Kerry's POV

I sensed something was different as I walked downstairs for breakfast that morning. Little did I know everything would change. And not just for me, but also for my mother Cate, my brother Rory, my cousin C.J., my grandpa Jim, and even my older sister, Bridget.

"Hi, guys," I said, trying to break the tense silence around me. Nobody looked up at me. "Good morning!"

"Hey, Kerry," Bridget said, but I sensed something was wrong.

"What happened?" I asked. "Did somebody die?" I probably shouldn't be joking about that after what happened to my dad, Paul, almost two years ago. I really missed him, but having Grandpa and C.J. here was nice, too. I looked around the table. Sure enough, everybody was here."

"No," Mom said. "We got a phone call last night while you were asleep."

I had gone to sleep early last night because of the big math test I had today. But now, math was the farthest thing from my mind. "Oh. Who was it from?"

Mom and Grandpa looked at each other. "Bruno," Mom said uncomfortably.

My mouth became dry, and I'm pretty sure my face was turning pale, too. "B-Bruno?"

"Oooohhh," Bridget, Rory, and C.J. chorused. Needless to say, they all knew about Bruno and me. I was trying to forget that myself.

"What did he want?" I said, still terrified at the thought of my ex-boyfriend (aka the world's hugest jerk) coming back again. "He's not still trying to... with me, is he?"

"Not you, no," Mom replied. "Actually, he called about Bridget."

So needless to say, she hadn't told anybody else the news before I got there. She had just told them there was news. That's why they all looked so depressed.

"Me?" Bridget screamed.

"Better you than me!" I exclaimed, relieved.

"Apparently," Mom continued, "Bridget and Bruno went on a date last Saturday."

"I did not!" Bridget yelped, outraged.

"I know she didn't, Mom," I jumped in. "I drove her to Jenna's house. I remember because afterwards I was going to-"

"Okay, we get it," Bridget sighed. "What, is he after me now? I mean, all boys are, but I don't want that jerk!"

"Well, he wants you to meet him at the busstop tonight." Mom frowned. "What's that mean?"

Bridget, Rory, and I all knew what the busstop was, and we'd all been there before (various times, in Bridget's case). It was loacated behind our high school, and was infamous (to the kids, at least) as the most popular make out spot in town.

"Oh, nothing, Mom," Bridget lied, and I stifled a giggle. "Did he say anything else?"

"Well." Mom paused. "He wanted you to bring Kerry with you. But Care Bear, I completely understand if you don't want to go, I mean, this is the boy who-"

"Actually," I said, "I think I will. I've been wondering what would happen if I ever saw Bruno again. Bridge, you don't mind if I go with you, do you?"

"No, not at all," Bridget said. "I'd actually prefer it if you did. Just thinking about that guy scares me."

"You have no idea." I shuddered.

"So, you two are really gonna go?" Rory asked.

"I guess," Bridget frowned.

"I'll drive," I offered.

"You're handling this really well, Kerry," Mom commented.

"Thanks. I'm surprised, too."

Bridget and I got back from school a little late that day (she had detention and I had an SAT practice course), and we sat upstairs in our room, discussing our meeting with Bruno in a few hours.

"Are you nervous?" Bridget asked me.

"A little bit," I nodded. "But not really."

"What do you think he wants with me?"

"What does every boy seem to want with you?" I replied.

"Hmm, good point, Kerry," my sister smiled, flipping her blonde curls over her shoulder.

"Ooh, sounds like Kerry's getting back together with Bruno," Rory said.

"Please," I rolled my eyes. "We're just going there to see what he wants."

"You already know what he wants," CJ pointed out, walking behind Rory.

"Rory! CJ! OUT!" I screamed.

"What's all this noise?" Mom wondered, joining our conversation. "Rory, CJ, leave Kerry and Bridget alone. This is their room."

"Fine." Rory pouted. "I mean, I'm just gonna read about it in her diary afterwards."

"Rory, you little perv!" Bridget cried, jumping up and throwing a pillow at our little brother's head. He closed the door just in time.

After dinner, Bridget and I climbed into our car (we saved up and bought it used for only eight thousand dollars) and headed to school.

"Wow, Bridge," I said, "Who would have thought you would be going to school after hours, huh?"

"I'm not going to school," Bridget answered. "Don't be stupid." Normally, I'd have gotten mad at her for saying that, but I could tell she was tense.

"Well, here we are," I said, parking the car. "We'll have to walk a little if we don't want to get caught."

"Fine." The two of us got out and walked around the school.

"I'm a little freaked out, Bridget," I admitted.

