The new morning Gabe woke up and sent a text off to the phone he had given Bree the night before. It was a simple good morning and a quick question of if she wanted anything when he dropped by after school. He wasn’t surprised when he received an answer that he didn’t have to come by at all.
He knew that he shouldn’t have taken such a personal interest in this. He just felt responsible. That was what he kept telling himself anyway though the voice in his head was telling him the truth that he didn’t want to hear. He couldn’t listen to it. It just seemed so wrong to him, though. If he stopped fighting with himself, he knew it was true. He had fallen for the girl the first day he met her when he took over the class at the beginning of the school year.
Though she had hid in the back of the classroom in her band tee and jeans that were too big, he could see her completely. She was stunningly beautif
Gabe had to wait all day for any news on Bree. He raced over to the hospital when he was finally done for the day. Unfortunately, he had been in teacher meetings for all of his free periods. With everything else that was going on at the school and him having to do this new pilot program that the people all thought would be a great idea, he had to explain what was going on a few times, and that was a few times too many. When he got there, he saw Bree in the bed as the nurses were watching her as it seemed like she was waking up from the surgery.She was looking around and saw the people in the room. She couldn’t speak and then she looked at him. He was relieved that she seemed to focus on him. He walked around the bed to the chair he had spent most of the last few days in and just looked at her. He waited until she could focus even more before asking her anything. It seemed like a few hours though it was probably only a half hour. He just sat there.
The silence went was drowning out all the other noise in the hallways from the people that were passing by. Neither of them was thinking about the other people. Gabe had just sat there and looked at the wall waiting for her to speak again.“You know I spent the majority of my life so far thinking of ways that I would be better than my mom.” Bree said as she turned her head to look at him, “I was good. I could be left alone. I never had a boyfriend. I did my work in school. I got a job as soon as I could. I was the freaking responsible one out of everyone in my life, and she somehow hated me so much that she took all of that away from me and left me the same as her.”“But you aren’t like her,” Gabe said as he squeezed her hand. “I mean, you can do something about it. No one has to know.”“But I would know,” Bree said softly. “I can’t do that.”&l
Gabe stayed with Bree until she was near asleep, and then he took her keys and went back to the apartments. He knew which one was hers, and she had told him the things to take from the apartment first. He had stopped off at a store first and got some baskets and bags so he could move her stuff quicker.When he reached the parking lot, he scanned the area for any cars he knew as he didn’t want to bring attention to the fact he was moving the girl's stuff into his apartment. He knew this was the beginning of toeing the line for the next few weeks until the girl was done with his class. Though the way the doctors were talking, she would be in the hospital even after she graduated and also when she turned eighteen.He was okay with the things he was doing right now. He knew that being proactive with helping here right now would be a good help to help ease her and maybe help her recovery. He looked at the building across from his after he had scanned the
He sat down on the couch and ate his frozen pizza that was still burning hot from the oven. He looked around and wondered if she could make as much in his apartment as she had done in her own one. It wasn't that he couldn’t do what he wanted in the place. It was more that he didn’t know how to. Ann had thrown ideas out at him, but he had vetoed all of them because they would cost thousands of dollars, and he hoped in the next few years he would be out of the apartment and in his own house.That was his plan anyway. He thought of Bree in the hospital and didn’t like the idea she was there by herself. It bothered him for some reason. He had spent the day worrying about her, and then he was mentally slammed against the wall with her when the doctor had given her the news. He had not wanted to think about the rape that had happened. She didn’t either, but now it seemed that wasn't all that possible.She h
Three weeks was what it took for her to be able to walk out of the hospital. The doctors had done four surgeries over those weeks. Bree handled each one with a sense of grace. Though she hated being trapped in the bed. She hated nearly everything and everyone who stepped forward into her room. Though she tolerated Gabe. She wasn’t happy about anything.On the second to last day, though, she was allowed to stand for the first time by herself. She was so happy they had let her do something. Then she got to take a shower. When she got out, she was allowed to put on clothes for the first time since the accident. Gabe had brought some from her things. He smiled when he saw her.“Come here.” He said softly when she walked into the room.“They don’t fit anymore,” Bree said.“Sweetheart, you have lost a lot of weight.” He said as she got nearer. “I will try to do something with your hair.”
Bree was still getting tired easily. Gabe knew when she was ready to lay down though he waited until she was asleep to leave. There hadn’t been any celebration for her eighteenth birthday, which would be the day she was released or the fact she graduated high school. She had a diploma that was handed to her by the principal, and then he left. Gabe thought it was all pretty pathetic. He planned for the night she came home to give her a few surprises.He had been left alone from everyone he had met when he was with Ann. Though he hadn’t gone out of his way to say anything to them either if they had run into each other. He wasn’t surprised that Matthew had called his brother and mother again and again. That was the extent of some of the things he did expect.The night when he got home from the hospital, Bree was supposed to be released from the hospital the next day, he received a phone call from his mother that he did not expect, “Ga
Gabe got to the hospital and walked in. the nurses were looking at him like he was someone new. He knew he was dressed down today, but he was himself. He walked into her room and saw her looking at him differently, as well.“What?” He asked as he walked over to his chair.“You’re in sweats.” She said. “You almost look like a normal person.”“So?” he asked, confused.“When you normally come in, you are dressed for class.” She said. “You just look different.”“Well, I guess that is okay.” He said with a shoulder shrug. “I remember thinking that teachers lived in their classrooms. I don’t think it would a great place to live, though, with all the cameras.”“You never told me why you had to put up the cameras,” Bree said as she looked at him. The doctor walked in and looked at the two of them.“I&rsqu
“I just don’t want anything else to happen.” She said as she looked at him.“Anything that does, I have gone into this with my eyes open, Bree. I have taken steps to make sure that neither of us will have any problems because of this.” Gabe said with a grin, “if he wants to throw away years of friendship because of a girl that doesn’t even really care all that much for him, then that is on him and not my problem.”“Why would you say she doesn’t care all that much?” Bree asked as Gabe started up the car.“Because she broke up with him because her sister told her too,” Gabe said. “I am sorry, but I love my sister and my brothers, but I wouldn’t give a rat's ass if they told me I had to break up with someone because they got dumped by someone else. That is showing you how much Ann likes to control the people around her and why I couldn’t be wi