Okay, so it seems like with every chapter, the story gets more convoluted. But there is an explanation for everything, honest! I'm slowly getting there. A big answer will be coming soon. Especially to what exactly happened 3 years ago.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 13 - Perspectives

The morning sun was bright and piercing. In her subconsciousness, Haley could feel the warmth of the sun's rays piercing through the curtains. As she slowly awoke, consciousness returned along with a splitting headache. She inhaled quickly as the throbbing began to creep along her temples. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was the party, but other than that, her mind was a blank slate. The more she tried to remember, the more her head ached, so she decided to give up. Haley opened her eyes, but the brightness of the light caused her to clamp her eyes shut. She shifted slightly in the bed, causing another jolt of pain through her body. Everything hurt. Why, she had no idea. After a few minutes more, she opened her eyes again, this time steeling herself for the pain to intensify. Her fingers curled involuntarily into fists, and she flinched at the realization of someone else's fingers intertwined with hers. Painstakingly slowly, Haley turned her head and found herself looking at Bradin, who was curled up sleeping in a chair. In the midst of her head pounding, she still blushed at the though of their hands touching. As gingerly as possible, she extricated her hand from his. He didn't move, but continued sleeping soundly. Somehow, she knew that between the previous night and now, the dynamic between them had changed. Whether it was good or bad, she didn't know. The pain increased, and Haley tried to fall back asleep to perhaps alleviate the throbbing in her head.

She slept fitfully for an unknown amount of time before a stirring sound caused her to turn towards Bradin again. He was awake now, and his concerned green eyes were fixed on her face. "Hey," he whispered softly.

"Hi," she croaked out, somewhat dismayed at the rustiness of her voice. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I mean, good morning."

"How are you feeling?" he asked, leaning forward and resting his arms on the side of the bed.

"I've felt much better in my life," she tried to joke, but winced instead.

"I should've taken you straight to the hospital," he muttered. "How bad is it?"

"It could be worse," Haley said, wheezing slightly. "It's not that bad. I think I'll live."

"There could be something really wrong." He watched her anxiously as if she was going to break into a million little pieces.

"This isn't the first time I've felt like this." Her words brought back distant memories. Memories that he wished would remain buried. Images of dark hallways, raised voices, and pain filled his mind. He struggled to push away the thoughts.

"I know." Bradin spoke, his voice full of knowing.

"Bradin, really, I'll be fine. All I need is a few days to rest up."

"There are six other people living in this house. How are you going to hide something like this?" Bradin asked, gesturing towards her bruised face. She touched her face delicately.

Her voice sounded defeated, resigned. "I don't know. I didn't think about this."

"Maybe we can think of something," he said thoughtfully. A knock on the door caused both of them to freeze. They exchanged looks of dread.

"What do we do now?" she asked in a frantic whisper.

"I don't know." The knocking grew louder. Jay's voice came through the door. "Haley, are you in there? I was hoping to talk to you." Haley sat up and tried to get out of bed before Bradin stopped her.

"Don't. I'll get the door."

"He'll find out."

"They're going to find out sooner or later. It'll be okay," he said, trying to reassure her before rising to unlock the door. Bradin didn't know who was more surprised to see him, Jay, Ava, or Johnny. They stood outside the door, their mouths slightly open in shock.

"Bradin?" Ava gasped. "What are you doing here? I didn't know that you had come back this morning."

"What are you doing up here?" Jay demanded. His eyes grew steely. "Is Haley in there?" Bradin blocked his entrance, which only caused Jay's temper to rise.

"Wait."

"Let me in," Jay said through gritted teeth. He forcibly removed Bradin's arm from barricading the door.

"I can explain." Bradin tried to speak. One look from Jay caused him to shut his mouth. Jay burst into the room and stopped in his tracks. Haley was scrambling, in a very slow way, to shield her face from view. But he saw her anyways. He knelt next to the bed.

"Haley? What's going on?" He saw her face and his breath caught. "Haley, what happened?" She didn't answer right away, and Jay grew almost frantic. "Tell me. What's going on? Are you okay?" Ava came in behind him, followed closely by Johnny. All three adults wore expressions of concern.

"I'm fine," she said, coughing slightly and wincing. "I just got banged up a little bit."

"A little bit? Your face, it's a mess."

"That's such a nice thing to say to a girl," she tried to joke. Her mind ran a million miles an hour, trying to come up with something to say. Some way to keep him from learning the truth, but without lying. There had been enough of that in her life.

"What happened?" he demanded, trying to keep from panicking.

"Last night I was walking along the cliffs. It was dark…I slipped…and fell," she said, neatly omitting some of the more telling details. Then again, she couldn't remember much, so there wasn't much to leave out. Bradin, who was standing in the doorway, couldn't believe his ears at what she was saying.

"That's it?" Jay asked suspiciously. "You need to go to a hospital."

"I'm going to be fine, Jay," she said reasonably. "I don't need to see a doctor."

"Honey, I think Jay's right," Ava spoke for the first time. She was shocked at the state of the girl's face. "Seeing a doctor would be a good thing. You could be hurt a lot more than you think." She tried to downplay their worry.

"I'm going to be fine," Haley repeated. If she went to the hospital, then they would know. She couldn't let that happen.

This time Johnny spoke, "How are you really feeling, Haley?" She couldn't keep the pain from showing.

"It's been worse," she said as evenly as she could manage. "I just don't want to go to the doctor."

"Don't you guys hear what she's saying?" Bradin said from the doorway. They turned to glare at him.

"You're not helping things, Bradin," Ava said sternly.

"You still haven't said what why you're here," Jay added through gritted teeth. He stared hard at the younger man.

