How Could This Be Real?

57. Maybe That's A Good Thing

I woke in my bed so I figured my dad must have carried me upstairs. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was 9 AM. My eyes drifted to the calendar and I realized that it was a Tuesday. Shoot, I should be at school! Why didn't they wake me up?!

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed without thinking and instantly regretted it. My cast hit the wooden framework, sending a shockwave up my leg and I gasped from the sudden pain. It eventually subsided and I reached for my crutches that were leaning against the dresser. They were just out of reach so I leaned farther forward, increasing my chances of falling flat on my face. My fingertips brushed the cool metal and I tried to grasp it, but ended up just knocking it to the floor with a loud clang.

Footsteps hurried down the hall and my door opened. "Angel, what are you doing?" my dad asked. "Why didn't you cal-" he glanced at my neck and stopped himself. "Oh, right. Sorry." He bent down and handed me the crutches.

I stood and leaned on one, then pointed to "Tuesday" on my calendar, trying to say, "Why aren't you at work?"

"I took the day off to take care of you." I rolled my eyes and he shrugged, "You still aren't used to those things. We wouldn't want you to fall and not have anyone here to help you."

I gestured to my backpack that was lying on the ground.

"The doctor said no school for at least two days, remember?" I huffed and he smirked, "Little miss teacher's pet can't stand to be away?"

Ugh, why are you so weird? He knew the reason I didn't like missing school. It was because I hated having to make up the work I'd missed. I came up with an idea then- Cam could bring me the homework. I tried to tell my dad to ask him by using a picture of him and one of my folders, but he just shook his head.

"Can you not talk at all?" I glanced away and he said, "Come on, just try it."

I chewed my lip as I remembered how awful I'd sounded last time, but eventually took a deep breath. "Not... really." I scowled at the gravelly excuses for words that came from my mouth. They made it feel like the walls of my throat were scraping against each other and even those three little syllables burned like a chili pepper.

He sighed and draped an arm around my shoulders, "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be better soon."

No it won't, I thought miserably.

I ate some breakfast and he convinced me that if I didn't even try to talk, it wouldn't ever happen. So I started to tell him about what had gone down on Friday, half speaking and half in writing because my voice tired out quickly. He said that if I wanted, he could talk to the principal about a suitable punishment for Cole, but I told him I would take care of it.

After our talk, I scrolled through my medias and saw loads of messages from fans wishing me well and saying that it was totally cool if I needed to take a break. It warmed my heart and lifted some of the pressure I'd been feeling about getting content out. However, I still wanted to get back to it as soon as possible. It felt like I wasn't myself when I didn't have videos to work on.

A while later, David must have noticed that I was online because he sent me another message. "Hey, shouldn't you be at school?"

I sent back a shrugging gif.

My Skype pinged and I ignored it. He tried again but I wouldn't budge. Eventually he said, "Why don't you want to talk me?"

"Uh, isn't that what I'm doing now?"

"You know what I mean."

"My Skype isn't working," I lied.

"Or your Xbox Live?" I didn't respond so he said, "Princess, please. I miss you. I want to see you."