The New Girl

Chapter Fifteen

For the first time, I got out of bed much earlier than Brooklyn. It was five in the morning, and he was sound asleep, snoring like an old man, something I never knew he could do.

My skull was heavy with all the memories of our little night adventure and eyes itching for more sleep. Actually I hadn't had wink of sleep after spying on Lovina. Images of she sucking the blood from the little furry creature had clouded my eyes and kept me wake.

The thundering and lightning had subsided, but I could see it was still dark outside the window. As I hadn't eaten anything after the lunch break yesterday, I went down in the eating hall massaging my stomach.

What was I thinking? Surely it wasn't a breakfast time yet and the dining hall was deserted, except for the kitchen staffs about to start their jobs.

I sat on the chair, drumming the fingers on the table and lost in thought. Not counting the unfinished homework, I had nothing to do. Wait. There was one thing.

I whipped out the phone and connected it with Arvon's.

"What is it, Casper? Call to apologize?" he sounded like he was suffering from sleep deprivation too.

"Yes," I replied. "I'm sorry. H-how is David?"

"Alive," Arvon said. "We're in Emergency ward, in Saint Xavier Hospital, if you want to come see us."

"I'm coming."

"What hit your head all night, C?"

"I'll tell you when I get there. Bye."

Saint Xavier Hospital was across the river and only twenty minutes away from Neon. But it took me half an hour to reach there as I had to spend five minutes looking for a taxi and another five minutes to collect cappuccinos and pasties on the way.

Saint Xavier Hospital is an old building that literally has an outlook of a king's castle. The Emergency ward was a long rectangular room lined with beds occupied by patients swathed in green hospital dress.

I passed like ten beds carrying cappuccinos on a plastic tray before finding the right one. David was asleep flanked by drowsy-looking Arvon and his chubby roommate, Chuck Liwinsky sitting on stool on both side of the bed.

"Hey," I said to my friends to give them notice of my arrival.

Arvon looked at me with swollen eyes and smiled wearily. "Are those cappuccinos?"

He sneezed. I realized he was still in his drenched clothes while Chuck wasn't. I guess he fled out of his room with raincoat in hand when Arvon phoned him for help.

"Oh, yes. But I should have brought dry clothes for you instead." I placed the tray on the medicine table beside the bed, and Arvon and Chuck helped themselves to the steaming cup.

"Only if you'd been that smart, D wouldn't have been here in the first place," said Arvon.

As I sipped from the cup, my eyes fixed on David, my heart surrendered itself to emotions. His face looked worse, just like a losing player in a boxing match. One of his eyes was circled in black, his cheeks and lips were puffed and there were cotton pressed in his nostrils to stop the bleeding.

"He's okay," Chuck said, and I became aware of tears pooling in my eyes. I quickly wiped them away with the heel of my hand. "It would take some time for his face to heal, though."

"Shouldn't we inform his parents about this?" I said.

"No," Arvon said. "David wouldn't like his family to see him in this condition. You and me have to pay his hospital bills, even if it means we have to zero our ATM cards."