I want to give my first shoutout to @ElineVerhees thank you for sticking with me from the beginning!
Chapter 22
Jason's unmoving body is lying on top of me.
I gently move him off of me, and take a seat on the floor before carefully laying his head on my thighs.
He took a bullet for me.
As tears run down from my eyes, I look up and find Lucas holding Jasmine by her neck against the wall next to the entrance of the living room.
I shift my gaze to the other side of the door and find the girls talking to the police on Anna's cellphone.
Looking back down to Jason, I see his eyes start fluttering open. "Are... you okay?" He gasps out and a small laugh comes out from me as my tears travel down faster.
"I'm fine you big idiot," I say, making sure my hands are pressing hard against his wound.
"Shush don't call me names when I'm wounded Em." Jason's lips raise a little bit, but cringes when the pain overtakes him again.
"I can't believe you did that," I continue to whisper to myself. My heart is raising, and I can't seem to get it to stop.
"Emma, please stop crying. I'm fine, I got hit on my shoulder. Nothing major," he tries to console, but my jaw clenches at the scene restarting again in my mind.
Everything was going in slow motion. That's what it felt like. By the time the shot rang through the room, Jason had himself untied, and chose the opportunity to jump in front of me, flying sideways.
Clearly taken back, Jasmine was about to shoot again, but Lucas flies past and grabs her by the throat, making her drop the gun.
It all happened in seconds.
My mouth is ready to retort at Jason's stupid suggestion on the situation when Lucas's voice stops me.
"She's out," Lucas's flat voice rings through the large room, and it's suddenly silent.
Looking up, I find him right by Jason's feet, glaring at the spot he was once standing.
My eyes widen and look by the wall, finding her unconscious in an uncomfortable position.
"Don't worry princess, she's not dead. Just... sleeping," Lucas looks back to me, and a wicked grin is placed on his expression.
"Well that's great news," Lauren's sarcasm bounces off of the walls as she and Anna make their way to Jason and I.
Anna rolls her eyes at her friends behavior, and walks slightly faster to get closer to us. "Are you okay Jason? What am I saying of course you're not okay. How did she get in, did she follow us? I can't believe you got shot. That bitch should totallyâ"
"Anna you swore!" Lauren cheers, suddenly happy at the thought of her friend swearing.
"Shut up Lauren! Can't you see he's hurt?" Anna gives her a look of disappointment before focusing her attention back onto Jason.
"Ann, I'm fine. Don't worry," Jason sweet smile seems to lessen the stress on Anna, and nods in acceptance.
As they are continuing to talk, I lift Jason's shoulder a little higher, still keeping pressure on his wound as I'm doing so.
Jason sucks in a harsh breath. "What are you doing?" He asks.
Unable to hide my worry, I look between Jason and Lucas. "There's no exit. The bullet's still in there."
Lucas sighs. "Don't get your panties in a twist. I'll get it out."
Lucas kneels down in front of the both of us, and raises his hand just above Jason's injury, leaving only a few centimeters between Jason's chest and Lucas's hand.
Seconds later, the bullet is flown out of Jason's chest and into Lucas's hand. "There, now all we need is to stitch it up."
"Over my dead body will you stitch him up," I glare at Lucas and he smirks.
"That can be arranged," he winks and I clench my jaw. How can he still act like this. Especially in our current situation.
"Ugh, just date already!" Lauren shouts suddenly, and my eyes shoot to her direction. I didn't even realize my mouth was open until my lips began to feel dry.
Quickly licking my lips, I lean over Jason's body and pinch her on her calf.
"Ow!" Lauren shouts, but quickly shuts up.
"Bitch," she mumbles under her breath.
I slap her leg this time before bringing my attention back to Jason.
â¡
The paramedics and police show up at the same time just minutes later.
Just when Jasmine regains conscious, the police are placing cuffs on her just as they're stating her rights.
As the she-devil is leaving Lucas's house, she flashing me one last smirk before her head is shoved first into the police's vehicle.
Once the paramedics have secured Jason in the van, the police ask if all four of us can give our statements.
I ended up finishing last, because I also gave them some other useful facts. Such as that she owned a gun, and brought it to school, and how she's known to be pretty violent to some others.
The balding almond-skin officer, and his partner with pale skin, and a heavy mop of black hair and sunglasses accepted the information.
