Swell (Complete)

Chapter Seventeen (Part Two)

"It's like we just can't win
And every time we get a little closer
It all caves in."

....

Lunchtime break came and Marti was waiting by Adora's locker when she got there.
"Hey, how's Tom?" Adora asked as she opened the locker and started to take her books out.
Marti sighed and gave her a crooked smile. "He'll be alright. How are you?"
Adora looked from the locker to her friend and felt her cheeks warming. "I'm kind of embarrassed about it."
"Why?" Marti's voice was surprised and her frown matched.
Adora looked back into her locker. "I don't know what Iain thought he was doing." She shook her head.
"Protecting you." Marti's tone was so certain that Adora scoffed.
"Seems the whole world wants to protect me lately, and they don't mind who they're hurting in the process." The words stung more than Adora was ready to admit as she spoke them and thought about the weekend, and now Tom's fight.
Marti leaned against the metal beside her and gave her a small smile. "Sorry." She said quietly.
Adora shook her head and closed the locker door. "Let's go sit outside, there's enough sun to stay warm today, and I need some of it."
"Lead the way." Marti pointed towards the front doors of the school and Adora put her bag on her back and headed towards the entrance.
She knew she should go and visit Brett, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to go back to the hospital.
A few texts from her best friend after she had ran out the day before from the card had begged her not to feel blame, Brett insisted that he would be fine and there had been nothing at all Adora could even try and use to feel guilty.
But she still felt it and she knew Brett would see it.
She had tried to send a message back, but all she had managed was to tell him she was fine.
The rays of late Autumn's sun were welcome warmth when she stepped onto the front steps of the school building.
She let out an involuntary moan as she felt it hit her face and looked up.
"You look better already!" Marti's voice said happily as a smile broke across Adora's lips.
She opened her eyes and chuckled a little. "Vitamin D right?" She joked.
The front yard of the school was scattered with students, some getting ready to leave and some settling in for the lunch hour.
"I guess so, where do you want to sit?"
Adora looked around and pointed to a set of concrete benches to the side of the building where the sun was brightest. There was already a large group of younger students sitting in the area, but she started towards the seating regardless.

"I know he isn't much of a character, but I still pine for Banquo." Adora smiled a little later.
"He is definitely your sort of guy." Marti laughed as she nodded.
"Oh hush, what is that meant to mean? I don't have a type." Adora playfully punched her.
Rae and Kurt had found them not long after they had taken the seats in the sun.
"I am still so glad I took Lit instead of normal English. Urg. Shakespeare." Rae exaggerated a shudder.
"Oh come on, he's fun." Adora tried to convinced her.
"Hmmm... He's a pussy, and he really only wants to kill everyone. I'm sorry Adora, Rae's the winner here." Kurt said.
"Adora." The voice was new to the group and at her name she looked up from her empty lunch box and gasped.
"GUS!" She screamed as she stood from the concrete bench and put her lunch box into her open bag. She closed the space between and jumped into the tall, young man's arms as he laughed at her excitement. "What are you doing here?! I mean, obviously, Brett, but oh my gosh. At school? Here?!"
Gus had enveloped Adora in his arms and picked her up in their greeting. He put her down now and his face beamed in delight. "I've applied to do some of my uni placement here with Brett. Pending the paperwork, I'll be helping him with his physio. Thought I'd come and see you, let you know myself."

"That is so amazing." Adora stood back and Rae smirked around at Kurt and threw a wink at Marti. "You look amazing. What did you do since summer?" Adora reached out and felt Gus' strong arms.
"Well, I've been practising picking disabled people up from beds and wheelchairs on top of physical training, so you know." Gus grinned at Adora's attention and wrapped an arm over her shoulders as he flexed his other arm.

3133

"Ahh! I'm so happy to see you!" She leaned into him and slapped away his flexing arm.
Rae and Kurt smirked at each other and then gave Marti a knowing nod.
"You know Rae and Kurt, this is Marti..." Adora started.

"We met." Marti said, forcing a small smile.
"What?" Adora pulled away from Gus and looked from him to Marti.
"Marti came and saved her brother at the hospital." Gus explained. "Tom came to Brett's room."
Adora's mouth slackened and she grabbed onto Gus' arm as she felt the warmth leave her cheeks. "What was he doing?"
"He was just apologising." Marti's tone was low and her expression was darker than Adora had ever seen on the beautiful girl. "He was with Debbie the night of the attack and he wanted Brett to know that he wasn't the one who hurt him."
"It's OK, Brett believes him." Gus put in, seeing Marti's annoyance. "Brett has no clue who it was. He isn't even the one who suspected Tom."
Adora's grip on Gus' wrist loosened and she forced a small smile. "Of course he wasn't, he can't remember a thing. Marti knows that it was because of the police and his car."

There was a strange tension in the atmosphere and Adora's stomach was churning.
She sucked the inside of her cheeks in between her teeth.
"Anyway, I actually came to take you for a visit during lunch break." Gus turned his full attention to her.
"Perfect!" Adora leaned down and zipped up her bag before swinging one strap over her shoulder. "Let's go. I'll be back for music." She said to Rae and Kurt. "I'll see you later, Marti." She began to pull Gus towards the carpark to break away from the group.

"Do you really think they're going to the hospital?" Kurt turned to Rae with a smirk.
"Why wouldn't they?" Marti asked still feeling a bit bristled at Gus' arrival at school.
"Well, they had a summer thing..." Rae looked at Marti with a colluding wink.
Marti looked after the retreating couple as they arrived in the car park and to a car. "They did?"
"Oh gosh was it a nightmare." Rae laughed.
"Why?" Marti looked back to Rae with a frown.
"Well, Adora seems to be the only one who doesn't know how badly Brett's got it for her, I mean, even Gus knew... So they were trying to keep it secret, but a few times they were out Kurt and I saw them, nice and cosy."
"Why would Gus do that to his cousin?" Marti asked with a disgusted tone.
Kurt shrugged. "He was a summer visitor, he had nothing to lose."
"That's awful." Marti watched the car leave the school car park and disappear from view.
Did Adora really have no idea?
Marti was sure if she knew she wouldn't have done anything with Gus, she wouldn't risk hurting her best friend.
"He used her." She muttered quietly.
"Well, Adora did have a huge crush on him." Rae explained. "I wonder if they'll rekindle the summer fling..."
"Maybe she'll ask him to the dance." Kurt mused.
"She can't do that, Brett needs to have people who are there for him, not keeping secrets from him." Marti swallowed an angry lump.
"We just have to wait and see, I suppose. It's not like Adora's going to skip school to hang out with him during the day. It's definitely less likely that Brett will see them around town if they start dating." Rae shrugged.
Marti looked across the front of the school and beyond the main street out into the blue ocean. "Yea, I guess so."

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This part I'd love to dedicate to @AsleepLeaf for commenting about things seeming really long and giving me the urge to actually follow through on an idea I had about splitting chapters for Wattpad readers to get through easily.
Thanks for you critique, and I hope this does make it easier for everyone, and I want to thank everyone for following along, and encourage you to give me feedback comments or any type of comments.
I LOVE to hear from you! :)