The Forgotten One

Chapter Thirteen

              “Where the hell have you been?” I stepped into my room and answered my phone at the same time. It was Chase on the other end, in a panic.

              “I’m home. Are you at the hospital still?” I tried to keep my voice even, afraid that he was going to know that I was hiding something.

              “No. I went back to the dance and nobody has seen you or Mr. O’Connor in hours. What’s going on?”

              “I rode to the hospital but Amanda’s mom told me to come home. I just had Mr. O’Connor drop me at my house. I was a little shaken up and I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to go back to the school, I’m covered in blood. Did you hear anything yet?”

              “No. Jimmy just called me and said they’re still waiting to talk to the doctor. They think she’s probably gonna lose the baby but her mom thinks she should be okay.” Chase sighed. “Why didn’t you come find us? Why’d you go to him?”

              “I couldn’t find you guys and I wasn’t going to let her bleed to death while I hunted around. He was the first person that I saw, Chase. What’s your deal with him anyway? You don’t even have his class, what could you do possibly have against him?” My heart was pounding.

              “It’s not that I have anything againt him. I just don’t trust him. I don’t think you should trust him either.”

              “You don’t even know him. How could you not trust him? You know what, I’m not gonna have this conversation right now. I’m still all messed up and I just want to take a shower and go to sleep and forget that this night ever happened.” I hung up the phone and threw it on my bed.

              I stood in the shower for a long time, under the spray of hot water, letting it relax and soothe my muscles. I could feel the tension leaving my body and my mind played over and over the whole night. I went back and forth between guilt and elation. I felt guilty for putting Trystan in danger of losing his job and also for hiding out at the park and making out with our teacher while my closest friend was in the hospital going through something so horrible. I couldn’t bring myself to feel guilty about leaving Chase behind at the dance. I had barely given him a thought since the moment we left, which was how I knew that he wasn’t right for me. I liked him well enough, and I had fun hanging out with him, but I just didn’t have any romantic feelings toward him.

              “Who knows, maybe I’m doomed to never have a healthy relationship.” I scolded myself as I turned off the water and toweled off. It would have been so much easier if I could have had those feelings toward Chase and Trystan was just an old friend, someone that I cared about as if we were related.

              My phone was flashing on my bed when I came out of the bathroom in the dark and pulled on my soft flannel pajamas with ducks all over them. They made me giggle and I wondered why Mrs. Jennings had picked them for me. Dismissing the thought of my social worker, which only brought on more feelings of guilt, I picked up the phone and flopped down on the bed with it.