A Proscriptive Relationship (37 page)

“
How old is he?” my mom asked suspiciously.

“
Twenty.”

“
You trust this guy enough to drive you places?” my mom prodded, watching me intently. “Is he trustworthy?”

I laughed, rolling my eyes. “He’s very trustworthy mom. Don’t worry about it, Jeremy is a good guy.”

“
Okay,” my mom responded, but still didn’t sound convinced. “If you need anything, just call me.”

“
Actually, after you go grocery shopping will you give me a ride to the hospital? I want to visit Lance. I can ask Jeremy to pick me up from there.”

My mom nodded. “Sure, but it won’t be for another few hours. Why don’t you do your homework in the meantime?”

Homework. Ew.

I made a face, but did as my mom suggested and went to my room to get started. By the time I finished, she was ready to leave. I slammed my biology book closed and rushed to my closet to get some clothing. The first thing I found was a pair of washed blue jeans, so I grabbed those and a plain black long-sleeved shirt and stuffed them in my side bag.

“
Holly? You coming?”

“
Hold on!” I responded, grabbing my hairbrush and toothbrush from the bathroom.

“
Bring an umbrella!” my mom shouted up the stairs. “It looks like it’s going to rain!”

Sighing, I grabbed the umbrella from my room before I descended the stairs. My mom was waiting by the door, car keys in hand. She smiled, turning and opening the front door. I followed her out, shutting and locking the door behind me.

“
Am I seriously going to Mr. Heywood’s? Or did you actually make plans for me to go to Casey’s house instead?”

“
You’re going to Mr. Heywood’s,” my mom responded, raising an eyebrow. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“
No!” I responded quickly so she wouldn’t get suspicious. “It’s just a little weird.”

“
Okay . . .”

The drive to the hospital didn’t take long. When we arrived, I quickly unbuckled, grabbing my bag from the car floor. My mom leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

“
Be careful! And be safe! And make sure you eat properly,” my mom said, frowning at me. “Make sure this Jeremy guy remembers to pick you up! I have Mr. Heywood’s cell phone number, so I’ll check in with him around eight to see if you’re back.”

“
Mom, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

“
Alright, see you Sunday night.”

“
Bye, mom,” I responded, getting out of the car, and shutting the door behind me.

Lance looked up at me eagerly as I entered his hospital room. I deposited my belongings by the door and pulled up a chair next to his bed, flopping down on it. Lance raised an eyebrow.

“
What’s up?”

“
My mom is making me stay at Mr. Heywood’s for the weekend.”

“
Making you?” Lance repeated sounding skeptical. “Don’t you want to?”

I blushed slightly, averting my gaze. “Um, at a different time, I would, but right now, no, because it’s going to be really awkward. I lucked out because Mr. Heywood wasn’t at school today, but I’m supposed to go to his house after I leave here.”

“
Well, then, now’s a good time to make your move.”

I raised an eyebrow, eyeing Lance suspiciously. “What do you mean?”

“
You know, make more progress in your relationship,” he responded with a shrug.

“
Aren’t you all anti-Heywood?”

“
I want to see how this plays out,” Lance responded, a smirk appearing on his face. “I want to see how long you guys can last.”

“
It’s not a game, Lance,” I responded with a sigh.

“
To me it is,” he responded with a grin.

“
How are you feeling?” I asked, deciding to change the subject. “Any different from yesterday?”

“
Well I can sit up without it hurting as much, but that might be due to the medicine I’ve been taking.”

“
Do you still have to stay a while?”

“
The doctors are saying I can leave November 17,” Lance told me, frowning. “That’s a day after your birthday, so I was hoping we could celebrate it when I get out. With Casey and everyone else, too.”

“
Sure,” I responded, smiling. “Though you might want to take it easy.”

“
I’ll be fine by then! Well, okay, I won’t be fine, but I’ll be much better,” Lance responded, grinning. “Being shot won’t stop me.”

