Never the Same

Thirty-three

We all sat in the hospital waiting for them to finish Daniel's stitches. I held Ryder's hand tightly, giving him support because he was as pale as a ghost. I assumed this wasn't the right time to ask Ms. Daniella about my moms pregnancy, her and Carlos have been crying since we got here. Carlos actually has feelings! I'm getting pretty thirsty, I haven't had anything since the plane. I decided I should be the one to get the waters since Im the stable one out of all four of us.

I let go of Ryder's hand, standing up and ask, "I'm gonna get some water. Does anyone want anything?"

"Oh no dear, we're fine. Thank you," Ms. Daniella says, giving me a small -but fake- smile. I return the small smile and nod my head over to Ryder. He needed something to drink. Ms. Daniella mouthed Thank you.

I waited in the line to get two water bottles when I hear this annoying group of boys in the cafeteria. "She was so sweet though." "She wasn't worth your time." "She's a whore." "She's my friend." "She's so fine though!" I hear all of them say and I roll my eyes. This girl isn't even here to defend herself. It's not a fair playing.

"She's perfect. Aspen is still a human being. She's not a whore Jack. She's worth my time, every second though," an all to familiar voice said, Taylor.

I get up to the line and hand the cashier a five dollar bill mumering, "Keep the change."

"Hi. Whore here," I walk over and say, smiling.

"Aspen," all the guys, except Taylor and Cam, give me a group hug. I could hardly breathe.

"So Jack's. Which one was it?" I look at both of them and they both point to each other.

"Johnson is a liar," Hayes yelled in a girl voice, trying to cover it up.

"Snitches get stiches," Johnson yelled. Everyone laughed except me. I need to get back to Ryder, he looked like he could pass out any second when I left.

"Aspen," Taylor said softly and nods his head. His eyes were blood shot and his hair was all over the place.

Before I could return the nod, Cam hugs me tightly and says, "You look beautiful today Aspen." He lifts me off the ground a bit and I smiled.

"Hit Johnson in the back of the head for me if I look beautiful," I whisper in his ear. He does as I command. I giggle softly and shrug to Johnson.

I know I look like shit, Ryder's shirt was was way too big on me, my makeup was all over my face and my hair was pulled into a lazy ponytail.

"Aspen," Johnson shrieked, earning 'shh' from near by tables. I smile softly and shrug, as if to say 'What can you do? Cam is crazy.'

Johnson ran over to me and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I kicked him and punched his back. I didn't scream because being here is stressful. Life or death.

"I'll put you down dude," Johnson said and set me down gently on the floor. My kicking and punching have stopped, earning glares from strangers.

"Homie, what if someone attacks you? You're gonna punch and kick like that," Aaron asks, raising one eyebrow. I assume he thinks my kicking and punching is weak, little fag.

"I'll scream also but Johnson got shhed for being too loud and Im a perfect little angel," I saw and put my hands on my chin, smiling.

"In your dreams babe," Carter said and winked at me. I saw Taylor shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"I gotta go. Bye Aspen," Taylor says and gets up to walk out the door but I stop him.

"I'll go. I just wanted to say hi," I say softly and push him down into his seat.

"Bye guys! It was nice seeing y'all! Take care Taylor," I yell, getting shhed by the table again.

"I'll walk with you, so you don't get kidnapped ya know," Cam asked and I smiles softly. I miss this, the whole Taylor thing created a barrier between me and my friends.

"Bye," All the boys said and group hugged again, minus Taylor.

"Let's go," I said to Cam and linked arms with him when I got out of the group hug.

"You should really apologize to Taylor," Cam said softly when we started walking towards the waiting room. I just laughed, a cruel laugh.

"He tried to rape me. I need to apologize," I ask with my blue eyes staring at him, he didn't even look at me.

"Aspen. Just shut up. You've changed." He was staring me dead in the eyes now. Each word hit me like a ton of bricks, 6 tons of bricks.

"Whatever. Why are you here?" I didn't care what he thought of me. I really didn't.

"Scarlett. I got a phone call today, she got admitted to the hospital. We all came here for her." His attention was now at the ground again. What's wrong with Scarlett? I hope she's okay.

"What's wrong with her?" I bite my lip, she had to be admitted for something important. What's wrong with my little princess?

"She... She has cancer."