Seafoam //Completed//

Chapter 30

Since Saturday she couldn't seem to stop thinking about him. Between the bells at school she would look through the mass of students in hopes that she would catch a glimpse of his curly mop or dark sunglasses. It wasn't like before, where whenever she saw him her heart would sink or she would mentally curse involuntarily or her eyes would automatically roll in annoyance at the sight of him. Now, all she wanted to do was see him, so he could renew the hope that quickly seemed to be fading since she left him.

She told herself to keep calm, and that his promise would still hold up. She'd kind of been expecting him to call her on Sunday, but her phone remained silent. No word from Zac or Matty. Lulu spent the rest of the day Sunday indoors watching Christmas movies with Ava and her cousins even though Thanksgiving was still a month away. "We don't like Halloween," Harry explained as she threw in The Grinch into the DVD player. "For us Christmas starts the minute fall does." I could live with that, Lulu mused silently. It was a cozy evening, but the uncertainty of the next day hung in the air above her.

So on Monday, when she didn't see Zac the whole morning, she began to really worry. Had he backed out and been too embarrassed to come to school and tell her? Liam wasn't in school either, which only exacerbated her fears. She'd been so busy looking for Zac, that when she came face to face with Matty during second period, she was almost knocked breathless. His face flushed a deep red as he passed by her quickly without so much as an acknowledgement of her presence. After that, she didn't see him again.

By lunch, Lulu was convinced she would be sleeping on the streets and was already calculating where the safest and warmest spots would be, when Mrs. Alba came practically running up to her in the lunch line looking like she'd seen a ghost.

"Lulu, I need you to come with me to the principal's office, sweetie." Immediately, a knot formed in her throat and her small hands began to tremble. Ava opened her mouth to say something, but if she did, Lulu couldn't hear through the rush of blood in her ears. She followed her teacher out of the cafeteria mechanically and into the office where Principle Jacobson and the senior's guidance counselor both stood with similar faces of sympathy.

"Hi, Lily," the principal began. She didn't bother correcting him, suspecting she wouldn't have the voice to if she tried. "Why don't you sit down?" He motioned for the empty seat next to the counselor. Her body moved automatically into the seat.

"I don't want to alarm you, but we received a call from the county hospital just now, concerning your father. Apparently, he was involved in a pretty bad car wreck early this morning as he was entering county limits and he's currently in the ICU. We've granted you permission to go see him and Mrs. Ayala here can take you to the hospital if that's what you want."

Years ago, when everything was still okay, Lulu's mom had taken her out early from school. It was lunch time then too. Her dad had fallen at work and broken his leg and had gone to the hospital. Lulu was only seven and she wasn't entirely sure what was going on as her mom rushed her through the hospital doors and demanded to see her husband. It was scary and confusing and all Lulu wanted to do was go back to school with her friends and finish the day.

That was exactly how she felt now. She didn't want to go to rush to the hospital and demand to see her father. She wanted to go back into the cafeteria and eat lunch with her friends and finish class and go home and have everything be normal. But nothing was normal anymore. So her body on autopilot walked her to Mrs. Ayala's car and her eyes watched the school disappear behind them and her ears heard the sympathy in her teacher's voice trying to reassure her over and over that her dad would be fine.

Nothing made sense but she still managed to function. They made it to the hospital in record time and Lulu managed to walk in a straight line up to the receptionist. Mrs. Ayala did the talking and a nurse took them to where her father was.