The smile automatically dropped from my face as guilt set in again. I couldn’t help but feel this accident was somehow my fault. Of course there was no way I could have known Lance would be attacked that night, but it was my fault he was involved with the whole gang thing in the first place.

“
Holly, stop feeling guilty.”

I looked at Lance in surprise. “How’d you know what I was feeling?”

“
I’m not stupid.”

“
But I can’t help it,” I complained, crossing my arms. “It’s only natural.”

“
I don’t care, it’s not your fault,” Lance responded, frowning at me. “If you want to place the blame on someone, put it on Heywood.”

“
It isn’t his fault they attacked you!”

“
There you go. Nor is it mine, nor yours. So stop wallowing.”

“
I’m not wallowing,” I muttered, my face heating up. “I’m just feeling, like, survivor’s guilt or something.”

“
But I’m alive,” Lance pointed out, a small laugh erupting from him.

“
I said ‘or something like that!’”

“
I know what you said.”

I rolled my eyes. “Stop talking, Lance.”

“
I have a question. Does everyone at school know what happened?” Lance inquired, pursing his lips. “I hope not. Only you, Heywood, Casey, and this Jeremy guy knows I’m in here and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“
Why?” I responded in surprise.

“
I don’t need unnecessary attention,” Lance responded, shrugging. “I’d prefer to keep this a secret.”

“
Then I won’t tell anyone,” I promised. “But what do you want me to say when they notice you’re not in school? Two and a half weeks is a long time.”

“
Just say I have some strange sickness.”

I laughed. “Okay, I’ll look up a good one.”

“
And tell me what I’ve been missing in school. I don’t want to get too far behind.”

For the next hour or so I told Lance about everything we were learning and about how I have to dissect a rat by myself and about the old man who was the substitute today since Mr. Heywood was out.

“I was looking forward to dissecting the rat,” Lance commented when I was done.

“
I was looking forward to you looking forward to that, so I didn’t have to do anything,” I responded with a sigh. “Mr. Heywood makes me do most of the dissection.”

Lance glanced at the clock that was on his night table. He leaned over and grabbed a piece of paper off of it and a pen, bringing it to his lap. I watched as he proceeded to scribble something down on it, and then he handed it to me. I took it and looked at it in confusion.

“Could you go get my dinner?” he requested. “You just have to bring the slip to the kitchen, and then they’ll bring the food when it’s done.”

“Aw, lucky me, I get to help the crippled!” I said, scanning his food choices. “It will be my pleasure.”

“Next time you come, bring me a burger or something. Hospital food is gross.”

I laughed. “I’ll make sure to do that. Be right back.”

“Au revoir!” Lance called after me as I exited the room.

The trip to the kitchen took longer than it should have. I got lost twice, and even the directions from the nurses didn’t help. I handed the slip of paper to one of the kitchen workers, and then started back to Lance’s room. As I was walking down the hall, I realized I had taken the wrong turn and was now in the wrong section of the hospital. I was about to turn back the way I came when something caught my attention. Or rather someone.

Mr. Heywood was walking down the hallway with a tray of food in his hands. I blinked in surprise. Why was he at the hospital? I hesitated for only a second before deciding to follow him. As I matched my steps to his I prayed he wouldn’t turn around. He came to a door and I froze as he turned to enter. I slowly crept up to the door, and tried to peek through the window. There was a paper covering the little window on the door. I sighed, taking a step back.

My breath caught when my eyes landed on the nameplate on the wall. “Pierce.” That was Haley’s last name.

Suddenly the door began to open. My heart leapt into my throat and I looked around for a place to hide. There was another door to my left, so I quickly opened it and stepped in, shutting it behind me. A few seconds later I heard Mr. Heywood’s footsteps pass the door. I sighed in relief.

“Are you here to give me my sponge bath?”

I jumped violently, twisting around to see an old man peering at me eagerly. He tiled his head to the side.

“Are you?” he repeated.

“Um, no. I’ll send someone in though,” I responded, clearing my throat. “Yeah . . . I’ll do that now.”

