High School Affairs (MB Story)

It All Falls Down

(Ray POV)

The next morning around seven something Chris texted all of us saying that Tamara's surgery went fine. As much as I wanted to stay in my bed and get one more hour of sleep, I took a quick shower, grabbed a poptart and hopped a bus to the hospital.

The lady at the front desk gives me the room number and I head down the hall. I'm the first one who arrives so it's just Tamara and Chris who is knocked out in a plastic chair.

Tamara looks up at me and smiles likes everything's fine. "Hey," she says putting her magazine next to her.

I sit on the bed, staring at Tamara. From a first glance she looks completely healthy but then I notice the IV in her arm. "Any pain?" I ask.

"Hell yeah there's pain. At first when the surgery was over I didn't feel anything cuz they put me to sleep, but once I tried to move...it was like something inside me being stretched out painfully. I cried when I first felt it but it's a little less intense now." She says cringing.

"Ouch," I say sympathetically. "Can I see the stitches?"

She rolls her eyes and moves her hospital gown to the side to reveal a small part of her stomach. I lean in to see the patch of stitches and count eight of them.

"Damn girl, they stitched you up like that?" I say chuckling.

"How about you have a bullet pierce your stomach and see how they stitch you up." She says laughing. "Ugh you should have seen the amount of blood they washed off of me. I almost threw up."

I chuckle and look over to where Chris is still sleeping in his chair. His neck is at such a weird angle I'm surprised his head hasn't fallen off.

"There's blood on his shirt too." I say looking at the faded stain on his grey shirt, right on his stomach. "You know he cried over you last night." I tell Tamara.

She glances at him then back at me. "Yeah, so?"

"You should forgive him T. He really has it bad for you, he risked alot for you." I say, trying hard to persuade her.

Tamara sighs and leans back against her pillow. "Why are you defending him? He is the one who gave you a black eye last month."

I drop my gaze to the blankets. I'm not sure why I'm defending him either. Maybe it's because I've gotten to know the real Chris. Maybe it's because we've grown a little closer in the past weeks. Whatever, I'm not sure but I know he has strong feelings for Tamara.

Just then we hear voices in the hallway.

"Yo I'm starving man. We couldn't stop at Mickey D's for some pancakes first?" We hear someone say.

We both look at each other knowing exactly who that is. "Craig,"

Sure enough Craig and the rest of our friends walk into the room. The conversation we were having disappears as our friends all start talking at once.

"We brought balloons!"

"Are you ok?"

"Can we see your stitches?"

"Thank God you're alive!"

Tamara laughs as they tie balloons to the hospital bed and crowd around her.

"So when do you get out of here?" Alicia asks coming to stand next to me. I wrap my arms around her waist and press my face against her stomach, trying to stay up. Those four hours of sleep was like a nap to me. She strokes one of my braids gently making me even sleepier.

"Tomorrow, the nurses wanna make sure there's no more internal bleeding for the next 24 hours then I'm free to go."

"Good, we'll treat you to a celebration lunch." Jasmine says.

Tamara rolls her eyes. "You guys act like I've been in the hospital for months. It's only been a couple hours."

Jaida shoots her a glare. "You.Could.Have.Been.Dead."

"Buuuut I'm not." Tamara points out. We roll our eyes at her and she laughs, "And why are you walking like that?" She asks as Jaida walks slowly, almost painfully, over to the white board to look at all the get well soon messages written on it. Jacob starts laughing and she whips her around to glares at him.

"I'll be back guys, I'm gonna go see how my mom's doing." Jacob says, still chuckling and heading for the door. We knod and he leaves, shutting the door behind him.

Jaida stands there, fighting a smile on her face, "Mmm, I'll tell you guys later." She says rocking back and forth on her feet. I'm pretty sure we can all easily guess why she's walking so awkwardly.

Alicia giggles, "Oh she got the D."

"Shut up!" Jaida shouts, whipping a market at her and fighting a smile.

Tamara gasps loudly, "Did you really? He laid pipe!?" Her face is all lit up and giddy like a little girl.

"Guys stooop!" Jaida groans, covering her face. We all laugh at her as she peers at us through her fingers.

"Damn, he's like in a internal sleep." Craig says looking over at Chris who's changed positions.

"My parents told me he was up all night. Before and after the surgery. When I woke up he was knocked out." Tamara says turning the tv on.

"Aww that's sweet." Alicia says glancing at a sleeping Chris. Tamara doesn't respond as she flips through channels.

"Anyone got a marker?" I ask looking around. "I think Chris would look nice with a mustache."

"And a mole!" Jasmine adds in. Craig laughs and tosses me the marker that's sitting in the little steel tray under the white board.

I scoot off the bed and walk lightly over to Chris, crouching down and gently beginning to draw. He wrinkles his nose a little but doesn't wake up. Everyone covers their mouths to keep from laughing as I draw. Jaida snaps some pictures probably planning to post them on instagram.


"Lemme see your stitches." Jasmine says, already pulling the hospital gown to the side. Tamara shows them and they all lean in for a closer look.

"Cool, do they hurt?" Jasmine asks.

"Only when I move." Tamara responds. The door opens again and Autumn and Serena walk in. Suddenly the room falls dead silent as we look at Tamara to see her reaction. She's staring at Autumn in surprise. She opens her mouth but Autumn speaks first. "I brought you cookies...homemade." She blurts out.


Tamara glances at the plate of cookies then back at her Autumn. Sighing, Autumn places the plate on the foot of the bed and walks up to Tamara. "Serena told me you were in the hospital. The least I could do was come and visit." She says.


"Why?" Tamara asks bluntly.