"He was just trying to help me," Haley broke in. "Don't be angry at him. He brought me back here after I hurt myself. I would still be dragging myself back here."

"Is she right?" Jay asked Bradin, who remained silent, but then nodded slowly.

"Haley, please," Jay's pleading voice almost broke her. "I told your grandmother that I would take care of you. I can't do that if you won't let me." Her grandmother's face flashed across her mind.

"I already know what they're going to say."

"What do you mean?"

"They'll tell me to get lots of rest, take some aspirin, and to not go running around any more cliffs. My leg hurts, and apparently, according to Bradin, my face looks amazing. But there's nothing that time won't fix." Haley sat still, so they couldn't see how much just breathing affected her. She felt exhausted, the strain of the conversation was getting to be too much. Jay sat back on his heels. He didn't know what to do with this girl. He was all for her going to the hospital, but he didn't want to fight.

"Why don't you want to go?" he asked quietly, so the others couldn't hear. She looked away and didn't meet his eyes.

"It seems like I've spent half my life in hospitals. Every time I go, something bad happens. Please…don't make me." He felt pain at her admission.

"Hey, nothing's going to happen to you if you go. You just look more than a little scratched up."

"It isn't too bad," she said with false cheerfulness. Apparently, something in her face convinced him. He stood up and walked over to Bradin.

"I still want to know what you were doing in here all night, I'm guessing."

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to just leave her up here," he said truthfully.

"I asked him to stay. Last night wasn't the most fun I've ever had. He just kept me company."

"And that's all that happened," Johnny said.

"Right," they both said. Ava sighed.

"Jay, I don't think that what they did was inappropriate. Maybe a little unwise, but they're both fine."

"You're right," Jay finally agreed. "But I still think that you should go to a doctor."

"Let's make a deal. If I don't feel better in a couple days, then we'll go," Haley said, hoping he'd agree. Jay considered the idea.

"Okay," he agreed. "I can do that. But if you're still feeling bad after the weekend, then we're going in."

"Agreed," she said. "Um, can I get dressed now?"

"Yeah, yeah," Johnny said, backing out the door.

"If you need anything, just let me know," Ava offered. She followed Johnny down the stairs.

"You gave me a scare," Jay said. "I was just worried. If you need anything, please tell me. I want you to just rest for the rest of the day, okay?" Haley could see that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"All right, I will."

"Good girl." He gently smoothed the hair out of her face. "I've got to get to the shop, but I'll be back later."

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" she asked curiously. He paused.

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to you about it later."

"Okay." She watched him leave and then turned back to Bradin, who had been silently observing the entire time.

"You really should go to see a doctor," he said. "How's your head?"

"It feels pretty bad," she admitted tiredly.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Bradin asked.

"I thought for sure you'd tell me to go to the doctor too."

"I was here all night. You probably don't remember, but I woke you up every hour." She stared at him in surprise, finally noticing his weary face and dark circles under his eyes.

"Will you keep this a secret?" Haley asked. "I don't want Jay to worry about me."

"Do you even remember what happened last night?"

"No, but somehow I ended up here."

"That guy could have killed you," Bradin said, feeling his anger rise.

"Who?"

"You really don't remember anything?"

"I remember going down to the beach, but other than that, no."

"You went off with some guy. I don't know his name, but by the time I found you, you were out cold, and he ran off, no thanks to me."

"I don't remember him." She struggled to remember this mysterious person's name. Nothing came to mind.

"That's a good thing."

"The only person I can think of who would do something like this is…you know, Mr. Evans."

"Him? It definitely wasn't him." Bradin's mind began to piece together the puzzle of the previous night. He recalled Brittany's knowing eyes, the whispers of the other partygoers. Things began to fall into place. A nagging feeling pulled at him.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember." She looked miserable, and he felt bad for being pushy.

"It's okay, Haley. We'll figure it out." Who else could he talk to, though? No one else knew about what had happened, and he wasn't about to drag someone else into the mess they were in. Not if this guy was out for blood. And as last night had showed, he wasn't going to stop. "You going to go back to sleep now?"

"Maybe." She felt awful. What she really wanted was to change into something more comfortable. "I should get up first." Haley sat upright, which pulled at her sore ribcage and caused the room to spin. She waited for her equilibrium to settle and noticed Bradin watching her anxiously. "I'm fine. Really." The floor steadied, and she trudged painfully into her closet, then down to the bathroom and peeled her muddy clothes off. The bruise on her ribs and side almost covered the large scar that ran above her hip. She slowly pulled on some sweats and went back into the room. Haley cleaned up her face as best she could and then returned to her room, where Bradin was still standing.

"You should go to a doctor. If Jay finds out how bad you really feel, he's going to make you go."

"No," she stated firmly, a mulish expression covering her face.

"Why not?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got the rest of the day," he said.

"I don't think I want to tell you." She was tired, and his questions were driving her dangerously close to tears. Bradin noticed that she was upset.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he gently prodded.

"Nothing. You should go get some sleep. You don't look too good yourself." She half-hoped he would leave, but kind of wished he would stay.

"You first."

"Are we really arguing about this?" she asked, crawling back under the covers. Her head felt a little better when she wasn't moving.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"I'll tell you someday, okay?" she murmured, already half asleep.

"Promise?"

"Promise," Haley said. Bradin waited a few more minutes to make sure she was asleep before quietly heading to his room. He was soon fast asleep. Haley, on the other hand, remained awake, trying to remember the night before. She felt relief at having prevented a hospital visit, which only prolonged the inevitable questions. The thought of them knowing the truth only made her feel worse. And for now, the less they knew, the better it would be for them in the end.

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for reading!