A/N Hey thanks for all the great reviews and support. Here's another chapter just because you guys are great. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 2: Hospitals and Shit Shows
Chloe's POV
Chloe walked into the staff room and filled up her cup of coffee. Sitting there were a few teachers that Chloe had worked with before.
"Hey, Chloe. How was your first day?" Jesse Swanson, the Senior English teacher asked.
"It was really good actually." Chloe smiled brightly. She sat down at the table when they all scooted over to make room for her. "I'm really excited about this semester. Barbra wasn't wrong, all of her students are really well behaved. Except maybe one that I had a little bit of an issue with."
"Bumper Allen?" Aubrey Posen asked. Aubrey was the Chemistry and Physics teacher for all of the grades.
"That's the one." Chloe nodded her head.
"Yeah he's quite the piece of work that one." Jesse said seeming to understand. "What did he do?"
"He just took a few really cheap shots at one of my other students during a class discussion." Chloe explained.
"What student?" Jesse asked. He had a feeling he already knew though. Bumper was pretty notorious for picking on Beca Mitchell. He didn't understand why so many students were mean to the young teen. She was smart and always did her best. She was quiet but he didn't think that was justification for the behavior.
"Beca… I think her last name was Mitchell?" Chloe explained.
"Not surprising. We've tried to step in but if Beca wont stand up for herself and report him there's not a lot we can do." Aubrey explained.
"What's Beca's story?" Chloe asked. She was still so curious about that particular student.
"Beca…" Jesse began but paused to think. He didn't quite know how to explain her. "She's got a complicated home life from my understanding. Not sure what exactly but I know only her mom's around. I've never actually met her mother. She's never come to any parent-teacher nights before and actually doesn't seem to show much interest in Beca's education. Beca's smart though. I think she's at the top of her class, isn't she?"
Jesse looked over at Aubrey who nodded her head. "Yeah, but I don't know how many of the Seniors actually know that. I wouldn't be surprised if Beca didn't even know."
"But anyway, she misses a lot of school but somehow always keeps her grades up and gets all her work in on time. I'm really not sure how she does it." Jesse continued on. "I don't know much about her though, other then that. I know she doesn't have many, if any, friends here at the school."
"That's got to be so lonely." Chloe said thinking out loud, to which the other teachers nodded their heads. "What about her dad?"
"Not sure. I don't think he lives here." Aubrey said with a shrug. "I've never met him though. I've met her mom, but it was at the store. The only reason I knew it was her was because Beca was with her."
Chloe sat thinking. The more she learned about the girl, the more interested she became. She felt like there was a lot more to Beca Mitchell's story then what most people thought.
Before anyone could say anything else the first bell rang, indicating the start of the school day.
"Welp, there's our cue." Jesse said as he stood up and filled his cup one more time. "See you at lunch, Bree. Chloe if you'd like to join us, you're more than welcome to."
"Yeah, you should come, it would be fun." Aubrey smiled.
"I'll have to see what my schedule looks like, but I'd like to if I can." Chloe smiled.
They all agreed to catch up later and headed off to their respective classrooms.
Beca's POV
Beca woke up the next morning with a text from her mom, insisting that Beca come home before going to school. Beca sighed and worried about what could be going on now.
She woke up before both Amy and her mom so she cleaned up and when she left sent a quick text to Amy thanking her for letting her stay over and that she had to go home.
Beca made the 20 minute walk to her and her mom's apartment. When she walked in, the apartment was full of smoke and smelled of cigarettes and weed. Beca's nose wrangled at the smell. Her mom was no where in sight.
"Mom?" Beca called as she took in the mess that was their living room. She noticed a few pills laying on the table and rolled her eyes, of course her mom got high last night. She should be used to it by now, but she wasn't, and she'd never be okay with it.
Beca made her way to her mom's room and knocked on the door. "Mom? You in there?"
There was no sign of her mom. Beca hesitated but decided to enter the room anyway.
Walking in she noticed that her mom was in bed asleep. There was no one in the bed with her.
She made her way over to Janelle's side and shook her. "Mom. Mom wake up."
But her mom didn't move. Beca felt herself worry for a moment. She stopped and studied her mom. She was still breathing but her breathes were shallow and uneven. Panic suddenly took over Beca as she realized what was happening.
"Mom wake up, damnit!" Beca yelled as she shook her mom more fiercely this time. "I swear to god, you aren't allowed to fucking do this to me!"
Beca fished for her phone in her pocket and dialed 911.
It rang once and was immediately picked up.
"911, what is your emergency?" A women's voice filled her phone speaker.
