It was Lucia de Medici's first day at the psych ward in the hospital. It was terrifying. Even though it looked like a normal hospital, and smelled like a normal hospital (bleach, chemicals, all that jazz) it was anything but. The first thing that happened was that they made her take her clothes off (luckily in a private room) so they could search her for weapons and scars and stuff. It was embarrassing and awkward because she didn't like people looking at her. Next, they gave her a pair of scrubs that smelled like lemons (weird). That would be her uniform while she was at the hospital.
She had to admit that the nurse that was showing her around was pretty nice. She was shown to her red-walled room and left to unpack her few belongings that she was allowed. Her room had two beds in it, two desks, a single closet, and some drawers. She also had her own bathroom. She unpacked her underwear, bras, toothbrush, toothpaste, (she wasn't allowed her own shampoo), glasses, contacts, her hairbrush, and her poetry journal. She was grateful that she didn't have a roommate.
Lucia glanced at the clock. It was a little after 10:30 at night. She walked over to the window, where behind the bars she could see the busy street down below. Sadness welled up inside of her as she gazed out the window. A single tear escaped from one of her pale blue eyes, and she knew a wave of tears was about to come, no matter how hard she fought against it. It made it's way to the corner of her mouth, where it tasted like salt. It was very familiar to her. She shut off the light, crawled under the thin blanket on her bed, and let it all out. She brought her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and cried herself to sleep.
At about 7:30 the next morning Lucia was woken up by a nurse. She was given a small cup of shampoo, a small cup of conditioner, a little bit of liquid soap, and a white towel. She was shown where to get fresh scrubs, where to put her old dirty ones, and where to take her dirty towel.
She padded back down the white hallway to her room in the slipper socks that they gave her (they weren't allowed real shoes) and grabbed a fresh bra and some underwear. She took everything into the bathroom, brushed her teeth (she was allergic to mint and had to use special cinnamon toothpaste), took her clothes off, and got in the shower. She thought carefully about everything that had happened since she arrived, which honestly wasn't much. Although, she faintly remembered being woken up at about 1:30 to have blood taken. That would explain the little purple and blue bruise on her arm.
Lucia stepped out of the shower, dried off, got dressed, and brushed her long black hair. She left her room and continued down the hall to the room that a nurse told her she would be eating in. There were about 10 other kids, including a really big, fat black guy, a nice-looking chubby girl with dark skin and glasses, a tall, pale kid reading a comic book, a tall pale guy with a bunch of piercings and tattoos, and a little colored girl.
Lucky her, there was one empty table left. She grabbed the tray with her name on it and sat down at the empty table. She took the plastic cover off of her plate to find eggs, bacon, toast, different jellies, butter, and a glass of chocolate milk. It smelled delicious. She took a bite out of the scrambled eggs and realized that they were light and fluffy, much better then she thought they would be.
"Can I sit here?" an extremely sexy and swoon-worthy voice asked. Without looking up, Lucia shrugged. She was in a really shitty mood. "I'm Adam," he said. When Lucia looked up, her found herself looking at a decently attractive guy. He had short black hair, big brown eyes, and was a tad pale. It worked for him.
"I'm Lucia de Medici," she said.
"Cool. Nice to meet you. So, what're you in for?" he asked.
"Overdosing… and not succeeding," she said simply, shrugging.
"Yeah, me too," he said brightly. He continued on in detail about how he took 100 Tylenol and how his mom found him unconscious on the kitchen floor and he had to get his stomach pumped (which from the way he described it, in detail, was not very pleasant) "So, how old are you?" he asked.
"17" Lucia told him.
"Cool! Me, too!"
"Cool! Only one more year till I'm out of the hellhole they call my house," she said dryly.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Adam asked curiously, but in the way an old friend would.
"Nothing. Haha it's not important," Lucia said quickly.
"Aww c'mon, tell me! I promise I won't say a word," he said, adding a mischievous wink.
"Fine. My stepfather beats me when he gets mad. I try to tell my mom, but she won't listen."
"Oh, god," Adam said, his face falling.
"Well, at least I only have one year left," she commented.
"Yeah, you've got that," Adam said gloomily.
Lucia took one look at his face and mumbled, "I upset you. I'm sorry. I'll go now."
Just as she got up to leave Adam grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "Oh, no you don't," he said, "We're just getting started!"
The next morning (before breakfast) went exactly as the day before had. Lucia had spent the day before with Adam, doing everything with him. They went to their classes together (yes, they still had classes) they went to meals, and during their free time they would hang out on the couch in the crappy little lounge so that they could watch Hannah Montana on the small television and make fun of it. She had a feeling that they were going to be good friends. The only thing that was truly horrible was that she was woken up at about 3 a.m. to screams coming from down the hallway. It was terrifying.
When Lucia got to breakfast she grabbed her tray and sat at the table she was at the day before. Adam was sitting next to her within the next minute. He had awesome timing.
"Did you hear that screaming last night?" he asked.
