Cuts and Bruises

Chapter Eleven

Sorry for the long wait!
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I ignore the cramp in my tense hand and continue copying down the notes from the PowerPoint in the front of the room. I have to squint to read the minuscule words on the screen and when I finally glance down at my page, I realize that my handwriting had started to sprawl down the page instead of across.

While I was attempting to continue on, the PowerPoint screen went black and my professor clapped her hands in the front of the class. "That's all for today. I'll see you all next Monday."

The entire lecture hall began moving around me, but I stayed seated in order to finish copying down the lingering words of the end of her lesson. As I was finishing my notes, I heard the ring of my phone match the vibrations in my back pocket, and I fumbled to bring my phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I mumble into the phone as I scribble the last few words I could remember.

"Lily!" A familiar little boy calls in my ear. Immediately, I drop my pen and a smile comes over my face. "Guess who?"

"Mom? Is that you?" I tease with a knowing smile.

My little brother giggles in my ear and a type of natural warmth spreads through me. "No! It's Danny!"

With thoughts of my notes forgotten, I pack up my backpack and head out the door of the lecture hall. "Hi Danny," I greet. "What's up, kiddo?"

I could practically see the smile on his lips when he replies, "I'm at the diner. Mom gave me a chocolate milkshake."

My smile turns sad as I realize that mom was either so busy or too broke that she had to bring Danny to work with her instead of getting a sitter. But a familiar spark of hope gathers within me when I realize the diner is better than the hospital.

"The diner?" I echo. "You must be feeling well, huh?"

"Yeah," Danny chirps back, sounding as happy as can be. It made my smile brighten again. "It's at a one."

He meant his pain, and on a scale one to ten. Ever since Danny first had to go to the hospital, he had to rate his pain on a scale of one to ten. He didn't always hurt, but he often felt dizzy or nauseous from chemotherapy and his medicine.

It's been awhile since he's felt so good. For years, it's been a constant struggle to keep him feeling at least okay at best, but usually he was bed ridden or attached to tubes in the hospital.

"That's good," I tell him as I continue walking through campus, my gaze on my moving feet. "I'm happy to-"

Someone roughly walks into me and the impact sends my phone flying to the ground. The only thing worse than the newfound pain in my shoulder was the sickening crack I heard when my phone landed face down on the cement.

I look up with wildly dazed eyes and meet Max's stare. He looked thoroughly annoyed that his walk had been disrupted, but when his gaze lifts to meet mine, his annoyance is replaced with a condescending smirk.

"Hey Lily," He drawls. "You don't need to run into me if you want to get my attention."

In my head, I'm telling myself to grab my discarded phone and walk away. But my mouth snaps, "Trust me, I don't want your attention."

His smirk only widens when he realizes how bothered I am. Before he can say something else to piss me off, I grab my phone off the ground, intent on storming off, but stop in my tracks when I see the state of my phone screen.