Chapter 3

Stan feels something rubbing on his face. He opens his eyes, but everything looks blurry so he can't quite make out what it is. He closes his eyes and opens them again. Things now look a little clearer and he notices a figure standing above him wiping his face.

"Who's that?" He asks.

"It's Nurse McDonald Stanley."

"I'm in the nurse's office?"

"Yes. Your friend Kyle found you lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Do you remember what happened?"

"Umm…"

Flashback

"Stan…this is going to hurt me more than this is going to hurt you." She raises her fists. Stan puts his hands in front of his face. Wendy swings at him, but he quickly ducks before she can hit him. "Oh no, you're not getting out this that easily." She kicks him in the head.

"OWW!"

"SHUT UP!" She kicks him again causing him to fall over. She then begins kicking him in the face repeatedly. She kicks him so hard that blood begins to come out of his nose and mouth.

"Wendy stop, you're hurting me!" Stan cries.

"That's the point! Now you know how I feel when you go off and cheat on me with Kyle and now I guess Red too.

"I told you before, I'm not cheating on you."

"Yes you are!" She begins slamming Stan's head into the ground. She does it until he eventually passes out. "Stan?" She nudges him a little, but he doesn't move. "Uh-oh." She quickly runs off.

Back to present

"I honestly don't remember what happened." He sits up a little and holds his head.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, my head just hurts a little."

"Well your mother is on her way to pick you up."

"Pick me up? Why?"

"She's going to take you to the hospital. There's a possibility that you may have a concussion."

"I can't go to the hospital now, I have to go to football practice."

"Stan, you're in no condition to play football. You were knocked out about two hours, your eyes are really red, you can barely keep them open or barely see out of them, and you were complaining about your head a few seconds ago."

"I'll be ok, really."

"Your doctor will tell you the same thing." Suddenly, Wendy comes in the nurse's office. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm here to see my boyfriend Stan. Can I have a minute alone with him please?"

"Sure." She walks off. Wendy sits down beside Stan. "You didn't tell her what happened did you?" She whispers.

"No."

"Good boy." She pats him on the head.

"What the hell Wendy? I'm not a dog!"

"Don't take that tone with me! Do you want me to hit you again?"

"Are you going to anyway? That seems to be all you do nowadays."

Wendy slaps him. She looks to make sure Nurse McDonald didn't see it. "I told you not to take that tone with me. Well now that you're awake, you can go back to class."

Nurse McDonald comes back over with an icepack. She hands it to Stan. "He won't be going back to class, he's going to the hospital."

"Hospital? Is it that serious?"

"Yes, he may have a concussion."

"Oh my poor Stanny!" She hugs him and then kisses him on the forehead. "Sweetie, do you want me to come with you?"

"No it's ok. My mom's taking me."

"Oh ok. Well please let me know what they say."

"I will."

"I better get back to class. I'll see you later." She tries to put his hand on his shoulder as he flinches. "What's wrong baby?"

He looks down. "Nothing."

"Well I guess I talk to you later." She bends down to his ear and whispers, "Stop flinching, you're going to make people suspicious." She kisses him on the cheek. "Bye Stan, and good luck." She smiles and leaves.

"You're so lucky you have a girlfriend who cares so much." Nurse McDonald smiles. "It's always nice to see young people in love."

"Yeah, I guess I am lucky." Stan smiles back. 'She puts on a good act.' He thinks.

Moments later, Sharon arrives. "Where's my baby?"

"He's over there lying down, Mrs. Marsh." Nurse McDonald tells her.

Sharon goes over to Stan and gives him a big hug. "Stanley honey, I got here as soon as I could. Are you ok? Where does it hurt? Don't worry, mommy's going to take good care of you."

"MOM! Stop treating me like a baby! I'm ok really."

"No you're not! Look at your eyes! They're blood red."

"Um…I guess a vessel just popped or something."

"Stan, they don't pop that badly."

"Well it did on me."

"But you can barely keep your eyes open. Who attacked you like this?"

"I honestly don't remember."

"Were you in a fight?"

"No, someone just attacked me."

"But you don't remember if you had an argument?"

"Look, all I remember is leaving class and they next thing I know I woke up here. Can we please just go to the hospital so I can make it back in time for football practice?"

"You are NOT going to football practice today! I won't allow it."

"Mom-"

"We'll talk about it in the car. Come on." Stan gets up and puts his hand on his head in pain. "See? This is why you're not going to football practice. You're not well."

"Mom, I'm ok. I swear."

"Not another word Stanley." She looks at Nurse McDonald. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem. You guys take care. Stan, I hope everything's ok."

"Thank you." Sharon and Stan leave.

Later that afternoon, Stan was lying in his bed taking a nap. He hears a knock on the door. "Hmm?"

"Stan, Kyle's here."

He sits up. "Ok, tell him to come on in." Kyle enters in his and sits down next to him on his bed.

"So how are you feeling?"

"A little better."

"What did the doctor say?"

