The Princess of the Streets

Twenty-Five - Putting the Ow in Wow

"I wanna know who the fuck did this to my kid, Angel," were the first words I woke up to in the hospital. I opened my eyes and pushed my sore body up off of the uncomfortable bed. I moved my scratchy, thin blanket to see I was in a blue hospital gown.

"Daddy?" I said as I rubbed my eyes.  My dad was standing across my hospital room with his phone held up to his ear. 

He spun around quickly and muttered something before putting it back in his pocket. "Chase? Oh, thank God! What happened?" he asked me as he rushed across the room and pulled me tightly to him. I would have hugged him back, but my head was pounding and my ribs ached like somebody was kicking at them still. I whimpered in pain without meaning to.

He pulled away quickly and lightly grabbed my face to look at the damage. "Who's going to die? Tell me now and it's done, Chase," he murmured in my ear.

"You're not going to kill some teenage girls," I said with an eye roll. "Though I wouldn't be against it."

"A few girls did this to you?"

"I wouldn't say a few. There were like six or seven. Man, my ribs hurt," I muttered to myself, trying to readjust comfortably. I couldn't help but notice the sharp pain I had every time I took a breath. That was going to be annoying.

"Considering one of them's broken, I wouldn't doubt it, kiddo." Dad sat down on the hospital bed beside me and brushed some out of my hair out of my face. His eyes narrowed as he stared at what was probably a massive bruise on my cheek. "Are you going to tell me their names, or not?"

"Err... I would, but honestly I don't think you could do much besides have them arrested. They're mostly private school girls. Their parents probably have fancy lawyers and stuff..."

"If that's the case, most of them probably have your abuela as their lawyer, and I have a feeling she'd do worse to the girls than what I'd have in store if we told her what happened."

I started to laugh, but stopped quickly since that hurt my ribs more than sitting up had. 

"You know what? It's not a big deal, Princess. You don't have to tell me anything. I think I know someone else who can help me figure it out." He grinned suspiciously before standing up and headed toward the door.

Just as he was about to reach for the doorknob, it opened up. Dad stepped back out of the way and crossed his arms. 

"Whoa, sorry, Adrien." A pretty, short nurse with dark hair and a kind smile came into the room first.

"Cara!" I exclaimed with relief before cringing at the pain that had come from reaching out for her, which I hadn't even realized I was doing. 

"Oh, my baby," she cried after taking in my appearance. She crossed the room like a bullet and took my face gently in both hands. "It's a miracle that you don't have permanent brain damage from how much you've hit your head this last week."

"The kid's got a head like a rock," Dad said, causing me to glare at him over Cara's shoulder.

She didn't even turn when she responded, "she got it from you."

I smiled until I realized there was another person by the door. I recognized his tall, muscular form and dark hair instantly. Chace. 

I averted my eyes in embarrassment. He had seen me all bloody and delirious, which isn't exactly how a boy should remember his girlfriend. I also felt slightly like a damsel in distress. I shouldn't need a boy to save me; I could usually do it just fine on my own.

Cara stopped her inspection of my bruises and looked over her shoulder to see what had caught my attention. I looked away quickly in embarrassment, but it was already too late.