One Chance (16 page)

“Hurry up,” Quinn complains as she leans back against the wall.

I walk inside, not at all ready for what I’m about to see.  Haley’s hooked up to all sorts of machines, tiny beeps coming nonstop from one.  I make my way across the room to her side, she looks so pale, I’m assuming because she’s dehydrated.

I pull a chair and bring it to the side, grabbing a hold of her hand, “
Hails I’m so sorry, this wasn’t supposed to happen to you. I swear, I didn’t know about the party,” I say as I continue to stare at her pale skin. “Please wake up pretty girl,” I ask hopeful.

“How did we even get here
Hails?  You and me, we never fought like this.  Yeah we joked around, but we never got to this point.  I’d do anything for you.  “Shit,” I say to myself as I run my left hand through my hair. “Haley, I was so pissed that you lied to me, you tricked me into sleeping with you.  I wanted you to feel hurt like I was.  I thought I knew you, but the girl I know would never have done such a thing.  Now Quinn’s telling me there was no bet, I don’t even know what the hell to believe anymore, but I do know we need to talk when you wake up.  We need to fix this; we can fix this Hails.  I know you can hear me, so know this pretty girl, we are going to fix this,” I say before placing a small kiss on the back of her hand.

Chapter Eleven

“Are you almost done?” Quinn asks from the door.

“Yeah, come in.  I’m
gonna go make some more calls,” I say as I stand up.

“She’s going to be okay
, right?”

“She has to be,” I say before leaving Quinn with Haley.

I decide to call Brody first to see where he’s at. “I’m almost there, how the hell is she doing?” he asks sounding pissed off.

“She’s sedated, but she’s stable.”

“How the hell did this happen to her Liam?  You were supposed to watch out for her,” he yells through the phone.

“I know, shit.  I’m
gonna take care of it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet.  Right now I’m making sure she’s going to be okay, then I’ll handle it.”

“This shit’s been going on for far too long.
Haley’s been keeping Kenzie up-to-date with shit you started, now look at it,” he yells.  I can hear Kenzie in the background bitching too, but decide to ignore her.

“I said I’d fucking handle it.  Things
got out of control, I know that,” I state as I continue to pace the floor.

“Out of control, she’s lying in a God damn hospital
bed because of you,” Brody yells.

“I didn’t know about the fucking party.”

“If you did, would you have stopped it?” he asks calling me out.

“I wouldn’t let her get stuck outside being soaking wet and freezing, no I wouldn’t have let that happen,” I argue.

“We’ll be there in about two hours, so we’ll talk when I get there,” he says angrily before hanging up.

I make my way back to Haley’s room and am surprised to find Quinn crying at her bedside.

“She’s going to be okay,” I say as I enter the room.

“I know,” she says as she wipes her tears.

“Then why are you crying?”

“Because she didn’t deserve this.  She did nothing wrong
, yet here she lies.”

“She could have gotten meningitis from anywhere,” I say not thinking.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she yells as she stands up quickly.

“I’m just saying it’s a possibility.  We don’t know.”

“I can guarantee that the damn party didn’t help it any.”

“You’re right and I will take care of that.”

“You know who set it up, right?”

“Meg.”

“Now why would she do that Liam?” Quinn asks all pissed off.

“
I’m not exactly sure, which is what I was trying to find out when you came down the stairs and started bitching.”

“
She did it for you.”

“No she didn’t.  I never asked her to do anything to Haley; in fact
, I never even said anything bad about Haley in front of her.”

“Then why did she plan that party?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is she threatened by Haley?”

“What?” I ask confused on what the hell she’s talking about.

“Meg, is she threatened by Haley?”

“Not that I know of.  Why?”

“Because that’s all I can figure out.  Meg’s jealous of Haley b
ecause she knows you, known you whatever, and wants to get rid of her.”

“Meg has no reason to be jealous.  She got along fine with Haley.”

“Something changed.”

“I don’t know what.”

“When Meg went home with you last time, how did she seem around Haley?” Quinn asks.

“Fine.”

“No Liam, think,” she shouts.

“I don’t know, last time at home was over the summer.”

“Did anything happen?”

“Shit,” I think recalling when we found Haley on the beach sleeping.

“What?”

“Haley was drugged at a party we think, but Meg was with me and my brother, there’s no way she could have drugged her.”

“How was she after you guys found Haley?”

“Fine I guess.  She was leaving to go home that night.”

“So, she wasn’t pissed or anything?”

“Fuck.”

“What?” Quinn yells.

“Yeah, she was pissed because I wasn’t going home with her.  But that had nothing to do with Haley.  I was helping Isaac with football.”

“So, could she think you stayed because of Haley?”

“No, she’s not like that.”

“Liam, Haley is sedated in a hospital bed, how far would she go?”

“I wil
l get to the bottom of this,” I say, getting more irritated by the minute.

“You better
, because if I have to, it’s going to get real fucking ugly.”

“I said I’d handle it.  Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to sit with Haley,” I say as I walk over to the empty seat.

“Fine, I’ll go update the others,” she says as she leaves.

I grab Haley’s hand, holding it tight “I don’t honestly know how you are friends with that girl,
but I’m glad she has your back.  Haley, I will get to the bottom of this, I promise.  Your mom and dad should be here soon, same with Kenzie and Brody.  Brody’s ready to kick my ass, he’s probably going to try when he gets here.  I told him I would look out for you and I’m sorry I let you down.  You pissed me off with the bet thing, but Hails you have to know, I would never want anything like this to happen to you.  I hope you can forgive me.”

“You better hope like hell she forgives you
, because I’m about to fucking kill you,” Brody says from the door looking more pissed off than ever.

