Chapter 33

I took my phone out and messaged Emma. “My day’s taken a turn for the worst. I’m in the mood to kill someone. Already talked to Dr. Spencer. Why won’t people fuck off?”

She messaged back quickly. “Deep breaths. Tell them to fuck off and hold on. The end of the day is coming.”

“Carl, then physio and then Dr. Spencer after school. Then cops about last night. This day won’t end.”

“I sympathize. If it helps, I’m having a good day with Patty and Louisa.”

I just put my phone away and waited for class. I put my earbuds in and blasted music so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. I wanted to be gone from here, but I’d promised Carl and Victoria to tough it out until graduation. I sat across the hall with my back to the lockers and put on my sunglasses to shut out the students just a little more.

Mercifully, the bell rang, barely audible over the roar of music in my ears. I got up and waited for class to empty out before I went inside and took my seat. People started filing in a few minutes later, some of them turning to stare at me, having been in the cafeteria for late lunch. I ignored them and turned down the volume while I waited for the class to start. I half-listened to the lecture like normal, but I couldn’t concentrate on the portrait I was supposed to be drawing and finally put it away to give the class my full focus for once. People were whispering softly to one another and shooting occasional glances at me.

The rest of the day was like that. People stared, talked and speculated about me. I was getting used to ignoring it. Finally the last bell rang and I went out to meet the girls at Gina’s car.

Beck showed up first and looked at me sideways. “I heard the baseball team came to talk to you,” she said softly.

I grimaced and nodded. “I owe you an apology,” I said. “I shouted at them about what they’d done to you and how you weren’t in control. I’m sorry I let that out.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “Someone said they sat down and told you that they forgive you for last semester.”

I nodded. “They treated it like they were doing me a favor by letting me come back to the team.”

She nodded. “Anything else?”

“I told them they should have been charged with rape since they knew you weren’t in control of yourself and they did it anyway,” I admitted. “Roberta followed me out of the cafeteria to try to talk to me. She may come to talk to you about it.”

“I’m not going back to the team either,” she said adamantly.

I nodded. “I think she’s aware of that,” I told her. “She’s got other concerns. I’ll let her tell you. I’m staying out of it.”

“You don’t like her though,” she said, seeing Lana and Gina approaching.

“I feel like if she was actually a friend of mine, she would have visited me in the hospital or at home at least once when I was hurt last summer,” I said. “She didn’t though. She didn’t come see me after Vance shot me or after it got out that the rumor was a lie. I don’t particularly hate her. I just really don’t give a shit any more. She might ask you about what happened with me last term. Tell her all of it except the money. She doesn’t get to know about that. The rest of it though, if she asks, don’t sugar-coat it. If she asks what she can do to make it right, you can tell her about the list you made for me or not. It’s really up to you. I don’t give a shit at this point if she even talks to me ever again.”

She nodded and then Lana and Gina joined us. “Hi,” they said on top of each other, both looking a little uncomfortable.

“You heard,” I said flatly.

“Tricia texted us,” Lana confirmed. “She’s worried about you.”

I pulled out my phone and sent her a message that said I was fine and then put it away.

“Shall we?” I asked, my throat hurting. Every time I spoke it was like the vibrations went right through me.

They nodded and we got in the car. “Want to talk about it?” Gina asked.

“People that did something disgusting and very personal to make my life miserable sat down with me today and told me they were willing to forgive me for what happened,” I said. “I was overwhelmed by the depths of their generosity.”

“They got under your skin, huh?” Lana asked gently.

“I left the cafeteria because I sincerely considered killing all seven of them with my bare hands,” I said. “Yes, I called Victoria, no, there’s no solution. She says it’s PTSD and it’s going to continue to happen. I have to find a way to manage.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. “I’m sorry. None of this is any of your fault,” I assured them and included Beck with a look. “If we’d had the conversation anywhere but school, I would have spilled blood.”

“Well, I know Roger was the one that dumped the bucket of piss in your locker,” Beck said miserably.

“Roberta said he was the one that dumped diarrhea in there too,” I said softly.

“He’s an asshole,” she said adamantly.

I shrugged. “He always was,” I said dismissively. I really didn’t want to talk about it. I was trying to claw myself back into a mood that didn’t make me want to kill someone.

“How can we help?” Lana asked.

I shook my head. “This just needs time. I’ll cope with it. I have to or I won’t be able to go to school.”

“Let us do SOMETHING,” she said emphatically. “We can talk to the girls and find out who can run interference on late lunch. There’s a couple of cheerleaders that take late lunch and some of the girls from September. You’ve got a few hours at the hospital. We’ll find out who can help while you’re there.”

I started to protest, but Gina cut me off. “No! We’re doing this. You did everything you could to keep us safe and protect us. When Vance came back to school, you told everyone you’d be there, no matter what. Now it’s our turn and we’re not going to take no for an answer.”

“Fair enough,” I said softly, giving in. “It’s not just them though,” I tried to clarify. “The whole school feels like I’m surrounded by people out to hurt me, because last term, they all WERE out to fucking hurt me. I hit anxiety triggers every time I walk around a corner or walk into a bathroom or when I looked up and saw Cheryl today at lunch.”

“Did seeing her really affect you that much?” Beck asked, surprised.

“After her outburst at last night’s meeting, yeah,” I said. “She left me over a lie. It’s just sad that it’s a lie she created in her head.”

“Yeah, a lot of the girls are not happy with her for that,” Lana confessed. “They know that you’re better than what she accused you of.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t want to get into it with her in front of everyone last night,” I said. “She didn’t give me much of a choice other than sit there and let her call me a rapist.”

