“Bella! It’s school day, doll!” I hear my mom yell at me from downstairs. I mutter colorful language under my breath, and I throw on some random clothes that seem washed and quickly put up my long brown hair.
“Coming!” I holler back. I grab my book bags and lunch sack and hurry down the stairs. I jog to the car and throw my bags in. I jump into my seat and smile at my mom. She just chuckles under her breath. “I need a new car. Mine still hasn’t come out of the shop,” I say looking out the window.
“If you would get up earlier, than maybe you could go to school with your brother.” She sighs because she knows that I will never wake up before 6:30. The rest of the ride is quiet until I turn on the radio. I start jamming out to my favorite songs. I grab my phone and put it up to my face mouthing every word perfectly to “Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time,” by Panic! At The Disco. Mom even sings a few words. After a few more amazing songs, I finally arrive to Purgatory. I wish my mom a good day and walk towards the door. I see someone who looks like a teacher come my way, and I try to beat them to the door to get away.
“Bellatrix Myers, late again I presume? It is your third year in high school, and you are still getting in trouble.” I turn around to see Mr. Duncan stopping me from going inside. On a side note, Mr. Duncan has a nickname, Mr. Duncan Doughnut. That is his nickname because his last name is Duncan and on the first day of school he was eating 4 doughnuts.
“Aww! Thanks for noticing Mr. Doughnut. If you also notice, your shoes are untied and you dropped some papers,” I retort with sass. He turns around, and I seize the opportunity to run inside to my 1st block. I walk in and sit in the very back beside one of the few friends I have, Ruby. Ms. Blakewood, my Algebra 2 teacher, just rolls her eyes in annoyance and tells me to not interrupt her class again.
“Why are you late, again?” Ruby whispers to me.
“Doughnuts caught me being late, but I got away thank the heavens,” I say leaning back in my chair trying to listen to the lesson. I had a high B in there, but I strive for perfection which means a B is unacceptable for me. She starts talking about radical equations and functions, and I zone out just a little because I already know how to do the work.
“And don’t forget about your homework tonight,” Ms. Blakewood says. “Pack up the bell rings in a few seconds.” I grab my backpack as soon as the bell rings and quickly head to my locker. I see Trevon standing by my locker talking to Zane, so I take this chance to scare the crap out of both of them.
I creep up on them and whisper in Zane’s ear in the lowest voice possible, “You smell almost as good as you do when you are sleeping.” He shrieks and jumps up, and Zane is cursing greatly that if you are passing by you would think it was a contest. Trevon is laughing so hard he is clutching his stomach gasping for air.
“You know just because you're my sister doesn’t mean I won’t kick your butt later,” Zane states leaning back on his locker. I smirk knowing he won’t do anything to harm me. I open my locker and throw my bag inside. I grab my Biology book and notes.
“You and Bella still coming to my house later for some pizza?” Trevon asks.
“You forgot about one person,” I say looking at them. They have blank expressions on their faces, so I answer for them, “Ruby is coming, dimwits.”
“Why?” I hear Zane whine as I head to Biology. I ignore them grumbling behind me and hurry into Biology.
“Today we will be doing group work,” Mrs. Scott says as the class starts to rise with whispers. I just sit beside Trevon and get out my phone. “I will be assigning the groups.” Everyone groans. “Jane with Todd. Kerry with Chance. Trevon with…. Oh I forgot to put you and Ms. Myers on the paper. You can be together. Dallas with Alex. Kevin with Chad. Aisha with Kiya. Danielle with Cain. Now get to work. You will be with this person for 1 month to work on this project. No groups will be changed, so don’t ask.”
“Looks like I’m stuck with you,” I fake sigh to Trevon.
“Hey, at least you aren’t stuck with the person I have. She is a slob. She is still so smart yet so dumb at the same time,” Trevon says with a smirk. The class seems to go on forever about Immunology. I slap Trevon on the arm, finally, right as the bell rings. I jump up before Trevon can get me back and jog to my locker. I carefully put my Biology books back into my locker and head to lunch. On my way to the cafeteria, I see Trevon searching for me, so I scurry faster. I feel a thud as I run into someone. I look up to see ocean, blue eyes looking down at me. His frat-boy cut, brown hair shines in the sun. He winks at me and starts to walk again.
He turns around and says, “By the way sunshine, next time bump into someone your own size and league.” He smirks and continues walking into the cafeteria. I gaze at him frowning. I was in his league if anything I was out of it, and also, I may be 5’3, but I will beat up anyone who threatens me.
“Found you!” I hear Trevon yell in my ear as he picks me up and flings me over his shoulder.
“Trevon! Put me down!” I scream hitting his back with my lunch sack. He heads over to the football field where Zane, Ruby, Trevon, and I sit. He sets me down at our regular picnic table.
“You guys caused a scene,” Ruby says laughing.
