Chapter 17:

"I tried to be perfect, but nothing was worth it," –Sum 41's Pieces

West dropped the phone, and grabbed his shoes, shoving his feet inside them.

"What happened?" Mad asked.

"Jason's hurt," West replied, running towards the door. "I have to get there. Now."

His heart was racing with disbelief. How? How could Jason get hurt? Who would hurt him? Why?

He ran down the corridor, only stopping when he heard someone yell his name. "WEST!"

He turned around and saw Bren. "West, what's going on?"

He explained the situation to her, and felt strangely grateful when he saw the creases of worry that lined her forehead. "Come on, West, I'll take you."

West nodded mutely, following her out to the parking lot where her BMW was. He got in on the passenger side as she pushed in her keys and started the engine.

The ride was strangely silent—they didn't talk at all, except for West occasionally pointing out the directions to Jason's camp. West could feel Bren's eyes on him, but he ignored them. He closed himself up in a small shell, trying to block out all the emotions. Was Jason alright? What was happening? Oh my God…

Bren stopped the car when they finally reached their destination, but before West could tear off his seatbelt and bolt for the door, she grabbed onto his shoulder. "Wait."

West turned to her, a bit impatiently. He needed to find Jason.

"West," Bren started, looking hard into his eyes. "I know you like Sarah, but she really… don't take this the wrong way, but she just thinks of you as a friend. West, you don't understand—she's liked Paul since fifth grade, and she finally is having a chance with him. Don't you see?"

West pulled away, he really didn't want to hear any of this. He opened the car door, feeling rather immature, and stalked off. He almost didn't hear Bren's soft, sad voice.

"West, I love you."

xxx

"Dude." Jorge looked up from Jason's pale face and glanced over at West who sat right next to him. "That girl looks really familiar."

Julie had just left the room to get a Coke from the vending machine and call Kathy and Connor to tell them not to worry, and West finally found his voice after the initial shock of walking in to Jorge and Julie who had been sitting in Jason's room, waiting for him to get out of his unconscious state. West gave Julie credit. She didn't even know Jason, but she was willing to sit and wait for Jorge's sake.

"I know," Jorge said in a slightly exaggerated voice. He'd rather talk about anything, think about anything, then see Jason's still body laying on the bed in this hospital wing for the camp.

Jorge thought about how he'd arrived in L.A. after about five long hours that consisted of sleeping, listening to Julie cry, and trying to avoid the glances of several flirtatious girls, and also giving mean looks to guys who tried to sweet-talk to Julie. They'd gotten on a taxi and hitched a ride to Jason's camp. He remembered his initial shock on entering the large building with Julie and asking for Jason Escalante. The lady at the front desk gave him a worried look and asked him a bunch of questions before telling him that Jason had been attacked by an anonymous crazy person and had been found bleeding behind a building by a worried friend. Jorge met this friend—who was of course Pat, who Jason had mentioned a couple of times. Pat had sat with him for awhile, but had to leave because his girlfriend, Cazz, who also waited with them, couldn't take the empty silence anymore or looking at Jason's bruised face, and had burst into tears. Therefore Julie and Jorge had sat there until West had come, Julie dozing off for awhile. Well, he couldn't expect her to stay awake the whole time. There was a huge time difference—it had been a long night too. They met, and then Julie headed off to get her Coke and call their parents—Jorge definitely would not talk to Connor, and this is where they were now.

West thought hard, his brow furrowed. "I just can't remember exactly where."

"I couldn't either," Jorge said shortly. He flipped open his cell-phone and decided he should call his mom. She wasn't home so he left a message explaining the whole situation, feeling a bit guilty about not calling her earlier. She would be worried out of her mind.

There was a scuffle from the door, and a lanky guy with dark brown hair and lots of facial rings entered.

"Alek!" Both Jorge and West were ecstatic, not having seen him for two months. And a long two months those had been. They quickly exchanged hugs, and then Alek was left to stare at the harsh reality in front of him.

Jason's once flawless skin was bruised in several areas—not as though he was deformed or anything—he was still more good-looking than all the guys slammed together. His arm had been broken, and was now set in a cast, and his ribs were bruised. He looked more pale than usual, especially against the dark background of the green Traveling Jacket, which made Jorge feel like puking—though that wasn't uncommon. So much for luck. The guy, (West, Alek, and Jorge had strong suspicions that it was a guy), hadn't killed him though. He probably wouldn't have wanted to deal with murder. Jason's injuries weren't too serious, but it was still shocking to see a strong and capable friend in a hospital bed.

Their thoughts were broken as Julie came back in. She glanced more disinterestedly over the guys than Jorge would have expected—well, she was the only girl in a room with four guys (even though one of them was out)—until her eyes fell on Alek where she promptly dropped her Coke and ignored it as the brown liquid gushed over the floor.

"Oh my God," she gasped, not noticing the spinning can at her feet. "Alek? Oh my God, it is you Slek-man!"

Alek, who had been looking hard at Jason, glanced up and his eyes widened. "Julie?"

As West and Jorge looked on in astonishment, Alek and Julie ran up to each other and hugged like long-lost siblings.

"I can't believe it's you," Alek said, more enthusiastically than his closest friends had seen him for awhile.

"Oh my God, Slek-man, what have you been doing?"

"Would anybody care to explain?" West asked rather impatiently. He didn't like it when he didn't know what was going on.

"Jorge, West," Alek said, turning around to face his friends. "Don't you remember Julie? She was like my best friend when we were seven!"

"You expect me to remember someone who was associated with you more than half your lifetime ago?" Jorge asked, trying to remember. "There are some vague memories but…" his frustrated face relaxed. "Oh yeah, I remember."

Meanwhile West was digging furiously through his wallet, and fished out a picture. "Is this you?" It was the picture of Alek sitting with some girl that West hadn't known, but now did. He already knew the answer as Julie took the picture. The resemblance was astonishing.

"Yeah," Julie said, nodding definitely. Then she paused. "I can't believe it's you, Alek! I haven't seen you since…" she broke off, looking hard at the ground.

Answering West's questioning look, Alek said, "You see—her dad went to rehab, and then they decided to move. Don't you remember? I wouldn't stop crying for like a month!" He directed his attention back to Julie. "I had no idea where you'd gone because you wouldn't tell me!"

Jorge thought hard. He did remember. "Yeah."

"Remember what?" came a tired voice. They all looked up. Jason was awake.

Review?