Chapter 20

"Unfortunately, there is a higher chance of losing him, I am sorry."

"What the fuck do you mean by that? Do you know who are you talking about?!" I bursted, anger and worry taking over what I am talking about.

"Kate," Allison shushes me, "What is his situation right now?" she asks the nurse.

"It looks like the bullet has gone deep into his intestine, and it may take a while to take it out. The blood loss he had had an impact on his immune strength, which caused his heart rate to decrease. So what I can now say is to have patience and hope he would win." she explains.

I barely know Carter, he is not even my friend, but there is one thread like string that is pulling inside my heart, that urges me to cry and be angry at the world because he is in there while I am out here. My feet felt weak. I don't know what to do. I am feeling weird; pain, worry, anger, and sadness all together are weighing heavily on my chest. I want to scream at the nurse and just to take it out on her, but she is doing nothing but her job, and it would make me the bad person.

"Kate, you should calm down," Allison says holding on my arm, "They are doing the best they can do for him, okay?" I just nod my head slightly, then look at the nurse.

"I want to enter and see him." was all I mustered to say, I need to see if he is doing good. While I was supposed to be there instead of him, he is, lying unconscious and opened up, fighting for his life.

She shakes her head and said, "I'm afraid, I can't let you. The operation is not done yet. And I beg you to have patience at this time."

I took a deep breath in. This is not the right time for fighting, I should stay calm and collected, even if I don't know why am I reacting like this, "Okay, sorry." I said going back to sit on one of those cold metal seats and leaving one free seat between Abigail and me. So that people won't be thinking I could suffocate her with this length and width of my upper body.

"Is he okay?" Abigail asks me looking at me with a casual look, and not her usual bright and sunny face, "He is doing great, Abi. He just needs... some time to heal." I lied. I never dealt with children and had to say something serious to them, so I hope what I said will do good for her.

"I want to tell you something." she said slowly, her face twisting in hesitance and playing with the hem of her skirt, "I think, Carter likes you." I looked at her with a half smile, she is all scared and unsure to tell me that Carter likes me? I thought she was about to tell me something about her, or events at her school, but not this, I did not expect her to briefly and directly tell me this. She also thinks that we could be into each other, just like everyone thinks we are together. I want to shout to everyone out loud and clear that we are not together and will never be, but, "I don't think so, Abigail. We are not even friends." I tell her. How many times have I said that to myself but always felt like we are more than that?

"Do you?" she asks smiling back a faint smile.

"Do I what?"

"Like him...?" she giggles and covers her mouth with both of her hands. Her child self and adorable behavior coming back in check.

"Maybe," I answered honestly to her. She gaped and clapped her hands, "But mostly, I don't really know, okay?" I quickly added, not wanting to get this little girl's hopes up about me and him.

"Glad we finally knew she likes him, right Abi?" Allison almost made me jump out of my skin when she came behind me and sat next to Abigail, "At least he is not hanging there alone."

"Wha.. no! Don't take it like that, I don't like 'like' him."

"You do like like him!" Abigail jumps from the seat and hops up and down, "Allison, this is a mystery solve for us! And we solved it!"

"Oh no... I am not Carter's-" I stopped myself, what was I about to say for his sisters? That I am not his and never will be? That we have two very different mindsets?

"Not his type?" Allison finishes it better. She looks at my expression and I saw something lighten in her eyes, "Abi, can you bring us three chocolate bars and water too?" she requests. Abigail nodded happily and took some money from her sister, off going to the nearest snacks machine.

"Look, Kate. I do not know you at all to even start this conversation, but it is for the sake of Carter," Allison speaks, "This is a critical time to speak about this, but here it goes. Carter is such a player, he never took anything seriously when it came to anything. He brings some girls to the house and, do whatever he does, he smokes and drinks... he was just unstable with everything for a long time. When he got expelled and had to transfer to your school, it was like a miracle for us. Because when he started his first day of school and came back home, he kept on talking about an 'annoying girl' who he thinks too low of herself. Then he named that annoying girl love bunny, and I tell you solemnly, after that name came out from his mouth, he changed, Kate. Not just that he stopped sleeping with girls and consumed much less alcohol, he took things seriously and in a, better way than he used to. Oh fuck I'm talking too much..." she mutters, "Anyway, what I want to remind and tell you is, if he tries to be with you, then it is very unusual of him and he is not playing, but trying to dig out something serious." she finishes her summary about Carter. If his sister said this, then what would the others possibly tell me?

"But you told me to be more heedful an-"

"I take it back, happy? Now when he wakes up and heals, I want you to try this, be with him all the time and see the way he reacts."

"There was a long line for reaching the snack machine and it took some time, but here!" Abigail comes across the front hallway and passes us each one chocolate bar with a bottle of water, "Thank you, Abigail." I thanked her.

