Under My Skin - 18. Part II, chapter 8

- VIII -

Oh, son of a bitch! I am so late right now – Hailey will kill me for sure! I was positive I missed my first two finals, so I knew that when Hailey noticed me waltzing into the school building, she’d be beyond pale. I tried jumping out of bed but realized that something was holding me down. What the hell? I opened my eyes and let out a squawk of a moan when sunlight assaulted my eyes with a razor blade of brightness.

“Jake…”

I coughed and it felt like my insides were filled with a zillion of tiny and very sharp needles. Jesus, what happened?

“Bailey,” I croaked. “What did you do to me?”

She started to cry, and I finally was able to slightly open my eyes, tilt my head, and look at her. I blinked when I realized that I wasn’t at home. It looked like I was in a hospital or something. I carefully looked around, trying not to move my head much. Yup, definitely a hospital.

“Bailey,” I muttered. “Stop wailing, please… What happened?”

Christy looked at me, tears shimmering on her eyelashes.

“You don’t remember?” she asked incredulously.

“No,” I frowned. “Did I get into a car wreck…?”

“No,” she said. “Oh Jake, it’s all my fault! If I hadn’t made you go out for that stupid ice-cream…”

Ice-cream. There was something about ice-cream. Something about Christy’s metabolism… Mary eats like a horse… Pizzas… Something about a dumpster and my father… Ugh, my head started to hurt. I closed my eyes and Christy whispered:

“I thought he killed you, Jake… I thought he killed you when that gun fired…”

Gun. There was a gun…? Did I get a gun? Or did Sam? Thinking of Sam immediately sent a jolt of cold, refreshing pulse down my spine and my eyes flew open. I remembered.

“Oh, God…” I muttered and stared at Christy with horror. “Oh God, Chris… I killed him, didn’t I? Oh, Jesus… I killed him, didn’t I? Chris!!”

She looked at me and shook her head. And then she started crying again.

“No,” she managed to say. “You didn’t… You were fighting and you tried to get the gun away from him, but then it went off…”

I kept staring at her. Jesus, we were fighting for the damn gun, it went off and it killed Landon.

“…and it got him in the chest… I think it almost got his lung but not enough to kill him”, she said.

“He’s not dead?” I muttered numbly and she shook her head.

“No,” she sobbed quietly. “He’s not dead, Jake…”

“What day is it?” I whispered.

“Sunday,” she sniffed. “Sunday morning. You were out for almost twelve hours.”

Twelve hours? That’s it? Felt like it was at least three days.

“I called Matt last night,” Christy said. “Him and Sam are coming back today…”

I looked at her.

“What…” I coughed again. “What’s wrong with me? When I cough, it hurts like hell…”

She sniffled again.

“You have three broken ribs,” she said.

Ah, okay. That explains the pain.

“And a concussion,” Christy kept saying. “Also when he shot for the first time, he got your ear.”

“Huh?” I was confused. “For the first time?”

“Before you guys started fighting,” she said. “Remember he fired?”

“He missed…” I muttered.

“Kinda…” Christy said quietly. “He got your ear. Just a little…”

I winced.

“Just a little,” Christy repeated quickly, seeing my expression. “It’s, like, a piece is missing…”

I almost started to laugh, but at the last second I remembered how much pain that would cause me and tried to stop. Great, a little piece of my ear is now missing. This was too funny and I started shaking from laughter.

“Ow…” I breathed but I couldn’t stop laughing. “Ow! Son of a… Ow!!”

“Jake, you okay?” Christy looked scared. “Do you want me to call the nurse? Jake!”

“I am fine, Bailey…” I muttered finally. “It’s just funny… Now I am disfigured for life… Ow…! What’s gonna happen to Landon?”

Christy’s eyes darkened.

“Good things,” she said evenly and I blinked. “He turned eighteen last week, so he’ll go in for the whole nine yards, I hope...”

“That is a good thing,” I agreed wholeheartedly. “Bailey, you never told him about me, huh?”

“Of course not,” she looked at me with reproach.

I grinned.

“He’ll think that you and I are together, you know…”

That got her smile.

“I should tell him that we are getting married,” she muttered.

I growled.

“Stop making me laugh…” I said tightly. “Do you have a slightest idea how much it hurts…? Ow…! Bailey! I am serious, knock it… Ow!!… Knock it off…”