Part 4 - Cursed REMs
When Jack woke up again he was no longer lying on his face against a cold tile floor. He was lying in a warm bed, groggy but quite snug. He was on his back staring at large white ceiling tiles above him. They were mottled and had grey stripes separating them, the plastic that held them in place. He wished someone was holding him in place, he felt like the room was spinning. He didn't know where he was for a while and then he heard a beeping noise. It was slow and rhythmic, and he realised he was in the hospital. He tried to speak, he was too lethargic to even try to move, but nothing happened. Then he felt himself start to drift off, he was scared he was falling back into unconsciousness so tried again to call out but again nothing happened. The fear subsided when the gentle pull on his mind became familiar, he was just falling asleep. He let himself go and he began to dream.
*****
In his dream Jack was standing on a bridge. He was standing on a bridge in a park. There was a small brook below him and he watched it for a while. He heard singing as he stood, inhaling the pine smelling air, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He looked around him there were families playing in the distance. People were walking their dogs through the park. Off to one side he could see a group of teenagers were playing Frisbee, one of them fell over for no apparent reason and was helped into a building that was eerily familiar. He could tell from the shadows that trees lined the brook behind him, the sun that caused the shadows was warm on the back of his neck, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the handrail of the bridge beneath his elbows. Then suddenly the warmth on his neck and back was gone. He opened his eyes again and he could see two shadows on the moving water beneath him. He spun round and saw a shadowy figure holding a baseball bat on the other side of the bridge. The bridge was far too wide and the figure was right on the other side but it had seemed to be right behind him in the shadows. He couldn't make out anything about the figure, it was a sunny day but it was like whoever it was were shrouded in darkness. They were tapping the baseball bat against their leg, as he looked at it he saw it was covered in blood. Then, then there was pain. A lot of pain, his head hurt like hell. He reached up and felt a odd sticky substance. He brought his fingers back into view and now they too were covered in blood.
Then he woke up.
*****
He woke with a start, gasping as he sat up. Jen was at his side in an instant.
"Its okay, Jack its okay." She said as she held onto his arm.
Her touch soothed him. But only for an instant. "What happened?"
"You mean you don't remember? One of the guys on the team found you on the floor in the locker room. Your head was covered in blood, you hadn't lost a lot but it still wasn't pretty let me tell you!"
"I remember now. You saw it?" he asked.
"Grams, Andie and I have been here since before you got here. Coach rang straight after ringing the ambulance."
"It doesn't feel bad."
"That's because they've got you on Morphine, Jack!" She sounded definitely worried. "You had to have three stitches but they said that there was no serious damage. But Andie was seriously worried when they said you were on Morphine, which got me and Grams worried too."
"She knows too much for her own good." he said as he looked at his sister, asleep in a chair by the window. It was dark outside now, he looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly midnight. He and Jen smiled at each other.
"Where's Grams now? Did she go home?"
"No, she went to get some coffee and something to eat," she paused for a moment, considering something. "Jack, is there something you want to tell me?"
"Why?"
"When they found you, whoever did this to you had spray-painted 'LISTEN' on the locker doors. Does that mean anything to you?"
"No," He shook his head but then thought better of it, "Argh!" He almost gripped his head but stopped himself, not wanting to cause himself more pain.
"Jack, why do you keep lying to me?"
"Who says I'm lying?"
"I do Jack! You're my best friend, you think I don't know when you're lying? You were lying today at lunch about the envelope and your lying to me now. And I also think that the two are connected. Do you think you're protecting me from something?"
"No." he said, staring at his own feet under the blue bed sheets.
"Good, because you're not, you're making me worry about you more. So I'm gonna ask you once more: is there something you want to tell me?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure I can."
"Why? Are you scared of something? Is someone threatening you?"
"Stop being insightful, it's scary."
"This is serious Jack! If it helps I picked up the envelope when we were getting a bag together for you."
"But how did you get it in the first place?"
"I took it when we were in the auditorium this afternoon. Don't worry, I haven't looked in it," she said as she dropped it on his lap. "I want to hear this from you."
He looked at her now, she was stern but he could see in her eyes that she really was worried. He couldn't hide from his friends, and right now he did need help; this was no time to be stubborn.
