I pulled my blanket over my head and groaned as some rapped on my door.
"Go away! It's too early for this," I hollered.
"Jordie, it's noon," Amy laughed.
"Oh. Come in."
She turned the doorknob and stepped in, quickly making herself comfortable on the extra bed. Amy was quirky, with short blonde hair and wide doe eyes.
"You'll never guess what happened!" she exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly.
"What?"
"Michael beat up Ashton!"
"What!? Are you joking? Where is he? Oh, my god, Amy!" I rambled. I jumped out of my bed and blushed when Amy starting gaping at my shirt.
"Jordie... isn't that Michael's?" she asked, reaching out to touch the blue flannel I stole from Michael the previous day. (With permission of course.)
"Yes, he let me have it."
"Oh, gosh, you like him don't you?"
"Well, yeah. I'd say that we're friends."
"No, I mean you like like him."
"Oh, my god," I groaned as I clasped my hands over my eyes, "We're not in 4th grade anymore."
"You're not denying it," she joked.
I grinned, quickly hiding it as Amy started to laugh.
"Stop it!" I yelped, lightly shoving her shoulder.
"He is quite nice looking," she whispered.
"Amy, quit it, you're embarrassing me."
"Anywho, I wasn't there when the whole thing happened, but Tara said that Josh said that Ashton said something bad about you and Michael just, like, hit him."
"What did he say?"
"I don't know," she shrugged.
"Is Ashton okay?" I asked.
"Let's go find out."
I buttoned my flannel, Michael's flannel, as we left my room. The girls' common room was empty, and by the time we reached the patio, I knew why. Michael and Ashton were seated side by side, holding hands and a crowd had gathered. Michael looked pissed, while Ashton had a bloody nose and a bruised cheekbone.
"Michael."
As he looked up, a confident smirk grew.
"You look amazing," he complimented, licking his lips as his eyes traced my body.
"Now is not the time," I said and rolled my eyes.
"It's as good a time as any."
"I'm sure, now would you mind telling me what the hell happened?"
"Ashy over here called you a name that I will not repeat, and I got a little hot. No big deal," he said nonchalantly.
"Says the one who's not bleeding," Ashton remarked, bringing a hand up to wipe fresh blood.
"You got yourself into it, lad," Michael sighed.
"I wasn't wrong," Ashton argued.
"Dude, I will seriously strangle you, right here, right now."
"Both of you need to shut up," I interrupted.
"Sorry."
"Why are you holding hands?" I asked.
"The shrink said it would be a good exercise," Michael laughed.
+
Michael got 2 weeks of "room arrest" and he was only allowed to leave his room for meals, therapy, and to use the boys' showers. They let him do school assignments on the laptop that he brought, and the only patient that could see him was his roommate. Ashton just got his smoothie privilege taken away, because he really liked banana mango smoothies.
As Amy braided my hair, I carefully painted my toenails with some greenish blue color that Tara gave me.
"Does anyone here use coke?" Casey, (an intense rocker girl that had proven to break rules on many occasions) asked with a grin. A few girls, including me, mumbled yes quizzically.
"Yesterday, while my group was out at the plaza, my dealer was at the theater. So, you know, if you want to do a few lines just tell me."
"Are you implying that you have cocaine?" Amy asked.
"What else would I be implying, sweetie?"
Amy looked down and her hands left my hair.
"I'll have a go at it," I said, and a few girls gave me shocked expressions.
Casey nodded and we walked quietly to her room. After she shut the door I sat down on one of the beds and watched as she picked up a jewelry box and popped a panel out. My blood pumped quickly as she pulled out the small bag.
"You've got to have good hiding spots. They go through your stuff when you aren't here," she scoffed.
"Do they really?"
"You bet. I walked in during lunch the other day because I forgot something and one of the nurses was going through my underwear drawer. It's like we can't be trusted or something."
I ignored her completely contradicting statement as she dumped a little bit of the powder onto her desk, lining up rows with a piece of paper before rolling that up into a tube.
"Go crazy," Casey said with a smile.
To me, using drugs after craving them was like eating your favorite food when you haven't had it in a while. Of course, food didn't get you high unless it was drug laced, but it did make you extremely happy. That's probably the lamest comparison ever.
But it felt great to finally have something in my system again.
"God, thanks," I breathed euphorically.
"No problem."
I left the room, smiling as I walked to the kitchen to get a late night snack. Calum brought a bunch of pecan swirls for the patients, and boy did I love pecan swirls. I picked one up out of the pack and began to unravel it, taking small bites so I could savor it.
"Hey."
I squeaked and spun around, standing timidly in front of Ashton.
"Jumpy much?" he asked, getting a pecan swirl for himself.
"I, uh, I," I stuttered.
"Shh."
"Hi," I said, as it was the only word I could manage.
"Hi? Anyway, have you seen Luke?"
"What? Yeah, I think he's in his room."
"Oh. Thanks, Jordie."
+
omg hi. I made a new cover because I started to hate the old one so I hope this one is acceptable. omg bye.
