Long story short, I missed my flight the next day. It was a little hard to explain why I couldn't leave town just yet to my dad but being the caring person he was, he understood.
Since the family who bought our house didn't have plans to move in just yet, we didn't have to move out yet so our accommodation was settled, at least for now.
The next few days after Derris' accident though, were anything but. As it turned out, his injuries were a lot severe and he had to be rushed into surgery two times while still being in a coma.
Every moment he spent in surgery was a moment I spent wondering if he would come out alive. And when he did, I was torn between being happy that he made it out and devastated that he was still in a coma.
But after seeing his car and the accident scene, it really was a wonder he hadn't died on the spot. Supposedly, Derris had crashed into a parked car from behind and then had his car run into by another car.
The police rep
Derris made a quick recovery afterwards. It was probably because of his phobia for hospitals after his experience when he was younger but either way, I was happy about that. But despite all my pleas, he'd still refused to see his mom and even when she tried to speak to him, he'd either ignore her or coldly tell her to leave because she wasn't wanted. It was clear he'd made us his mind and that was what worried me. I knew that if he continued to hold on to his resentment for his parents, it would only come back to harm him later on. In a way, it already had. I just had to make him see that. A day to his discharge, I was with him in his ward, reading a book to him like he'd asked me to. When I looked up from the book though, he wasn't looking at me like he always did. Instead, he was staring into space thoughtfully. I dropped the book on my lap and tapped him. "Hey. What are you thinking about?" "Everything and nothing, I guess. Why'd you stop?"
Neither Derris nor I spoke about the situation with his mom again. Things were a little tense because of it so ignoring it was probably for the best. The next day, Derris got discharged from the hospital so he could finally go home which was enough cause for celebration. But I was also reminded of the fact that that meant I would be leaving soon. I had told my dad to book another flight, guaranteeing him that nothing was going to stop us from leaving this time. The flight was booked to go in three days. Three days to say goodbye to everything and everyone I'd ever known and loved. It was a little depressing but I tried my best not to focus on my nearing departure and just live in the moment and at the moment, I was happy that Derris was doing okay and out of the hospital. After he was released to us, we — consisting of Max, Caleb, Jeremy, Nellie, Derris and I — piled into Max's car and drove to Derris' house. The atmosphere was filled with excitement
I had several hours before my flight to England which was taking off early tomorrow morning. Nellie being Nellie, she'd organized a get-together for all of us. A farewell party for me.At the party, she'd decided to embarrass me by unexpectedly showing up with an album containing pictures from my childhood that had somehow ended up at her place.Baby photos, bath photos, birthday photos, embarrassing pictures; it was there and Nellie was taking great delight in my embarrassment."I hate you!" I whispered to her while Max and Derris were laughing over a picture taken of me trying to steal a piece of my birthday cake before the birthday and ending it with it all over."Aww! I love you too, boo," she replied, blowing a kiss at me. I rolled my eyes at her before attempting to snatch the album from them."Hey! What gives?" Max whined. "I think that's enough pictures for one day, don't you think? Besides, aren't you guys supposed to be sad that I'm leavi
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" I inquired, looking at his stitched-up wound with concern. "I'm sure. You heard the medic. It wasn't really serious. The bullet just grazed me. I'll be fine," he assured me but it did nothing to abate my worry. "But still... You could have been seriously injured. Why did you have to rush in like that?" "It was all worth it to make sure you didn't leave here in a body bag. I'd do anything to protect you," he stated, staring seriously at me. "How about you try not to die while you're at it?" He chuckled. "I'll do my best." I nodded to show that I was satisfied and continued to look at his wound. "Allison?" he called. I looked up from the wound. "Yes?" "About what Aria said—" he started. I raised my hand to stop him. "I don't want to hear it. Be it the truth or not," I told him. "I still want you to know. I've kept it to myself for so long but I didn't know how I w
"Allison! Allison!! Allison!!!" Nellie called, snapping me out of my reverie. "Huh? Sorry, what were you saying? I kinda got distracted," I answered, glancing at her. Rolling her eyes, she said "No kidding. Do you know how many times I called you? What were you even-" she paused as she turned to look behind her and shook her head. "Now I get it! Pretty Boy just walked in," she teased. "Nellie! I've told you to quit calling him that," I reprimanded with mock horror. "Well he is pretty and you of all people know it," she answered laughing while I simply shook my head at her good-naturedly. My eyes darted to the figure who stood only a few metres away from Nellie and I, surrounded by a flock of girls as usual. Watching as one of the girls seductively placed her hand on his arm, I could feel a twinge in my chest. Derris Fox or Pretty Boy as Nellie called him was the golden boy here at Ridgeway Academy. Born with a silver spoon in h
To say that I was shocked would be the understatement of the century. I was downright dumbstruck. It was as though time stopped as I stood there, staring into the most beautiful pair of gray eyes I'd ever seen. "Derris saved me! Derris frigging Fox just saved me!" was the only thing I could think. My waist which he'd held was still buzzing as my eyes alternated between his amazing gray eyes and beautiful pink lips. It seemed as though everything else faded into the background and it was only Derris and I that existed. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world! "You know, you really should be careful. You could have gotten hurt," Derris said all of a sudden, breaking the spell. "W-What?" I stuttered, snapping out of my daydream. "I said you should be more careful. Your shoes are untied so you tripped on it. Lemme help you with it," he said, stooping to help me knot my loose shoelaces. As he did, his hand brushed against my
"Allison, I am so so sorry. I never should have pushed you to do something you obviously didn't want to. I'm so sorry," Nellie said, comforting me as I cried ceaselessly in the bathroom. I tried to stop crying but remembering the fact that Derris called me a bitch brought tears to my eyes again and I found the tears coming even more. It didn't even bother me that much that he poured my yoghurt on me. What hurt me the most was his behavior. The way he looked at me and spoke to me. Like I was a piece of garbage. It was so different from how he looked at me last week and that hurt me to the core. All because I ruined his shirt... "Allison, I'm sorry. Derris is such a douchebag," Nellie said obviously still trying to comfort me but as silly as I was, I was quick to jump to his defense. "It wasn't his fault, Nellie. It was mine. I spilled the yoghurt on his shirt so he had every right to be mad," I murmured. "Allison! You're not ser
The next day started out like any other day. I woke up early, got ready for school, made breakfast for my dad who didn't apologise for what happened yesternight (then again, no surprise there), I met up with Nellie and we walked to school together. Everything was going great but all that went awry once we got to school. As I walked down the hallway with Nellie by my side, I could feel everyone's eyes on me. The reason behind that was quite obvious. It'd only been a day since the incident with Derris so as expected, everyone was pointing at me and murmuring. Not used to that kind of attention, I drew closer to Nellie who, understanding my predicament, patted my hand reassuringly. I let out a sigh of relief as we went into the homeroom which was mostly empty, except for a few people reading. We walked to our seats which happened to be beside each other and sat. "So Allie, how are you doing?" Nellie asked while we waited. "I don't know what