Chapter Nine

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Author's Note:

Guys. This story is already longer than Stolen Innocence, and I'm not even a quarter of the way through. This should show you how serious I am about this story...which means you should totally read it. :P Anyways, ENJOY. Vote, fan, share, comment, all dat makes meh a happy camper :)

xoxo,

Q.

Did I seriously faint? Have I grown a vagina in the past month, is that what’s happening to me? Because that’s the only logical explanation I’ve been able to come up with.

I blink a few times and when I open my eyes, they’re immediately pained by the overabundance of white. I squint as I get used to it, and then manage to fully open my eyes.

My parents are both standing by my side, as well as an unfamiliar man, who’s smiling at me and wearing a white lab coat. Wait, I’m in a freakin’ hospital? Oh, this just gets better and better.

“Hey there, Luke.” The doctor speaks to me like I’m five years old. Which is what I feel like at the moment. “Glad to see you’re awake.”

I completely ignore him and instead address my parents. “Did I pass out?” I ask. My mother nods, a serious expression on her face. I question her further. “Why?”

The doctor is the one who answers. “Your body could not withstand strenuous exercise due to a lack of nutrition and a lack of sleep.”

“You have been eating less at home, Luke.” Mom says, worriedly.

“What’s going on, son?” My dad asks me in his gruff voice.

“Nothing.” I say, automatically, but my dad shoots me a glare, so I quickly try and make something up in my head. “I’m worried about our next big game.”

There! Basketball always saves the day.

My mom looks at me, doubtfully, but my dad just smiles at me, an expression of understanding crossing his face.

“Oh, of course. Now I understand. Well, not sleeping or eating isn’t gonna help you, son. You need lots of energy in order for you to play your best, okay?”

Now he’s also talking to me like I’m a five-year-old.

Well, that’s what you get for passing out, you girl.

That bitch in my head is always right.

“So how long do I have to stay in here?” I ask.

“Well, we have you hooked on an IV because of your dehydration, and we want you to get back into your old eating and sleeping habits, so I’d say two or three more days and you should be back home.” The doctor smiles that wide, white-teeth, practiced smile that doctors have and I let my head fall back and groan. Three more days? Oh, that’s just great.

“Sweetheart, some friends of yours wanted to see you.” My mom informs me, before patting my leg and leaving the room with my dad and the doctor. They leave the door open and less than a minute later, Alana pokes her head inside the room.

“Hey, you up?” she asks.

“No.” I reply, which makes her roll her eyes.

“Well, we’re coming in anyway.” She says, and the ‘we’ makes me raise my eyebrows. Sure enough, as she walks into the room, she’s followed by Katy and Emery.

Well, shit. My day is going just great.

“Nate and Jess are on their way.” Alana says before I can even ask. “What happened?” She asks, sitting down on one of the chairs by my bedside. Katy and Emery do the same.

I shrug. “Passed out. Haven’t been sleeping or eating a lot recently.”
“Yeah, we noticed.” Katy says, grinning. I like Katy; I like that she never takes anything seriously. She’s always got something to say and she’s not afraid of saying it.

Unfortunately for me, that means she’s not going to sugarcoat the way I’ve been acting this past week.

“How come?” Emery asks, quietly, and I reluctantly move my eyes to look at him. It’s a mistake. His silver eyes are piercing into mine like a knife and I can’t read the expression on his face. My stomach staggers unpleasantly.

“I’ve been feeling kind of shitty recently.” I say, truthfully. The constant and sudden stomach pains haven’t been enjoyable. I feel like I’m PMSing. I swear, I’m turning into a girl more and more each day.

“But that doesn’t explain why you haven’t been sleeping.” Alana points out. Oh my God, stop asking me questions.

I shrug. “I just…can’t really sleep.”

Emery’s head cocks to the side as he observes me. I swallow, feeling suddenly very self-conscious. Shit, he knows I’m lying. Shit, shit, shit.

Calm the fuck down, Luke. What’s he going to do?

Right, right. He doesn’t know the real reason as to why I haven’t been sleeping.

Wait, holy shit.

What if Toby or Drew told him?

The second this thought pops into my head, my eyes widen and my heart starts racing. I feel my palms starting to sweat nervously.

“Uh…Luke? Are you okay? Should we call a nurse?” Alana asks, gazing at me, apprehensively. 

