sixteen
The next morning I woke up, I was still in my clothes from the day before. I sighed when I looked at the clock and realized I needed to get up.
"Where were you last night?" I heard a voice call from the doorway. I turned around to see my dad standing there.
"I was out with a friend," I mumbled. He just nodded his head and left. I heard my parents arguing downstairs as they were leaving the house. I got dressed and went into Luke's room to find him sprawled out on the bed.
"Let's go, looks like we're walking to school."
-
After a long walk through the rain. The both of us finally got to school.
Our clothing was soaked and our hands felt like ice cubes. He waved goodbye as we headed for our lockers. My jacket was dripping with water so I tucked it away in my locker and headed to first period.
Within a few minutes Ashton walked in with Amber by his side. The two were talking when they took a seat far away from me. I just looked down at my notebooks, hoping that Ashton wouldn't accidentally make eye contact with me.
A few hours later, I found myself sitting in my art class across from Ashton. The only contact we ever made was passing each other the paper we had our essay on. He glared at me a few times, I did the same to him. A few minutes later, Michael walked by and took a seat next to Ashton. All three of us were silent for a few seconds before Michael spoke up.
"Listen, party at my place this weekend. See you there?" He asked Ashton. I looked up from the paper and watched him smile and nod his head. Michael stood up and began to walk away. I just shook my head and continued working.
Before the bell rang, Ms. Rain stood up in front of the class and began talking.
"Alright class, the time has come, your quarter projects are due on Friday, that gives you around four days to finish it," she started. "I will pick my favorite peice of work to be featured in the Seattle Museum of Art."
Everyone whispered to about the contest while Ashton and I just completely ignored each other.
Within seconds, the bell had rung. I quickly rushed out of the classroom and made my way to my locker. I grabbed my things and closed the door. I saw Ashton walking up to me as I put my stuff together.
He pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket. He clutched the money and tried to hand it to me.
"I told you I'd pay you back," he scoffed.
"Where did you get this?" I questioned.
"I borrowed some money from a friend," he mumbled. He tried once again to hand me the cash. I placed my hand on his and pushed it away. He looked at my for a moment in confusion. I didn't know why I didn't just take the money?
"I don't need this Ash, it's fine," I started. I ignored my thoughts and continued. "I don't want you getting into any more trouble with these guys." He rolled his eyes and put the money back in his pocket. I turned around and started to walk away. Why would Ashton even want to pay me back after the argument we had yesterday? I was half way down the hallway when I looked behind me and saw that he had already left.
-
"So, I see you've been looking into becoming a surgeon?" I heard a voice call. I turned around to see a scrub nurse standing behind me. I had been sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for hours now, my mom was suppose to take me home but she was stuck in another surgery.
"Yes," I replied. The nurse nodded her head and spoke up.
"Your mom says she'll be a few hours and it would be best if you just called Luke," She said clearly. I nodded my head and stood up.
"Luke is here. Watching his dad preform open heart surgery on a solider," I snapped. The nurse took a step back. "Tell her I'll walk," I mumbled. I just grabbed my coat and waked down to the E.R. I looked around for a minute while trying to find Luke's mom to see if I could take her car home or maybe even stay at their loft which was just a block away from the hospital. I searched around for a little bit until I finally found her working on a women in one of the trauma rooms. I looked on the table to find her passed out.
"Someone page Dr. Montgomery," I took a closer look at the women to see Ashton's Aunt waking up.
"Oh my god," I mumbled. I quickly rushed to her side.
"Shannon I need you to step back," Luke's mom said.
"Oh dear, it's fine, she can stay," Jenna spoke. I just sighed in relief.
"What happened? Why are you paging my dad?"
"She passed out while she was at work thats all, she may have a minor concussion, its good that she's talking. We want to have your father check her out before we discharge her." I held Jenna's hand while she laid there. "Jennifer, do you have any family we can call?"
"My nephew," She started. "Actually Shannon, you can call him can't you?" She asked. I nodded my head and started to walk out of the room.
"Wait," I heard Luke's mom say. "How do you two know each other?" I turned around and looked at Jenna.
"My nephew, Ashton and her are friends," Jenna mumbled. She nodded her head and shoed me out of the room. I dug through my bag, trying to find my phone which I realized I had left at home. I quickly made my way over to the hospital phone and dialed Ashton's number.
"Hello?" He answered quickly.
"It's Shannon," I said.
"Why are you calling me," He huffed. He was clearly still mad.
"You need to come to the hospital right now."
"Why?" He mumbled. I looked into the window of the trauma room to see that Jenna was laying on the table, seizing. I began to panic as I saw my dad trying to stabilize her.
"It's y-your aunt, she's here, she asked me to call you," I cried. I was panicking more than ever right now.
"Okay, I'll be there soon," he said quickly and hung up. I sat down in a chair beside the room. My leg seemed to bounce up and down as I waited for Ashton. Every time I would turn around to check on Jenna, she seemed to be seizing again.
Within minutes, I saw Ashton rush into the E.R. He went over to the nurses station and asked for his Aunt.
"Ashton!" I called. He rushed over to me and looked into the room. A nurse came out and told him he wasn't allowed to see Jennifer until she was stable. He nodded his head and sat down next to me.
"H-How did you find her?" he asked.
"I was coming down here to talk to Luke's mom and I just saw her laying on the table, she fainted at work so she was taken here, but she started seizing when I was on the phone with you and now they can't stabilize her," I said quickly. My leg was still bouncing up and down as I spoke. Ashton had a worried look on his face. "My dad is trying to work on her right now, I'm sure she'll be fine."
I placed my hand on Ashton's shoulder in attempt to calm him down. He buried his face in his hands and spoke up.
"Shannon, she's all I have."