He told her the whole story. All that she didn't already know anyway, from dropping Dawson off at the nurse's office to the attack that afternoon. When he started talking about the envelope he opened it, pulled over the small table on wheels and emptied the contents over the table. The photos landed in a pile in the centre and he handed her the notes that landed on the top. She read them and placed them on the table and picked up a handful of the photos. She did the same thing Jack had done that morning, holding them in one hand she went through them one by one, staring in disbelief.
"Jack, why didn't you tell us about this? Why did you feel you had to hide this?"
"I don't know. To start with I just wanted to deal with this myself. I wanted to find out who this was but after all that's just happened, I don't know why I didn't tell you."
She slid the photos back into the envelope and picked up the notes. "I don't recognise the hand-writing. Who did this to you Jack?" When she looked back at him she had tears in her eyes. He wondered why she hadn't asked earlier, he would have thought that it was one of the first things a person would ask. But emotions were running high, she must have been out of her mind with worry. He knew because he would have been if things were reversed, if he were sitting on Jen's hospital bed, if he had to watch his friend lying unconscious. Plus she had wanted Jack to tell her, she was trying to make him see that she was always there for him to talk to.
"I don't know."
"You didn't see them?"
"No."
"Do you have any ideas who it was? You said they spoke to you, did you recognise the voice?"
"No, I couldn't hear properly, there was blood in my ears."
He watched her gaze shift to his head.
"Is it bad?" he asked.
"Let's just say you may want to wear a hat for the next few days." The stitches were ugly, the way they stuck out of his head like that. She had watched them put the stitches in her friend. She had watched her friend, limp as a ragdoll, being supported by a nurse as his head was shaved round the wound. She had winced for him every time that needle had been stuck in his head, injecting iodine to clean and disinfect the wound. She had squeezed Grams' hand as they watched the doctor tie those three stitches.
"We'll find out who did this to you together then." she said, still watching the three thread knots above and behind Jack's ear.
"Great, Nancy Drew is on the case!" he said, sarcastically. She shoved his arm playfully.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, you'd better get some sleep."
"What, I can't go home?"
"No, they sewed you back together all right, but they want to keep you in for observation and to check you don't have a concussion."
"Jen?"
"Yeah,"
"When I was sleeping earlier I had a dream and I think it was very much about the attack."
"It was just a dream -"
"More like a nightmare."
"Still, it doesn't mean anything. Anyway, I'll stay, but just till you're asleep."
"Thanks"
She pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat in it. Jack fell asleep quickly, it was probably because of the drugs, he looked so peaceful. But Jen still didn't leave, she fell asleep too, her head next to Jack's. And that's how they were when Grams walked back in the room. She pulled Andie's blanket back up round her shoulders and unfolded another blanket to cover Jen. She then sat down in another chair, blanketless and she smiled as she watched the three friends before she too fell asleep.
*****
Jack dreamt again.
In his dream Jack was back on the bridge. He listened to the small brook below him and he watched it for a while. The singing still haunted him, its notes dancing on his ears but the words still a mystery. He breathed deeply, the pine smelling air filling his lungs. The families were once again playing in the distance, picnic rugs left idly to flap their corners in the breeze. A sharp bark brought his attention to the dog walkers, the same dogs, the same walkers, the same routes! Everything was the same as last time. Jack found it eerie and it made it worse that he could guess how it was going to end. Off to one side he could see the teenagers were playing their game of Frisbee again, when the same one, a tall blonde boy went flying, again. He looked back at the water and the shadows of the trees behind him, surrounding his own, that seemed to ripple as the brook moved. As he gripped the reassuringly sturdy wood rail the warmth on his neck and back was gone once more. He opened his eyes again and he could see two shadows on the moving water beneath him. He spun round and saw a shadowy figure holding a baseball bat on the other side of the bridge. The bridge was far too wide and the figure was right on the other side but it had seemed to be right behind him in the shadows. He couldn't make out anything about the figure, it was a sunny day but it was like whoever it was were shrouded in darkness. They were tapping the baseball bat against their leg, as he looked at it he saw it was covered in blood. Like last time the figure never moved apart from the tapping of the baseball bat, but Jack was suddenly sent flying backward, through the handrail that had supported him and landed in the brook. His clothes were soaked and he felt the pain in his head again. As his perspective changed he could see that the water turned red as it drew level with him. It didn't do it as he would have expected it to, it didn't go red as it passed his bleeding head but as it passed his feet the water darkened until the entire width of the brook was deep red by the time it reached his waist.