“No, no, I’m fine, I just…” I squeeze my eyes shut and then open them again. “I need to talk to Toby Wallace.”

All three of them stare at me.

“Toby?” Katy asks, in surprise. “Why do you need to talk to Toby?”

“I have to ask him something important.” I say, carefully. I feel Emery’s eyes watching me, curiously.

“I have his number if you want to call him.” Emery says, already tossing me his phone.

“Thanks.” I mutter and search through Emery’s contacts until I find the right name. Glancing at the three of them awkwardly, I press the phone to my ear. It rings three times before Toby picks up.

“Emery, hi.” He says on the other line.

“Um…actually, it’s Luke.” I say, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

“Luke?” His voice is surprised. “What’s up?”

“Um, remember that thing I told you about? Behind the gym at lunch that day?” I’m being incredibly vague and I know it, but I’m too scared specify further when Alana, Katy, and Emery are here.

“Yeah, the dream.” Toby says and I sigh in relief, glad he knows what I’m talking about without me having to elaborate anymore.

“Yeah, well, did you tell anyone about it?”

“No, of course not.” Toby replies, indignantly.

“You didn’t tell anyone?” I persist, wanting to make sure I’m safe.

“No one.” He confirms.

“What about Drew, did he tell anyone?” I continue.

“Luke.” Toby’s voice is deadpan now. “Neither of us would do that to you. Believe me, I’m fully aware of how much it sucks to be out.”

Goddamn it, you little bastard, I’m straight!

“Toby, I already told you I’m not, okay?”

Toby sighs. “Sure, okay, whatever, I’ll drop it.”

“Thank you.” I say, hanging up the phone and tossing it back to Emery. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He replies, still watching me curiously. I want to tell him it’s making me uncomfortable, but that would be an awkward conversation.

“What was that all about?” Katy asks me, her eyebrows raised. Alana is also looking at me, interestedly.

“Nothing.” I say, in such a firm tone that none of them say any more on the subject.

Thankfully, right at the time where our silence was shifting to the awkward, the door opens and Nate and Jess sidle their way in.

I grin at them. “Hey, guys.”

“Hey, Luke.” Jess smiles easily at me, and Nate shoots me a sheepish grin. They both pull up chairs and sit down on the other side of my bed.

“So, are you done with your little breakdown thing now?” Nate says, and Jess immediately glares at him for his insensitive remark.

I laugh and quickly glimpse at Emery before I reply to Nate.

“Yes.” I say, confidently. “Sorry about all that, it’s been a weird week.”

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Nate says, smiling warmly at me.

“Yeah.” Alana nods in agreement. “You’re our best friend, Luke, we’re always here for you.”

“Even if you sleep with Vanessa Reeve.” Katy chips in. Everyone glares at her, but I just laugh. Because it’s Katy.

But then I let my head fall backwards and I groan. “I can’t believe I did that.”

Laughs fill the room and I start to feel better; more like myself again.

“Well, we all knew you were a whore anyway.” Jess says, grinning cheekily at me. I raise my eyebrows at her.

“Oh, is that how you wanna play, Jess? I wasn’t the one who slept with Chase Jackson.”

A furious blush blossoms on her cheeks. “I was drunk, okay?” she mumbles.

“Oh, were you now, Jessica?” I say, mockingly.  

She shoots dagger eyes at me. “Don’t call me that.”

I grin. That’s one of the things Nate and Jess have in common; they both hate being called by their full names. It’s another thing that makes them perfect for each other.

“I’m kind of glad this happened.” Alana says, out of the blue, surprising everyone. I raise my eyebrows at her.

“You’re glad that I collapsed and am in the hospital?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes at me. “No, stupid. I’m glad that we’re all here and I feel like we’re gonna be closer because of it.”

Jess shoots her a disbelieving look. “Alana, you and I share cooking utensils and bras, I don’t see how much closer we could be.”

“Ugh, TMI.” Katy says, faking a shudder. Nate and I grin at each other.

“I could keep you in my womb. Like a baby kangaroo.” Alana says, looking at Jess unblinkingly.

“Wow, okay, Alana. What was your point?” I ask.

“Okay. I want everyone to join hands.” She says, bossily.

Nate eyes her, skeptically. “Why?”

