Sisters: All Things Sweet [book three]

Chapter One

Dedicated to @doodlebug_ so she doesn't come to my house and beat me up for this chapter. Ahhh, I'm sorry Nat!

Chapter One

I'm in hospital.

I know this because I've visited too many. The sharp tang of disinfectant stings my nostrils and my body aches under the hard mattress. The sheets are thin but my body is warm. It yearns to be swallowed up by my bed at home but I know I'm not at home and I know that I won't be home for a while.

My eyelids peel open and I see nothing more than the hazy blur of a white ceiling that I know belongs to this hospital I've been to so many times. A voice gasps and I tilt my head. Michele sits in a chair with her legs propped up on the bed, the heel of her shoes nudging my left leg. A magazine is clasped in her hands but she's not reading it. She's staring at me with wide eyes; her eyebrows have knitted together. But then her expression changes and she smiles. Her eyes well with tears.

"Haley," she whispers, falling to my bedside. "You're ok."

"What happened?" I say.

I shift underneath the sheets. I bend my knees and I twist my ankles and I wiggle my toes. I twist my right arm and it stings at the movement, but I'm able to move it, even my pinkie finger. I try to do the same with my left but nothing happens. I realise it's bent and my fingers are splayed over my chest. I lift the sheets and my arm is in a white bandage. I don't know why it's broken. Why is it broken? What happened?

"The crash, remember?" Michele says. "Please tell me you remember."

A nurse enters the room. Michele's worried that I have amnesia but I don't. I must not have amnesia because I remember that Michele is Michele and I know that the woman shuffling behind the nurse is my mom.

I just can't remember why I'm here.

"Haley," Mom says, and she stands beside Michele. There are bags under her eyes. Her hair is dishevelled and greasy. Her eyes are puffy and red. She's been crying, but why? I'm here. I'm fine.

The nurse stands on the other side of the bed and eases the back of the bed upwards slightly so I'm sitting up. She shines a torch in my eyes; she checks my heart rate. The stethoscope is cold to touch and the nurse mumbles the beats of my heart under her breath. It's fine. Everything's fine.

My eyes travel around the room and they settle on my blue robes hung over the back of a chair. My graduation robes.

My memory rewinds back to the crash. It was graduation day and we were driving to Garfield High School for the last time. I didn't even make it; I haven't graduated.

How long have I been in hospital? Have I missed it? Have I missed my graduation?

The doctor enters and I fade out of my thoughts. Wrinkles corner the edge of his face but his teeth are gleaming white. He smiles at me, perhaps because I'm now awake or because they hadn't sold out of the beef cannelloni in the hospital café, maybe. "How are you feeling, Haley?" he says. "My name is Dr. Saijt."

"Okay," I manage to say. "How long has it been?"

The doctor knows what I mean. "Only a couple of days, nothing to worry about."

My heart sinks in my chest and tears spark the corners of my eyes. I've missed my high school graduation.

Mom squeezes my shoulder and I stare up at the ceiling to stop myself from crying.

"You weren't wearing your seat-belt," Dr. Saijt says. "A seat-belt is a small thing that can make a massive difference in instances like this."

"I don't know why I wasn't wearing it," I say. "I guess I was just so nervous and excited."