“Brody stop it, she doesn’t need to hear that,” Kenzie says as she walks over to her twin sister.
“I’m here Hails, so is Brody.”

“I’ll give you guys some time,” I say as I head for the door.

It doesn’t take long for me to run into the Lawrences, along with my parents. “Oh sweetie, how’s she doing?” Mrs. Lawrence asks.

“They have her sedated
, so she can get some rest.  She’s dehydrated, but she’s stable.”

“How are you holding up?” Mrs. Lawrence asks.

“I’m okay.  I’ll be better when she wakes up,” I admit.

“What room is she in?”

“Room 412, right down this hall,” I say as I point to where her room is at.  My parents go along with hers, while I walk back to the waiting room.

“How’s she doing?” Rebecca and another girl
Cara, asks.

“She’s still sleeping.  The sedative should wear off soon,” I say hopeful.

“Her parents are here, right?” Quinn asks.

“Yeah, they just got here along with Kenzie and Brody.”

“Who were the other people?” Quinn asks.

“My parents and my
brother Isaac.”

“Why?” she starts to ask.

“We all grew up together.  My family looks at Haley like family, there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for her.”

“Ye
t somehow you missed that memo,” she states bitterly.

“Knock it off you two.  Haley doesn’t need you guys going head to head right now.  She needs our support,”
Cara says harshly.

Haley

I wake up feeling confused, trying to figure out where I’m at.

“You’re in the hospital Haley,” it sounds like Kenzie telling me.

“Kenz?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she says rubbing my hand.

“What’s going on?” I ask confused.

“You’ve been in the hospital, you got sick and they brought you here to figure out what was wrong with you,” she says softly.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You
have meningitis.”

“What?” I ask
, thinking I didn’t hear her correctly.

“It was bad
Hails.  You’ve been in and out of it for the past seven days.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Four days now.”

“What?
I have school.”

“No, you need to let your body get better first.  You were really lucky
, Hails.  The form of meningitis you had could have killed you.”

“How did I get it?”

“They aren’t sure, but it’s common that kids our age can get it at college.”

“
Hey,” Brody says as he enters the room.

“Hi.”

“It’s great to see you finally awake,” he says as he comes up and gives me a small hug.

“It’s good to be awake,” I say feeling like I s
hould say something else, “Are Mom and Dad here?”

“Of course, I’ll go get them,” Kenzie says as she stands up and rushes out of the room.

“Listen Hails, I’ve been thinking, I think you should transfer and come to school with me and Kenz,” Brody says as he squeezes my hand.

“What?  No, I like it here,
” I say pulling my hand from his.

“I know, but what happened to you, the hazing bullshit, it shouldn’t have happen
ed to you,” he says as he stands and starts pacing.

“It already
happened.  I’m dealing with it.  It can’t go on forever.”

“It’s done already,
” he says as he stops pacing to look at me.

“What do you mean?”
I ask with a confused look.

“Liam took care of it.”

“It was his fault the whole thing even started,” I say in a higher pitched voice than I intended.

“I know and I’v
e had my words with him,” he says as he starts pacing again.

“Brody
, what did you do?” I ask, sitting up further on the hospital bed.

“I told him to fucking look out for you
Hails, not make your life miserable,” he says an in irate tone.

“He’s not completely at fault here,” I admit
, looking directly at him.

“What do you mean?” he asks looking confused.

“I lied to him, it pissed him off, he was angry at me.”

“Haley
, there is nothing you could do that would make him have people slander you like that,” he says as he walks back to the chair beside my bed.

“But there is.”

“No there isn’t.  He’s an asshole. I told him to stay the hell away from you.”

“
You didn’t need to do that Brody.”

“
Hails, I’d do anything for you, even if that means to protect you from my own dickhead of a brother,” he says as he takes a hold of my hand again.

A few minutes later my parents come into the room with Kenzie and the Masters.  They talk to me and all ask me the same questions, “How are you feeling? Can I get you anything? Blah
blah blah.

I end up staying at the hospital for
five more days before I’m released to go home.  Mom and Dad want me to go home with them; Brody wants me to transfer schools, while all I want is to get back to school and get on with my life.

“Are you sure you want to go back there?” Brody asks.

“Yes, I have some stuff I need to figure out, but I want to stay here, this is my school.”

“Fine.  Well
, Kenzie and I are going to head back to school; you keep me posted if you need anything.  Anything at all Hails,” he says before pulling me in for a big hug.

“I promise, thank you,” I say before releasing him and going in to hug Kenzie.

I say my goodbyes to them along with my parent’s and the Masters along with Isaac before looking at Quinn.

“Are you ready to go home?”

“God yes, I want life to get back to normal,” I say as I get into her car.

“There are some things I need to talk to you about,” Quinn says nervously
, as she gets inside the driver side.

“What’s going on?”

“The house is going to be different when we get there.”

“Why?”

“Because of what Meg did to you.”

“How different?”

“Most of the girls are gone from the house.”

“Where did they go?”

“Either dorms or found places off campus.”

“So who’s at the house?”

“Like seven of us.”

“Who?”

“You, me, Cara, Rebecca, Stacey, Mindy, and Nicole.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.  Everyone else was kicked out for playing a part in the hazing party.”

“Kicked out of school or the sorority?”

“The sorority.  Meg may have more coming to her if you decide to press charges, which I think your Mom said something about.”

“I just want it to go away.  I want my life back.”

“And you will, I just wanted you to know about the house.”

“So what’s happening to Liam?”

“Nothing.”

“Why is that?” I ask confused, “He’s the one who started this.”