“Just do it!” she exclaims and we all hasten to obey her. I hold hands with Alana and Jess, who are both on either side of me. Alana in turn holds Emery’s hand, who holds Katy’s hand, who reaches across the end of my bed to hold Nate’s hand, who is awkwardly holding Jess’ hand.

“All of us are going to say something about ourselves.” Alana begins.

“Alana...” Emery says, his voice sounding pained.

“It doesn’t have to be some deep, dark secret. It can be serious, or it can just be something you’re a little embarrassed about.” Alana immediately continues. “Just as long as it’s something about yourself. Who wants to start?”

No one speaks at first and there’s an awkward silence before Jess sighs, impatiently.

“Oh, might as well get this over with.” She huffs. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she says, evenly, “This is incredibly embarrassing to admit, but…I used to have the biggest crush on Luke.”

“What?” I exclaim as Alana bursts into laughter. Nate’s just sitting there, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.

“I was a freshman and he was really cute!” Jess says, immediately on the defensive side. “Plus, back then I didn’t know what an insufferable douchebag he is!”

“Hey!” I say, loudly. “I am in a hospital bed; be nice to me.”

She rolls her eyes. “You wanna go next, Mr. Pity Party?”

I scowl at her, but then regain the seriousness. Now, I’m not mentioning anything about this whole Emery/dreaming business, because I haven’t even let myself think about that yet and it certainly doesn’t need to get out of my head. So instead, I let them in on something else I’ve been hiding from them.

“Gabe has anemia.” I say. Alana’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Are you serious?” she asks, surprised.

I nod and with a sigh, begin to elaborate. “He got diagnosed a couple months ago. Mom’s really panicked about it. Gabe acts like he’s so chill, but I know that he worries a lot. He hates going to hospitals; that’s why he’s not here today.”

“Man, that blows.” Nate whistles.

I nod, feeling a little pang in my heart for my little brother.

Katy goes next.

She sighs, but begins to speak, her eyes on the ground. “Well, mine isn’t sad, but it’s plenty embarrassing.” She takes a deep breath before speaking again. “I lost my virginity to Drew Haynes.” She says, quietly.

There is a collective gasp around the room.

“Like…Toby’s Drew?” Emery asks, his voice just dripping in confusion, which is what all of us are feeling, I’m pretty sure.

Katy nods miserably.

“But…how?” Jess says, and you can tell she’s trying hard not to laugh.

“Well, this was before he knew he was gay.” Katy says, defensively. “I met him at summer camp. He was thirteen and I was fourteen. We were both total kids; we didn’t even know what we were doing. It was the most awkward experience of my life and the two of us vowed never to speak of it again. I found out he and Toby were dating way back when they first started dating, which was last year, when the two of them were freshmen. I felt like the stupidest thing.” She sighs and deflates a little.

Emery reaches out and plays with her hair, smiling at her. The smile that just belongs on his face, where his eyes light up and the little dimple appears in his left cheek. Sure enough, the dimple lies right there in his cheek and his eyes are suddenly brighter than fireflies.

“Don’t worry about it. Everyone’s first time is terrible.” He says, comfortingly. He catches my eye and I instinctively grin at him. He grins back and my eyes now automatically look to his left cheek for the dimple.

“Amen.” Nate says.

I furrow my eyebrows at him. “Didn’t you say your first time was great?”

“Oh, it was.” Nate replies. “But then something ruined it. Which brings us to my story, which is something none of you know.”

“Do tell.” Alana says, interestedly.

“Well, most of you know that my first time was with Lilith Campbell. And you also know that I was completely in love with her, even though you guys constantly liked to remind me how she had buck teeth.” He glares at me and Alana, who grin at each other. “I thought everything was going great. And our first time was great, like I said.” He sighs. “Till two weeks later, she shows up at my door with eyes full of tears and a positive pregnancy test in her hand.”

Our grins evaporate. This just got serious again.

“You knocked her up?” I exclaim.

He ignores me and continues in his story. “The two of us panicked; we had no idea what to do. We didn’t want to tell our parents, but we knew we had to. So we gritted our teeth and we did it. Her dad went ballistic; and so did my mom. It was terrible. Eventually, things calmed down and her parents started taking her to doctor’s appointments and they let me come along.” A little smile creeps onto his face. “It was amazing, I really wanted to tell you guys.” He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. We all watch him as he opens it and pulls something out. Unfolding it, he holds up the sonogram for us all to see.