Jack sat bolt upright in his bed.
*****
He was alone.
He looked around the room in the hospital and he was alone. He was sweating and he wanted to tell someone about the nightmare, he needed someone to be there. He was seventeen but the dream had still been enough to chill him to the bone.
Jen walked in and found him there, sitting bolt upright, hands behind him gripping the edge of the bed an expression of absolute fear on his face as he stared back across the room at her, breathing hard and deep. She walked up to the side of the bed and hugged him as he wept into her shoulder.
He cried for about a minute but Jen knew that something was deeply wrong, she had done the minute she'd walked in the room. "Well."
"Well. what?"
"I'm here ready to play at guidance counsellor, so spill boy!"
He smiled, he found it reassuring that Jen was still. well. Jen.
"It was the dream again, wasn't it?"
He nodded.
"Guess I just got promoted to psychoanalyst! Wanna tell me about it?"
So he did, every detail, every sight, every sound, every smell, colour and feeling. He remembered it all, and he told it to her.
"It just sounds to me that you're doing what anyone would in your position. You're scared so you get to relive it in full Technicolor and surround sound!"
"Well, I did that, so can it stop now?"
"'Fraid I don't get to decide that! That part's up to you."
"Huh, wanna vague that up for me?"
"I don't know much but here's what I do know; no one can help you get over what happened to you, you have to find some way to resolve whatever issues you have and then the dreams stop."
"Thanks much, Freud"
"You're welcome."
Then a nurse entered, "O good, you're awake." Then she turned to Jen, "I going to have to ask you to leave now, honey. You can come back again this afternoon, but if everything looks okay you won't have to."
"It's okay I've got to go to school anyway." Jen kissed Jack on the forehead and left. The nurse turned back to Jack, "We just have to check you for concussion and you're good to go."
*****
Jen was not expecting the interrogation she received when she got to school.
"What happened?"
"How is he?"
"Is he going to be alright?"
"When are they releasing him?"
"Brutal attack in school locker room, fine but scared, yes, this afternoon as long as he's okay! But in future try one a time please to stop my head from spinning around and exploding!"
"Okay, we get the picture, its not a particularly nice picture, but we get it! Play-nice-to-girl-on-only-five-hours-sleep type picture, right?"
"You bet."
The rest of the day went pretty much as normal, excepting one or two tellings-off for slack concentration.
*****
Jack was preparing to leave as his five friends came to check up on him.
"We come bearing gifts," Joey announced as Andie knocked on the already open door. Pacey handed Jack a large helium balloon with 'Happy Birthday' written across it. Jack looked at Pacey and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged back "They'd run out of 'I hope you aren't brain damaged', what was I supposed to do?"
Joey rolled her eyes as she handed over a large box of chocolates. "Ignore him."
"Don't worry, I do!"
Jen dumped a NYC cap on his head. "See: practical and yet reminds you of me!"
"And in no way something that can be picked up at any store this side of the equator! No I love it!" he said, grinning.
Andie handed Jack books and a small pile of paper.
"Homework?"
"My way of saying 'Get well soon'!"
"You know chocolate says that even better." he said pointing at his new box of Hershey bars.
"I did all your assignments for you, all you have to do is sign your name!"
"Chocolate means nothing to me!"
"Are you sure you're good to go?"
"Yes Pacey, I'm fine! I know my name, who's president and how many fingers and I've been in for the 24hr observations and I'm fine!"
"Whoa, down boy! I only meant you could really milk this for all it's worth! You know days off school, no assignments, all the ice cream you can eat."
"You're glazing over Pace!" said Joey, waving her hand in front of him.
"Funny, Potter."
"No I just want to get back to normal and besides, ice cream is for a tonsillectomy!"
"Normal may not be an option with some of the theories flying around school!" Dawson warned.
"O great, theories!"
"Yep, you've either broken up with your boyfriend who didn't like the idea and turned nasty, or you drank fifteen café mochas and fell down the stairs delirious from a caffeine high or there's the truth that somehow got leaked by a member of the football team!"
"Great! But I guess it's a good thing that at least one third of the school already knows what actually happened!"
They all laughed as they made their way out of the room. Jack adjusted the cap on his head, forcing him to touch the stitches for the first time. He winced in pain, but quickly ignored them as he walked on talking with his friends.
To Be Continued.