"Hi my mom, I think she overdosed." Beca explained. "I'm not sure what she took but she's not responding to me. I don't have any Narcan to give her, we used the last of it."
"What's your address?" The woman asked.
"19 W Cornell Street apartment 3." Beca explained.
"We'll have a medic to you as soon as we can. What's your name?" The women asked.
"Beca. Look what can I do?" Beca asked. She'd never not Narcan there to use on her mom.
"Just stay calm. Is your mom breathing?" She asked and Beca said yes. "Okay, the best thing you can do is try to make her throw up." She explained.
"Okay," Beca nodded her head. She cringed but stuck her fingers down the back of her mother's throat.
She finally succeeded and ended up with throw up all over her. "Okay, she just threw up." Beca said into the phone.
"That's great, Beca. Great work!" The dispatcher said trying to encourage Beca. "The EMT's are going to be there shortly. Is your front door unlocked?"
"Um I don't know, let me go check." Beca said into the phone, she didn't want to leave her mom but knew she needed the door to be unlocked. She ran into the living room and quickly unlocked it. "Okay, it's unlocked."
Beca said this as she walked back to her mom, ignoring the stench of throw up on her shirt and pants.
"Thank you for doing that. I'm sure that wasn't easy." She said. Beca could hear her typing something into her computer. "Beca, what's your mom's name?"
"Janelle Mitchell." Beca said, not sure how this was going to help her mom.
"Has your mom struggled with addiction before or ever overdosed?"
"Yes," Beca said simply.
"How long ago has she struggled?"
"I don't know. I've only known about it for like 3 years." Beca explained. She was pretty sure it had been a lot longer than that.
Just then Beca heard a knock on the door and the door open.
"Hello?" A strange voice called out.
"In here!" Beca yelled and soon two men walked in. Beca was suddenly aware of the fact that her mother was naked she hadn't noticed before.
"Can you move over so we can help your mom?" One of the medics asked. Beca nodded and did as she was asked. She stood just behind them and watched as they worked, almost wordlessly. They were finally able to wake her mother up but she didn't really talk or anything. She just looked confused.
"Janelle? Can you hear me?" One of the medics asked. Her mom gave a slight nod of her head.
"Great, my name is James, and this is my friend Patrick. We're here to help you." James explained. "We need to move you over onto our stretcher right here because we gotta take a trip down to the hospital. I'm gunna have Beca here wrap you in a blanket though, okay?"
Janelle nodded again and Beca stepped forward, doing as she was asked. She worked silently and the Medics turned to give her mom privacy.
"Bec…" Janelle spoke for the first time. "You stupid bitch…"
Beca was taken aback by her mothers response. She almost thought she had heard her wrong, until the women spoke again. "Why didn't you just let me die?"
Tears sprang to Beca's eyes and one of the Medics stepped in. Beca noticed it was James. He took over wrapping Janelle in the blanket while Patrick pulled Beca over to the side.
"Your mom's sick. She didn't mean that." Patrick said trying to reassure Beca.
"Yes, she did." Beca sniffed, cursing herself for being so weak that she was crying. "Yes, she did."
After that Beca felt numb, she stopped crying, because she stopped feeling anything at all. She rode in the front seat of the ambulance and barely noticed how she had gotten there or the drive to the hospital.
She didn't remember walking into the hospital or changing into a clean pair of scrubs that someone had handed to her. She didn't remember sitting in the waiting room. Or how long she had been there.
That was when Beca finally snapped out of her trance. She looked around and noticed her surroundings for the first time. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and noticed a few texts and a missed call from Amy.
Amy: Hey you should have stayed, mum made food. Text me and let me know you got home okay.
Amy: Dude, where are you? Are you okay?
Amy: Pick up your damn phone, you usually don't go MIA like this.
The last text was sent at 6pm. Beca looked at the time on her screen and noticed that it was now 7:30. She had no idea how she didn't notice the time pass.
"Ms. Mitchell? I'm surprised to see you still sitting out here, I thought you would have gone into your mom's room by now." A doctor said as he walked up to Beca.
"Oh, yeah I just needed some time." Beca explained. "Can you remind me what room she's in?"
"I can take you there. I need to check up on her anyway." The doctor explained. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine." Beca stated simply. "I'm sorry I don't remember your name, Dr?"
"I'm Dr. Matthews." He explained. "You were pretty out of it when we first met so I'm not surprised you don't remember me."
"Yeah." Beca said with a hint of a laugh. They walked down a hall full of doors leading into different rooms. They came to room 221B. He knocked softly before they both entered.