"They do not know when he will be finishing, so I will take Abigail home with Xavier," Allison says, standing up and unwrapping the chocolate bar.

"No! I do not want to go home!" Abigail whines folding her arms and frowning.

"We will just go, freshen up then come back. I will buy you your favorite ice cream on the way too," she says, sticking her hand out for Abigail.

"Okay, but if we did not come back I will be sad for the whole day." she warns.

"I promise we will come back. Kate, if there is anything new, inform me immediately," she says and starts to walk away with her sister.

"Okay, have a safe ride." I said, realizing it was spoken so stupidly, she turned around and looked at me with the 'Really?' look, I cleared my throat and try to say something, but there is none, "Never mind ."

"Yeah," Allison says looking slowly away, then turned to the corner.

I sighed and slumped hard on the seat, "Shit," I groaned and stood up again, rubbing my thighs to soothe the pain.

"Kate, Kate, Kate!" Jenny rushes to me, jumping up and down and smiling too widely.

"What?" I asked, worried about how she looked so shocked, "Anything bad happened?"

"No, yes, I don't know! Sit, let me tell you about it," she said dragging me to sit down.

"Okay, so when you guys came here, Xavier and I went outside the garden of the hospital and started to walk together," she giggles, "Then we started to talk about ourselves and what we do and stuff, Kate I don't know but I felt this strange thing that pulled me to him, so when we were just walking, he stopped, then leaned in closer to me! Like what the hell?? And I didn't know what to do, so we did it! Kate, I had my first kiss with that gorgeous green eyed boy!" she says and bursts into laughter.

She looks so happy, regardless of what is happening right now with Carter. I am happy for her, for having her first kiss willingly with someone she thinks he likes her, but there is one thing she doesn't know, and that Xavier could be sweet and good looking, but he is the best friend of a player, a dangerous and a cold hearted person. So based on my opinions and the facts that are spread on the table, I am pretty sure that Xavier would be, in the very least way, a copy paste of Carter.

"That is great, Jen. But there is a question here, do you like him?" I asked.

"What? I don't even know him! This is our like, second day of us meeting! What made you...oh" she said, externalizing how she was overstating what happened with them.

"Kate, this is so bad, right? I thought, I mean, I thought he kind of was into me, look at what I am wearing, no one would try to get closer to me!" she says.

"Look, I know what you are thinking of but I am sorry to tell you this, he is friends with Carter bub, so what kind of character do you think he has?"

"We are best friends but have different behaviors," she stated deadpanned.

"Yeah, but we both have many common things, and the main thing is we are not sociable at any cost."

"Why are you trying to ruin my first to-be-love-story?" she grumbles and leans to put her head on her hands.

"That is not my intention, I am trying to make you know that the more you open up and stick with him, he will either hold on to you and maybe start your sweet relationship, or he will use you," I said.

"Why am I feeling this hole in my chest?" she asks slumping more.

"This is what you feel when you like someone but don't know what to do... wow Jen, I never thought you would finally find someone who will make this effect on you." I said.

"Well, what about you with Carter? Don't you feel the same?"

"I am as lost as you are, Jenny," I said slumping with her.

"Excuse me, is this where Carter Harrington is?" someone asks us. We both stood up and turned to a man, who looked at his forties. He has bright blue eyes, with high cheekbones. He looks like someone I couldn't decipher, but good looking and young at his age, but he had minor bruises on his face with a huge black eye. He looked at his watch and sighed, looking impatiently at us.

"Yes, he is at this operation room." I said, "You can take a seat here." Jenny said politely and moved away.

"Oh thank you, it was really exhausting coming here in my car with that load of traffic." he said, resting himself and crossing his legs. Jenny and I looked at each other, thinking the same thing; what a filthy rich this guy is.

"Sorry, but can I ask who are you?" he asks looking at us.

"We are his..." Jenny trailed off, looking at me.

"Friends." I finished.

"Really? A pleasure to meet you. Finally, my son has friends." he said smiling a little, his black eye on his left eye not allowing him to do so, then frowned.

Jenny and I looked at each other, now shocked to hear what he said. I put the pieces together, now it is clear who he looked like,

He is Carter's father.

Carter's P.O.V.

The hoods looked darker than usual, and the trees were densely populated together making it hard to walk through them. Small twigs and leaves were falling from the trees that I pass, and it is not even Fall. Droplets of rain are tickling my face and lightly hitting on me, the storms being heard from a distance, it is obvious it will be raining harder soon.

I looked around the forest, no one is in my sight or tracking me, good. The last thing I want is people finding out my only place that I call my own and my safest place that no one will ever know about, not even Xavier, Cole, or Abigail... but only her.

The walk to the cliff was longer than usual, or was I being slow? Fuck, today's training was a tough one, my muscles are straining and they feel sore. It looks like the gravity is drawing my legs tight to walk, but they were not, it is something else.