When Jack woke up again he was no longer lying on his face against a cold tile floor. He was lying in a warm bed, groggy but quite snug. He was on his back staring at large white ceiling tiles above him. They were mottled and had grey stripes separating them, the plastic that held them in place. He wished someone was holding him in place, he felt like the room was spinning. He didn't know where he was for a while and then he heard a beeping noise. It was slow and rhythmic, and he realised he was in the hospital. He tried to speak, he was too lethargic to even try to move, but nothing happened. Then he felt himself start to drift off, he was scared he was falling back into unconsciousness so tried again to call out but again nothing happened. The fear subsided when the gentle pull on his mind became familiar, he was just falling asleep. He let himself go and he began to dream.
*****
In his dream Jack was standing on a bridge. He was standing on a bridge in a park. There was a small brook below him and he watched it for a while. He heard singing as he stood, inhaling the pine smelling air, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. He looked around him there were families playing in the distance. People were walking their dogs through the park. Off to one side he could see a group of teenagers were playing Frisbee, one of them fell over for no apparent reason and was helped into a building that was eerily familiar. He could tell from the shadows that trees lined the brook behind him, the sun that caused the shadows was warm on the back of his neck, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the handrail of the bridge beneath his elbows. Then suddenly the warmth on his neck and back was gone. He opened his eyes again and he could see two shadows on the moving water beneath him. He spun round and saw a shadowy figure holding a baseball bat on the other side of the bridge. The bridge was far too wide and the figure was right on the other side but it had seemed to be right behind him in the shadows. He couldn't make out anything about the figure, it was a sunny day but it was like whoever it was were shrouded in darkness. They were tapping the baseball bat against their leg, as he looked at it he saw it was covered in blood. Then, then there was pain. A lot of pain, his head hurt like hell. He reached up and felt a odd sticky substance. He brought his fingers back into view and now they too were covered in blood.
Then he woke up.
*****
He woke with a start, gasping as he sat up. Jen was at his side in an instant.
"Its okay, Jack its okay." She said as she held onto his arm.
Her touch soothed him. But only for an instant. "What happened?"
"You mean you don't remember? One of the guys on the team found you on the floor in the locker room. Your head was covered in blood, you hadn't lost a lot but it still wasn't pretty let me tell you!"
"I remember now. You saw it?" he asked.
"Grams, Andie and I have been here since before you got here. Coach rang straight after ringing the ambulance."
"It doesn't feel bad."
"That's because they've got you on Morphine, Jack!" She sounded definitely worried. "You had to have three stitches but they said that there was no serious damage. But Andie was seriously worried when they said you were on Morphine, which got me and Grams worried too."
"She knows too much for her own good." he said as he looked at his sister, asleep in a chair by the window. It was dark outside now, he looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly midnight. He and Jen smiled at each other.
"Where's Grams now? Did she go home?"
"No, she went to get some coffee and something to eat," she paused for a moment, considering something. "Jack, is there something you want to tell me?"
"Why?"
"When they found you, whoever did this to you had spray-painted 'LISTEN' on the locker doors. Does that mean anything to you?"
"No," He shook his head but then thought better of it, "Argh!" He almost gripped his head but stopped himself, not wanting to cause himself more pain.
"Jack, why do you keep lying to me?"
"Who says I'm lying?"
"I do Jack! You're my best friend, you think I don't know when you're lying? You were lying today at lunch about the envelope and your lying to me now. And I also think that the two are connected. Do you think you're protecting me from something?"
"No." he said, staring at his own feet under the blue bed sheets.
"Good, because you're not, you're making me worry about you more. So I'm gonna ask you once more: is there something you want to tell me?"
"Yes, but I'm not sure I can."
"Why? Are you scared of something? Is someone threatening you?"
"Stop being insightful, it's scary."
"This is serious Jack! If it helps I picked up the envelope when we were getting a bag together for you."
"But how did you get it in the first place?"
"I took it when we were in the auditorium this afternoon. Don't worry, I haven't looked in it," she said as she dropped it on his lap. "I want to hear this from you."
He looked at her now, she was stern but he could see in her eyes that she really was worried. He couldn't hide from his friends, and right now he did need help; this was no time to be stubborn.
