Another Tomorrow

Chapter 7

Seven

                The next morning, I could barely move without feeling pain. I convinced my mother that I couldn’t make it to school, though she was running late for work anyway. She would’ve agreed to let me get a tattoo if it meant she could leave the house in a timely matter.

                I managed to get dressed without collapsing from the pain, but I knew there had to be something seriously wrong with me. It felt like I was being stabbed with a million knives when I moved, right below my chest on my right side. I sighed and decided to lie on my couch for a while, hoping the pain would subside eventually.

                Several cartoon shows later, I remained on the couch because it was still too painful to move. Even breathing hurt, but it’s not like I can just stop doing that. I shut my eyes, trying to think of myself somewhere sunny right now, on a beach with exotic, buff male waiters getting anything I wanted.

                “You skipped school to sleep?”

                My eyes shot open and my wonderful daydream quickly dissipated. “What are you doing here?”

                “The door was unlocked,” Ryder replied, not exactly answering my question. “What’s up with you?”

                “Nothing,” I said, except I winced as I tried to sit up.

                “Are you sick?”

                I shrugged, which also hurt. “I don’t think so.”

                “Then what’s wrong?” he asked, walking around the couch to face me. I was sitting up now, leaning against the back of the couch.

                “My right side hurts,” I answered. I didn’t have to elaborate with words; I knew the look on my face expressed how much I was hurting.

                Ryder’s forehead creased with concern as he sat on the coffee table. “Let me see,” he stated.

                “What? No, it’s probably nothing,” I argued.

                “Huntington, I know a thing or two when it comes to being in pain. Living in a house with four younger siblings can be chaotic. Now show me where it hurts.”

                I sighed, but complied. I lifted my shirt up, making sure to stop before I could reveal anything that screams ‘female’. I was wearing my favorite bra though.

                “Shit, Elyse. How’d you get this bruise?”

                I looked down, seeing the bruise for the first time. How could I not notice something that huge? Then I remembered that it was on the side that Trevor slammed me into the lockers.

                “It doesn’t look that bad,” I reasoned. In all actuality, it looked about as bad as it felt.

                Seconds later, Ryder’s fingers made contact with my skin. I didn’t know whether to scream from the pain or to be shocked that his warm fingers were actually touching me. I saw only a few times he made physical contact with people, and those were all with his family members.

                “I think you need to go to the hospital. You might have a broken rib,” he said, bringing me back to the present.