Bex

Chapter 9:

  I woke to the sound of Ben's soft snoring. I found myself wrapped in his arms, and I lifted my head from his chest. He had his mouth slightly open and a few locks of brown hair covered his eyes. He looked so peaceful.

  He stayed with me all night like he promised he would. Of course he would! Ben is such a great friend. I have no idea what I would do without him. Before I could even try to imagine what a world without Ben would look like, my phone started ringing. Ben slightly stirred as I carefully removed myself from his embrace.

  I nearly fell out of bed, and I grabbed  my phone as I locked myself in the bathroom. I answered without checking the caller ID.

My first mistake.

  "Hello?"

  "Yes, Miss Woods, this is Hope Mercy Hospital." A woman's voice said over the phone. "You didn't come in for your appointment this morning; would you like to reschedule?"

  I pulled the phone away from my ear and saw that the time flashed 12:00 across the screen.

Crap.

  Mistake number 2.

  "Hello?" I heard coming from my phone.

  "Oh, yes."

  "Okay," I heard the click of computer keys over the phone. "We have an opening on Monday at two- thirty. Does that work?"

  No that doesn't work! I have school!

  "Ummmm, actually-"

  "Becca? Are you okay?" I heard Ben knock on the other side of the door.

"Yes." I called out to him.

"Great. I'll set up the appointment. Have a nice day." The woman said.

"What? Wait-"

Click.

Mistake 3.

I sighed and refrained from throwing my cell phone across the bathroom. I glanced at the mirror and frowned at my reflection. My hair was tangled, my makeup was smeared, and I could see the bruise on my cheekbone starting to turn a brownish-green color. I took a deep breath and went back in my room. Ben was  sitting on the bed playing with Mr. Snuggles, my childhood toy.

  I started to walk over to him, but I get dizzy and have to steady myself. Luckily Ben didn't notice and after a few seconds I sat next to him on my bed.

  "Give me a hug, Rebecca! Mr. Snuggles loves hugs!" Ben said in a weird squeaky voice while moving Mr. Snuggles arms.

  I laughed as I snatched the bear away from Ben. I could always count on Ben to make me feel better, even when he didn't know I was in a bad mood.

  "I can't believe you still have that ratty old thing."

  I gasped and hugged the bear to my chest. "Mr. Snuggles is not ratty! He's just loved!"

  I looked down at Mr. Snuggles. He was missing tuffs of fur in some places, one button eye was blue (because I lost the original black one, and our old housekeeper sowed this one on for me), and if you ran your hands over him you could feel all of the places were we had to stitch him back up. Mr. Snuggles has been through a lot, but I didn't have the heart to get rid of him.

  "Okay, sure." Ben rolled his eyes.

  "Leave Mr. Snuggles alone." I said, placing the beloved teddy bear against my pillows. "I'm gonna get in the shower."