sorry for the slow update! I've been revising this story, and I'm up to chapter 8 now. I recommend going back and reading the earlier chapters as I have changed a few things/made things more consistent.

Marcus woke up three days later.

The first thing he noticed was that he was hooked up to all sorts of machines. They went through his nose, through his arms, through his mouth. Probes were stuck all over his body. He was so tangled up in wires that he felt like a mummy. Marcus tried to talk but the tube blocked his throat. He couldn't muster even a whimper.

He wondered where Lacy was. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was swimming with her in the Lake Merritt. Before that, he'd taken her paintballing, and before that, they'd gone to a diner. He remembered that the first hints of sunlight were just beginning to emerge when he was taking Lacy back home and that the faint light caught on to the water droplets still resting in her golden hair. Marcus tried to remember what happened after that, but he came up with nothing.

Since he was sitting in the hospital, Marcus figured something had gone terribly wrong.

He glanced at the foot of his bed. The room was dark and someone was sitting in the chair. As the room came into focus, Marcus realized it was Nathan, fast asleep. He looked so relaxed and calm. Marcus hadn't seen his friend so at ease in a very long time.

Instead of waking Nathan up, he pressed the call button on the side of the bed. A nurse came in and checked his vitals.

"We didn't think you were going to bounce back," the nurse said softly. "Your friend is having a rough time."

Marcus pointed to Nathan in confusion, but the nurse shook her head. "Not him. The one who was in the car with you. She gave some information to the police and went right back out. The medic said that the poor girl went right through the windshield, but she managed to cut you out of the rubble before she collapsed. You were both very lucky."

"No," Marcus moaned, but it wasn't audible. Thankfully, the nurse understood him.

"You'll be off the ventilator in a few days. We can't do it all at once or else you might go into shock."

Might go into shock? Marcus thought. I'm already in it.

Marcus and Nathan had been best friends for years. It had always been Marcus, Nathan, and Jason, but Marcus and Nathan had a special bond. Their parents had been very good friends prior, and when they had babies at the same time, it was only natural that Marcus and Nathan would become friends too.

They'd been through everything together. They knew each other's deepest darkest secrets. The two were practically brothers; members of each other's families. Marcus's father (when he was around) claimed that Nathan was his favorite child. Nathan's mother said that she'd adopt Marcus in an instant.

However, the two had grown increasingly distant as they'd gotten older. They were still best friends, sure, but their interests changed. Marcus was spending lots of time with Leila and Nathan was looking toward the future. Dissolve of their relationship seemed on the horizon. But that was before the crash.

Even though Nathan didn't want to, he left Piper in an instant for his best friend. It didn't seem fair; Marcus had left him hanging while he was out with Leila for years. Now that Nathan had a girlfriend, Marcus was nearly killed and Nathan's brotherly subconscious forced him to be at Marcus' side.

It was awful seeing his best friend in the hospital. Marcus was never sick, so seeing him hooked up to machines like a vegetable made Nathan's stomach churn. Marcus was on life support. If he didn't wake up in five days, they would pull the plug. As much as it pained him to be there, Nathan knew he had to. He hadn't left Marcus's side since he'd been admitted.

Piper came by every day to bring him food and homework. She sat with him a while usually, sometimes made him get up and go outside. It was hard to remember that there was another world out there sometimes; Marcus's room didn't have a window and he had barely looked at his phone. His parents didn't even know where he was.

Nathan's eyes opened on the evening of the third day. The first thing he noticed was the awful cramp in his neck from sleeping in the awful plastic chair for such a long time. The second thing he noticed was that Marcus was awake.

He looked tired and annoyed. His eyes were glazed over and his skin was translucent. Marcus might have been awake, but he didn't look good.

Nathan didn't say anything at first. He didn't need to. All he had to do was walk over to Marcus's bed, lie next to him and let his head rest on his shoulder. Somehow they both understood everything without making a sound.

It was a rough week for the Jupiter High Wolves.

With Marcus still in the hospital and Nathan not returning, they managed to lose their first game by a touchdown. The party that week was at Dakota's but not many showed up and those who did were not in the mood to have a good time. After a while, most just gave up and either went home or got drunk.

On Saturday, Jason woke up early due to the fact that he'd actually gotten nine hours of sleep. He decided to make use of the day and go out to do his homework. His favorite internet cafe was in Emeryville, so he made the trip there and brought his laptop.

While he was taking a break from working on his History essay, he noticed someone he knew walking down the street. It was Piper, but she was acting very strange. She was walking slowly, then she would stop, look around and keep going. She did this four times before she sat on a bench and tapped her foot against the pavement impatiently. Jason wondered what she was so anxious about.

Within a few minutes, a guy approached her. He looked about eighteen or nineteen, but just by looking at his eyes his age could have easily been doubled. He was tall and muscular with tan skin and dark hair. He wore a leather jacket and black jeans. Jason was across the street, and already he could tell that he was the type of person that people wanted to be around. As soon as Piper saw him, she jumped up and threw her arms around him. He kissed her forehead and spun her around.

Jason didn't know what to think. What was Piper doing? She wasn't single at all! Sure, Jason was (kind of) having an affair, but he knew for a fact that Piper liked Nathan. Why would she cheat on him?

Jason decided not to jump to conclusions just yet because everything deserved an explanation. But Nathan was his friend and he'd gone through too much already. He wasn't going to let his friend get hurt again.