Just as they were reversing out Lucas's house, Lucas and I headed to his car and drove to the hospital where Jason was brought to.
By the time we got there, word was out that Jason was injured.
And while my grade was crying in the waiting room, all I could think about was if my best friend was okay.
â¡
A few days pass until it's Wednesday.
I've stayed with Jason since he's got to the hospital on Monday. The armchair next to his bed was considered mine through the days to come.
Behind Jason's back, I heard Lucas talking to Jason's parents about how he bought a single room for him, and was served to be one of the best.
Daniella and her husband tried to give him money, but Lucas refused to take it.
I typically went home to shower or get a change of clothes when Jason went to sleep, but other than that, either Lucas, Anna or Lauren have been coming by to bring us our missing work.
Lucas normally stayed with us throughout the whole day before going home, saying hospital rooms and him don't go well together.
Today wasn't any different.
Jason is trying to catch the skittles I'm throwing to him when Lucas barges into his room with his schoolbag in his hand.
"You guys are children," Lucas states, taking the other armchair next to mine.
I roll my eyes, and stop throwing the candy when Jason finally catches one to his mouth.
As Lucas begins to pull out his binders from his bag, I rest the skittles on the small table next to my seat.
Suddenly, Jason's voice is heard through the silence. "Yo Luke," we both take a look at Jason as he raises slightly higher from his sit-up position on the bed.
"We're matching!" He cheers, showing off his now stitched up bullet wound by his left shoulder.
Lucas slowly raises up from his seat and moves to the other side of Jason's bed.
He gracefully lifts up his hand before hitting Jason behind his head.
"Asshole," Jason grumbles as Lucas starts walking back to his seat, a word not leaving him during the whole transaction.
Just as Lucas hands Jason his missed work, the door to the room is open. Looking away from Lucas, I notice Lauren and Anna entering the room with gifts in their hands.
Anna smiles when she sees Jason, handing him a bag of peanuts. "Ugh, I love you Ann!" He shouts excitedly, ripping open the package.
Anna chuckles, and takes a seat on the other side of Jason.
Lauren is chewing her gum, and casually throws a cute little stuffed tiger. "Roar like a tiger, Jason," she smirks, taking a seat next to Anna.
Jason grins, accepting her gift. "Why, thank you Lauren Margarita."
"Martinez, you alcoholic," Lauren says, but can't help but smile nonetheless.
Jason ignores Lauren's comment and begins breaking the peanut he pulled out of the bag.
As if he can sense it from a mile away, Jason slaps away Lucas's oncoming hand.
Lucas glares. "Give me a fucking peanut," Lucas demands, not taking no for an answer.
I roll my eyes when the speaker in the room suddenly turns on. "Emma Sullivan, you have someone for you by the receptionists desk. Again, Emma Sullivan you have someone here for you by the receptionists desk," the speaker is shut off, and all the attention is on me.
Raising my hands in surrender, a warily smile is on my lips as I get up. "Don't look at me like I know who that is."
Just as my hand is hovering over the handle, movement is heard from behind me. "I'm coming with you," Lucas states, not leaving any room for argument.
Rolling my eyes, I turn back to him. "You're not needed, Lucas. You haven't been for years," I shoot back before spinning on my heel.
I leave the room without looking back. I make my way to the desk in a few minutes, and am faced with a women in scrubs, smiling when she sees me.
Furrowing my eyebrows, she guides me to where I'm meeting my visitor.
The women shuts the door right when I'm inside.
I'm left alone in a dark, empty double bed hospital room. I look around the room to try to find something, or someone when someone's voice is heard.
"Hey Sunshine," Adam says from a dark corner of the room.
"Adam?" I squint, trying to find him, but fail when all I see is pitch black.
Why is there no window here?
Adam's chest is suddenly in my view, and I look up to see his soft blue eyes staring to me. "Are you okay?"
My eyes widen, remembering the circumstance that happened just days ago. "Did you have something to do with that?" I whisper loudly as I shove him back hard.
He matches my expression, and furiously shakes his head. "No! I had nothing to do with Jasmine's plan. She's even going against orders," he growls under his breath and my eyebrows raise.
"What orders?" I ask, but Adam simply looks up to the corner of the room before looking back down to me.
"I can't..." he whispers.
When I look back to where he was looking, I find a blinking green light above us, proving there's a camera watching us.