“He picked me up!” I say back grabbing my chips from my lunch. I see that same boy walking towards us.
“Why is Asher Woodley coming over here? He was at Ridgewood, I thought,” Zane whispers in my ear. I shrug turning back towards my candy and chips. Ash sits down beside me and takes one of my Hershey bars.
“Asher, I am only going to ask once. Give. Me. My. Hershey. Bar. Back,” I say crossing my arms and thinning my eyes.
“Nope,” he says back popping the ‘p’. “And don’t call me Asher. Please, call me Ash.” I jump on his back catching him by surprise,so I hurriedly grab my chocolate and get off his back. I look back to see that Trevon was gone and Zane and Ruby were just staring at us.
“What? He stole my chocolate,” I say punching Ash’s arm. Ash stares at Zane almost as if they hate each other. “What grade are you in Ash?” I ask breaking the silence.
“11th,” He says getting up to leave. He holds up 3 fingers counting down all the way to 1, and right when he gets to 1, the bell rings.  I roll my eyes and grab my trash to throw it away. Ash takes my trash and throws it away for me.
“Thanks,” I say trotting to class. I skid to a halt outside Mr. Sanchez’s door. French class here I come.
“Bonjour Mr. Sanchez,” I say pausing when I see Ash Woodley sitting in my seat. I say in French, “What is he doing there?”
“Sit down,” Ash says back in French patting to the seat beside him. I mumble some insignificant words under my breath and sit down. The lesson was extra annoying today. Firstly, I know French like the back of my hand, and it gets on my nerves when people say things wrong. Secondly, Ash was in my class. I feel papers being thrown at me, but I just ignore them. I hear the bell and jump out of my seat running out of the classroom.
I feel my feet getting jumbled up and brace myself for the cold floor, but instead I feel a strong arm pulling me up. I see Trevon holding me up. I smile warmly. I grab my papers that have fallen and turn around to see Ash and some blonde chick locking lips on my locker.
I look at Trevon, and he is staring at them hands clenched in fists. I take his hand and ask him if we can go to his house and just skip English. He nods walking with me to his car. I stay quiet on the ride. We are about 1 mile from his house when I speak up.
“What pizza do you want?” I ask picking up my phone.
“You saw all that and all you ask is what pizza,” He says laughing. “Bella I admire you. You can literally be thrown off a moving train and sit up. Then ask what food are we having.” I laugh lightly with him.
I see someone swerving ahead of us, but ignore them. I continue to scroll through my contacts trying to find Pizza Palace. All the sudden I look up, and the car in front of us stops on the highway. Trevon runs off the road hitting his car, and swerving down a hill. I see the tree getting closer by the second, and next thing I know everything goes black.
When I wake up, I see blood running down Trevon’s arms, and I’m not sure if it is all his blood.
“Trevon!” I yell crying.
“Bella? Are you ok?” I look down and there is glass all over my legs, and there is a few pieces of glass on my left arm. I feel hot blood running down my legs. I grunt trying to move my frail limbs.
“I don’t think so,” I say trembling. “This is all my fault. I saw him swerving and didn’t say anything. I kept scrolling through my contacts. This is all my fault.”
“Stop,” Trevon says plainly. He reaches for my hand right as I blackout again.
I wake up and see bright lights shining in my face.
“She is bleeding bad. We have to get to surgery quickly to stop the bleeding and get the glass out,” a strange voice says.
“Where is Trevon?” I ask trying to sit up. I look wildly around.
“She is awake! Put her out!” I feel something enter my arm and I become drowsy quickly.
I feel sore, and almost get up. I hear voices speaking, so I stay down.
“Bella. Bella. Bella. This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to hurt you. If I hadn’t, then you would still be at school. You would still be laughing. I am going to fix this. I will fix everything,” a deep, male voice says. I think it’s Asher, but I’m not sure. I start to fall back asleep before I find out.
Sometime later I wake up to another voice. “Bellatrix Myers. My sister. No matter if I’m adopted. You are still my sister. How could I have been so stupid. I shouldn’t have let you ever meet Ash. When we were 14, he used to come over and play. He was your best friend then he left because he tried to hurt me. We used to get in fights all the time over you. He used to be a bully. You turned him into a athlete to let his anger out. You probably can’t hear me,” he starts laughing quietly. “You remember Asher by Xander. He started using his first name when he moved away. He changed his whole look. He grew up quickly. New hair. New style. Old habits. He is back because he said he wanted to see you again. He said he wanted to see his best friend again,” I hear Zane sniffling. I couldn’t stand to hear him cry. I try to wake up, but my eyes won’t open. I hear Zane yelling to a nurse. My body starts jerking around.
“Zane!” I yell starting to cry.
“She is going into a seizure. It is very common when you lose that much blood,” the nurse says grabbing my torso. I start losing awareness of my surroundings.
I open my eyes to see my mom, Zane, Trevon, and Ruby surrounding me. I ask, “How long have I been out of it?”