"Me too," she said. "But I don't blame you. If I were you, I'd have exploded by now."

"Hey, Bridget?" I looked up at her.

"Yeah?"

"I really hope you don't get hurt. I mean like I did. Well, you know."

"Yeah. Thanks, Ker."

"Kerry? Kerry Hennessey, is that you?" Oh no. I recognized that voice.

"Hi, Bruno," I said, kicking a pebble with the toe of my old sneakers.

"H-h-hey," Bridget stuttered.

"Wow, Kerry, you look great," Bruno said, stepping out of the shadows. "Oh. You too, Bridget."

"Thanks." You'd have thought she was petrified.

Suddenly, all the painful memories between Bruno and me flooded back into my mind. What was I doing here? I didn't still like him, did I? No, I told myself. No, you don't. But deep down, really deep down, I knew that I still had feelings for Bruno. I didn't want them, that was for sure, but what could I do? I really hoped I could control myself around him. Maybe Bridget would help me. Oh, who was I kidding, my sister wouldn't do that. All of a sudden, I felt like throwing up.

"Bridget, I'll see you in a minute." I turned and ran into the bushes.

"W-what?" Bridget said worriedly.

I barely heard her. I turned around, buried my face in the nearest bush, and puked onto it. Gross. I sat down on the ground, wiping off my face. My stomach felt warm and tingly. What had I gotten myself into here?

I heard a voice. "Kerry, are you feeling all right?" It was Bruno. My stomach was in knots again.

"No," I replied. "I'm going home."

"Can't you stay?" He looked down at me with those big, beautiful eyes. I just wanted to melt into them- no, Kerry, I told myself. Don't think that, you don't want him... Oh, who was I kidding? Yes I did.

"Well, maybe," I agreed in spite of myself.

"Kerry!" Bridget cried, alarmed.

Bruno reached down and helped me up. The second his hand touched mine, I could feel the sparks fly.

"Bruno, why did you want us here?" I asked.

"I don't want your sister," he whispered to me, running one hand through my hair. "I want you. I always have."

"Y-you have?" I breathed.

"Yes," he answered. "You may have gotten the wrong impression about me, and I'm sorry about that. But I'm really not a bad guy."

"I know you're not," I said.

"So..."

I smiled. "Definitely."

"Kerry," Bridget warned.

I didn't care what she thought. Right now, all I cared about was Bruno. He grabbed my arm and led me to the busstop. The busstop was small, almost like a closet, but you had room to do whatever you needed to do in there (man, that came out wrong). There was no light inside, and there was a curtain designed so that you could see out, but nobody could see in.

"After you?" Bruno pushed aside the curtain and we stepped in.

"Now what?" I said.

"Now this." Bruno pressed me up against the wall and buried his face in mine. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. One of his hands was tangled in my now messy red curls, and the other one was resting on my waist. His lower hand slipped even lower, and I moved down against the wall. Pretty soon, I was almost on the floor.

We broke apart for a few seconds, and I gazed up at his face. Suddenly, haunting images popped back into my mind. I turned my head away.

"C'mon, Ker," Bruno said, wrapping his arm around my neck and shoving my mouth into his.

No. This seemed all wrong. "YOU NEVER CALLED!" I shrieked, pushing him face-first into the ground. "Jerk!"

"What?" Bruno asked, confused.

"How do you expect me to trust you?" I yelled. "You never called and you promised you would. You were responsible for what should have been one of the greatest moments of my life and you ruined it! You hurt me. Bad."

"I know," he answered, straightening his glasses, "But give me another chance!"

"I did, and you screwed that one up, too!"

"So give me one more!" He lunged at me again, but I moved away.

"That's all you're interested in me for, isn't it?" I realized.

"No!" Bruno insisted. "Now come here!" He pushed me forward and pressed his lips against mine.

"No, stop," I mumbled, but it was too hard to break away from his tight grasp. "No, no!" He slammed me onto the floor. "Get off," I tried to say, but it came out all messed up. But Bruno was too fast for me. I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at his face, that haunting face, hanging right over me... I let out a loud, ear-piercing scream.

"Kerry!" Bruno growled angrily. "Don't do that!"

"Get off me, you-" My last word was blurred Bruno's mouth. All of a sudden, there was a loud crash and his body was pressed into mine harder than ever- then, he rolled off. "What?"

"Kerry!" Bridget rushed over to me and helped me up. I noticed the busstop curtain was open and my sister was standing next to me. "Oh, thank God you're all right- you are all right, aren't you?"

"I guess," I said, still shocked at what had just happened.

"Good," Bridget sighed.

"Bridge, how much of that did you see?"