"Fucking finally," I said as I reached the cliff. I took off my heavy jacket and backpack and put them under a random tree. I steadily stopped my movements when I hear something unusual from down the cliff, what the fuck was that? I neared slowly to the edge of the cliff and take a peek down, I gasped.

There is a huge black whale, circling the whole pond like it is waiting for something. How the hell did it even fit in here? This whale looked so huge to be in a pond, but the pond looks bigger, fuck everything looks bigger and stretched here. I am still lost as to why it is so strange here. It's small looking eyes locked with mine, then in an instant turned to red. With no effort, it jumped up to me, I tried to escape, but it already took me in its mouth and swallowed me, I screamed.

I am falling, and did not stop falling. My blood floating above me and draining from my body, feeling skinnier and small, my skin being ripped from me and my soul slipping from my body, I screamed again. Then with no power of me, something curled me up into a ball, shrinking my body until I turned into nothing.

A hand grabbed and pulled me from my misery, and in an instant, I am in my room with no one, except someone at the corner.

"Who the fuck are you?" I said, panting hard. I looked down at myself, making sure that I am one piece again. That someone looked like a woman, with shiny brown locks of hair reaching her back, wearing a long black gown, diamonds are glinting from her wrists, and her shape is familiar, just like my...

"Son," I hear her say. My heart seemed to stop beating, my blood rushing to my ears, everything seemed to slow down, including the time.

"Mom," I whispered, walking closer to her, "Mom, is that you?"

"Do not come near me, son. You may not like it there with me." she says, her voice cracking.

"What do you mean? I know where you are, and I promised that I will come to you very soon, remember?" I said, my voice fading.

"I love you, son," she said and went through the walls. "Mom, wait!" I ran and tried to catch her but she already passed from the wall. "Fuck!" I hit on the wall numerous times, angry that I did not even try to touch her.

I stopped and leaned my head on it, tears urging to emerge from my eyes, but I fought them back. Just one time was what I wanted to touch and feel her warm and familiar hug and kisses, but I fucked it up again.

The walls started to shake, I quickly looked up at it, they were falling. I speedily ran to the door opposite it, which is becoming too far to reach within every step I take. I almost touched the door knob, but when I looked back, I shield myself with my arms and crouched as the four walls continuously collapsed on me. But, I did not feel the impact. Confused, I looked up, my eyes widened.

I am in the middle of the hallway of my old school, and there was no one. I stood up and brushed myself, looking around. Banners and decorative ribbons in black and red were everywhere, there is some stupid celebration going on, like they always do.

I walked to the gym room, voices and music sounding from there, the party must be here. I pushed both the doors open and there they were, my old mates. All of the students are wearing fancy dresses and dancing together, love songs blasting from the huge speakers placed on each side of the small stage. Everything looks normal and nothing here is as strange as things were earlier. I walked in deeper into the room, until I bump into someone, "Can you not see where the fuck you are going?" I growled. The girl quivered, muttered a "sorry" then ran away.

"Scott?" I hear a very familiar voice call me, I tensed. It can not be her, it has been months, almost a year since we spoke. She is surely pissed at me and wants to beat the shit out of me. I heard she even plotted revenge on me. I slowly turned to her, to meet Maddy's sparkly green eyes.

"It is really you then," she snickered coming closer to me, "Maddy," I said, feeling uncomfortable being this close to her.

"I missed you," she said putting her arms around my neck and trying to kiss me. I quickly backed away and removed her arms from me. She looked hurt, but masked it with a smirk, "So, this is how you greet me after those months of not talking to me?"

"Many things happened after that, I already moved on," I tell her, looking at anything but her.

"Aw, look at Scott manning up!" she boasts, hitting on my arm playfully.

"I should go." I said, going in another direction, "I still love you." she says. I stopped, turned to her, and looked at her shocked, what the fuck?

"Maddy, stop fucking and playing with me. This used to be long ago but not anymore." I spat harshly.

"Why? Did you find someone else? Who is she? Maybe I could meet her and fight her off." she replied.

"What the fuck are you talking about? You will not touch a string of her hair." I growled.

"So there is? Oh, Scott, I am heartbroken." she says sobbing in front of me, "Why are you trying to accuse me? I never liked you! Get the fuck away from me! I only like one person and that is love bunny!" I screamed suddenly. What the fuck am I saying to her? I am shit at unleashing and leaking my stuff I should not tell to anyone.

She looked at me with tearful eyes and frowned deep, that her lips started to fall down from her face, then turned upside down and scarily stuck to her face. I backed away again, terrified to even be close to her, but the block of students was surrounding me with the same downward smile she is masking, "Oh, Scott, did you think you can fool us? We already knew that your real name was Carter, not 'Scott Hemingway'," she said placing her hand on my chest, it burns. I yelped and tried to pull away her hands from my chest, but the students held on to my hands and legs, making me kneel down in front of her.

