The Enemy

Chapter 13

Bryn stood nervously outside Jax's bedroom. When she knocked, there was no answer so she knocked again.  Finally he answered.

"What?"  He snapped. Bryn took a deep breath then shouted through the door.

"I need to talk to you!"  There was a pause.

"Well I don't want to talk to you. Go away."  Bryn's heart shattered.

"Please?"  She tried again.

"I said go away!"  He demanded.  Bryn sighed and walked towards the living room where her parents sat and waited.

"So?"  Her father asked her as he lounged on the couch with his wife sitting proper next to him.

"James and Jase are up for it. Jax won't even talk to me."  Her mother gave her an apologetic smile.

"Oh honey. He'll come around soon. So, how about I take you up to this school tomorrow and sign you up?"  Bryn thanked them then went to her room.  After a few minutes, James barged in.

"Get ready."  She gave him a confused look. "Don't give me that look. We are going to visit Lias. You have five minutes to get ready or I'm leaving." Bryn rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"Sometimes I have a feeling that you want to see him more than me.  Is there something you're not telling me?"  She gave him a joking smile, and he just flipped her off in return.

"I hope you realize that your snobby remarks took you down to three minutes to get ready."  She scoffed as he walked away laughing.

When she was ready, they both got into James' car and drove to the hospital.  It wasn't very busy that day since it was a Sunday.  When they got in Lias' room, they found him sitting up talking to the doctor.

"I told you.  I'm fine."  He argued as Dr. Ross wrote something down on his clipboard.

"I know Lias, but you took a nasty fall.  I can't have you going right back out and doing the same thing that caused this accident.  You're lucky you weren't killed."  He explained, but Lias just wasn't having it.

Bryn and James just stood in the doorway until the doctor left.  They could tell Lias wasn't very happy.  "Hey dude."  James said and walked to the hard plastic chairs by the bed.

"Hey."  He grunted.  He no longer had a wrap on his head, and his stitches weren't very noticeable under his hair.

"How you feeling?"  He rolled his eyes.

"I'm ready to get out of this hell hole.  The food is terrible, and I'm not allowed to do anything.  I'm not even allowed to leave this damn room.  How do they expect me to feel better?"  James just shrugged.  That's when Lias finally noticed that Bryn was there.  "Hey."  His face lit up.

"Hey."  She said quietly.  She didn't like seeing him like this.  She liked seeing the active and lively Lias; not this ghost-like boy in the hospital.

"I didn't notice you were there.  You're so quiet.  What's wrong?"

"Nothing."  She lied.  "When do you get out of here?"  Lias groaned.

"I can get signed out tomorrow if I show 'improvement' whatever that means.  But I'm not allowed to even throw a football for at least two weeks.  Then I have to come in for a checkup after those two weeks are over, and the doctors need to make sure my stitches are healing.  Then I have to wait another week before I can start practice again.  That will be the end of the season, so in other words, I'm done with football for good."  Bryn felt terrible.  It was her brother of all people to do this to Lias.

"I'm sorry."  She said as she walked to the side of his bed.  He just shook his head at her.

"It's not your fault."  He sighed.  He knew he was acting like a dick right now, but he was upset that everything he worked so hard for was thrown away by one play and one tackle.

The next day, Lias' mom took Bryn with her to sign Lias out of the hospital.  They received a call that morning saying he was all clear to go home, but he was to do absolutely nothing that involved physical contact with anyone or anything.  So no football.  Lias wasn't very happy about that.

When the two of them got there, they had Lias clothed and walking around to make sure that he felt fine to go home.  Every time someone placed their hand on his shoulder or arm to help him, he just shrugged them off.  He was sick of their sympathetic looks and actions.  He just wanted to leave.

Lias was grateful when he spotted his mother and Lias.  He gladly gave his mother a hug.  "Are you ready to go?"  She asked him and he all but screamed.  Of course he was ready to get out of there.  He didn't want to be there in the first place.

When they got Lias home, Bryn had to leave to go sign into her new school.  James and her mom went with her.  The secretary was very nice, and they were registered within ten minutes.  For the rest of the day, Bryn and James went to their old school and cleaned out their lockers and got their paperwork from the superintendent.

Natalie was upset that she was leaving, and she made Bryn promise that she would still go to all the football games with her, and to go to her house every weekend.

Jax still wasn't talking to any of his siblings.  When he saw them cleaning out their lockers, he just rolled his eyes and shook his head.  He wouldn't even talk to Jase.

Of course Jase was upset about Bryn and James moving schools, but at least they were on speaking terms now.  He new Jax was mad at him for siding with them, but he was so sick of all the fighting and hatred between them.  He just wanted his sister back.  She was right, they had been best friends since she was born, and he didn't like the fact that some guy got between them.He promised to accept Lias no matter what, and he will always be there for her if he does hurt her.

It was weird for James to get ready for a different school.  He knew that their football team wasn't going to like him being on the team, but he was doing it for Lias.  Speaking of Lias, he thought, he told him that he would pick him up for school since he's not allowed to drive right now.  When James got there to pick him up, he was waiting on his porch for him.

"Hey."  Lias said as soon as he got into James' car.  There was barely any room for his legs, but he didn't mind.  Not many cars were big enough for his height.  James fit perfectly behind the steering wheel, even though he was only three inches shorter than him.  Lias noticed Bryn wasn't with them.

"Where's Bryn?"  He asked.  He didn't know that they both moved to his school.  He just thought that James was giving him a ride.

"She's already at school."  James lied.  He could see the disappointment on Lias' face, but he couldn't ruin the surprise for him.

When they got to the school, James lied and said that he was just going to help Lias get in without bumping in to anyone.  Lias just rolled his eyes and thought 'I'm fine walking down a hallway' but he just went with it.  Lias was surprised to see Bryn waiting by his locker for him.

"Bryn?"  He asked, shocked.  She just gave him an excited smile.  "What are you doing here?"

"Me and James moved schools to help you out."  He gave them both a wide-eyed expression.

"What about football?"  He asked James.

"I'm going to take your spot until you are better.  Then I'm going to help you get back on your feet."  Lias couldn't believe this.  These people were too good to be true.

"And your brothers are okay with this?"  He asked in a 'yeah right' tone.

"Jase is.  He feels bad for what happened.  Jax is being pissy about it.  He won't even talk to anyone.  He'll get over it."  James laughed.  He was so sick of his brother right now, he couldn't even believe it.

"You guys are great, you know that?"  Lias told them.

"Oh we know."  Bryn did a dramatic hair flip over her shoulder and made the two boys laugh.  Then, the first bell of the day rang, and James followed Lias to their first class while Bryn gave Lias a hug then said goodbye for now.