Instead of Me

∆21∆

Mrs. Valentine sat with her feet up on the edge of her chair as she dipped her chopsticks into the Chinese takeout container. We had been sitting and eating together for about twenty minutes when she finally asled the question that had been hanging in the air. "Finn, was this your dad?" She seemed afraid to ask the question, as if the very words would cause me to break, as if I were too delicate and fragile. However, it was clear that she did not regret asking. She was a mom at heart, and she was going to protect children, no matter the cost.

I rubbed my pointer finger across the pads of my thumb as I tried to figure out how to answer her question. If I didn't tell the truth, she could easily tell I was lying. If I did tell the truth, she could tell the police. I let out and exasperated sigh, leaning my head back against the thin hospital pillows. "Mrs. Valentine, I told you already. I fell. My dad had left the house." I clenched my jaw.

Mrs. Valentine narrowed her eyes at me. She knew right away that I was lying to her, but didn't press any further. "How is that assignment coming along?" she asked with a smirk on her face, crossing her legs. Okay, so she was a mom at heart and a teacher at heart.

"If I'm being completely honest, it's the last thing on my mind," I admitted with a chuckle. "Things have kind of been a little hectic." I gestured around to the hospital room.

She laughed. "You have quite a group of friends there, Finn," she told me. "They were conspiring outside the hospital on how they were going to skip school and stay here for you before I found them when I went to go get you some food." Mrs. Valentine set her food on the floor and leaned back in the uncomfortable looking chair as much as she could.

I nodded my head with a small smile. Annie was mad at me until she thought I was dead. Katherine probably wants to strangle me. Heath isn't really even my friend. I don't like him and he definitely isn't fond of me, but since we're associates and he's dating my best friend, we have to act nice around each other. And yet, they still stayed at the hospital overnight to make sure I was okay. Maybe they are a pretty nice group of friends. Perhaps we're the next Scooby Doo gang, but without the mysteries and hunting ghosts. Okay, maybe not.

"How are you and Anastasia?" she asked me, cocking her head to the side. "Before the whole 'she found you passed out in a puddle of your own blood' fiasco, I mean."

A sigh escaped my lips. The sunlight shined through the curtains, giving me a headache, even with the sunglasses on. I turned to my side, facing Mrs. Valentine and away from the window. "I honestly don't know. She found the photograph. She was mad. But apparently she was coming over to yell at me and then apologize when she found me after my-"

I almost let it slip out that my dad had beat me.

"-after I fell."

Mrs. Valentine nodded her head, her lips pursed.

"Can we talk about something other than me?"

Mrs. Valentine pulled out a fortune cookie from the takeout bag and unwrapped it. "What do you want to talk about then?" she asked, breaking the cookie in half and ignoring the fortune, throwing the slip of paper to the side.

I shrugged my shoulders. "What about Mr. Miller? How is he?"

She finished eating the cookie then stated, "He's probably feeling betrayed right now since I ditched our breakfast date when I heard you were in the hospital." She chuckled to herself. "Do you want this last spring roll?"

"I'm okay without it."

Mrs. Valentine sighed, dropping it back into the little bag. She stared at the end of my bed for a while. "Mr. Miller and I are doing well," she explained, seemingly in a daze. "I can see myself marrying him. But that's not for a while down the road." A laugh escaped her lips.