Linger

S E V E N T Y - N I N E

I couldn't stop thinking about Brandon. 

All weekend, all that echoed through my mind were Jade's words, causing my mind to spin and spin and spin . . . thinking the absolute worse. 

Would he ever get better?

Would he ever make it full recovery? 

How did this even happen? 

And why? 

Would things ever be normal again?

"Hey! Is your dad feeling better?" a peppy voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see Kelsey bouncing up to me with a cheery smile. 

"My dad?" I tilted my head at her.

"Yeah, didn't your text say you had a family emergency or something?" She ran her hand through her ponytail, twisting it around her finger.

"Yeah . . ." I closed my locker. "How'd the dance go? How'd you guys do?"

"Great! We messed up a few times in the beginning but after that it was perfect!" She smiled widely. 

"Yay!!" I cheered, my heart bursting with pride. "I knew you guys could do it." 

"But everyone who was supposed to be there wasn't there. You weren't there. Not even Tom was there!" she huffed. 

I knitted my eyebrows at her. "He wasn't?" 

"No. None of the hockey guys were." 

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there." I gave her a frown. "I feel so bad."

"You didn't miss anything." She shrugged. "It was just prom." 

"Just prom?" I raised my eyebrows at her with a laugh.

"Yeah, the only good part was . . . us," she concluded, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. 

I let out a laugh. "Obviously." 

"Thank you for helping us choreograph the dance though!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. "We couldn't have done without you." 

I laughed, hugging her back. "All props to you guys! You learned it so quickly!!"

"No PDAAAAAAAAA!" a voice bellowed, causing us to pull away.

We both looked up to see Tom walking past us with a smirk. 

"Why does he have to be dumb? He's so hot." Kelsey sighed, adjusting her backpack just as the bell went off. 

"See you in class." I waved at her as she disappeared into the crowd. 

"Hey stranger." Chelsea stepped up to me, bumping my hip. 

"Hey." I smiled. 

"What happened Saturday? Kelsey told me you missed the dance performance." 

"I know and I feel awful." I huffed, running a hand through my hair as we began walking down the hall.

"Everything okay?" Alice asked, joining us. 

I held my breath as I gripped my bag strap before looking up at my two best friends. "You guys promise not to tell anyone?"

"Does it have anything to do with Hayden?" Chelsea asked. 

I hesitated for a moment before nodding my head. 

Alice suddenly gasped. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine." I quickly nodded. "There were just some . . . things that happened and . . . you know." I shrugged, not wanting to reveal too much.