Author's Notes; Hey guess who got back into the Bully hype x)
Honestly, I could kick myself with how inactive I've been. I've barely done any writing at all since the last chapter of this story.
This is quite a chatty chapter in all honesty - I needed to close the gap for the whole hospital thing.
Chapter 44 – Crabblebitch
"A sprained wrist, some cuts and bruises but otherwise she's fine…We are planning on giving her a CT scan once she comes round just to make sure there hasn't been any serious or lasting damage to the brain. We would like to keep her in for a few days, keep a close eye on her."
"Very well, very well…Poor girl must have not been paying attention to where she was going! Very rare for anything like this to happen at Bullworth Academy…"
The two voices, one male and one female, become more and more distant until there was only the sound of the monotonous beeps of the heart rate monitor left. The girl lying motionless on the hospital bed opened her eyes slowly, making sure she was fully alone before attempting to move.
Christy couldn't remember much of what had happened; she had been leaving photography class (the only real class she enjoyed) and had been flicking through a few of the polaroid pictures then she was hurtling down the first flight of steps. She squeezed her eyes shut to see if she could remember anything else but she drew a complete blank.
As she moved into a sitting position, using her hands to try and prop herself up, pain shot through Christy's left wrist causing her to yell out in shock. The shout alerted the nurse from outside who came hurrying in with Crabblesnitch at her heels.
"Hey there honey," The nurse started, strolling to the side of her bed. "You've had a bit of a nasty fall in school and you're in the hospital. We're going to keep you in for a few days, run some tests and keep an eye on you. If you just lay back comfortably I'm just going to check a few things now that you're up."
The nurse started to fiddle with some equipment at the side of the bed whilst Crabblesnitch stood framed in the doorway with his arms firmly folded over his chest, eyeing everything with an air of suspicion. Christy's eyes flicked from the Principal to the nurse before she settled back in the bed and stared up at the ceiling; this was the last place she wanted to be. How inconvenient.
"Okay, first thing…I'm going to shine this in your eyes. You just need to follow it with your eyes for me."
Christy returned her attention back on the plump little nurse again and winced as the bright light hit her retina. She obeyed the instructions given, following the beam of light in all directions and then doing exactly the same with just the nurse's finger.
"Excellent, very good." The nurse stated, stashing the light back into the bag and pulling out a blood pressure pump. "Okay now just hold out your right arm for me so I can get this on there."
Again, Christy did as she was asked, sticking out her right arm and watching the nurse closely as she closed the Velcro round her arm and laid it back on the bed.
"Now you just need to relax, don't tense your arm deary,"
Christy refrained from rolling her eyes and sighing as she moved her eyes back up to the ceiling as the nurse began to squeeze on the pump. Feeling the pulse in her upper arm felt incredibly uncomfortable and the red-head frowned with unease but again the nurse seemed more than satisfied with the results as she was soon removing the blood pressure monitor from her arm and stashing that away too.
"Okay, now are you able to bend your arms up for me? Careful with your left now." The nurse watched intently as Christy lifted her arm and bend it very steadily, then did the same with her right. "Excellent, now your legs. Just move them about for me…Brilliant. That all seems fine. We will do a CT scan for you a little later on when the Doctor is free. For now, are you hungry? Thirsty?"
"Can I just have some water please?" Christy responded quietly.
"Of course my dear! I believe your Principal wanted to ask a few questions about what happened so I'll go get you a drink and leave you two to have a quick chat."
Feeling a sense of trepidation, Christy glanced at the Principal as he approached her with a stern expression across his aged face, clearing his throat as though ready to launch into a speech.
"Now then Miss Martin," He started, perching on the end of the seat at the side of the bed and attempting to offer her a warm smile (which looked more like a painful grimace). "Would you care to tell me what actually happened in school today?"
Christy frowned at the question, attempting once again to try and remember what had happened but once again she couldn't remember anything but looking at the poloraids then approaching the staircase at an alarming velocity. Was she pushed? Did she slip?
"I don't know." Christy answered with a shrug, "I'd just come from photography and was looking through the photos and then next minute I was hurtling down the stairs. That's all I can remember."
"Ah, so you were distracted then!" Crabblesnitch exclaimed, the shadow of a real smile twitching at his lips. His reaction didn't exactly surprise Christy; so what if a student was hurt? So long as it wasn't negligence from the school it was fine – the Principal didn't want a lawsuit on his desk now did he?
Christy assumed also that her parents had not been notified about her fall, or the fact that she was now in hospital either. Not that they would be concerned, they would have just loved to attempt to sue the school for some additional money in their back pocket. She wasn't entirely keen on having her parents come through to visit her, so on that level she was relieved he had left her parents out of the picture.
