Read Taking Chances Online

Authors: Deanna Frances

Tags: #Fiction, #Young Adult

Taking Chances (7 page)

BOOK: Taking Chances
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I smiled shyly. “I just started hanging out with him again. I just want to know him better.”

Spencer smiled. I was glad that I could make him happy.

“Hey, so what’s up with you and Matt Johnson?” Jeremy asked me during lunch.

“He used to be friends with me when I was little, sort of like Spencer was.”

“Oh, well, I hope he doesn’t try to—”

“Jeremy?” Spencer cut him off. “Do we really have to talk about this?”

“About what?” I questioned. What was going on?

“Nothing, just…nothing,” Jeremy replied.

Jacquie and Annie looked at me with an unfathomable expression.

I didn’t know what they were hiding from me, but it seemed as if everyone knew but me. What had happened with Matt and Spencer?

“Don’t worry about Jeremy. He just has the need to fill every silence,” Spencer said, as we walked to P.E.

“I don’t mind. He’s a nice guy.”

“Yeah. He’s always been a good friend. I met him in kindergarten. He was already friends with Jacquie, and I joined in.”

“And what about Annie and Mike and Dean?” I asked.

“They came in a few years later. We had some other friends in middle school, who hung out with us too, but some moved away, and some just moved on.”

“It’s nice that you were all able to stick together,” I told him. “In Chicago, I really didn’t have any friends. I was really quiet, and no one ever talked to me.”

Spencer took my hand in his. “You have friends here.”

We decided to go out to DeKalb to eat the next week, just Spencer and me. It was nice to get more alone time. We ate at a nice restaurant downtown, and I tried not to say anything about Matt.

“So, what’s your favorite sport?” Spencer chuckled as we asked questions back and forth over dinner.

“Probably soccer.”

“Okay, favorite food?”

I thought for a moment. “Cheese ravioli and garlic bread.”

“Italian, nice.”

“What’s yours?” I asked.

“Popcorn.”

I laughed. “Is that really even a food?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, grinning widely. “It’s the first thing that came into my head.”

Spencer drove me home in my car. He took one look at my gas gauge and pulled into a gas station. He insisted on paying to fill up my gas tank. I told him my parents had left early that morning for work, and I had forgotten to ask them for gas money. I told him not to, but he was very stubborn.

We glided down the empty roads in the darkness, singing along to Michael Buble CDs.

“Can I ask you something?” Spencer said after a deep silence.

“Sure.”

“Are you happy here in Shabbona?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You look so sad. Every day when you get to school, you have this sad look on your face. It makes me worried. Is something wrong?” he sighed. “I want to make you happy, Sydney.” He didn’t look at me; he looked straight out the windshield, into the black night. There were many things I wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell him that he was the best boyfriend a girl could ever want. I wanted to tell him that the reason I was so sad every morning was because of my parents. I was ready to trust him with my secret; I was finally going to have a chance to do what I wanted to do. But I would have to wait.

 

 

 

Chapter 6

RECOVERY

 

 

My eyes opened to see a bright, white, ceiling. I tried to lift myself up to see where I was, but something stopped me. I looked over and caught a glimpse of IV needles in my arm. Off to my left, Matt and Spencer stood arguing.

“What did you
do
?” Matt asked Spencer as he saw me. I’d barely opened my eyes, so he probably didn’t know I was awake.

“I didn’t do anything! Some drunk driver did it! How much do you want to bet it was you?” Spencer asked harshly.

“I wasn’t drunk last night, Stevenson, so it couldn’t have been me. If you’d been more careful, none of this would have happened. Some boyfriend you are.... “

“It’s not my fault! Why are you even here?!”

I was about to stop them, but they continued as if I wasn’t there.

“Because I’m her friend! We’ve been friends longer than you two have.”

“Whatever Matt, think how you want. I don’t care about you.”

I sighed and put my head back on the pillow, closing my eyes.

“What’s wrong with her?” he asked Spencer.

“She hasn’t woken up yet, Matt. What do you think is wrong? Just leave, Matt.”

“No, she’s my friend. I have a right to be here. Just because Belle—”

“Just shut up, Matt,” Spencer said angrily.