“She’s a fucking moron,” Gina spat. “I don’t care if she has a baby on the way and it’s driving her crazy. You’re not what she accused you of and we’re all making sure that she doesn’t ruin your reputation.”

“Thanks guys,” I said softly and sort of unplugged for the rest of the trip to the lab.

Carl welcomed the four of us in and had the tests set to go as soon as my coat was off. “Victoria called,” he confirmed. “She said that you’re having a bad day and I should do what I can to speed things along.”

“I appreciate it,” I said. “Just us today?”

He nodded and I decided to help run the sequence since I knew the drill now. “Julie’s taking the day off and the grad students won’t be back for a couple of weeks. Next week we’ll do your extended sequence though, just the same.”

“I have a request about that,” I said. “My physical therapist wants more detailed images of my shoulder. Do you think we could get a CT scan of that for him?”

“No reason we can’t,” he said lightly. “How are you feeling? Victoria wouldn’t say what was wrong, but she made sure I knew something was.”

“After what happened last year, high school is kind of a stressful place for me. A lot of triggers hit me all at once today. My reaction was ... barely restrained.”

“I see. Well, we’ll get these tests done and have you off to Victoria in a jiff,” he promised. “Your voice seems a little rough today. Coming down with a cold?”

“No, I was attacked last night. Got choked some,” I said and he looked at me before shaking his head and returning his attention to the tests. The girls had their heads together, plotting against me or planning how to keep me separated from the rest of the school for my own good and I was secretly glad they felt strongly enough about us to do this.

We ran the tests and it went incredibly smoothly, given that there was just the two of us. We finished the tests and then Carl was ushering us to the door. “I don’t want you to keep Victoria waiting,” he explained. “We’ll have a chance to talk next week when you’re here for the afternoon.”

I hugged him and thanked him for understanding before the four of us trudged back to the car for the drive back to Winchester.

“Just drop me at the hospital,” I said softly as we approached town.

“We’re coming with you,” Gina said.

“I don’t know how long I’m gonna be,” I explained. “I have x-rays and then physio with Diego and then Dr. Spencer is going to look at my throat and then she’ll want to talk about what happened today. I could be there for a few hours. You said you were planning to talk to the girls tonight about making sure I had company I could count on for lunch. You can do that much easier from home.”

They nodded reluctantly, but they did it and a few minutes later, they let me off at the hospital with kisses and promises that they’d see me at home.

I went in and found Diego right away. He noticed the bruising and asked if I was okay. “Yeah. Just got attacked by someone that’s on their way to jail once they get out of the hospital. Not sure which one they’re at, but it could be here.”

He nodded and the two of us walked down to x-ray where he left me. “You know your way back to the clinic from here, right?” he asked and clapped me on the shoulder when I nodded. “Good luck and I’ll see you when she’s done with you. If you’re lucky, you’ll need more physio.” He walked away laughing and I shook my head at him.

“Well, he certainly has a high opinion of you or a low opinion of me,” came a voice at my shoulder.

I looked up and really looked at this x-ray tech that Diego and Victoria had both remarked on. I shrugged noncommittally. “He doesn’t have a low opinion of you,” I told her. “Just the opposite. My name is Matt.”

“Yes, I know. Diego told me you asked for me specifically.” She gave me an appraising look as if considering whether I was going to be a problem or not.

“Diego likes to tell lies,” I deadpanned. “I asked if he knew who you were since I get teased by my other health care providers about not having picked you up the last time we met.”

“We’ve met before?” she asked, surprised. “When?”

“I was here in the summer when Jake Collins made my injuries worse. I’m Victoria Spencer’s pet project,” I told her.

“Oh! Her precious genius,” she nodded, making the connection.

“I don’t know about precious,” I said with a little levity. “I’m attending four degree programs at Harvard though, so I’ll agree to the genius part.”

“Only four?” she asked, leading me to one of the X-Ray rooms. “That doesn’t seem very genius to me.”

“Well, I could be doing more, but I’m taking martial arts and dance classes, running my own cheer team and fighting crime on the side,” I argued, feeling a little better for the banter.

“Fighting crime?” she asked me skeptically.

“I’m Captain America,” I told her. “The guy that got shot over Thanksgiving.”

“Really?” she asked as she set up the machine. “Shouldn’t that shield have helped you avoid getting hurt?”

“He fired twelve,” I told her. “It deflected six.”

“That’s a terrible track record,” she griped.

“The shield was in a different room when he shot me the first two times and I was hitting him with it when he hit me the last three times.”

“What happened with the last one?” she asked.

“He shot me in the leg while I was protecting the upper body,” I admitted.

“That’s a slightly better picture,” she admitted. “So you said that you’re getting teased about not picking me up the last time you were here. Why is that?”

“I have a habit of leaving the hospital with more girls than I arrived with,” I said. “At least that’s how Victoria spins it when she wants to tease me.”

“And she expected that I was going to fall down at your feet?”

“In fairness, I DID hit on her the first time I met her,” I said lightly.

“I can see that. She’s a very attractive woman.”

“She says the same about you. When we met last time, I had a lot on my mind so I barely even noticed. She’s right though. You ARE uncommonly beautiful.”

“She said that?” she asked, surprised.

“She said you were the best looking person in the department. I’m told my response to her teasing is hung up around here somewhere.”

“What response was that?” she asked, positioning my arm for a proper picture of the shoulder joint.

“I told her, ‘I never hit on x-ray techs. They see right through me.’ I know, it’s a cheesy pun, but the double entendre is worth the groan,” I said, making conversation. She was beautiful, but I was still recovering from earlier today.