Falling (Bits and Pieces, Book 1) (47 page)

What I wasn’t as sure about was Patrick’s reaction. His face was emotionless, blank. He looked at me with wide eyes, searching for something. He handed me my stuff. I didn’t know what he was looking for. Regret? Guilt? Joy? That’s not how I would describe how I felt and what, I thought, would be on my face. No, I was proud of myself. I was proud that able to stand up for myself at the moment in time that I had to.

Like yesterday, he walked with me partially to my next class. He seemed thoughtful and a little confused. Before we had to part ways, he finally spoke, “Are you okay?”

Adrenaline still coursed through me. Now, the only thing I was afraid of at the moment was not knowing what was going through Patrick’s head. I really wish I could read minds. It would probably save me a lot of grief. “Yeah. Are you?”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.” He shook his head, like it would clear his head. His eyes slowly raised to meet my gaze, “I’m okay. Really. Go. You’ll be late for class.” I looked around and the usual traffic of students had thinned. I was going to be late if I didn’t hurry, and so would he. At least he could run. “I’ll see you later. Okay?” He put his hand on my back and walked off to his next class.

Between wondering what Patrick was thinking and my hand throbbing, it was hard for me to concentrate. It was hard to type too. This was not conducive to computer science class. Mrs. Wyle, my CS teacher, had to have noticed that I had trouble with my hand. It was pretty obvious. Usually, I type at lightning speed, it’s fluid and seamless. Right now, it was far from it. I could only type with my left hand.

“Everything alright, Liz?” I didn’t expect to see her right behind me.

I was startled. “Huh? Yeah. I just hurt my hand.”

“I’m sorry. How did that happen?” Mrs. Wyle was sweet and always seemed to care about her students. I wasn’t surprised by her question.

Throwing it into Nikki’s face. Yeah, I couldn’t tell her the truth. At least, the entire truth. “It ran into something on my way here.” There was truth to that.

My hand felt tight. I kept making a fist and outstretching my hand out in order to loosen my joints. I didn’t want to go to the nurse. What if Nikki had gone there? I’m sure the nurse would figure out that I was the one who hit her. I’d rather deal with the pain.

“Do you want something cold for your hand? It may help with the swelling.” Before I could answer, she was already walking to her little fridge in the classroom. She returned with a frozen bottle of water and some paper towels. Mrs. Wyle wrapped the paper towels around the frozen water bottle and handed it to me. “Here you go. Try to be more careful next time.”

“Thanks.” I smiled back at her to show my appreciation.

“You’re welcome. Do what you can today.” She walked away to go help another student.

It did make my hand feel better. The cold quenched the heat on my hand. It also made the throbbing in my hand subside a bit. At the end of class, I returned the partially melted bottle back to Mrs. Wyle and thanked her again.

I walked to my next class thankful that I was in choir and not orchestra. I don’t know how I’d manage to play an instrument right now. Among the tide of students walking in my direction to their next class, I noticed one girl, long flowing dark hair, looking at me through tightly squinted eyes. It suddenly dawned on me that it was the other girl who helped Becca, I think her name was Jen.

She walked toward me with a purpose. That’s fine. I had one too. I figured sooner or later she and Becca would hear what I did to Nikki. Well, more like sooner.

I was ready. I locked onto her eyes, not backing down. I stopped where I was, in the middle of the hall and put my backpack down. I waited for her to come to me. I worked on loosening my hand again - clenching and stretching my hand.

Jen seemed to be surprised at my decision to stay and not run. She raised an eyebrow, intrigued and a little wary.

She was about four feet away and still walking toward me. I baited her, “Go ahead and try. It’s not three on one this time.” My voice was steady, strong without a hint of fear.

Her body weight shifted to her back leg. She rolled her eyes and huffed, “Whatever. You’re not worth it.” She turned with an attitude, her hair whipping behind her and left.

* * *

As I approached my English class, I saw Patrick outside the room looking in my direction. I smiled sheepishly, not knowing what to expect from him. I was glad to see him waiting for me. He was still hard to read. He didn’t seem angry, maybe everything was okay.

I was still fidgeting with my hand. Even though it had been about two hours since I hit Nikki, it still didn’t feel normal. Patrick’s eyes drifted down to my hand.

“How are you doing?” He was tense.

“Okay.” We were just a few feet from the door and the bell was going to ring soon.

A look of relief washed over his face. “So, you didn’t see Jen. Good.”

“Oh, no. I did.” I was almost gleeful. “Two down and one to go.”

His eyes widened. “What happened? What did she do?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing.” He looked at me, waiting for more. We walked into the classroom. I sat down in my seat and he stood in front of me, still waiting for more. I laughed, “What? She didn’t do anything.” I glanced up at him slyly. “She didn’t dare.”

His brows raised in surprise. The bell rang and he sat down in his desk. Every once in a while during class, Patrick looked at me with curiosity. The rest of the conversation would have to wait. I knew he wasn’t going to forget.

* * *

At lunch we didn’t have time to talk, just the two of us. The crew was there and between wanting to know what happened between first and second period with Nikki and the concert tonight, lunch flew by fast.

