I'll Take Care Of You

Chapter 8

            The school day dragged on. I don't know if it was because I couldn't stop thinking about this morning, or because I was tired from the long, eventful, weekend. I was ready for this day to be over.

            Cat was a little hurt by me not telling her that I was not picking her up this morning, but after a while she forgave me, if I promised to never do it again. Of course I agreed. I mean, who wants their best friend to be mad at them? I sure don't.

            Finally it was 7th period, and that's when the sleepy feeling came over me. I rested my head on my hand trying to pay attention, but my eyes wouldn't stay open. Ashton had to poke me in the side to get me to stay awake whenever he saw me dozing off. I shook my head, hoping it would shake the tired feeling away. I groaned when I saw the board. I looked down at my paper and saw I had nothing on there. Looking at the clock made things worse. There was only five minutes of class left, and I haven't written any notes down. I didn't even know what we were learning about. I looked over at Ash with a pleading look on my face as I looked at my blank paper, and his filled up one. He nodded then handed me his notes. It looks like he already did his homework, so I'm sure he will not be needing the notes tonight. I stuffed my things, along with his paper, into my bag and put it on my desk. Laying my head down was a waste of time, because just then the bell rang to end school.

            I walked slowly back to the car. I literally felt like a zombie. I knew as soon as I lay on my bed I would be out like a light.

            "Why are you so tired today?" Ash asked me as we made our way to the car.

            "I really don't know. I guess it was because of the busy weekend." I shrugged.  "But hey, thanks for letting me borrow your notes from Pre-Cal. I owe you one."

            He squeezed my waist and looked down at me smiling. "It's no problem, anything for my girl." That made me blush. I looked back ahead and then screamed. Ash and I stopped in our tracks at the sight in front of us. There was some guy blocking our path, and pointing a gun right at us. Okay, I was awake now. The man was dressed in all black, with a mask over his face. Was it a robber? Why would there be a random robber at school? I stood frozen in place. Fearing for me, and especially fearing for Ash. If anything happened to him, I don't know how I would survive! I had never thought of what life would be like without him. And I didn't want to start now.

            The masked gunman just stared at us and then before anyone had time to say anything, a loud bang echoed in the wind. My blue eyes widened as I saw the gunman run off. No. Please tell me that did not just happen! I turned slowly to find Ash lying on the ground, holding onto his leg.

            "ASH!" I screamed, the tears already running down my face. I saw the bullet wound in his thigh. With shaking hands I pulled out my phone and dialed 9-1-1. Ash was lying on the ground, clutching his leg with immense pain showing on his face. After I got off the phone I kneeled by Ash. Resting his head in my lap, I ran my hands through his hair.

            "What the hell was that?" He asked between clenched teeth.

            The tears kept coming. "I don't know." I replied, my voice cracking.

            "Hey," he said, reaching his free hand up to my face to wipe away some of the tears, "I'm gonna be okay." I nodded and then leaned down to kiss his forehead.

            A few minutes later the ambulance arrived, along with the police. I watched as they hoisted Ash up into the back of the ambulance. A police officer came over to me, asking what had happened. I told him what all that went on, and then made my way to get in the cab beside Ash. No way was I going to leave his side now.

            When we got to the hospital, I called Sky to let her know what had happened. Grateful to know her and the rest of the family were coming. I waited in the waiting room as tears silently streamed down my face. We were so lucky that he didn't get shot anywhere else. But who was that? Why did they randomly do that to him? Thinking of what had just happened made me cry even more.

           

            "JEN!" I looked up and saw Sky running towards me with puffy red eyes. I stood up and hugged her. We just stood there and cried for a while. When the tears were done, she pulled back and looked at me. "What happened?" She asked. I sat down and she sat next to me. I told her all of what had happened, and how lucky we were. She agreed with that, but was confused -just like me- of why someone would randomly shoot Ash. He didn't do anything wrong.

            An hour after Sky, Karen, and Robert arrived, a doctor came into the room. "Is the family of Ashton Smith here?" We all stood up.

            Ash's mom was the one to speak first. "Is he alright Dr.?" She asked, holding back tears. Mr. Smith had his arms on her shoulders, squeezing them in reassurance.

            "Yes, he is in stable condition. The wound was not as bad as we expected. It should heal within a week." The news the Dr. brought made me instantly feel relieved. So I wasn't going to have to live without him. That was a relief.

            "Can we see him?" I asked the Dr.

            "Yes, of course. Follow me." We all followed him.

            I stopped at the door to Ash's room and saw my life, wounded, and laying in that bed. I knew for sure now that I would not be able to live without him.