Jake

Chapter 11 - Aftermath

I knew going back to school was going to be hard after my lazy weekend alone. I had actually rather enjoyed it, I had an excuse not to do extensive housework. I laid on the lounge, watched cartoons, only answered the phone when it was dad who had also extended his out of state trip and ate food easy to pop in the microwave. So when Monday morning came, I was half tempted to ring in sick, or get dad to do it for me with good reason. Luckily, my right foot was the uninjured and I could drive dad's car to and from school with his permission, but that didn't make it any easier knowing people were going to stare at me, create rumours and I was going to have to see Jake again after our awkward encounter against my kitchen bench. I was scared, but I was going to have to face the music sooner rather than later, staying in my house for six weeks wasn't going to happen. It took me twice as long to get ready, shower, get dressed and pack all the while balancing on one leg, what made it worse was the settled in rain outside knowing I couldn't run to get into my car.

By the time I was on my way to school, I was exhausted, wet and my stomach ached with butterflies, but it only got worse when I pulled into the parking lot and kids still lingered around the front of school under the veranda discussing their weekends. I cursed to myself and my bad luck as I leaned my forehead against the window. Now or never, I told myself, working up the courage to push my door open and stumble out with my crutches under both arms. I wriggled my backpack on and dawdled towards the school with no hurry at all, I wanted to give the kids time to take the picture in, create gossip before I got close enough to hear what they were saying.

It was then I realized how quickly I'd gone from being a normal popular teenager to the outcast of the school. I was now that girl people stared at in pity, questioning my home life, my parents, every move I made. It was bad, and it made me upset. I'd gone from having everything I needed to everything I had never imagined loosing.

"Haven?" A voice spoke from behind me as the rain suddenly stopped falling on me.

"Oh, hey Whitney" I sighed as she began to walk beside me holding an umbrella above my head.

"Broke it hey?" She spoke, less than surprised.

"Yeah" I snickered.

"Damn, that must suck" She shook her head pitiful.

"It does" I sighed as we stepped up to the packed veranda where heads turned towards me.

"Can I draw on it?" Whitney suddenly cocked an eyebrow with a slight smile towards me.

"Sure" I smiled back; surprised she was walking with me despite the gazes I was getting.

"Cool" She smiled more eagerly as she pulled her umbrella down.

It was now clear that I had made a new friend, and to be honest, it was a nice friendship, honest, completely non-judgemental.

Whitney and I walked to class early and snuggled our way towards the back of the room before it packed up with students, including Jake.

"Here" Whitney directed as she pulled Jake's chair out to prop my cast on top.

"What are you going to draw?" I asked as she pulled a pencil case from her bag.

"Anything you want" She shrugged as she pulled coloured markers out.

"I don't care" I shrugged, unfazed, anything was better than the plain white I was sporting.

She seemed to think for a moment, assessing the canvas before using a pencil to sketch out the outline.

"You seem on edge today" Whitney began as I watched her drawing.

"A little yeah"

"I mean... you would be with this cast on, but... I have a feeling something else is going on" She guessed easily as my eyes glanced towards hers already staring at me suspiciously.