I opened the door again and stuck my head out, peering both ways. Mr. Heywood was nowhere in sight. Stepping out into the hallway again, I closed the door to the old man’s room and turned back to Haley’s room. Should I go in?

“Hey!”

Did everyone want to scare me today? I turned to see a nurse frowning at me. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“Um, I . . .” I hesitated, trying to think of a good excuse. “I’m visiting my, er,  sister.”

The nurse studied me for a minute and then blinked in realization. “Oh. You’re a Pierce?”

“Sure.”

“Well go in then, you can’t be loitering the halls. If someone else catches you, you’ll have to go back to the waiting room,” she told me.

I nodded, turning back to the door. Now I had no choice. Holding my breath, I opened the door and walked in. A woman with light brown hair was sitting on a hospital bed with her back turned towards me. When she heard me enter, she turned and my eyes widened in surprise. Her expression became shocked as well.

It was almost like I was staring into my own reflection! Her eyes were the same exact shade as mine, and so was her hair. The only difference was our facial structure, and she looked a little taller, but I couldn’t quite tell since she was sitting.

A hand went to my mouth. “Are you Haley?”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “My name isn’t Haley . . .”

I relaxed slightly. So this girl wasn’t Mr. Heywood’s ex-girlfriend? Maybe she was Haley’s sister. The picture I saw of Haley looked slightly like me, but this girl and I were shockingly alike. If this woman was a few years younger, we could almost be twins.

“What are you doing in my room?” the woman inquired, a frown on her face.

“Oh, I’m, um . . .” I blushed, staring at my feet. “Wrong room, sorry,” I finally lied.

The woman laughed, waving her hands. “It’s fine, it happens. I was just curious.”

“
Is your sister’s named Haley?” I blurted out, looking up at her again.

She shook her head, giving me a confused look. “No, I don’t have a sister. Why?”

“
No reason,” I responded, growing even more confusing. Who was this girl then?  Obviously Mr. Heywood knew her. “Can I ask your name?”

“My name is—”

Suddenly the door opened again. My eyes shot open and I panicked, looking around for a place to hide, but it was too late.  “Holly,” a voice I recognized as Mr. Heywood’s started, “the vending machine is out of orange soda, do you want something else?”

Confused, I turned to face Mr. Heywood. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he’d seen a ghost. His face paled, and his eyes shot to the girl in the hospital bed and then back to me.

“
Holly,” he breathed, a look of horror on his face.

“
What? I want orange soda!” the woman complained from the bed.

Now I was even more confused. “Mr. Heywood?”

“
You two know each other?” the brunette asked and I looked over my shoulder to see her looking at us. “Is she your friend, Chris?”

“
She’s one of my students,” Mr. Heywood responded in a tight voice.

“
Really? What’s her name?”

A frown appeared on my face and I turned back to the girl. I was standing right here; she didn’t have to ask him. “My name is Holly.”

The woman’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re kidding!”

“
No, why?”

“
My name is Holly too!”

There was a small groan from Mr. Heywood. My heart skipped a beat, and then started beating ten times faster than normal. I turned to Mr. Heywood. “Is this? Is this Haley?” I whispered, my palms starting to sweat. “Is it?”

“
Yes,” Mr. Heywood responded, giving me a guilty look.

“
Is there something wrong?” Holly asked, peering at me worriedly. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”

“
Holly, I can explain,” Mr. Heywood started, reaching out to me.

I slapped his hand away, glaring at him. It made sense now. The reason why Mr. Heywood singled me out so early in the school year, the reason why he thought he loved me. I was a replacement for the other Holly.

“
It’s perfect how we look the same and have the same name, isn’t it Mr. Heywood?” I said with a cold laugh. “How great!”

“
Holly, listen—” he started, but I cut him off.

“
You used me as a replacement,” I said, feeling my eyes starting to water.

“
Holly—”

“
Don’t say my name!” I nearly shouted, slapping his hand away when he put it out again. “Move!”