“Wow.” Jess whispers, gazing at it. Nate’s eyes flicker to her for a moment, and then he folds the paper back up, sticks it back in his wallet, and puts the wallet back in his pocket.

He sighs and looks down. “Lilith miscarried in her fourth month. It was ugly and without a doubt, one of the scariest moments in my life. We were in the same bed and she woke me up, screaming that there was blood. And there was; there was blood everywhere. I didn’t know what to do; I was only fifteen, and she was just bleeding so much. I called 911 and they got her to the hospital, but there was nothing they could do and the baby didn’t make it.”

Jess’ and Katy’s eyes are filled with tears and even Alana gazes at Nate, glassy-eyed.

“I’m really sorry, Nate.” Emery says in a low voice.

“Thanks, man.” Nate replies.

“I can’t believe you had to deal with that all on your own.” I say, incredulously, thinking out loud. “I’m so sorry, mate.”

Nate smiles at me, slightly.

“It was a girl.” He says, and is met with a long pause that stretches across the room uncomfortably. “I haven’t spoken to Lilith since.” Nate adds, with a touch of finality, which means that his story is over.

Alana decides to go next. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes as she does so. “I used to self harm.”

Everyone’s eyes are on Alana and mine widen. She looks dangerously close to tears as she continues. “I was in seventh grade when it started. It was right about the time my parents were starting their divorce and I was having trouble making friends at school.

I didn’t feel comfortable at home or at school, and everything just seemed to be getting worse and worse, and so I subjected to self-harm. It was early in freshman year when my mom found out about it. She called my dad to talk about it with him.

It was the first time they’d spoken since the divorce. Anyway, my mom sent me to a therapist and that was really good for me. And then I met you guys,” she smiles. “And it was all uphill from there.” She finishes. I squeeze her hand gently, which is already in mine, and she shoots me a small smile.

There’s a brief silence, before Emery clears his throat.

He’s the last one.

He glances around at us, awkwardly, before saying, quietly, “We moved here because I was bullied out of my old town.”

I stare at him in surprise, and so does everyone else. His silver eyes meet mine for a second, but then he looks down.

“It started when I entered high school. I didn’t have any friends. No one wanted to be friends with me and I got picked on incessantly. They pulled every trick in the book. I was shoved in lockers, thrown in dumpsters…” he lets out a bitter snort. “One time, this guy, Troy DeLuca, actually tied me up on the top of the basketball hoop, gagged me, and he and his friends threw basketballs at me for two hours. They made it a game. Five points if they hit me in the stomach. Ten if they got me in the head. First to a hundred won. Then they left me there till the janitor found me the next morning.”

I’m staring at him, horrified, suddenly feeling like I am part of the most dishonorable sport in high school. To my dismay, Emery just continues.

“It was a lot of nights I didn’t make it home. They had too much fun with me to just let me go. They used to let their cigarettes out on me.”

I find I’m chewing on the inside of my mouth again. I want him to stop. I don’t want to hear what people did to him; all that happened to him before he came here and started messing with my mind.

“I couldn’t shower in the locker rooms, ‘cause Troy used to take my clothes. During lunch, he would come over to my table and spit in my food. Once, when I was a freshman, he locked me in my own washing machine. In my own house!” he snorts once again and I hate it. I hate that snort, because it’s so hostile. I mean, he has every right to be hostile, but it just doesn’t suit him. Emery’s such a sweet guy, why would anyone do any of that to him?

“What was he doing at your house?” Alana asks, her voice quiet.

Emery smirks. “He was dating my sister.”

“You have a sister?” spills out of my mouth. I don’t even realize I say it till Emery looks at me, blinking.

“Yeah. Emily. She’s in college now, though, up in Indiana. She likes it there. She had a great high school life. Dated the captain of the basketball team, didn’t I mention that?” He spits, sarcastically. He pauses and then leaves us with a final story. “One day, Troy and his friends were picking on me as usual, but…they got a little carried away. They were drinking—a lot—and they just seemed to get wilder and angrier as they went on.” He speaks in a flat tone, but I can feel my heart sinking lower with every word he says. “The police found me in a ditch the next morning. I’d tried to get out, but I couldn’t. They really got to me that time.”

Emery lifts up his shirt and my stomach completely drops. A long, puckered scar traces his skin diagonally, from his left collarbone

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