Her mom was asleep on the bed. She was pale white and skinny. It was as if Beca was seeing her mom for the first time in years. She could see the wear and tear of the last few years. She saw the stress lines written all over her moms face and how her cheeks were sunk in. She had dark circles under her eyes. It killed Beca to see her mother like this.
Beca went over a took a seat by the bed. She didn't dare touch her though. Her mother looked as if one touch would break her.
"Is she… is she going to be okay?" Beca asked.
"She will be." Dr. Matthews explained. "It might be awhile before she's back to normal, but she'll get there."
Great… Just what I need. Beca thought to herself. She didn't trust herself to speak so she just nodded.
Dr. Matthews checked her mom's vital signs before bidding Beca a goodnight and a promise that he'd be back in the morning.
Beca was left alone with her mom and suddenly felt nervous. She remembered the last words her mother said to her and felt the sting of them. Had her mom done this intentionally? Had she told Beca to come over before school so that she would find her dead earlier rather than later? Why had this happened?
Not sure what else to do Beca pulled out her phone and texted Amy.
Beca: Sorry had some family stuff. Wasn't able to respond.
Amy: You okay?
Beca: Yup.
Amy: ?
Amy: Are you lying to me?
Beca: Never.
This of course was a lie. But Beca didn't want to get into it.
Amy: You need to crash here again?
Beca: Nah, I'm staying with my mom.
Amy: K. Text me tomorrow
Beca: *thumbs up emoji*
Beca went to Instagram for a moment and looked at a bunch of the posts that had been made that day. Even though she didn't post much (meaning she didn't post anything) it was good to know what Amy and some of her favorite musicians and Authors were posting.
After awhile Beca decided to try to sleep and put her phone down.
As soon as she did that her phone chimed letting her know someone texted her. She picked it back up and saw it was from Ms. Beale again. Were these texts going to be a nightly thing?
Ms. Beale: Hey, today we had a really great lesson! Thank you everyone for doing so well. Tonight's quote to think of before tomorrows lesson is:
"The Sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore." -Ferdinand Magellan
Hope everyone has a good night's rest and I'll see you tomorrow.
Beca found that quote interesting but didn't know what to make of it. She decided not to give it much thought.
She took one last look at her mom before setting back in the chair and closing her eyes. Hoping her dreams would be better than her reality.
Chloe's POV
Chloe dismissed her last class of the day and sat at the computer putting in a bunch of information from the day. She was putting in attendance and came to Beca Mitchell's name. She was sad to see that Beca hadn't been there today and wondered what was going on to keep her from coming to class.
She felt like it was weird that she was so fixated on the brunette. It's not like they had spent much time together but she was concerned that something serious was going on in the girls life. She of course had nothing to back her suspicions, therefore she couldn't do anything about them but still the worry seemed to weight on the sub.
Just as Chloe was thinking way too much about it Aubrey walked in.
"Hey, just wanted to check in on you. How was your day?" Aubrey asked.
"It was good. These kids are super smart." Chloe explained. "I feel like they're gunna realize soon that I'm not as smart as they are…"
"That's not true." Aubrey shook her head. "I learn new things everyday from my kids. I think that's why school works. If both parties aren't willing to learn from each other, we'll never find common ground."
Chloe nodded her head as she thought of that. She realized just how true it is. "Fair point."
Just then Jesse walked in as well.
"Hey, sorry we missed you during lunch." Jesse said to Chloe, as he walked over and placed a soft kiss on Aubrey's forehead.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Things were just super busy today." Chloe explained. "Hey, was Beca Mitchell in your class today?"
Jesse shook his head. "No, she wasn't. It's kind of weird because normally when she misses it's an excused absence, but no one called about her today from my understanding."
Chloe found this interesting. "Has anyone checked in on her homelife?"
Jesse seemed to be thinking. "Honestly, not that I'm aware of. I know last year they had a meeting with her mom and Principle Weller about her attendance but that's about it."
Chloe was kind of shocked by this.
"She'll probably be back tomorrow. Don't get too worried." Aubrey could tell that Chloe was thinking too much about the girl. "Anyway, we are heading out, see you tomorrow."
"Bye guys!" Chloe couldn't help but smile as the two walked out holding hands. They were such a cute couple.
Chloe looked at Beca's name one last time on her computer and marked her absent before submitting her class list. With that she cleaned up her desk and straightened all the student's desks before making her way out of the classroom, locking it on her way out.
A/N Hey so just wanted to let you know the next chapter probably wont be up until this weekend or next week sometime. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think!