Chapter 123

After a quick trip home with my parents and Jack, where I got a shower and changed into decent clothes, we make our way back to the hospital to see Conor. Dad decided to stay at home and just see Conor when he wakes up, so Mum’s dropping us off and doing the same.

I’ve explained the whole story to them now which they’re obviously fuming about. They didn’t realise how bad Zac was. No one did...

While I was taking a shower, Jack came in to use the loo and stayed whilst I explained the argument between Ben and I. There was a blurry window thing covering me, don’t worry. Anyway, Jack was completely shocked with Ben but I don’t know what’s going to happen now. I’m kind of scared of seeing Ben to be honest. He was a completely different person yesterday.

Conor’s POV

“Mum, I’m fine” I assure my Mum for the hundredth time in the past five minutes. I’ve just woken up from being unconscious and Mum’s just been asking endless questions about how I’m feeling and stuff.

When I woke up, I thought some prick had redecorated my room just to piss me off but as soon as I realised I was actually in hospital, the memories of what happened came rushing towards me like the headlights of a truck. The pain in my body was also a pretty big hint that I haven’t just woken up from a long nap. Nope, just been in a car accident instead.

“Sorry, you can’t blame me though” she almost giggles. I roll my eyes and smile at Anna.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’m glad you woke up” she smiles widely.

“Same here” I tease, making her laugh.

My whole body hurts. Whenever I move, it hurts. Even if I smile, it hurts. I can barely even raise my eyebrows without it hurting because of the fat ass lump on my head. Fucking hell, I feel like death.

“Where’s Jack?” I sigh, trying not to think about my body being in so much pain. I’m praying Jack’s actually here and isn’t just sat at home on his PS4 or something. I’m hoping he still cares about me but it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t.

“He went home with Lucy. I don’t know when he’ll be back. I’ll have to text him telling you’ve woken up” she gasps, pulling her phone out of her pocket. Oh my god, Lucy.

“How’s Lucy?” I frown.

“Yeah, she woke up last night and was checking on you. She’s fractured her shoulder and has whip lash but she’s fine. She went home for a shower and stuff about two hours ago” she shrugs, returning her attention back to her phone.

Thank god for that. If anything would’ve happened to her, I’d be blaming myself till the day I die. I couldn’t forgive myself for it.

Before I can ask any more questions about her, someone knocks lightly on the door before pushing it open.

“Jack!” Anna squeals. “Conor’s awake!”

I smile at my brother, popping his head through the door before fully walking in to see me. I’m praying Lucy’s with him. I smile over at him, praying he doesn’t hate me. Give me a break, please.

He rolls his eyes, “Come here”

He walks over to my bed, pulling me into a strong hug, making me wince in pain slightly but I don’t care. I’m lucky he even cares right now. I’m just gutted Lucy isn’t here.

“How are you feeling?” he smiles, sitting down on a chair next to me.

“My body hurts but I’ll live” I shrug, trying to sound unbothered about the pain.

He tuts, “Acting like you’re not in pain”

“I know!” Anna agrees with me, making me smirk. I’m interrupted by the door swinging open again to reveal Lucy. Oh my god. She’s actually here.

“Thanks a lot, Jack. I had to ask a doctor where his room was because you left me” she rolls her eyes. Jack laughs awkwardly before returning his attention back to me. She glances over at me making her face almost drop in shock.

“Oh my god, you’re okay” she gasps, walking over to me and hesitantly pulling me in for a hug.

“You’re okay” I smile into the hug, making her giggle. She actually fucking cares. I feel so lucky. I forget about how much pain I’m actually in. Lucy squeezing onto me only makes me feel better.

“Well, I’ve fractured my shoulder” she shrugs, pulling away and holding out her arm that’s in a sling. I smile up at her.

“Yeah, I broke my wrist and I feel like I’ve broken every bone in my body but hey, I’ll live” I say as if it’s nothing, making her laugh again. Fuck, I’ve missed this. “What’s happened with Zac?” I ask in curiosity. Lucy’s face drops slightly and Mum and Jack just sigh. “You can’t just expect me to not care about how he is”

“No, we get it Conor” Mum nods, understandingly. I’ve realised that the boy’s put me through hell and I refuse to go back to his group, but I still care about how he is. Maybe that’s how Lucy feels towards me.