"Because we were friends at one point. No matter how much you hate me, it wouldn't be right to just avoid you in your condition." Autumn says in a small voice.

"That's real sweet Autumn." Tamara says. "Now what? Do you expect me to jump up and hug you so we can be best friends forever?" Fake cheerfulness drips from her voice.

Autumn crosses her arms. "I wish it were that easy. But of course you just have to be the stubborn one." She snaps. Tamara raises her eyebrows and Autumn continues. "I came here to make sure you're ok, I'm being a good person even if I don't have to you. But you're too busy being mad at me about one little kiss. I know it was wrong but damn, Chris is hung up on you. He saved your life Tamara, if he had to choose between me and you to save. I'm 100 percent sure he'd choose you. He---

"Cheat on me." Tamara states with hate blazing in her eyes.

Autumn rolls his eyes. "I kissed him because I was jealous, ok? He slept with me so I figured I deserve him way more than a girl who does nothing but mess with his head. The kiss meant nothing, I swear. It was just...a spur of the moment type thing." It's like everyone is holding their breath as the drama unfolds. Even I'm more alert than I was before.

Tamara rolls her eyes. "Yet he kissed you back and I bet both of you would have saved that kiss for some kind of inside joke or something. If it wasn't for Destiny I'd be dating a untrustworthy man hoe without knowing it."

"Well at least you wouldn't be in a hospital bed now would you?" Autumn asks leaning in closer to Tamara's face.

Everyone held their breath, afraid that another fight would break out.

"You don't know that for sure. It's not like you can predict the future." Tamara says, simply shrugging and leaning against her pillow. Autumn's face softens and she exhales a little.

"Tamara I don't want to leave things so messed up between us. I'm sorry, ok? I-I don't know what else to say except I'm sorry." She says.

Tamara sighs and covers her face with her hands. Autumn furrows her eyebrows and crosses her arms uncomfortably. The tension lingers in the room like really thick fog. Suddenly the door opens and Jacob walks in. His face falls when he spots Autumn. "Uh-oh...what I miss?"

"Nothing yet..." Jasmine mutters. "How's you're mom?"

"Oh she's way better than before. They're releasing her next week." He says sitting on the arm of one of the plastic chairs. "But her male nurse keeps flirting with her. He brings her home cooked meals and everything."

"Ayye get it mama Perez. She's baggin in the hospital." Jaida says. Jacob shoots her a disgusted look and we laugh.

"At least she's not getting married. My dad is trying to marry that husband stealing hoe and they want me to attend the wedding." I say making a face.

"Are you gonna go?" Alicia asks. What she really means is 'you better go to that damn wedding and repair your relationship with your dad.' I shrug and she frowns at me.

The room falls silent again and Autumn shifts from one foot to the other. The tv shows some commercial for an orthopedic bed and we all watch it to avoid the awkwardness.

Autumn sighs and shoves her hands in her pockets. "Is there anything I can do to fix things, Tamara?"

Tamara shoots her glare and is probably about to make some smart comment when the door suddenly opens. Two police officers bust in, shoving Craig out the way. We watch as they scan the room, full of people.

"Chresanto August?" One of them asks.

I slowly back away from Chris as the second police officer looks in our direction. I recognize him from last night. He walks over and yanks Chris up from his chair by his arm. Chris's eyes pop open in surprise, fresh drool still on his cheek. His half drawn mustache is right under his nose but I'm too surprised at what's going on to even laugh.

"Whoa, what's going on? Ow! He shrieks, rubbing his sore neck that was bent at an awkward angle.

"You're under arrest for selling and possessing marijuana and other drugs." The second cop says, beginning to drag him away. Chris's eyes pop open, no longer sleepy.

"Wait...no...hold on..." Chris tries to say.

"Anything you say will be held against you in court." The first officer says. Chris tries to fight them off but they push him to the floor and press their knees against his back and neck. They force cuffs onto his wrist then help him stand up.

We watch as they struggle to drag Chris out the room. He looks at all of us with frantic and fear filled eyes. But there wasn't anything we could do to help him right now.

"Call my mom." He yells at Craig in calm voice. Something tells me he's not too surprised that the cops are here for him.

The cop jerks his arms harder behind his back, "You have the right to remain silent." He commands.

"Wait a minute, what about the other guy? Joey! He's involved in this too." Craig says.

The first officer looks at him with curious eyes. "Are you saying you were involved with them?"

"What?...no but---"

"Well then," the officer says cutting him off. "I suggest you be quiet before you get arrested too."

Craig narrows his eyes like he's ready to throw a punch but Jasmine pulls him back a few inches. The cops finally yank Chris out the door and leads him down the hallway. Once he was gone a nurse walks in. "I think it's time for you all to leave. Tamara needs her rest."


We knew what she was really saying. She wants all of us to leave because she thinks we're juvenile delinquents. But none of us move. We're all too surprised at the fact that one of our friends just got arrested right in front of us.

It's like one door opened just for another one to slam shut right in our faces.

"Did you hear me?" The nurse asks again.

"Yes, damn. Can we say bye to our friend first?" Craig snaps at her. The nurse looks him up and down before spinning on her heel and walking away. The room stays silent again as we turn to look at Tamara. She meets our gaze and looks at us confused.

"Why are you all staring at me?" She asks.

"Just making sure you're ok." Jacob says

Tamara rolls her eyes. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

We all exchange a look wondering who should risk speaking up. "Well considering what just happened I figured you'd be an emotional wreck." Alicia says.

"Well I'm not." Tamara says crossing her arms. "I'm actually pretty tired so why don't yall just go."

We take the hint that she wants to be left alone, so after giving her hugs we all leave her room. The walk down the hall was quiet and once we reached outside, we silently just went out separate ways to go home.