"Stop!" I shouted, but she still was looking at me with that creepy smile. I could not handle this, she is causing too much pain. As I closed my eyes, I felt myself descending down, falling fucking again, then I am in the black world.

I lifted my heavy eyelids to see again, but the fucking sunlight blinded me and closed it again, "What the fuck," I groaned and tried to turn, but my whole body felt numb. At that, I snapped my eyes open and looked around my surrounding alerted, finding myself that I am in a hospital room, laying on a small bed, and a doctor standing at the edge of the bed holding a stack of paper below a binder.

"Hello, Carter. How are you feeling?" the doctor asked not looking at me and writing something on the papers he is holding.

"What the fuck happened?" I asked, my voice sounding scratchy.

"You were shot at your stomach, and we just took out the bullet from you, it has been almost nineteen hours since we were done." he said. What? In a swift motion, flashbacks came to me one by one, I remember planning to bring love bunny to the damned festival and telling her friend to bring her, then going to the Ferris wheel to wait for her, then those gangs coming to kill us, then me being shot to protect her from. So, I ended up in this hospital? Just fucking great.

"Where are they? Where are my friends?" I asked.

"Your girlfriend is waiting for you," he said, looking at me through his glasses and smiling formally. My girlfriend? He should be talking about her, did she tell them that she is my girlfriend? Well, how sweet.

I smiled weakly back and nodded my head, "Let her come in." I said, feeling excited to see her again.

"Okay, I will call her now, if you excuse me," he said and exited the room. I am happy and shocked at the same time because she referred herself as 'my girlfriend', but then I remember when I asked her to be friends and how she rejected it. This is all so complex and complicated as fuck, her thinking and ways of doing stuff are always like that.

The door opened, revealing the doctor and, her. She looks tired, very exhausted. The smile on her face illuminates all the happiness of the world, masking the concern and worry she has in her eyes. I tried to sit up, but flinched when the wound pinched me with agony and fell back hard, ah, fuck me.

"Carter!" she came up to me and held on to my arm, her touch feels good on my bare skin.

"Stop moving, you have still not fully recovered." she scolds at me.

"Well, this is my queue to leave you two, and don't make him speak much, it will drain his energy." the doctor said and left the room, finally love bunny and me alone.

"Has it been long since you were waiting here?" I asked her when I hear the doctor close the door behind him.

"Why did you do that?" she asked back, "It would've been better if it was me, no one cares about me, but you? Look at all of the people that came to see you out there, it would have cost very less-"

"Love bunny, everyone cares about you." I interrupted her and put my hands on top of hers.

"My best friends, and my family, who could be other than them?"

"Me." I said. She gaped at me then scoffed, "Seriously?"

"If you do not believe me then..." I trailed off thinking of what to do, "Can you pass me the water, please? My throat is dry." I said. The concern in her eyes returned back, she quickly stood up and grabbed the glass full of water, passing it to me.

"Do you want me to lean up the bed?" she asked, I nodded and gave her the remote that was beside me. The bed slowly came inclining until I am in a sitting position, making the pressure on my wound heavier, pissing hell, it hurts.

"I'm sorry! Did it hurt? Was I too quick?" she asked. I chuckled at her nervousness and took a sip from the glass, "No, it is alright. Can you come closer and turn the pillow to the other side?" I asked.

She came closer to me and held on to the back of my head, unintentionally her fingers threading through my hair.

Fuck, even when she does not know, her touches light up the fire in me, whether I am sick or not. I took the chance and grabbed the back of her head too, and quickly pecked on her lips. I was about to kiss her deeper, but she quickly moved away and looked at me with wide opened eyes and mouth.

"What?" I asked her smirking.

"I..." she stopped, "Don't do that again."

"Do what? I did not do anything." I said.

"You just kissed me." she said frustrated.

"Did I?"

"Yes, just now!" she spreads her hand in an annoyed expression.

"No, I did not, it was just a peck."

"Whatever, you are trying to annoy me." she huffed and turned around, her back facing me.

"If you are trying to show me your butt, then it looks so-"

"Oh my God, shut up!" she yells eyeing me once again. I laughed and shook my head, she is too innocent for me, while I am too, dirty minded. And I love every second of annoying her with it.

"Oh shit," she swears and looks at the door, then at me. Her face shows no more smiling or blushing but seriousness and, fear?

"You okay? Something wrong?"

"Carter, I totally forgot to tell you," she said sitting on the chair beside my bed and numerously putting her hair behind her ear, a nervous habit I caught her doing it before.

"Tell me then."

"I am sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but..." she trailed off, her grey eyes looking straight into mine,

"Your father is here."