“He’s still not woken up” Jack says dryly. I just nod, trying not to make the situation any more awkward.

I’m slightly worried about how Zac, Adrian and Leo are. I mean, I guess Adrian should be fine because he was in the back of the car with Lucy and I, but Leo was in the passenger seat and Zac was driving. If anything serious has happened to Leo, I’ll feel awful because I was the one that made him sit there. But hey, I’d rather it be him than me.

A doctor finally walks into the room and stands next to my bed.

“Hi Conor. How are you feeling?” he smiles.

“Alright” I shrug. “My body hurts”

“Yeah, that’s completely normal. You’ll just need to get a lot of rest for the next week or so until you’re comfortable with moving about” he tells me. Great, I thought he’d at least give me some tablets or something to numb the pain. I’m in fucking agony. “If the pain is really bad then just have some pain relief tablets”

“Okay” I mutter, slightly mad that he’s not giving me them himself. I’m at a fucking hospital and he’s telling me to provide myself with my own tablets. Tight bastard.

“However, you have broken your wrist so we’ll have to put a proper cast on that soon. When you’re ready, give us a call and we’ll come and sort it out”

“I’m ready” I nod. Like I’d want to sit here with a broken wrist when it can be getting treated. Fucking hell. I hear Lucy laugh slightly but hides her face in her hand. I smirk slightly before returning my attention back to the doctor.

“Okay, that’s great” he coughs awkwardly. “Well if you’d like to get changed and everything and then we’ll take you to the x-ray room. When you’re ready, just come outside your room and a doctor will be waiting for you”

“Right, cheers” I nod. He smiles and leaves the room.

“Conor, try not to be rude. He is going to help you out” Mum scolds me. I knew she would.

I frown, “It’s kind of stupid that I have to rest for a week until I feel better. He’s a fucking doctor and that’s the best he has”

“He knows what he’s doing” she shrugs.

“No, I agree with Conor. You’d think they gave him some tablets or something” Jack says and I just nod in agreement.

“Well ask him for some then!” she scoffs. I just roll my eyes.

“Did you bring any clothes?” I ask her and she nods, pulling out my stuff from her handbag. “Thanks”

“We’ll be waiting outside” she says, leading the way out of the room.

It takes ten minutes for me to change into my black jeans and a grey top, and I still haven’t put on my shoes. I’ve never felt pain like this before in my life. I slip on my shoes as quickly as I can and limp out of the room.

“Ready?” the same, shitty doctor smiles. I just nod and follow him to the x-ray room where I’m finally given painkillers.

They ‘fix a splint’ in my wrist to secure it into position or something and prevent further damage. I then have an x-ray where I’m told ‘it’s definitely broken’. Fucking hell. They then put on a plaster cast which I chose to be black. It’s hard as a fucking rock.

“Okay, you’re good to go now. We’ll have to write you a proscription for some more painkillers and you’ll have to give a quick statement to the police about the car accident but after that, you’re good to go. Unless you want to stay another night just to be sure?” he questions. I immediately shake my head, making him laugh. “Okay, well just go back to your room and the police should be there any minute”

“Alright, thanks” I nod, leaving the room and making my way to my own.

You’d think I’d be scared about talking to the police about what happened and how we got the car but I’m literally not. I’m not going to try and take the blame off Zac for stealing the car because if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t even be in this mess. I’m just glad I just stood aside as Zac took the car and didn’t actually get in it as they drove it away. I didn’t want to get involved with that shit. I’ve done a lot of shit in my past but this is crossing it. Zac, Leo and Adrian drove the car to the park and I just met them there. I have no reason to be scared of talking to the police about this. I’m just praying that Zac, Adrian and Leo tell the truth and don’t blame this shit on me.

-

“Home sweet home” Mum cheers as we enter the house.

It’s five o’clock now. It took me an hour and a half to get my wrist sorted out and an hour to talk to the police which went pretty smoothly. I’m just glad I’m back home now. Nothing sounds more appealing to me than just laying on my bed.

“Lucy, are you staying?” Jack asks. She got a ride back with us because her Mum dropped Jack and her off then went home. I hope she does stay. I need to talk to her.

