Reid woke up in a place he didn't recognise, much to his confusion. He sat upright and looked around, and then the smell of disinfectant filled his nose. He was still in the hospital. He looked down at his hand, which was still wrapped up in Anna's. He gently pulled his hand free from hers, and stood up and stretched. He had hoped it was all a bad dream, but soon realized it was all real. A nurse came in, holding both Anna and Pogue's charts. She smiled at him for a moment while she fixed Pogue's drip.
"You were sleeping so peacefully, the nurses decided to leave you here. But it's about time you got going; you're going to be late for school."
Reid looked at his watch in a flash, and saw the time.
"Thanks, I'll be back this afternoon." Reid nodded to her. He bent down and kissed Anna once more on the forehead and sprinted out the door. While running to the door, he called Tyler who he knew would be on his way to school already.
"Hey Reid." Tyler answered casually, but he sounded relieved to hear that he was alright.
"Hey Tyler, can you come pick me up at the hospital?"
"Ah, so you stayed anyways. Sure, I'll be there in a few."
Reid hung up and paced impatiently in front of the exit. Tyler came screeching up the road and halted right in front of Reid. Tyler unlocked the doors and Reid hopped in,
"Did you even consider coming back last night?" Tyler laughed as he put his foot down and headed towards Spencer.
"I kinda fell asleep, so it didn't even cross my mind." Reid shrugged. He flashed his eyes black for a moment and straightened out his uniform. They pulled up in front of the school just short of the first bell, but that didn't seem to deter the students. They had formed a large crowd in front of the school steps. They had gathered around Caleb, who was getting a load of questions thrown his way. Most of them had to do with the misfortune of his three friends landing up in the hospital over the last few days. Reid and Tyler jumped out of the Hummer and walked over to the crowd, listening in on their conversations.
"Should any of us be taking notes for them, Caleb?" A girl in front of him asked.
"No, it should be fine. The teachers know, and are keeping tabs on what work they're missing."
A hushed flutter of whispers ran through the crowd when one of Aaron's best buddies piped up.
"So, what about the party Anna's supposed to be hosting? I'm guessing there won't be one?"
Caleb eyes immediately fell on Reid, who was standing right behind the guy that had just spoken. Reid snapped and hooked his hand into the guy's collar, pulling him backwards. He turned him around to face him in one swift movement. Reid grabbed him by the collar again and pulled it tight around his neck.
"Are you fucking serious? The fucking party? They could be fucking dead by Saturday and you care about a fucking party?" Reid shouted at him, almost at the point of lifting him clean off the ground. Caleb ran through the crowd and grabbed Reid's arms, forcing him to put the guy down.
"Reid, come on, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that." Caleb forced Reid's hands free from his collar and the guy stumbled out his grasp, slightly shocked.
"You better not have fucking meant it, asshole…" Reid shouted at the guy, and he quickly disappeared into the crowd. Caleb pulled Reid aside and grabbed his shoulders tightly.
"What the hell was that Reid? I've never seen you act like that."
Reid tried his best to avoid Caleb's eyes, but answered him eventually.
"I don't know, that was just kinda cold, you know…"
Caleb shook his head and led Reid up the stairs. Reid shot Aaron and all his friends a glare, which caused them all to take a step back. Caleb pushed Reid hard on the shoulder and forced him to break eye contact with them. Reid grumbled angrily and followed Caleb to class.