Try Me

Chapter 7

Sunday, September 13th

Marisa's POV:

Adam and Joey talk Megan and I into going to see the scary movie, IT. After picking up all the snacks, we find our preplanned recliner seats. In the middle of previews,  the previews when I notice a familiar figure walking towards my seat.

I look up and it's James smiling at me while he sits and says "Fancy seeing you here." "Uh Yea, last minute plans with friends. What about you?" "Dawson basically begged me to see this movie even though I wanted to nap, but seeing you here makes this worth it." as the movie starts.

In the middle of the movie, it starts getting scarier and more suspenseful. I start flinching and hiding in my shirt. Especially when a jump scare happens, I grab the closest thing near me which I thought was the arm rest, but apparently it's a hand, James' hand. I'm about to pull away and whisper an apology when he intertwines my fingers with his,  squeezes, and whispers "it's ok, I've got you." I'm thankful he can't see my blush. As the movie progresses, He lets me hide my face in his shoulder which I'm grateful for.

What I didn't know was that my ex friends were watching all of our interactions closely and jealously.

After the movie is over, I undo our hands and thank him again for everything. He says "honestly you kept me from freaking out most of the time so I should be thanking you too." "Im glad I could be of service, I'll see you tomorrow at school."

In the car, Megan smirks and says "you looked really comfy there Marisa." "Shut up guys, it's nothing." "Yea, right, sure." I shove my face in my hands to hide my blush.

Monday, September 14th

Marisa's POV:

The day is uneventful until lunch when I'm cornered in the bathroom by my ex friends. McKenzie says "What did we say about hanging around James?" Taylor says "We saw you all cuddled up to him at the movies yesterday, and now there will be consequences." They don't give me a chance to respond when my head gets slammed into the mirror and Everything goes black.

Megan's POV:

It's time for communications when I realize my best friend isn't in class. Last time I saw her, she was going to the bathroom near the band room.

I text her, but no response. I start to get really worried and I make eye contact with James who's looking at me with concern. I raise my hand and ask to go to the bathroom. Once I'm out of the room, I basically run towards the bathroom near the band room.

I'm not prepared for what I see when I open the door. I see Marisa lying on the ground with scratches, bruises forming, glass from the smashed mirror in her head and blood, a lot of blood.

I run back to class to get my teachers, I must look super panicked when I burst in because they ask me immediately what's wrong. I say "come quick, I need help." I take them to where Marisa is lying; they both gasp and tell me to tell the nurse that they are coming. Unbeknownst to me, The class, especially Joey, Adam, Dawson and James followed us.

Mr. M picked Marisa up and is now carrying her to the nurses office. The rest of the class is snap-chatting what's going on. The looks on my friends faces is panicked and concerned; James looks scared and angry. He came up to me and asks "what happened?" I tell him that I don't know and that I found her like that.

Mrs. S tries to usher the class back to the room, but that doesn't stop Adam, Joey and I from going into the nurses office.

In there, the nurse is trying to stop the bleeding while Mr.M calls an ambulance. The nurse asks "what happened? How long was she like this?" I say "I don't know, I just found her like this 5 minutes ago, and she went into this bathroom during around 12:30."

It's 1:23pm right now. The nurse tries to wake Marisa up but it's not working which is super concerning. The paramedics arrive and take her to the hospital, I call her mom, but I only left a voicemail. Joey, Adam and I are ushered back into class. I spend the rest of the day wondering if she's ok.

Marisa's POV:

Everything hurts and I think I'm moving. I'm having issues opening my eyes. I groan and try to move, but I'm strapped down. I open my eyes and notice I'm in an ambulance and my memory comes back to me: the encounter with my ex friends and my head being smashed into the mirror. The paramedics try to get me to answer questions, but I can only get out my name and age before the pain becomes too much.

Next thing I know is I wake up in a hospital bed. I'm confused, and groggy. I notice stitches and bandages covering my arms and face.

My mom is sitting by my bedside on her computer; honestly, I'm surprised she's even here. I attempt to say something, but my throat is super dry; I grab a drink and finally my mom notices I'm awake, she's about to say something, but she's interrupted.

My friends burst into my room, James and Dawson are with them. James basically runs to my bedside and asks "What happened? Are you ok?" I'm still loopy due to the anesthesia so I say "You're cute when you're concerned." And then I fall back asleep.

About an hour later around 7pm, I wake up to Megan, Adam, Joey, James and Dawson chilling in my room. I says "what's the damage?" They jump and Joey says "you have a broken nose, cracked skull, concussion, bruises and scratches fixed with stitches." "Geez, that's a lot." Megan asks "What exactly happened?" "Maddie, Mckenzie, Taylor, Jenna and Jill; that's what happened." Adam says "Those bitches...; they attacked you for no reason?" I go "there's a reason, just not a valid one."

As I say this, I shift my eyes towards James, so they will catch my drift without me actually having to say it out loud. James catches on and says "what did they say exactly?"

Im hesitant, but I see the pleading look on my friends faces and I say " Mckenzie said What did we say about hanging around James?, then Taylor said We saw you all cuddled up to him at the movies yesterday, and now there will be consequences. And then the assault ensued."

James looks guilty and goes "it's because of me; this happened to you because of me, this is all my fault." He's about to leave the room, when i say "wait" and I sit up quickly and which is horrible for my head and apparently for my ribs, because I feel a sharp pain in the right side of my ribs.

I gasp, clutch my ribs and am writhing in pain on my bed. My heart rate becomes rapid and unstable and I'm having issues breathing. I can see through the tears in my eyes Megan panicking and being comforted by Dawson. I gotta remember to ask her about that later when I'm not in pain.

The doctors come running in to check out the pain and realize one of my ribs it broken and puncturing my lung making it incredibly hard to breath. They take me to x-ray to make sure, and then surgery because if they don't repair my lung and rib, my lung could collapse.

Marisa's Mom's POV:

Once I get all the details of what happened to my child. I call the principal to inform him, he said they already looked into the incident and caught the girls on video who assaulted my daughter. They will serve an in school suspension for 1 month for each of them. Marisa will gets 1 week off of school to recover from her injuries.

I feel so bad for Marisa, she has been through so much in the past couple months, this isn't what she needs. But what she does need is James Kingsley in her life. He's here so he obviously cares a great deal for her. I am going to see what his intentions are with her.

"James, can I talk to you for a second?" "Sure, what's up?" "What are your intentions?" "Um, uh, what do you mean?" "James you know what I mean." "Ok, ok, I just want to be in her life in any capacity whether that's as a friend or more, whatever she is comfortable with. I just know that I need her." I'm touched and say "You'll do."

Visiting hours are up and her friends have to go home. I tell them I will keep them updated if anything changes. She is going to stay overnight for observation.