"Well, most of it," she admitted. "It's hard to see from the outside. But I could see basically what was going on, and then after you screamed, I opened the curtain and I saw Bruno on top of you, and you were obviously trying to get away from him, so I punched him in the head."

"You punched him?!"

"Yeah."

"Thanks." I reached out and hugged her.

"Whoa, whoa, let's not get too close there," Bridget said, pushing me away. "We have to get out of here."

"Good idea." We headed towards the parking lot.

"Oh, no you don't." Bruno had gotten up and was stumbling towards us.

"Bridge, run!" My sister I and I turned and ran to the car. "I'll drive," I said frantically, "Just get in!" We both climbed in. "Where's the key?"

"Here!" Bridget handed it to me. I put it in the ignition and we sped out of the school parking lot. Bruno wasn't far behind us. "Faster, faster!" Bridget screamed. "He's right on our tail!"

"All right!" I stepped on the accelerator. Hard. I looked behind me for a split second to see where Bruno was.

At that exact second, Bridget screamed, "Kerry, watch out for that-"

"What?" I felt the car swerve. I looked ahead and saw the tree we were headed straight at. "AAAHH!" I braced myself for the impact.

"Kerry, no!" Bridget threw herself in front of me.

"Bridget!"

The car smashed into the tree, and the windshield blew up in our faces. I heard my sister's soft moan as the glass dug into her. Only a few pieces hit me, though. My face hit the steering wheel with a loud thud. The car moved forwards, and Bridget was thrown into the tree. Her head hit it first, and she slumped against the hood of the car, not moving.

I knew Bruno was gone. I got out of the car to see if Bridget was all right. "Bridget!" I took one look at my sister lying on the front of the car and knew something was wrong immediately. Her face was covered in blood, and it was dripping into her hair and down her shirt. I had a sharp pain over my left eye, but that seemed trivial compared to what had happened to Bridget. "Bridget, talk to me!" My eyes overflowed with tears as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. I punched in my home phone number and held it up to my ear as I waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" It was Rory.

"Rory?" I sniffed. "It's Kerry. Is Mom there?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't she be."

"Put her on."

Maybe he could tell by the tone of my voice, but it was to his credit that Rory gave Mom the phone immediately. I didn't have the strength to argue after all I'd been put through tonight.

"Kerry?" Mom said. "Are you all right?"

"I am," I replied. "Well, mostly. Long story. Anyway, I need you to come here right now."

"Sure," Mom said. "Where exactly are you?"

"The big oak tree outside the park," I told her, wiping away a tear. "Come quick."

"Of course. I'll be there as soon as I possibly can."

"Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome." She hung up, and I went back to my sister.

"Beach, are you okay?" Bridget didn't respond. "Beach? Bridget, wake up!" I broke down sobbing. She had just saved me from Bruno, and what had I done? I'd gotten her stuck in a car crash. And that should have been me, too. That should be me lying in between the tree and the car, unconscious or dead, for all I knew, bones broken, blood gushing. But Bridget stopped it. She blocked the glass with her own face; she saved my life.

"Kerry!" Mom's voice rang out in the night. "Oh, Kerr Bear, you're okay! What happened?"

I quickly tried to describe what had happened that night, ending with, "And then the car hit that tree, and the windshield shattered. It should have hit me, but Bridget threw herself in front of me so that I didn't get hurt.

"Oh," Mom whispered hoarsely. "My Bridget!" She looked at me. "Kerry, call an ambulance."

"I'm on it."

Bridget was carted off in an ambulance and brought into a hospital. The rest of our family came over, and for hours, Mom, Grandpa, Rory, CJ, and I all sat around Bridget's bed, where she was connected to wires.

"Well?" Mom asked. "Is she alive?"

"Yes," the doctor told us. "She's alive. But just barely."

"Kerry Hennessey?" One of the nurses said. "Is there a Kerry Hennessey here?"

"That's me," I said. "What is it?"

"You were also in the car with you sister, correct?"

"Correct."

"Can we please see you in this room?"

"Sure." I stood up. My knees were shaking as I followed the nurse into the next room.

"Sit down," she said, and I did. "My name is Nurse Brooks, but you can call me Margaret."

"Okay."

"Kerry," Margaret said, "We need to do a few basic checks, just to see if you're all right from when your head hit the steering wheel. It will only take a few minutes, but if you could just sit still and be patient, I'd really appreciate-"

"It's my fault," I blurted out.

"Excuse me?"

