Broken

Chapter Thirty-Four

"I promise you, I'm fine," I said.

"Look, I'm just checking," said Dad. "I'm worried about you."

I was leaning against the wall in the girl's restroom at school. I had arrived early and decided I should call my dad. I switched the phone to my other ear and glanced over at the mirror on the wall. I had a scarf around my neck covering my bandage. It was not to hide it. It was to prevent me from the temptation of taking it off. I had yet to see what damage was under there and I was resisting the urge until I had to change the bandage.

"Well, I'm at school," I said. "And besides, Justin's been with me and he'll be here at school with me. We have almost every class together."

"Okay," said Dad. "So, the Justin thing was a good idea?"

I bit my lip, "Yeah, I think it was a really, really good idea."

"What does that mean?" Dad asked with a questioning voice.

"Nothing," I said quickly. "I just...I feel better not being completely alone."

"Good," said Dad. "Please call me if you need anything and don't stay at school all day if you can't handle it. Don't push yourself too hard."

"I feel fine," I said. "I better go. I'll call you later."

"Okay," Dad said. "Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and put it in my pocket. I could hear more people outside now. When I arrived, the halls were empty. I was ready for this, I was positive. I exited the bathroom and was in the packed hallways. I felt eyes fall on me, but I did not mind.

I walked over to my locker. I had to think for a moment to remember my combination, but it came to me. I opened my locker and grabbed out my math book and notebook. I cradled the books in my arm.

"Hayley!"

I looked over to see Carly making her way towards me. I smiled at her and was immediately pulled into a hug. I held back a wince when my books were pushed against my bandage. It did not last long though.

"Are you okay?" asked Carly. She had her dark hair tied up in a tight ponytail and was wearing her letterman jacket. Her hands found themselves on her backpack straps.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a nod.

"I was so worried when I heard about the accident," said Carly.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Oh, I do have something for you," said Carly. She pulled her backpack off and reached into one of the side pockets. Her hand reappeared with a bright yellow envelope. She handed it to me. "It's just a little something we passed around yesterday."

I sat my books back on a shelf in my locker and opened the envelope. It simply said 'get well soon' on the front and there was a vase of flowers under the text. I opened the card and my eyes widened at all the writing inside. There were various pen, marker, and pencil writing inside. There was bold black marker and bright pen colors. A lot were simply signatures, but many of them had written messages above their name.

"Wow, thank you," I said.

"It's nothing," said Carly. "We're all just glad you're okay."

I looked back down at the card. There were so many nice messages. I saw Carly's name in the middle with a nice, short message. I saw Martin's name sloppily signed near Carly's. I saw so many friendly names. I could not help smiling.

"What's that?"

I looked over my shoulder to see Justin. We had come to school together this morning, but he had to get some things straightened out for football. I handed the card to him and his eyes darted around it.

"Carly did it," I said.

"Yeah," said Carly. "I would have gotten you to sign it yesterday, Justin, but I never got the chance."

Justin nodded and gave the card back to me, "That was really nice of you."

Carly nodded and looked back at me, "I better get ready for class. I have history with Hanks this morning, so I can't be late."

"Bye," I said with a wave as she hurried off. I turned around to face Justin as I tucked the card back into its envelope. I put it in my locker and took my math books back out. I closed the locker and leaned against it. "What did you have to talk to your coach about?"

Justin shrugged, "He kind of wanted to talk to me. He's worried about me, I guess."

"Oh," I said.

"I told him he had nothing to worry about," said Justin. He looked away with a grin on his face. "I don't think I've ever been this happy my whole life."

I bit on my lip to try to contain my smile, "Me too."

Justin looked back at me, but our moment was quickly interrupted by a blonde who did not look happy with either of use. Nora was standing in front of us, hands on her hips.

"Do either of you know how to answer a phone?" she asked. "I've been texting you guys!"

"I just charged my phone up this morning," I said. "I only used to call my dad and there are a lot of unread messages, I haven't got around to looking at them yet..."

Nora looked over at Justin, "I suppose you have an excuse too?"

Justin shook his head, "Not really. I've been busy...with more important things."

Nora narrowed her eyes at him and I could see the suspicion in her eyes. She turned back to me, "I've been worried about you. I haven't see you since you were in the hospital."

"Sorry," I said. "I'm fine, though."

"That would have been nice to know Sunday or Monday," said Nora. She sighed. "I am glad you're okay, though."

"Thanks," I said. The bell rang. "I better get to math. I'll see you both at lunch?"

My morning classes went by fast and it felt great. I was behind, but I could easily catch up. My teachers seemed happy to see me back. I was beginning to realize the whole school was worried about me. I was feeling good too. Lunch came at a good time though. I was hungry and needed a little break. I walked into the cafeteria and Justin was waiting for me.

"How were classes?" he asked.

"Good," I said. I glanced over at our normal table. I saw Martin and some of the other guys sitting there. Nora was already there too. Justin and I got in line to get our food.

"At least this food is better than the hospital food," said Justin as we picked up our trays. Surprisingly, I could not agree more. We both swiped our ID cards for our food and made our way to the table. Justin had his chair in one hand and I felt his free hand move to the small of my back.

When we got to the table, Justin pulled my chair out for me and I sat down. Justin sat down next to me and I looked up to see all eyes on us. Martin was giving Justin a look, but I saw Justin shake his head quickly out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, guys," I said.

"Welcome back, Hayley," said Martin. "Thank God, you're back. Justin was a little depressed when you were in New York. I thought we were going to have to go get you for him."

Justin rolled his eyes, "Martin's exaggerating a little bit."

"Not much though," said Martin. He glanced over at Nora. "And now that you're back, I guess Nora's good enough to sit with us again."

Nora rolled her eyes, "I had better places to be."

"I guess we learned a valuable lesson," said Martin. "We all fall apart without Hayley. To Hayley, our glue." He held up his chocolate milk carton. I looked over at Justin who just shrugged and held up his own milk carton.

"To Hayley."