"It was just a mild concussion. So he told me to ice it down for about 20-30 minutes every 2-4 hours as needed. I have a few bumps on my head, so the ice will help those swellings go down. I'm also supposed to get plenty of rest, drink fluids, and I need to take Tylenol."

"Damn dude. Are you going to be able to go to school tomorrow?"

"My mom doesn't think I should, but I think I'll be ok. Besides, I can't miss another day of football practice."

"I don't think you're up for football."

"I'm ok really. Tomorrow I'll be good as new."

"I don't know Stan…"

"Stop worrying. Everything will be fine."

"So is your mother going to try to find out who attacked you?"

"She was at first, but I managed to convince her not to."

"Why?"

"I just don't care."

"You don't care? Stan, when I found you in the hallway today you were lying on the ground with your face covered in blood and there was blood all around you. How can you say that you just don't care?"

He shrugs. "Well maybe I deserved it. I probably pissed someone off enough to attack me."

"I seriously doubt that."

"I don't. I'm sure there are a lot of guys who want to kick my ass in this school."

"I don't think they would do it for no reason. Do you remember anything from the attack?"

"All I remember is walking with Wendy and she was upset about me and Red being partners for our trig project. She stormed off and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in the nurse's office."

"I really think there's something you're not telling me."

"That's all there is Kyle, I swear."

"Stan, if I didn't know any better, I would swear you're trying to protect the person who attacked you."

"I'm not protecting them, I just don't want to make a big deal about it. It's over."

"It's not over! You have a concussion!"

"Just a mild one."

"But it's a concussion nonetheless. What if this person comes after you again? It could be worse next time."

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"Kyle, please drop it."

"I can't. I'm worried about you and your safety."

"I'll be ok."

"What does Wendy have to say about this?"

Stan looks shocked. "Wendy? Um…she didn't really say much about it."

"Figures…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Stan, why are you still with that girl? She doesn't care about you."

"She does care about me!" Stan snaps. "She loves me and I love her!"

"You might love her, which I don't understand, but I can guarantee you that she doesn't love you."

"How can you say that? She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I would die without her."

"You can't possibly mean that!"

"I do. She's the only girl I've ever loved."

"But she doesn't give a crap about you."

"You hardly know her Kyle."

"I know all I need to know. For example, she doesn't want me tutoring you in trig anymore. She knows damn well that you're in danger of failing the class. Does she care? No. She rather you fail and get kicked off the football team then have me tutor you. Yeah she really loves and cares about you all right."

Stan's eyes begin to water. "Kyle, she's only looking out for my best interest. Please don't be so hard on her. She even said she would tutor me herself."

"Has she?"

"Well…no, but she was going to do it today, but then I got attacked."

"I don't think she would've anyway."

"Give her a chance Kyle. She's nowhere near as bad as you think she is."

"You're right, she's worse. She's nothing but a selfish, cold-hearted, manipulative BITCH! I think you're a goddamn fool if you stay with her any longer."

"I love her and I'm happy with her. Isn't that good enough for you?" A tear drops from Stan's eyes, but he quickly wipes it away.

Kyle instantly feels guilty. "I'm sorry I'm upsetting you. I just want you to realize that you're better off without Wendy in your life. She's poison."

"She really isn't that bad. Can we please not talk about her anymore?"

"Whatever."

Stan's phone rings. He gives Kyle a signal to keep quiet. "Hey babe."

"Hi! How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok. I just have a mild concussion."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Aww honey, I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I know you didn't. It was my own fault anyway."

"Yeah that's true. You really need to learn your place."

"I know."

"You also have to learn to stop cheating."

"I wasn't, but ok."

"I'm going to come over."

"Well, I'm really tired, so maybe you can come by in the morning before school."

"You can go to sleep after I leave. I won't be there long."

"Ok, that's fine."

"I'll see you in a few." They hang up. Stan looks over at Kyle.

"Wendy's on her way over. You have to go."

"Why?"

"Because dude, she'll be upset if she sees you here. I'm not supposed to hang around you."

"Since when does Wendy tell you who you can and can't hang out with?"

"I just don't want to fight with her that's all."

"And what did you mean when you said it was my fault anyway?"

"That? Oh, she was saying that I should've called her instead of her calling me and I wasn't saying that was my fault. You know, for not calling."

"But you said I know you didn't…"

"Right, I know she didn't have to call me."

Kyle narrows his eyes at Stan. "What's really going on between you two?"

"Nothing!"

"Well in that case I'm going to wait right here until she gets here."

"For what?"

"Because I'm going to tell her exactly what I think of her."

"Please don't. You're just going to cause us to argue and I don't want to argue."

"I'll tell her to argue with me, I'm the one who will be talking not you."

"Yeah, but she'll get pissed at me for not stopping you. So please just go, I'll talk to you at school tomorrow. Ok?"

"Fine, I'll go. Good luck with Psycho Bitch."

"Stop it."

"Ok fine, I'll see you tomorrow." He leaves.

Stan watches him out the window. 'Hopefully he's long gone before Wendy shows up.' He thinks to himself.