“No, I think I’ll go home. I’m pretty tired to be honest” she shrugs. I can tell she just doesn’t want to stay with me. She’s been sleeping in that hospital for hours so I’d doubt she’s tired.

“Alright, I’ll walk you” he offers. I roll my eyes and make my way up to my bedroom, sitting on my bed and looking up at the ceiling.

I don’t even know where to go from now. I know Jack’s only talking to me because he feels sorry for me. Same with Lucy, but I know that’ll soon wear off and they’ll just go back to treating me like how they used to before I got put in hospital. I don’t blame them, I fucked up big time.

I never want to speak to Zac again to be honest. I feel like a mug. I can’t believe it’s taken me to be in a car accident with him to realise how much of a dick he is. He might treat me with respect but he’s taking away everything around me. He encouraged me into splitting up with Lucy (which is my stupid fault really), he’s caused too many arguments between Jack and I, and he almost made me move out. I’m not even friends with any of the group anymore besides Alex, and even he hasn’t come to see me in hospital.

I’m not good with apologies at all so I don’t even know what to do. The doctor said I need rest so I think I’ll just take his advice and have a week off school or something. That should give me enough time to think things through.

-

Lucy’s POV

This week of school has dragged so much and I’ve only been in for two days. I took Monday and Tuesday off because I could barely move my shoulder, but Mum forced me to go back into school on Wednesday. It’s Thursday now and I think I’m going to try and convince Mum to let me have tomorrow off. I don’t think I’ll manage to pull through another whole day. The only thing keeping me in that school is the support from the group. If it wasn’t for them I would’ve probably escaped the prison.

As soon as I get home, I go straight to bed in desperate need of rest. Conor’s not been in school all week, exaggerating on the doctors words of ‘taking rest’. I don’t blame him though. If my Mum wasn’t as strict then I probably would’ve taken the whole week off too.

Every day of the week now since I’ve come back from school, I’ve just gone to sleep. Well, yesterday and today anyway. I just slept through Monday and Tuesday. I was meant to call Eleanor as soon as I got out of hospital but I’ve been blowing her off ever since. I’d love to have a conversation with her, don’t get me wrong, I just literally don’t have the energy to.

I’m woken up by the sudden crash through the front door.

“Mum?” I immediately call, sitting up in panic on my bed. The only noise in the house is some creaking downstairs and my heavy breathing. Come on, I’ve just woken up. This burglar couldn’t have picked a worse time.

I drag myself off the bed and shake my body out slightly in fear.

“Mum? Dad?” I call downstairs but all I hear are the slow footsteps making their way up the stairs. Crap, what do I do? I search frantically around my room for some sort of weapon but the only thing that could actually attack someone with is my laptop, and personally, I’d rather let the intruder do what they have to do than smash up my laptop. My best bet is using my fist; the one that I can use of course.

I tip toe to the side of my door so when it opens, I’ll be behind it. My heart’s pounding and I’m starting to think that I should’ve used my laptop for self defence but I’m frozen as I hear the intruder slowly push my door handle down. My breathing pattern starts to become uneven and if I’m not taken to A&E for assault, I sure will be for having a heart attack. Either way, I better start praying.

Mum, please come home.

My door suddenly swings open so I quickly jump out and punch the intruder in the face, jumping back slightly when I realise that it’s not actually an intruder.

“Eleanor!?” I gasp, jumping to the floor when I see her holding her nose in agony.

“Jesus Christ, Lucy” she cries. “Nice to see you too”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I thought you were a murderer or something” I panic, holding her arm and guiding her to sit on my bed.

“What the hell happened?” Mum soon comes running up the stairs and into my room, gasping in shock when she sees Eleanor’s bleeding nose.

“Oh come on, you can’t blame me. I did shout to see if it was you!” I shrug, my hands held out exasperated.

“Come here, Eleanor. We’ll get you cleaned up” Mum tuts, shaking her head at me. I roll my eyes and follow them to the bathroom.

“What are you doing here?” I frown in confusion, realising that Eleanor should still be in Cheshire.

“You’ve been in a car accident and didn’t give me all the juicy details. How could I have stayed at home?” she smirks, wincing slightly as my Mum applies pressure to her nose. “I wanted to surprise you but I guess that plan backfired”

“Aw Eleanor” I chuckle slightly. “I’m sorry”

“You will be if I turn out looking ugly” she shoots me a glare.