I’d had enough of this. I opened my eyes and looked at them.
“Hello,”
I said. “I’m
right
here.”

Spencer looked at me with bright eyes, came over to me, and took my hand.

He had a huge gash across his forehead covered by red stitches. Bruises covered his neck and arms. I looked at my own body. I was in a hospital gown with a white blanket over me.
I must be worse than Spencer; but I don’t feel any pain.
I looked up again to see him looking at me, his expression filled with relief.

“You’re okay,” he sighed.

I still wasn’t sure what had happened to us. Why were we in a hospital? The last thing I remember was that I was about to tell Spencer the truth about Michael and Maddie, and then everything went black. The gash on Spencer’s forehead looked pretty deep, but it didn’t seem to be bothering him.

“You are okay, aren’t you?”he asked me.

I threw my arms lightly around his neck and pulled his face to mine. He kissed me as softly as possible, like he had at the movie the week before during our first kiss. I let go of him when I had to catch my breath.

“What happened?” I asked.

“We got in a car accident on the way home last night. Some drunk driver was going too fast and ran a stop sign…” He trailed off.

“Are
you okay
?” I asked.

“I’m fine. This isn’t that bad.” His hand lightly brushed across the stitches on his forehead.

“Matt?” I asked softly as I saw him still standing behind Spencer. Why couldn’t they get along?

“Yeah?” He came up behind Spencer and smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine.”

One of the doctors came in and signaled for Spencer to come to him. He told him something, and as Spencer came back to us he said, “Come on, Matt. He wants to talk to Sydney alone.”

“Okay,” Matt said, moving past Spencer and the doctor. “See ya, Syd. I hope you feel better.”

Spencer looked back at me once before he followed Matt out of the room.

“Well, Miss Baker, I am glad to see you are up and well. We were all a little worried about you.” The doctor said to me.

“I’m okay,” I told him.

“Well, we will have to see. Can you sit up please?”

I sat up on the bed and he shined a small, thin flashlight in my eyes.

“Your vitals look good,” he noted. “Do you have a headache? Do you feel any pain at all?”

I shook my head. “I just feel tired.”

He nodded. “Well, that’s perfectly normal. I think you will be alright.”

I nodded. “So I can go home?”

“In a moment. Your mother is out in the waiting room, ready to take you home.”

“My mom?” I asked. Maddie was there?

He nodded. “Well, I would like to talk to you for a moment before you leave. While the nurses changed you into the gown, they noticed various marks around your body, especially on your stomach. Now, I want you to be honest with me. If there is something going on in the household that I should know about…if someone is hurting you…I would like to know. No harm will come to you, I promise. I only ask because it is required for me to question it if I see unusual things.”

I tried to take deep breaths to keep my expression calm.
No harm?
I thought.
You can’t promise that.

I shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong. I ride dirt bikes with my brother,” I told him. “And I tend to fall off a lot,” I gave him a soft smile of reassurance, and he sighed.

“Well, Miss Baker. I suggest that you reconsider your extra-curricular activities if they harm you so much.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

He seemed unsure, but said, “Alright. Your clothes are over on that chair.” He pointed to a chair next to the small bathroom. “Your mother is outside waiting for you.” He left the room and Spencer came in after he left.

“Hey,” I said as I got off of the bed and went over to the chair where I got my clothes. I went into the bathroom and changed. When I came back out, Spencer was still there.

“I should go,” I told him. “My mom is waiting outside. Thanks for staying with me, though.”

“Alright.” He said softly. He walked closer to me and I stood up on my toes to kiss him.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” I told him.

“Bye,” he said with a smile. “Will you call me tonight?”

I nodded.

“Oh, I gave your backpack to your mom. I figured you might need it.”

“You talked to my mom?” I asked him with wide eyes.

“Yeah,” he said with a soft smile. “Well, not really. I just gave her your backpack. I don’t think she knows who I am.”

I nodded and sighed. “Well, I should go.”

He smiled and led me out of the room.

When we both got to the waiting room, Spencer led me over to a man who looked a lot like him, but a little thinner.

“I want you to meet someone,” Spencer told me. We got up to the man and Spencer said, “Uncle Justin, this is Sydney.”

