Hi! Thank you so much for reading and commenting, and also for being patient with me, I know I'm taking things slow 😊 Hopefully, you'll enjoy this chapter 😊
Relief flooded through him when his house finally came into view. He would lie down and sleep and, in the morning, everything would be just fine. He would go for a run and have breakfast with his family. As soon as he thought it, pain rippled through his spine; he grasped Paul's shoulder and squeezed as hard as he could.
"Easy," Paul hissed in pain. "Maybe you should really go to the clinic."
"No. I'll be fine. It's the fucking beer. Sophie's probably right, Trevor does bring all sorts of shit to these bonfires."
"Yeah, I seriously doubt beer poisoning would give you such muscle spasms."
"Are you a nurse now? I said I was ok. Can you drop it?"
Paul stopped abruptly.
"Fine. If you're ok, let's see you reach your front door on your own," he let go of Jared and crossed his arms.
The distance was approximately 100 feet, but to Jared it seemed like 100 miles. He stumbled forward, dragging his heavy feet, sweating and aching all over. Only a bit more. Tiny black dots started appearing in his vision and his hands were shaking. What if Paul was right? Maybe he was dying. He stumbled again and almost fell.
"Oh, fuck this," Paul grabbed his arm again and dragged him to the front door. Then he banged on them.
"What the fuck are you doing?! You're going to wake everyone up, you idiot!"
"Good. That's what I want to do."
"If my parents see me like this, I'm going to fucking kill you!"
"Yeah?" He poked Jared's shoulder lightly and Jared hissed in pain. "I'll take my chances," he banged on the door again.
"Will you stop?! Just wait until I get better, I'll- "
The door opened and they were bathed in light. Both of them squinted at Jared's father who appeared in the doorway. He was bleary-eyed and in his boxer shorts and he just blinked at the scene in front of him.
"Mr. Cameron, hi. I'm Paul Lahote. Jared's not feeling well."
The man blinked again, then looked his son over.
"Thank you, Paul. You should probably head home now. It's late. Marissa, call Sue," he shouted to his wife. "It's an emergency."
In the end, they made him go to the clinic. Sue Clearwater was tiptoeing around him and it annoyed him so much that he wanted to scream. Fucking Lahote. It was all his fault.
He and Sue seemed to be waiting for something in the little office, but she hadn't bothered to tell him what it was. So much for the growth spurt theory. He wondered what she'd said to his parents and why they trusted her so much.
"Mrs. Clearwater, I honestly think – "
"Call me Sue, honey. "
"Right. To tell you the truth, I went out with some friends tonight and I may have drunk some beer of... questionable quality, so I think that might be the problem here. "
Sue gave him a sad smile.
"Sorry honey, I don't think that's the case."
Jared felt a sudden urge to pick something up and hurl it out of the window.
"Then what the fuck is it?! You've been lying to me for weeks and I still have no idea what's going on, and my body is falling apart. So, if you could just tell me the truth, I'd be really grateful. Sue."
"Maybe I can answer your questions," Sam Uley appeared in the doorway.
"Great. So, you're a doctor now as well? Is there anything you can't do, Sam?" Jared spat out. Sam only motioned to Sue to get out.
"Mrs. Clearwater, what... Don't leave me alone with him, he's not..."
She gave him another sad look and closed the door on her way out.
"All things considering, you're holding up pretty well," Sam mumbled more to himself than to Jared. "You haven't hurt anyone; you haven't damaged any property... right?"
"Well, now seems like a good idea to do it," Jared hissed, making Sam laugh.
"That won't be necessary. I can see you're good at restraining yourself. Or you're just not an angry person in general. Either way, it'll make things easier for you."
"What things?"
Sam sat across from Jared and exhaled deeply.
"Tell me Jared, how many of our legends do you remember?"