My eyes soften when I look back to him.
However I suddenly remember the file he had of me, and promised I could see it.
Before I can ask him about it, the door barges open, the room welcoming all the light it's bringing.
"Adam?" Lucas shouts, looking extremely... pissed.
In a matter of seconds, Lucas is next to me, lifting his hand. Adam is pressed against the far wall, which a harsh laugh leaving him.
"Wow Lucas, I missed you too," he grins through the pain that's being currently directed to his throat by the way he keeps on scratching it.
"Leave before I fucking blow you to bits." Lucas's voice lowers through each word being said, and I actually begin to believe he means it.
Lucas's throws his hand down, and Adam falls down to the ground, coughing profusely.
Adam stretches his limbs, rubbing his neck in the process.
"I'll see you soon Sunshine," he whispers hoarsely before leaving Lucas and I alone.
"You're such a shit disturber, you know that right?" I ask, facing Lucas.
"It's my specialty," he smirks.
Not knowing what else to say, I decide to leave him in the room â not before shoving past him hard, of course.
â¡
Today is Friday, and Jason's last full day in the hospital.
They plan on finishing some tests on Jason before sending him off home Saturday by noon.
Originally Lucas, Jason and I were planning on just walking down to the cafeteria, but Lucas bribed some nurses to bring two hospital beds into Jason's room.
They were easily persuaded, and all worked together to place two beds on the left side of Jason's.
Lucas went out to buy pizza for all three of us, and came back in 20 minutes with a large, fresh pizza from Domino's.
I swear, I was drooling the moment he entered the room.
I took a seat on the middle bed, and was comfortably sitting against the bed in my baggy black t-shirt and grey comfy shorts as I was waiting for the pizza to be served.
We all luckily had the same taste in pizza â we all agreed that tomatoes on pizza wasn't appetizing, and chose to have olives, green peppers, onions, and mushrooms.
Once we were all comfortably seated, Jason's parents said goodnight to all of us before shutting off the lights and closing the door.
The TV turns on, and I manage to persuade the boys to watch Clueless. I grinned wickedly. Maybe a lawyer is an option as a future career?
We all finished the box of pizza less than 20 minutes into the movie. Giving the box to Lucas, he tossed it to the side as if it was nothing.
Halfway through the film, I was still deeply intrigued when I heard soft snores coming from my side.
I turn to glare at Lucas, but find him still wide awake, all his attention is on the screen in front of him.
Furrowing my eyebrows, I look to my other side and find Jason lying on his stomach with his head facing my direction.
I smile at his sleeping figure and turn my attention back to the film.
"Princess," Lucas calls out, but I ignore him.
"Princess Emma," he tries again.
"Emma," he hisses when he realizes I'm not answering at all.
There's a long period of silence before he begins again. "Hope," he whispers.
My eyes widen, and turn to face him as I glare daggers in his direction. "Don't call me that. You lost that right a long time ago Lucas. Don't forget that."
He doesn't say anything, so I look away from his intense gaze.
A few minutes pass before he starts again. "I'm sorry."
My breath hitches in my throat as I slowly look back to him. "What?" I whisper.
He sighs, trying to get comfy on the pillow he's currently lying on. "You were right. It was seven years ago. When I entered high school, I started to realize my stupidity for how I handled the situation. But I thought I'd never see you again. So when you showed up two months ago... I was surprised. I didn't know how to act around you anymore. So I was a douche. That's what I was accustomed to since I was eleven," he releases a shaky breath, and my eyes begin to feel watery.
"I was a stubborn fucker. And I'm fucking sorry Emma," Lucas finishes off.
And me? For once, Lucas has left me speechless.
"Lucas..." Is all I'm able to say before our room's lights begin flickering on and off.
Looking outside the room, I notice the whole floor is doing the same.
My eyes widen when I come to one conclusion.
Sitting up, my scared eyes meet Lucas's slightly afraid ones.
"Witch hunters," he deadpans.
"They're here."
â¡
Exams are done, and I'm extra happy.
So for some of you wondering, I previously mentioned during the summer I will begin working on Lost.
And I'm here to say that I will!
I also have another story coming out in the fall, hopefully when either Only You or He's No Good is finished.
If you wanna read the description, it's on my Instagram!
Thank you for reading lovelies! I'll see you in the next one xx