We arrive at the hospital and it's already a clusterfuck. I see Ava's estranged father, who she hadn't talked to in years, sitting in the ER with Ava's grandparents. I overhear mumbles about Ava's mom, helping me make the connection that she's the reason we're here. I see Ava talking to the nurse working the emergency room, but she simply makes us sit down.
Ava continues to have that blank look on her face. I repeatedly hear the nurses whispering about the condition. I think I hear the word ¨gunshot.¨ I panic; I have to get Ava out of this room.
¨Let's go get some candy,¨ I say to her. She nods her head and we walk through the corridor to the candy machine. I put two dollars into the machine and get each of us a Snickers. My inner fat girl makes me scarf down the candy bar; Ava barely takes a bite of hers.
When we walk back into the waiting room, it's empty. I go to the desk to ask where everyone went.
¨We sent them all home, hun,¨ she replies. I lower my head as me and Ava begin to walk out.
¨But she did request that you two come visit her.¨
I lift my head up in disbelief. I ask which room she's in and start the trek, dragging Ava behind me. I knock on the door before slowly creeping it open. I see Mrs. Copen laying on the bed, countless tubes going in and out of her body. She looks frail and pale, something I've never seen from the woman who was always glowing and in amazing shape, especially at her age.
The sight of her broken mother causes Ava to start bawling. She grabs her hand as she sits down in the chair next to the bed. The episode of Seinfeld in the background goes unheard from all of the crying. After further inspection I can see a large bandage where I assume she was shot. Ava follows my and eyes and sees it. I fiery rage burns in her eyes at the sight and her sadness turns to pure frustration. I hear the doctor walk in as the anger builds up in Ava.
¨Who did this? Who, Mom?!¨ she begins to yell.
The doctor puts his hand on me and Ava's shoulders as he tells us that we have to leave.
¨No,¨ Ava says. ¨No, I need answers. Now!¨
¨I'm sorry, ma'am, but if you want your mother to have a chance we have to get her prepped for surgery now.¨
Tears start running down Ava's face even more as she hysterically keeps asking for the culprit behind all of this. I grab her hand and start carrying her out of the room. I wrap my arm around her as we walk back into the cold parking lot and into my car.
We make the silent drive home as the anger in Ava continues to fuel. ¨Just sleep on it, we'll figure it out soon,¨ I say to her as I pull into her driveway. She gets out of my car and slowly walks into the house. As I start to leave the neighborhood, I revisit earlier in the night when I saw Mrs. Copen in the exact same spot. The thought brings shivers down my spine. After a few seconds I shake it off and head home.
After a uneventful Sunday I pull myself out of bed to go to school. I check my phone, but other than my daily ¨Good morning <3¨ text from Caleb, there's no notifications. I was hoping for some sort of update from Ava.
I park in my usual spot and notice that her car isn't here. I don't blame her, I think to myself. She's had a terrible weekend. I walk through the hallway and grab my books for Mr. Boston's class. I feel Caleb grab me from behind and begin to kiss my neck.
¨This is a school, not a bedroom, Mr. Black,¨ I hear Mr. Boston say as he watches from his classroom. You're one to talk, I think to myself as I hesitantly push Caleb off of me.
I walk into the classroom to see Adam's sly, smug smile shining through the room. I cringe at the sight of him. Liam walks in as soon as I sit down, avoiding eye contact with me at all costs. The bell rings moments after and Mr. Boston walks in and closes the door behind him. Great, I think to myself. In a matter of a few weeks I've found a way to completely ruin this class for myself.
As class begins and we start to work on the problems on the whiteboard. I hear the asshole behind me doing his usual thing: being an asshole. He must've noticed the tension between me and Liam.
¨Oh, what happened here?¨ Adam asks me as he taps me on the shoulder. I think of slapping him in the face, but I just ignore him.
¨I see, don't want Caleb finding out. That's smart of you.¨ The anger in me grows higher.
¨Yeah, it'd be a shame if one of his friends told him that you cheated on...¨
¨Mr. Boston, can I please use the restroom,?¨ I quickly raise my hand and ask to cut off Adam. He nods his head as I get up and leave. I make sure I grab my phone, since I plan on being down there the whole hour. I don't have the patience today to deal with Adam's foolishness. I walk into the bathroom and immediately text Ava, seeing if I can get any sort of response from her. After this I sit and scroll through Facebook the rest of the hour, having nothing better to do.
The bell rings and I check my messages. No response. I take a deep breath and walk out of the restroom. I walk down the hallway and back to my locker. Caleb's leaning against the locker next to mine, his gorgeous smile lighting up the entire school. I lean my head into his chest. He can tell I don't want to be here more than usual and wraps his arms around me. He
kisses my forehead and tells me goodbye as he walks across the school to his next class.
I slowly grab the books I need for physics as I drag myself from my locker to Ms. Johnson's room. As I sit down in my desk, I realize I had forgotten something. Fuck, I think to myself. I left my phone in my locker. I tell Ms. Johnson that I'll be late before dashing into the hallway. I scurry through the empty halls to my locker.
As I open my locker I hear a singular set of footsteps walk towards me. I grab my phone and close my locker as the person starts to talk to me.
¨You know, Ava deserves everything she got.¨