“Okay, heavy-weight. Did you decide where you want to go for dinner?” Bobby teased.

“It’s up to you guys. Doesn’t matter to me.” I pushed him into Tony.

“What was that for?” Bobby asked innocently. Like he didn’t know.

“Heavy-weight?!” I appreciated the joke, but I’m not heavy!

“Watch out or you’re next.” Tony laughed.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Bobby was suddenly repentant. “I didn’t mean… I just meant…”

Patrick laughed, “It’s cool. I think the problem is…she’d rather be called feather-weight.” He looked at me, waiting for me to say something.

“Well… yeah!” He did know me well.

Kraig pushed Bobby, “Man, what’s wrong with you? Don’t ever call a girl
heavy
anything!”

Everyone was laughing and having a great time. It felt good. It felt really good to be a part of it all. We finally decided on pizza for dinner before the concert. I already decided that I wouldn’t have pizza, but something lighter. The bell rang marking the end of lunch and we scattered to our respective classrooms. Patrick and I walked to math together, but didn’t get much of a chance to talk.

“Do you have rehearsal today?” He casually asked, but it seemed that there was something else behind his question.

“No. Mrs. Marshall wanted us to save our voices for this evening.” I was thankful for it. When I sang, I always went all out. I wouldn’t be able to pull back during a rehearsal before a concert. My voice would likely crack if I had to have rehearsal today.

“That’s good.” He nodded. “I have a short practice. Want to hang out afterwards before dinner?” He locked onto my eyes.

“Sure.” I knew what he meant by that. He didn’t have to say where we were going to hang out. I knew by how he looked at me that he was talking about Moonlight Bluffs. He had that intense, uneasy feel about him, like he did whenever he needed to go to the Bluffs to think. I was glad that he wanted me to go with him. At least it wasn’t me that was upsetting him.

* * *

After my last class, I went over to the gym to watch the guys practice. Despite my newfound confidence, I didn’t want to wander to the gym without others around. I took a different route from my last attempt. The memories flooded back to me. I started to fill with anxiety. No. I didn’t want to feel this way. I was trying to get past this. I
will
get past this. I hurried to the gym and arrived, almost out of breath. Once I got there, I went over my day and couldn’t help but relax and smile. I realized that I
am
getting past this. I just need to remember that.

When I got to the gym, I didn’t see anyone from the crew there. I picked a spot halfway up the bleachers to sit. I liked to have a good wide view of the gym, so I could see everything and everyone. Patrick, Bobby and Jason took the court for their scrimmage. Patrick saw me up in the stands and nodded at me. It was one of those nods that say ‘hi’ where instead of the chin going down, it went up.

I watched them run up and down the court, making and missing some shots. Even though it was just a scrimmage, a practice game between the first and second string, they played hard.

I wondered where Cassie and Emily were, then I remembered hearing them mention that they had something to do after school. It was okay, since I liked basketball, I didn’t mind watching alone. Sometimes, I preferred it. Since I wouldn’t be able to make it to tomorrow’s game, I figured I’d watch the practice like it was a game. I just had to make sure I didn’t yell or shout during the practice while I rooted for the guys. Then I would look really crazy.

The whistle blew and the team headed to the bench. The coach talked to the team and then they headed to the locker room to change. It was a short practice. The girls basketball team headed out onto the court for their practice. The girls had just finished their warm-ups when Patrick, Bobby and Jason reentered the gym. I grabbed my backpack and headed over to them. The four of us walked to the parking lot together.

We arrived at Jason’s car first. He unlocked his car door. “So, we’ll see you at Medici’s Pizza at five.”

“Yeah. Five.” Patrick confirmed.

“Okay. We got to go meet up with the girls.
 
See you guys later.” Bobby and Jason got into the car and drove off.

We got to our cars and Patrick unlocked his doors. “I’ll drive.”

“Why can’t I drive?” I playfully asked.

“Sure, you can drive.” He locked his doors. He grinned, “But we do have dinner with the crew at 5 and you have to be here by 6:30.”

“Yeah. I know.” I looked at him suspiciously.

“Do you think you can get us to the Bluffs before then?” His eyes danced as he teased me. He had a point. I still couldn’t get there without getting lost. Even if he navigated, I’d still get lost. Today was not the day to go wandering around, since we did have places to be.

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. You drive.” I pretended to be hurt.

“If you insist.” He said proudly and laughed. He knew I wasn’t hurt. We got into his car and headed to the Bluffs.

32. FOCUSED

We sat at our usual spot on the bluff overlooking the ocean. There was a light breeze coming off the water. It was cool and refreshing. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The salt water air filled my lungs. My body tingled inside and out. I got goose bumps when the breeze hit my bare arms. I felt so alive and free. It was refreshing to feel this way.

Patrick broke the silence. “How’s your hand?”

I stretched my right hand and winced. “Still sort of stiff and sore.”

“Did you have the nurse check it?” He put his hand out, palm up waiting for me to give him my hand.

“Uh…no.” I shook my head. I put my hand in his.

“Why not? What if you broke something?” He started gently pushing each spot on my hand.