"It's my fault," I repeated. "Everything that happened to Bridget, everything that happened to my sister, it's all my fault. I was driving the car, and she didn't want to go, she was scared, the only reason we were there was because I just had to see Bruno, and he was trying to get me back again, and he was right on top of me but Bridget saved me from that, too." I paused for a breath. "Then we left, and Bruno was chasing us, and I looked back for one second, and our car hit the tree, and- and- and-" I broke off abruptly and buried my face in my hands. "I did this to her."

"Kerry, it's not your fault," Margaret reassured me. "If it's anyone's fault, it's this Bruno person. Who is he?"

"My old boyfriend," I explained. "I hate him! How could he do this to me? And to Bridget?"

"Well," Margaret said, "You can keep talking, but I'm just going to see if you're okay."

"I'm not."

"I meant physically."

"I am, now can I go see Bridget?"

"No," Margaret said firmly. "Stay here. Your head hit the steering wheel, right?"

"Yeah, and my arm slammed into the door. So what?"

"Do you know you have a huge cut above your eye?"

"I do?" I felt my forehead. Sure enough, my fingers were red when I looked at them. "Oh. I guess I do."

"You're going to need stitches," Margaret told me.

"Oh," I moaned. I hated stitches.

"A lot," she added. "That looks pretty bad."

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"Now," she continued, "Tell me if this hurts." She moved her hands up my left arm, up to the spot where it hurt.

"Ow!" I screamed in pain.

"Does that hurt?"

"Uh, yeah!"

"We'll have to do some x-rays," Margaret said.

"It doesn't hurt!" I lied quickly.

"Nice try, Kerry," Margaret said, rolling her eyes. "It won't take long. Just come with me."

I reluctantly followed her out for the x-rays, complaining all the way.

The next thing I knew, I was back at Bridget's bedside, with a cast on my arm and twenty-five stitches in my forehead. It was three in the morning, and Mom, Grandpa, Rory, and CJ were at home, alseep, but I couldn't bear to leave the hospital. What if it was the last time I ever saw my older sister? I wanted to be with her until the very last moments.

"Bridget," I whispered. "Bridget, I'm really sorry about everything that happened. It's all my fault, it really is. I mean, look at all that's happened to you because of me! I've given up my sister for a boy." I paused. It was dark, but I could still see the wires attached to my sister's nose and mouth. I grimly looked at her face. It dull and motionless, not unlike the rest of her body. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was expressionless (hey, is that even a word?). Her right hand was resting on her stomach, her left hand hanging loosely by her side.

"Please wake up," I begged. Nothing. The memory of Bridget's lifeless body on the hood of the car was creeping back into my mind, torturing me. Why did it have to be her? It should be me lying in that bed, not her.

"Bridge, I'm sorry," I said quietly. I reached out and touched her arm, but immediately pulled my hand back. Her skin was cold as ice, and maybe it was just the dark, but she looked really pale, too.

I sat there all night, looking for any sign of life from my only sister. She didn't move once.

Three days later, and I'd only moved from my chair to go to the bathroom. I was still wearing the same outfit, and my red hair was even redder from the blood that had been in there for the last few days. I wasn't hungry. Looking at Bridget lying there all day made me lose my appetite. Mom still made me eat, but I still refused to get up.

"Kerry, you have to eat," Mom said.

"No, I don't," I replied, staring down at my shoes. Bridget was being fed by needles. Why couldn't they do that to me?

"Well, Rory and I are going to the hospital cafeteria," Mom told me. "I'll get you something."

"Don't."

"I am," Mom said firmly. "Let me know if anything happens." Like it would. She left.

I went back to chastising myself for doing this to Bridget. "Bridget, I'm going insane!" I cried. "I can't eat, I can't sleep, I've been living in this room for the last three days!" I sighed. "But it's my fault you're here. And thank you so much for saving me. I didn't deserve that."

"Yes, you did."

"Who said that?"

"Me." It was Bridget. Her voice was hoarse, and it sounded like it hurt to talk.

"Bridget!" I exclaimed. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," she said. She still was't moving, but I could tell she was trying to sit up. "You were really brave the other night, Kerry."

"So were you," I pointed out. "You shouldn't have done what you did for me." My voice wobbled a little bit. "How do you feel?"

"Really crappy, and you?"

I laughed. That was the Bridget I knew! "Not nearly as bad as you, believe me. But we'll get through this together. Because we're sisters. And that's what sisters do."

"Yeah." Bridget finally sat up and, propped herself up on some pillows.

"Happy endings," I whispered. "In the midst of all the bad things that happened on that night, at least you're safe."

"Aww, Kerry Berry," Bridget said. She reached out and gave me a hug.

I felt all the grief and anger from these past few days slip away. Suddenly, I felt all better.

The End