apparently offered.
I like how she addressed me. She called me, "Liam's little crush". I remember Liam went pink instantly. That means he spoke about me to his parents.

As soon as I got home, I was swooped into a bear hug by my father.
I didn't remember much after that, just a whole lot of hugging, crying, and pained laughter of joy.

Then, everyone met back up after meeting back with their families.
We all walked to a huge barbeque resturant in the central plaza of the city.

It was extremley delicious.
One of the best moments I've had in a really, really, really long time.

I found it amusing, how technically Tyler was the one who brought us together. If all of this didn't happen, I wouldn't be this close with everyone as I am now.

And I thank him for that.

As soon as I got home, I plopped into bed. Liam offered to stay the night with me, but I needed some peace to myself.
Before tucking myself in, I looked back at my hoodie that was hanging on my headboard.

I grabbed it and held it out in front of me.
The front was stained with Makoy's blood, which was very dried up by now.
Calum's blood remained on the arms, from when I dragged him across the floor. It was also pretty dried up, too.

I made a silent vow to myself that I would keep the hoodie with me, forever. Like a little prize for surviving Tyler's terror.

Then, solemmly, I tucked myself back into bed and my eyes fluttered shut.