A/N: This story will be told from Nami's POV. It's also my first real try at an AU lol . And why do I only come up with ideas at 2 in the morning lol
Begging for Change
Chapter 1
They never call me over the intercom at school. But I can tell by the way the secretary said my name-I'm in trouble.
"Nami Okamura" she stated really slow with a slight crack in her voice "Come to the office please"
Everyone starts teasing me, saying that 'cat burglar' Nami finally got caught. Now I admit I may be cheap, and possibly money obsessed but I am not a thief-not one bit.
On my way out of class one girl stops me and says "You're lucky. You probably get to go home for doing something stupid. I wish it was me."
No way in hell would that girl wanna be me right now, sitting in the hospital hoping that my mother doesn't die. While I'm mad at myself, God and anyone else who could've looked out for her but didn't.
When you're in school there isn't really a good reason to cry. If you accidently burn yourself in cooking class, or cut your hand in woodshop you're much better off holding back tears. Because if you decide that you wanna let them loose, somebody is more than likely gonna call you a punk, wimp or worse and trust me you will never live that down. But it's okay to cry here and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I cry the entire time I'm in the waiting room and even more when I see how bad off she really is.
The newscaster on the TV in the waiting room says she was attacked in broad daylight right in front of our place. It wasn't a stranger that did it either, it was Boa Hancock, a girl who lives a few buildings over from where we live. She's only eighteen but could pass easily for twenty-five and she doesn't care what she does and who she does it to, especially when she's having extremely loud parties at four in the morning every other night.
My mother called the cops on her three times just last week. Even called the fire department once when one of Hancock's friends decided it would be cool to set an old mattress on fire-waiting to be picked up, just for fun.
I told my mother to let her do what she wants, as long as she doesn't come to mess with us. But my mother is stubborn and won't leave things alone. So this morning she told me that she was going to have another talk with Hancock and that she wasn't going to be nice about it either. I guess Hancock had finally gotten sick of my mother's constant "meddling" and decided to take a metal pipe to her head in front of everyone.
When the evening nurse starts her duty, she thumps the IV line running from the clear plastic bag right into my mother's smooth, pale arm. Then she frowns at the patch of missing hair that they had to cut from my mother's head so that they could stitch up the hole that Hancock had left there.
Watching her change the bandage intently I yell "Excuse me" and make a run for the bathroom. I constantly flushed the toilet so that no one could hear me puking the lunch I had earlier that day.
"Are you alright honey?" the pretty nurse asks, knocking on the door
"Yes, I'm fine" I reply standing and walking out of the bathroom
"My shift is almost over honey" she tells me in a warm, comforting voice "I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
I nodded to show her that I understood
"Do you need me to call someone for you?" she asked softly "You're too young to be here by yourself" although I'm sixteen and more than capable of staying in a hospital alone, but I won't tell her that.
Instead I tell her that I'm not alone, that my best friend ViVi and her father Dr. Nefertari are here with me, although they went to the small gift shop to buy some tissues. "Nice tissues" Vivi had said when they left "Not the cheap, rough ones they have in here" that was an hour and a half ago
"You take care okay?" the nurse replies as she leaves "Your mother looks bad, but the doctors say that she'll be alright, you'll be fine honey" then she left
I just stare at her lying there then. Moving my eyes from her pale face to her head I hold back the tears, deciding that I'm all cried out. I began to wish that I had been there to help her, or maybe stopped her from making that mistake. With all of my thinking I don't realize that my father had walked into the room. All I know is something smells terrible- like old codfish and alcohol. When I turn towards the door, there he is, staring at me
"Nammmmiiii" he says dragging out my name like he used to when I was little and he couldn't find me anywhere. His hair is short and matted to his head like it hadn't been combed in months. He's wearing a stained T-shirt that's ripped at the collar and more dirt on him than on Hancock's front steps.
"Oh, hi daddy" I say squeezing my mother's hand
He extends his arms and motions for me to come to him as if I really needed a hug from him. I shake my head and back away, not wanting to get anywhere near him.
Noticing my rejection he asks "Do you need anything?" he starts to reach into his pocket "I might have about five dollars in change"
Shaking my head I respond "No I'm fine"
"Good" he said taking his hands out of his pockets "I didn't do too good on the corner today" he slurs over his words "Some days those people make you beg for every penny they give you, other days they throw a few bucks into the can like they made of cash"
I'm really wanting him to leave at this point, but he isn't budging. Instead he moves over to my mother and squeezes her arm. "You know" he starts slowly "It should be me with my head bashed in like this"
I try to contain myself, try to keep myself from screaming "I KNOW IT SHOULD BE YOU. EVERYONE WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF YOUR HEAD WAS BASHED IN AND NOT HERS" and I succeed for the most part, instead I give him a look of disgust and hope he gets the picture.
Noticing my look he states with slight rejection "I have nothing else to say" and I'm glad he doesn't now I'm just waiting for him to leave.
"Eww what's stinks" I hear from the hallway.
At that moment Vivi walked in holding her nose. Getting her attention I subtlely point to my father and she begins apologizing constantly, although my father acts like she hadn't said a word or even walked into the room.
Moving towards me despite my obvious discomfort he places a dry kiss on my cheek. Resisting the urge to wipe it away I watched him as he mumbled a goodbye to me and continued out of the room, jiggling the change in his pocket as if he doesn't have a care in the world.