The man looked down at me and smiled. He held out his hand and I shook it softly.

“Hello, Sydney. I’m Justin, Spencer’s uncle.”

I smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Sydney!” I heard someone call my name from behind and I turned around to see Maddie walking towards me. She took me in her arms and sighed.

“I was so worried about you,” she said. She sounded genuinely worried. She let me go and looked down at me. “Are you alright?”

I nodded. “I’m okay.”

She smiled. “I had your car towed to a mechanic here in town. Michael is paying for it to get fixed.”

I didn’t smile or nod. I stayed silent. I didn’t want to talk about Michael.

“Well, we should get going Sydney. Michael is waiting at home.”

I sighed. “I’ll be out in a second.” She smiled, and went out to her car. I turned back to Spencer and his uncle and smiled softly.

“I should go. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Stevenson.” I told his uncle. “Bye, Spencer.”

“Bye, Sydney.” Spencer’s uncle said as I unwillingly walked away. When I saw Maddie’s car, I walked over and got into the passenger’s side. We began to drive away and I saw Spencer and his uncle walk out to the parking lot.

I looked out the window of the car, and tried to ignore who I was with.

“So,” Maddie said after about ten minutes.

“So, what?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. How are you?” she asked.

I sighed. “I just got out of the hospital.” I told her.

“I know that,” she said. “I mean, how is everything? I don’t even talk to you anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s because you’re always getting drunk with Michael.” I mumbled under my breath.

“Sydney,” Maddie said angrily. “You know my situation.”

“Why did you marry him in the first place?” I asked, looking over her. “Obviously there was a sign that he wouldn’t be right.”

“That’s what you don’t understand, Sydney. There wasn’t a sign.” She sighed. “There was nothing. He seemed like the perfect gentleman.”

I sighed. “Well, he’s not.”

“He’s doing a lot for us, Sydney. He pays for your insurance, for your car repair, your phone, for the house.”

“The house is mine,” I reminded her. “And I don’t want him to pay for my insurance. How does he pay, anyway? He has no job.”

“He used to have a lot of money, Sydney. Most of it, he still has.”

“Then why does he take mine?” I asked angrily. “Why were we on welfare in Chicago?”

She sighed. “I don’t know, but you know, everything will get better eventually. Michael just got a new job.”

“When?” I asked with wide eyes. “Things will not get better at this rate.” I told her. I could see the tears start to fall from her eyes and she picked up a cigarette from the cup holder and lit it.

“You’re smoking now, too?” I asked her. I shook my head and looked out the window again. I didn’t talk to her again for the whole ride back to Shabbona.

When I called Spencer that night, he asked how I was feeling, and talked about school and soccer practice. We were both lucky that we weren’t badly hurt in the crash. Indian Creek was too small to have football, so we have two homecoming games in the fall: volleyball and soccer. I would have been angry if I had to watch Spencer and Jeremy play the soccer game in a wheelchair. Spencer reminded me that there were only a few weeks until the dance. I realized I would have to go through my closet and see if I had anything to wear, because I couldn’t afford to buy a new dress. I had turned in some job applications, but I hadn't gotten any calls. I sighed as I realized that acting normal had gotten much harder than I'd ever thought it could be.

 

 

 

Chapter 7

WORRIES

 

 

The next morning, Aunt Megan came to see me at our house before school, with a car full of groceries.

“Oh, honey! Are you alright?” she asked as she came into the house. “Your mom told me about the accident.”

“I’m fine,” I assured her.

She took me in her arms and sighed. “I would have come and seen you in the hospital, but I had to work all day.”

“It’s okay.” I told her.

“Where’s your mom?” she asked.

“I don’t know where she is,” I admitted.

She sighed, understanding that she was somewhere with Michael.

“I’m really getting sick of Michael. I am ashamed to say that he is my brother-in-law. Your mom gave me money to pick up groceries.”

“I’m glad you came, Aunt Megan,” I smiled, trying to break away from the topic of Michael and Maddie.

She held my hand tighter. “I am too. Lillian told me about your boyfriend.” She chuckled. “So, what’s his name?”

BOOK: Taking Chances
11.17Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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