He told her the whole story. All that she didn't already know anyway, from dropping Dawson off at the nurse's office to the attack that afternoon. When he started talking about the envelope he opened it, pulled over the small table on wheels and emptied the contents over the table. The photos landed in a pile in the centre and he handed her the notes that landed on the top. She read them and placed them on the table and picked up a handful of the photos. She did the same thing Jack had done that morning, holding them in one hand she went through them one by one, staring in disbelief.
"Jack, why didn't you tell us about this? Why did you feel you had to hide this?"
"I don't know. To start with I just wanted to deal with this myself. I wanted to find out who this was but after all that's just happened, I don't know why I didn't tell you."
She slid the photos back into the envelope and picked up the notes. "I don't recognise the hand-writing. Who did this to you Jack?" When she looked back at him she had tears in her eyes. He wondered why she hadn't asked earlier, he would have thought that it was one of the first things a person would ask. But emotions were running high, she must have been out of her mind with worry. He knew because he would have been if things were reversed, if he were sitting on Jen's hospital bed, if he had to watch his friend lying unconscious. Plus she had wanted Jack to tell her, she was trying to make him see that she was always there for him to talk to.
"I don't know."
"You didn't see them?"
"No."
"Do you have any ideas who it was? You said they spoke to you, did you recognise the voice?"
"No, I couldn't hear properly, there was blood in my ears."
He watched her gaze shift to his head.
"Is it bad?" he asked.
"Let's just say you may want to wear a hat for the next few days." The stitches were ugly, the way they stuck out of his head like that. She had watched them put the stitches in her friend. She had watched her friend, limp as a ragdoll, being supported by a nurse as his head was shaved round the wound. She had winced for him every time that needle had been stuck in his head, injecting iodine to clean and disinfect the wound. She had squeezed Grams' hand as they watched the doctor tie those three stitches.
"We'll find out who did this to you together then." she said, still watching the three thread knots above and behind Jack's ear.
"Great, Nancy Drew is on the case!" he said, sarcastically. She shoved his arm playfully.
"I'll see you tomorrow then, you'd better get some sleep."
"What, I can't go home?"
"No, they sewed you back together all right, but they want to keep you in for observation and to check you don't have a concussion."
"Jen?"
"Yeah,"
"When I was sleeping earlier I had a dream and I think it was very much about the attack."
"It was just a dream -"
"More like a nightmare."
"Still, it doesn't mean anything. Anyway, I'll stay, but just till you're asleep."
"Thanks"
She pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat in it. Jack fell asleep quickly, it was probably because of the drugs, he looked so peaceful. But Jen still didn't leave, she fell asleep too, her head next to Jack's. And that's how they were when Grams walked back in the room. She pulled Andie's blanket back up round her shoulders and unfolded another blanket to cover Jen. She then sat down in another chair, blanketless and she smiled as she watched the three friends before she too fell asleep.
*****
Jack dreamt again.
In his dream Jack was back on the bridge. He listened to the small brook below him and he watched it for a while. The singing still haunted him, its notes dancing on his ears but the words still a mystery. He breathed deeply, the pine smelling air filling his lungs. The families were once again playing in the distance, picnic rugs left idly to flap their corners in the breeze. A sharp bark brought his attention to the dog walkers, the same dogs, the same walkers, the same routes! Everything was the same as last time. Jack found it eerie and it made it worse that he could guess how it was going to end. Off to one side he could see the teenagers were playing their game of Frisbee again, when the same one, a tall blonde boy went flying, again. He looked back at the water and the shadows of the trees behind him, surrounding his own, that seemed to ripple as the brook moved. As he gripped the reassuringly sturdy wood rail the warmth on his neck and back was gone once more. He opened his eyes again and he could see two shadows on the moving water beneath him. He spun round and saw a shadowy figure holding a baseball bat on the other side of the bridge. The bridge was far too wide and the figure was right on the other side but it had seemed to be right behind him in the shadows. He couldn't make out anything about the figure, it was a sunny day but it was like whoever it was were shrouded in darkness. They were tapping the baseball bat against their leg, as he looked at it he saw it was covered in blood. Like last time the figure never moved apart from the tapping of the baseball bat, but Jack was suddenly sent flying backward, through the handrail that had supported him and landed in the brook. His clothes were soaked and he felt the pain in his head again. As his perspective changed he could see that the water turned red as it drew level with him. It didn't do it as he would have expected it to, it didn't go red as it passed his bleeding head but as it passed his feet the water darkened until the entire width of the brook was deep red by the time it reached his waist.