“2 weeks,” Ruby says taking my hand. I look at Trevon and he has a huge bandage around his arm. I point at it.
“This is nothing compared to your injures,” he says running his hands through his hair. “Bella I have been so worried. I thought I killed you. They told us you had a punctured heart, and it looked like a collapsed lung. Gosh, I’ve been worried,” Trevon says looking at me.
“Did they catch the dude who did this?” I ask trying to sit up.
“Yes. He was drunk and on drugs. He tried combining them together, and they had some bad side effects together,” Zane replies.
“There were traffic cameras all around, so the cops have it on tape,” my mom says. “We would be the ones getting sued otherwise.”
Trevon comes and sits beside me. He smiles and holds my hand saying, “There are so many good people in the world. They dragged us both out of the car right before the car exploded.” He has a tear coming down his cheek.
“Where is Ash?” I ask looking at everyone. My mom looks confused, and Ruby is looking at her shoes.
“Where is Ash, Ruby?” I ask sitting up. I clench my fists to the sheets.
“Can I speak to Bella, alone?” Ruby asks. Everyone nods. Trevon looks at me and just stares for a few seconds. Then walks out the door.
“Where is Ash?” I ask sternly.
“Bella, please, you have to promise to not get mad,” Ruby says as I nod. “Ash. He. Um. He joined a gang to get money to help you pay your doctor bill. He doesn’t want you to know because he knows you will be mad. Asher just wants to help. He may hurt himself, but he doesn’t care. He wants to help you.” I felt a tear coming down my face.
“He can’t do that! He can’t! I won’t let him!” I yell sobbing now. My hands were shaking. He was being stupid. He couldn’t hurt himself for me. Money is money. It doesn’t matter. His life does.
“What happened!” the nurse screams running into my room.
“I don’t know! ” Ruby yells. I feel a sudden loopiness. I felt my eyes flicker. Then everything went black.
I wake up to see Ruby crying in a corner. I, myself, feel where my tears have been.
“What is wrong?” I ask her turning my neck so I can see her better.
“Bella! I’m sorry, I am. It has been 2 days since I made you go crazy, so I called him, Ash. He is outside waiting for you to wake up,” Ruby says beaming at herself. I see Ash come in. He runs over and pulls me in a hug. I see Ruby slip out the door.
“Asher Xander Woodley. I’m sorry,” I say looking down at my nails.
He lifts up my chin and says, “Do not say you are sorry. I should be sorry. I kissed the first bimbo that crossed my path all because Trevon was holding you.” He laughs. “I am so stupid. If I hadn’t kissed the blonde, then none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t have gotten in that car. I don’t know what I would have done if you died.” His eyes gloss over a little, and he is staring right at me.
“Why did you join a gang?” I ask not trying to beat around the bush.
“I did this for you. Your mom is a hard working person, but she can only make so much. Trevon and you may both have jobs, but $100,000 plus in money is not going to be easy. I don’t want to be in this gang, but they pay me for every fight. If I win, it is $1,000. If I lose, it is $250. I won’t be dealing with drugs. Just fights. Money is nothing compared to you. I am also getting a day job too. Whatever helps,” he says playfully. He brushes the hair out of my face. He leans in, and I feel my heart leap as I lean towards him.
“Hey, Bella what pizza do you,” Zane stops looking between me and Ash. Zane is just smiling probably thinking a mile long of dirty jokes. Asher is smirking at Zane, and I, on the other hand, have the reddest face on planet Earth.
“I can’t wait till I get out of this dern hospital,” I say remembering that I can’t have solids because I had surgery.
“Actually you get out in an hour. The nurses and doctors have checked you out. Blood pressure fine. Heart rate fine. Blood count back on track. No signs of another seizure. Heart healed up. Lungs under amazing condition, now. You are clean,” Ruby says stepping in the doorway. I smile. I sit up my arms not hurting as bad. I see the nurse step into my room.
“If your arm starts to bleed again, I want to see you ASAP,” the nurse says giving me a playful point. I smirk getting out of my bed. I would have fell if Ruby wouldn’t have been beside me. I regain my balance and go outside and see Zane halfway asleep.
“He has been awake half this week. He has just been hoping you wake up,” Ruby says sighing. I see her look at my brother in a way that's different than usual.
“Has anything been going on between you and Zane?” I ask raising my eyebrow. She blushes, and I don’t try to press her any farther. I go back in my room and ask Ruby if I have any clothes. “Lucky for you, I bought you an outfit,” she says reaching in a bag. She pulls out a baggy shirt and leggings, and she also brought my boots from the house. It was the best outfit ever since it was fall, my favorite season. I ran out the doors after getting changed and turn a circle. I skip to the front desk and tell them my name. The man behind the desk says my mom already signed all my release papers. I walk out the doors with Ruby by my side.
“Let's go home,” I say. “Can I drive?”