The Eleventh Ward

Chapter 15

I had one week. One week to make the most of this place, to hang out with these people I now called my best friends. I looked through the drawers of my desk and found a notebook and pencil. I started writing a list of everything I wanted to do before I left

1. Tell Luke how I felt

2.  ....

I couldn't think of anything else. Fuck. I sat staring at this piece of paper, wracking my brain for ideas of what to write down, but nothing came to mind. All I could think of was that kiss in the activities room and how much I wanted to feel his lips against mine again. In the end I gave up with the list and went to go meet the others for dinner. A few minutes after we started eating, Erin and Lacey ran in. They skidded to a stop next to our table, out of breath.

"What's happening?" asked Michael

"New girl" gasped Erin, trying to get her breath back.

"That means someone's leaving" said Luke. They all turned to look at me.

"I've still got some time left" I didn't want to tell them it was only a week.

"Whoever it is, they're gonna get called into a meeting tonight" said Calum. I looked around the table, wondering if maybe it was one of us. I became terrified to lose one of my friends before I had to, but I dismissed the idea quickly. These guys had been here for ages, they wouldn't let them out with only one meeting the night before. We spent dinner trying to figure out who it was. Lacey was convinced it was the other anorexic on the ward, Luke said she's only saying it out of jealousy. Calum said it was the girl who had come in just a couple weeks before me. "Drunk some bleach but hasn't stabbed herself with a pencil for a while". Michael and Erin were both betting on Phoebe, the red haired sex addict that had tried to hit on Ashton on my first day. Either way we knew it was a girl, every room was full and if a girl was coming in, one was going out.

We were too busy thinking about who was going though, that we never gave a thought to who was coming in. As we left the cafeteria, to go back to our spot in the lounge, we saw a small blonde girl walk out of the pink double doors with Phoebe and Ashton beside her.

"That's her" said Lacey, nodding in the direction of the blonde girl. We were a few feet away from her when she heard Lacey point her out, and she looked up to see us. She scanned our group quick before her gaze landed on me. Her eyes widened in fear and she screamed. Ashton looked up to see what she was screaming at, and started laughing when he realised it was me, before turning to comfort this girl who was trying to hide behind him. The initial shock of someone screaming at me had worn off and my group were laughing their asses off.

"Its Brandi West. Its Brandi West." The girl was repeating, almost in tears. Calum was fully rolling round on the floor, Erin was close to tears. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I had never been given any idea of what the public had found out about me, or even if they knew anything about me at all. I knew I had been local news, but again I hadn't been given a chance to know what the public's response had been to me. I guess now I knew. I should have known the world would be disgusted with me, but I never thought a 14 year old would be hiding behind Ashton screaming at me. But it was pretty fucking funny, and I started to laugh along with my friends.

"Calm down, its okay. She's not going to hurt you" I heard Ashton say.

"Not going to hurt me, she's a fucking murderer!" This girl screamed. I stopped laughing. Everyone stopped laughing. I felt tears start to form in my eyes and someone put their hand on my shoulder. Before I knew it, Lacey was walking towards this girl. Ashton put his hand out to try and stop her but she just pushed him away.

"Don't you fucking dare call her a murderer!" Lacey shouted at this girl. Michael and Calum ran over and grabbed her arms, trying to pull her back. "You want to see a murderer? Call her that again and I'll fucking stab you in your sleep!" she screamed. The boys were pulling her towards the lounge as fast as they could, but Lacey wasn't giving in that easy. The blonde girl was now in tears and Ashton was leading her back into the girls corridor, away from crazy Lacey. "Dumb ass bitch, grow some tits" she spat before pushing the boys off of her and walking into the lounge herself. Luke still had his hands on my shoulders, and he slowly lead me into the lounge. Lacey came up to me and held my face in her hands. "You okay?" she asked, I nodded "Don't let her get to you. You're not a murderer, we know you're not". Lacey was wiped a tear away from my cheek and I wrapped my arms around her. "Thank you" I whispered in her ear.

Luke held my hand for the whole night. They were hidden between our legs so no one could see, but he slowly stroked the back of my hand with his thumb until we were told to go to bed. I don't know if it was to cheer me up after the thing with the girl or because he just wanted to hold my hand. Either way I didn't care, he was still holding my hand.