The incessant ringing woke Kim up, and in the first couple of seconds she didn't know where she was. When she opened her eyes, the world started spinning. Was she dying? She must have been, because her head was too heavy for her body and it felt like her brain would explode and splatter the whole room. The room... it wasn't her room. The bed was uncomfortable and the curtains were a hideous green that reminded her of puke, and she was about to be sick just thinking about it, when the ringing started again. She realized it was her phone and that she was in her grandma's spare room which kind of smelt like mothballs, which again made her sick and the phone kept ringing and where the hell was the fucking phone? She patted blindly around the bed, praying that it wasn't her mother calling.
"Gotcha," she said triumphantly when she found the phone in her pillow case. The screen said Paul. She groaned and declined the call. He called again. And again.
"For the love of everything in this world, stop calling or put me out of my misery," she squealed into the receiver. "I'll never drink again."
The answer was a full minute of idiotic cackling.
"I was just checking to see if you were alive, but this... this made my day. I've realized that your life has become a source of great entertainment for me, Connweller."
"Screw you. Ok, fact or fiction, you gave me a piggyback ride last night?"
"Fact."
"I climbed a giant log and sang Adele?"
"Fact."
"Fuuuck. I almost puked on Jared? Please, please, please say this isn't true."
"Fact."
"Oh god. I need to emigrate today. Like right now. How far can $137 get me? I won't be able to graduate, I'll have to spend the rest of my life hiding. Fuuck," Kim buried her head in the pillow.
"It wasn't that bad. I mean, it was hilarious, but not so dramatic. What on Earth possessed you to hang out with Jackson?"
"I don't know. She was nice to me?"
"Seriously, Connweller."
"I know, I know. But it was my first party and I was nervous, and, I don't know, I thought you might not come back and – "
"Why wouldn't I come back?"
"I figured you met a girl or some friends and – "
"Can you hear me rolling my eyes? Because I am. Connweller, you and occasionally Cameron, when he's not throwing hissy fits, are the only people I tolerate in this place."
She couldn't help but smile.
"Hey, Paul?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I ruined your night. Thanks for being a good friend."
There was a pause on the other side, then he mumbled, "Connweller, normal people don't say things like that. Anyway, drink a lot of water and, I don't know, I like to eat tangerines when I'm hungover. Maybe try that."
"Will do. See you at school."
"Hold on, you had a fight with Ricky Akuna? And you actually won?"
"Yeah. I'm telling you; Cameron was like a machine. He threw them around like bowling pins. It was spectacular. But don't tell him I said that. Are you sure you don't want this?" Paul motioned to Kim's piece of pizza and took a giant bite after she shook her head.
"Sam said we didn't have to worry about Ricky anymore," Kim fretted.
"Sam is a dumbass. But you shouldn't be scared."
"Why, are you going to save me?"
"No, but your boy Cameron might," Paul cackled.
"Shut up, I will never be able to look him in the eye after the puking incident. I still haven't run into him today, and hopefully I won't. Fingers crossed."
"He actually – "
"Hey, Connweller, how's your hangover? We are looking forward to your next performance," Sophie appeared next to their table. "Hey, loser," she narrowed her eyes at Paul. "I came here to ask you what the hell happened to Jared. Ever since you took him home, he hasn't been returning my texts or calls."
"Maybe he finally came to his senses and dumped your dumb ass."
"You're hilarious," she spat out. "What did you do to him? He would call me back if everything was ok."
"Well, maybe you should have gone home with him on Friday when he asked you to. Then you'd have more information and wouldn't bother me with your presence."
She scoffed.
"So, you don't know anything?"
"Even if I did, do you think I'd tell you? I'm not the Agony Aunt, Jackson. Solve your problems somewhere else. Preferably as far away from me as possible."
Sophie lingered around, as if unsure where to go. For a fragment of a second, a shadow passed over her face. Worry? Fear? Insecurity? Kim couldn't tell, because it quickly disappeared and Sophie was again frowning at them.
"Fine, Lahote, be as useless as ever, that's your style after all," she said and walked away.
"She looked worried; don't you think?"
"I don't know, Connweller, I try not to look at her face too much, it bums me out."
"So, what did happen to Jared?"
Paul frowned. "I honestly have no idea, but he looked really bad when I left him."