“Nope, I think you’ll be fine. Just a nose bleed” Mum thankfully says. “Lucy’s clearly not strong enough to do some damage”

“Thanks Marie” El winks. Mum rolls her eyes, cleaning the flannel that’s full of blood. El quickly checks herself out in the mirror before turning to me with a huge grin.

I squeal slightly, “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“I know!” she jumps up slightly, pulling me in for a hug. “You better be grateful. I took a coach all the way here rather than a train to save myself a bit of money”

“How long did that take you?” I frown as I lead her to my room.

“Seven hours” she says monotonously.

I gasp, “Why didn’t you just take the train!?”

“I’m broke!” she frowns.

“Why didn’t your Mum come down?”

“She has work. She already gave me one hundred and fifty pounds for shopping last weekend so she refused to pay for my train ticket” she pouts, making me laugh. That’s so like Eleanor to spend that much money on clothes. Me on the other hand, I prefer to search in cheaper stores to try and grab a bargain. Unless I’m literally out of clothes and I have to spend up which only happens about once a year. I’m far from due another one of those days. “She’s got you a ‘get well soon’ card though”

“Aw, Lauren” I coo.

“She sends you her love” Eleanor rolls her eyes. Bless.

“Who else knows you’re here?”

“Well your Mum and Dad obviously sorted things out with my Mum on Monday. But I haven’t told Jack or anyone. I thought I could surprise you” she shrugs. “Nice sling by the way”

“Cheers” I say sarcastically. “It hurts”

“Bet it does” she scoffs. “Well, I’d rather it be you than me”

Nice to know she’s not changed in the past 3 months.

“We haven’t seen each other in three months” I groan, making her gasp in realisation.

“Come on then, fill me in on what’s happened” she crosses her legs on my bed, getting comfortable for the story I’ve explained at least ten times already.

It takes me 25 minutes to explain the day of the car crash and everything that’s happened from then and she’s actually kept quiet through the whole things. That’s what she does though. She shuts up when someone’s giving her some gossip, taking in every single word. I love it.

“I wish I’d have met Zac!” she growls. “Jesus Christ, it’s like a movie. I don’t know what to say”

“Everyone says that” I chuckle. It’s practically the talk of the school at the moment which I really don’t like. There are 180 people in my year and knowing the majority of people are talking about me is sort of intimidating. The word gets around fast.

“And Ben! That nasty, evil little prick” she scoffs. “What’s it like in school with you two?”

“He’s not come in yet. Apparently he has a virus” I shrug.

“He’ll have more than that once I’m finished with him” she growls again, making me laugh. I know the most she’ll do is tell him where he stands and maybe slap him if he gets cheeky. “Speaking of which, when can I see everyone?”

“I guess we could go out tomorrow”

“I should go to school with you” she gasps.

I shake my head, “Yeah, cause that would work”

“It could”

“Keep dreaming. I don’t even know if I have school tomorrow. I haven’t quite decided if I’m going to have the flu yet”

“I think you do. You look as pale as a ghost” she looks at me in pity, agreeing that I should take the day off school.

“I know” I huff sarcastically, making her smirk. “Some guy in our year’s having a party at his house on Saturday night so you can surprise everyone there”

Remember Sam? Yeah, it’s his party. Conor and I have well and truly failed at trying to set him up with that girl he likes so he’s hoping to do it tomorrow night. I’m looking forward to how this is going to turn out to be honest.

“Do I know him?”

“Kind of. We lied about going to his ‘New Year’s party’” I smirk at the memory of us all sneaking out to the club that night. Apparently we need ID to go there again. There’s a new bouncer and he’s strict about it. The other bouncer told Leila about it. She already has false ID but Jack’s going to try and get me some which I certainly have not told my Mum about.

“Oh yeah” she laughs. “Will he not mind me going?”

“No” I frown, shaking my head confidently. “You’ll be fine”

“Okay, good” she smiles. “But Saturday’s ages away”

“Well if I get the day off school, we’ll go on a date somewhere” I roll my eyes.

“Okay, you’ve twisted my arm” she smirks.