"Who didn't?" Lucia asked dryly.
The door opened, and in walked a new girl. She was of medium height, and her hair was short with brown on top and blonde on the bottom. It was pretty awesome. The girl grabbed her tray and searched the room, looking for somewhere to sit. Almost reluctantly, it seemed, she walked over to the table that Lucia and Adam were sitting at.
"Can I sit with you guys?" she asked in a sweet, harmonious voice.
"Of course," Adam was quick to say.
"Thanks. I'm Rochelle, by the way," she said.
"I'm Adam, and this is Lucia," Adam told her.
Lucia barely noticed, though. She couldn't help but admire the girl. A gorgeous blush was creeping up her cheeks, her eyes a shocking green, and her lips looked delicious. She smelled good, too. Like some kind of really expensive perfume.
"So, what're you in for?" Adam was quick to ask.
"Cutting too deep," the new girl responded.
Lucia's eyes went straight to Rochelle's arms, where there were some pretty big bandages. Where there weren't bandages, Lucia could see beautiful, intricate scars.
Within minutes, the three were good friends.
One day Lucia, Rochelle, and Adam were all hanging out in the crappy lounge area, crowded around the small television. They had been having a deep conversation about past relationships when Adam got up and left to go to the bathroom in his room down the hall. In the three minutes that he was gone, a lot happened.
Rochelle started to talk about her ex-boyfriend Ethan and all of the horrible things he did to her, and yet she stayed in a relationship with him. Then she told Lucia about how nice it was to have friends like her and Adam that could relate to her problems and she could vent to. A single tear ran down Rochelle's face, and that was all Lucia needed. She put her hand on Rochelle's cheek, locked eyes with her, and leaned in. The feel of Rochelle's full, velvety lips against her own was amazing. The kiss lasted about ten seconds and was disrupted by footsteps down the hall growing nearer to the two girls. It was Adam, who suspected nothing. To Lucia's disappointment, everything went back to normal and neither she nor Rochelle brought up the kiss.
It was about a week after their kiss. It was really early in the morning, when it was still dark, probably around two. It was too dark to see the clock on the wall. Lucia was fast asleep when she faintly heard her name being called. She thought the voice that she was hearing was all part of a dream, until she felt cold, soft fingers shaking her awake.
"Lucia" said a soft voice.
"Mmmmmmm" Lucia let out, turning onto her side to face the voice. She opened her eyes to see a pair of shocking green eyes staring at her own pale blue ones. It was Rochelle. Lucia moved over to make room for Rochelle who instantly crawled in and under the covers.
"I'm so sorry for not talking to you about our kiss sooner," said Rochelle
"It's okay," Lucia responded, "You weren't ready"
Each girl instantly put their arms around the other and got their legs tangled together.
Lucia spent time carefully kissing each and every one of Rochelle's beautiful scars. When she had gotten every one, Rochelle reached up and brushed long black strands of hair out of Lucia's face and inched closer. She started to lean in, so Lucia closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and soon felt Rochelle's lips against her own. The kiss was long and passionate, the kind that Lucia favored. Rochelle rolled on top of her and alternated between long, passionate kisses and short little pecks. Each girl kept letting out moans of pleasure. They stayed like that for god knows how long, enjoying every second of it, until all too soon Rochelle pulled away and rolled off of Lucia.
Rochelle faced the blue-eyed girl and whispered, "I'm so sorry Lucia, but I can't do this."
"What? Why?" Lucia asked frantically, clutching Rochelle's hands in her own.
"I haven't been honest with you," Rochelle whispered, looking down. "The past few days Ethan has been coming to see me."
Lucia sucked in a breath, preparing herself for the words that she knew were coming.
"I really like you, Lucia, but Ethan and I talked everything out and we're back together now. I'm so sorry," Rochelle whispered slowly, a tear slowly rolling down her cheek
"Leave. Now. " Lucia barked out, sitting up and turning her back on the other girl. She could feel the bed shift as Rochelle climbed out. The girl turned toward Lucia, hesitated, let out a sigh, and left.
That was just another night that Lucia would cry herself to sleep.
It was about two months later. Adam, Lucia, and Rochelle were still close. Lucia was doing a ton of different drugs, smoking, cutting, and had a few eating disorders. Adam had joined a local gang called the Blood Kings, and Rochelle was still with Ethan. Lucia and Adam weren't really in a relationship, but more like friends with benefits. They were still good friends, but they would have passionless, emotionless sex, just to try and feel something. Things had been like that since they all got out of the hospital.
One day Adam and Lucia were hanging out when Lucia got a call on her new iPhone. She checked caller i.d. and saw that it was Rochelle. She was very glad because Rochelle had started to act weird, and then she hadn't answered the phone for the past three days.
"Hey, bitch! Where've you been!" Lucia spoke excitedly into the phone, expecting to hear Rochelle's beautiful voice make some sarcastic comment back. What she was not expecting was the voice of Rochelle's mother, asking for her presence at Rochelle's funeral.