The Skylar Experiment : Dead Ending (second draft)

Chapter Fifty-Seven - Wild Card Gone Wild

RILEY

MISSING SCHOOL FOR BEING ILL sucked butt. It wasn't the fun kind of sick, with a low fever and a simple pill fix. Even when I took meds, I hardly had the energy to shower. My fever climbed higher every day, but right now it was the cramps, the nausea and the vomiting that bothered me. My skin, white like paper, ached underneath and it got worse when I moved. Black veins as dark as graphite streaked the length of my arms, neck and joints. 

A bruise shaded the back of my hand where the IV line had been planted. My throat was rough from the acidic gags, so much that I could barely speak above whisper. Luckily, I didn't have to talk often. Ben powered on my laptop, brought a gamut of snacks in bed, and streamed episodes of Breaking Bad.

He'd abandoned his board game when my head spun from sitting upright. So he plopped beside me on his back, wrapped in a burrito blanket. I had my puking bucket within reach.  

"Just saying, Sam and Jen asked me about you in school," Ben revealed as he shoved bretzels in his mouth. "They were super worried."

I checked my phone mechanically, imagining one of the girls texting me a silly joke like they used to. I wished I could just tell them. I wished they were here, inhaling popcorn and junk with Ben and things were okay. Thinking of them led me to Emma, and I had to calm down to answer. 

"What did you tell them?" 

"That you returned from the hospital, recovering." He sent me a helpless look. "It's not a lie." 

But that's all you can let them know, I finished. 

I thought of Chuck a lot, too. Ideas ran in circles at night when I tried to sleep, and never came to a conclusion. Not a satisfying one, at least. I didn't know how to feel anymore. Angry? Baffled? Or sad? All three took turns along with this sense of restlessness I couldn't shake off. Chuck was my attacker. He shot me. But not so long ago, he didn't mean any harm. It was almost obsessive, the way I kept remembering him and wondering where he went since. 

And not knowing made it worse. 

I had to think of something else. 

"What about Lauren? What is she up to?" 

Ben's fingers stilled in the bowl of popcorn. "Well, the usual. Devin had enough one day, and she tried to confront her in the girl's bathroom during a class." His face pinched. "She came back with a burnt wrist that Luc had to heal. Says she moved to block her on the way out, and Lauren pushed her aside. After that, Devin was really..."

He shook his head, and I felt that it upset him more than he allowed himself to show. "She'll come by tomorrow to see how you're doing." 

"Why, did she have a change of heart?" 

"No." He grinned dumbly and stared at the laptop screen. "Not at all. She's not always bitchy—just needs time to warm up to people. Half of us, when we heard of you, didn't believe it and reacted like her. She's... great, actually." 

My eyes narrowed a bit. Did I miss a step? "Are you two..."

Ben's gaze slid to me, wide and surprised. "No! I mean, no. No, we... we're not dating and never have. It'd be too weird. I mean—I like her, but not like like, you know what I mean? She—She's amazing and we hang out, but—"

He saw my skeptical expression and, to my growing amazement, caught his head between his hands. 

"Forget it," he said.