"I know how to walk down some stairs Principal." Christy stated coldly, glaring at Crabblesnitch who didn't seem as concerned or interested which only served to irritate the red-head even further.
"Yes of course except in this case you were far too interested in looking at your photos to notice where you're going!" Crabblesnitch retorted, shaking his head. "I think in this case it's just negligence on your part rather than anything else. I don't think it is necessary to take this any further."
"Of course you don't." Christy snapped back, the red mist started descend rapidly as she glared at the ancient, lined face of her school Principal. He seemed to either completely ignore the attitude that Christy was giving him, or simply didn't care.
"Well, I should expect to see you back at Bullworth once they discharge you. You should return back to your classes as normal – there will be no need to announce your return. I'm sure you don't want the entire school knowing about your accident."
"Great, now get out." Christy hissed viciously, the limited restraint she had on her temper was dissipating quickly.
Once again, Crabblesnitch completely dismissed what she said as he retrieved his cellphone from the inside of his tweed jacket which had started buzzing. Without another glance at his injured student, he exited the room and left Christy feeling absolutely livid.
Grabbing the nearest thing to her, a small rubber plant, she tossed it at the wall with her good arm and let out a yell of frustration.
"Well I can recognise that sigh from anywhere."
Christy's eyes shot to the door of the hospital room and a sudden wave of relief washed over her, "Damn it Chantelle, it's about time you showed up. What took you so long!?"
Chantelle eyed the misplaced rubber plant as she crossed the room to sit by her best friend's side, "Well I couldn't exactly ride in the ambulance with you since Crabblebitch got that honour…"
"Oh yes, what a pleasure that was…Hey why are you so red and shiny? What have you been doing?" Christy quizzed, staring curiously at her friend as she neared her bedside.
"I had to run here Christy – I wasn't going to hang around for a taxi or steal a bike and I didn't want to run around the school looking for Jimmy to see if I could use his. I just needed to get here and see if you were okay."
Christy burst into laughter as she pictured Chantelle running through the town after the ambulance with Crabblesnitch peering through the small glass windows at her. It felt far better to be laughing with her best friend than being in a rage with the Principal. Chantelle couldn't help but smile, now that she had seen her, a weight had been lifted.
The run had freshened her mind and gave her the distraction she needed from Gary Smith and the events and emotions that had unfolded. Her attention should have been on her best friend, not on him and yet she had gone to see him first…True she was furious at him, she wanted to hurt him the same way that Gary had hurt Christy, but he had managed to sweet talk his way out again.
"Crabbleshit isn't going to do anything about what happened," Christy started once her laughter had ceased. "He said it was negligence on my side…Apparently me looking at some photos means I can't walk down a set of steps."
Chantelle felt an incredibly strong pang of guilt as she saw the expression of annoyance on Christy's face; she knew exactly what had happened and yet she was going to keep it from her and feign ignorance.
"Do you remember what actually happened then?"
Of course Chantelle could remember what Christy had mumbled before she blacked out, but could Christy recall it?
"I think I was pushed. I've been going over and over it and there's honestly no other explanation! I didn't slip, I didn't miss a step…It was nothing to do with me."
"Pushed? Who would even think to do that?"
"Oh come on Elle, you really need to ask that question?"
Chantelle and Christy gazed at each other for several seconds before Chantelle broke the eye contact and looked down at the surprisingly immaculate tiles, "You think it was Gary?" Chantelle queried, already knowing the answer.
"Of course I do. And whilst I'm stuck in here I can't stop him from getting to you which was obviously his intention. Promise me you'll stay away from him."
"You know I don't go looking for him Christy!"
"Just…If he comes to you…Well look what he's capable of! Look what he's done to me! I swear, when I'm out of here I'll find him myself and…"
"Oh well isn't this lovely, you have another visitor!"
The nurse who saw to Christy earlier had returned with a large jug of water and a glass on a tray, followed by Ricky who was looking flustered and concerned. He crossed the space between himself and Christy so quickly that by the time Chantelle had blinked, the Greaser was by Christy's bedside, holding her non-bandaged hand and speaking so fast it was like he wasn't speaking English at all.
Christy glanced over at Chantelle who had gotten to her feet to allow the nurse to place the tray on the bedside table – She gave her friend a hesitant smile and gestured that she was taking her leave to allow her and Ricky to have some time alone.
Once she was back outside, away from the sterile scent of cleaning solutions and smelling fresh air she felt the guilt return almost instantaneously. Christy had guessed what had happened so easily, but Crabblesnitch had just completely dismissed anything she had to say and there would be no formal investigation, and definitely no police involvement.
Gary Smith had gotten away with it again.