Jack sat bolt upright in his bed.
*****
He was alone.
He looked around the room in the hospital and he was alone. He was sweating and he wanted to tell someone about the nightmare, he needed someone to be there. He was seventeen but the dream had still been enough to chill him to the bone.
Jen walked in and found him there, sitting bolt upright, hands behind him gripping the edge of the bed an expression of absolute fear on his face as he stared back across the room at her, breathing hard and deep. She walked up to the side of the bed and hugged him as he wept into her shoulder.
He cried for about a minute but Jen knew that something was deeply wrong, she had done the minute she'd walked in the room. "Well."
"Well. what?"
"I'm here ready to play at guidance counsellor, so spill boy!"
He smiled, he found it reassuring that Jen was still. well. Jen.
"It was the dream again, wasn't it?"
He nodded.
"Guess I just got promoted to psychoanalyst! Wanna tell me about it?"
So he did, every detail, every sight, every sound, every smell, colour and feeling. He remembered it all, and he told it to her.
"It just sounds to me that you're doing what anyone would in your position. You're scared so you get to relive it in full Technicolor and surround sound!"
"Well, I did that, so can it stop now?"
"'Fraid I don't get to decide that! That part's up to you."
"Huh, wanna vague that up for me?"
"I don't know much but here's what I do know; no one can help you get over what happened to you, you have to find some way to resolve whatever issues you have and then the dreams stop."
"Thanks much, Freud"
"You're welcome."
Then a nurse entered, "O good, you're awake." Then she turned to Jen, "I going to have to ask you to leave now, honey. You can come back again this afternoon, but if everything looks okay you won't have to."
"It's okay I've got to go to school anyway." Jen kissed Jack on the forehead and left. The nurse turned back to Jack, "We just have to check you for concussion and you're good to go."
*****
Jen was not expecting the interrogation she received when she got to school.
"What happened?"
"How is he?"
"Is he going to be alright?"
"When are they releasing him?"
"Brutal attack in school locker room, fine but scared, yes, this afternoon as long as he's okay! But in future try one a time please to stop my head from spinning around and exploding!"
"Okay, we get the picture, its not a particularly nice picture, but we get it! Play-nice-to-girl-on-only-five-hours-sleep type picture, right?"
"You bet."
The rest of the day went pretty much as normal, excepting one or two tellings-off for slack concentration.
*****
Jack was preparing to leave as his five friends came to check up on him.
"We come bearing gifts," Joey announced as Andie knocked on the already open door. Pacey handed Jack a large helium balloon with 'Happy Birthday' written across it. Jack looked at Pacey and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged back "They'd run out of 'I hope you aren't brain damaged', what was I supposed to do?"
Joey rolled her eyes as she handed over a large box of chocolates. "Ignore him."
"Don't worry, I do!"
Jen dumped a NYC cap on his head. "See: practical and yet reminds you of me!"
"And in no way something that can be picked up at any store this side of the equator! No I love it!" he said, grinning.
Andie handed Jack books and a small pile of paper.
"Homework?"
"My way of saying 'Get well soon'!"
"You know chocolate says that even better." he said pointing at his new box of Hershey bars.
"I did all your assignments for you, all you have to do is sign your name!"
"Chocolate means nothing to me!"
"Are you sure you're good to go?"
"Yes Pacey, I'm fine! I know my name, who's president and how many fingers and I've been in for the 24hr observations and I'm fine!"
"Whoa, down boy! I only meant you could really milk this for all it's worth! You know days off school, no assignments, all the ice cream you can eat."
"You're glazing over Pace!" said Joey, waving her hand in front of him.
"Funny, Potter."
"No I just want to get back to normal and besides, ice cream is for a tonsillectomy!"
"Normal may not be an option with some of the theories flying around school!" Dawson warned.
"O great, theories!"
"Yep, you've either broken up with your boyfriend who didn't like the idea and turned nasty, or you drank fifteen café mochas and fell down the stairs delirious from a caffeine high or there's the truth that somehow got leaked by a member of the football team!"
"Great! But I guess it's a good thing that at least one third of the school already knows what actually happened!"
They all laughed as they made their way out of the room. Jack adjusted the cap on his head, forcing him to touch the stitches for the first time. He winced in pain, but quickly ignored them as he walked on talking with his friends.
To Be Continued.