It was Liza who found her. She called a teacher straight away. She waited for the ambulance with Sam, and was right there until the ambulance doors closed on Sam's (still) unconscious body and Sam was whisked away. Danny and Tucker had heard the commotion, and arrived, breathless, just as the ambulance turned the corner and was out of sight. Liza was standing there, watching it.
"Liza!" Danny saw her and rushed over. Liza turned and smiled. "What happened? We heard it was Sam! Is she ok?" Danny, by this time was gripping Liza's arms roughly. Tucker was still out of breath, panting hard. When Danny had heard that Sam had been hurt, he'd pulled Tucker along behind him, searching everywhere.
"Erm…Danny?" Liza whimpered "You're kinda hurting me…" Danny let go. He hugged her.
"Sorry, sorry. But you're ok right?" He let her pull back a little so she could see his face. She smiled.
"Yeah, I'm ok."
"…And?"
"I found her unconscious in the bathroom. She looked really bad. We don't know what happened." Liza looked up at Danny. He was staring after where the ambulance had turned round the corner. His face contained something she couldn't put her finger on. He pulled her closer, so her head was on his shoulder. Then they turned, and holding hands, walked up the steps back into school. Tucker ran after them.
"Danny! Aren't you going to go find Sam?" Tucker tried to catch up.
"Nope" Danny stayed straight faced
"What!?! Why not?"
"Because I can go and visit her after school!"
"But…"
"She only fainted, Tucker. It's no big deal" And Danny, still hand in hand with Liza, walked away into the school.
Danny and Tucker watched as Sam lay in a hospital bed, machines bleeping around her, drips in her arms and a computer monitoring her progress. She lay still, the same way she had last time they visited. Tucker rushed over.
Danny slipped into the chair besides Sam's bed and held her hand, which was gently resting by her side. He looked at her face. It was pale, and her hair was fanned out on the pillow like a dark halo around her head.
"Dude, she looks so ill!" Tucker said worriedly. But Danny didn't think so. He thought she looked…peaceful. Sam breathed in heavily, and Danny felt her hand leave his as she stretched.
"S-sam?" he sounded surprised. Her eyes opened. She eased herself so she was sitting up and ran one hand through her hair. It was longer and shiner than Danny had remembered. Her facial features were also softer and more feminine than he had remembered.
"Hi," She said smiling. "How long have I been out?"
"Eighteen…" Danny stammered
"Eighteen what? Minutes? Hours? Maybe even DAYS?" Sam laughed.
"Eighteen months, Sam" He said soothingly.
Her jaw dropped. She had lost a year and a half of her life? She'd missed her 15th birthday, wait, her 16th birthday? What had happened in all that time? "What!?! Eighteen MONTHS? A whole YEAR AND A HALF!?!" She jumped out of bed, pulling drips out of her arms, ripping off the equipment plastered all around her body. She ran to a mirror. Reflected in the mirror was someone she barely recognised. Her violet eyes were bigger, framed with long, perfect lashes. Her mouth was pink and full, her teeth straight and white. She took a step back. Her hair reached way down her back, past her shoulders like a dark waterfall. She was taller, with a fuller figure, and long shapely legs poked out from beneath the hem of her hospital nightgown. She clutched at her face and stepped back, tears threatening to leak out. Behind her she saw Danny and Tucker. Danny was taller too, he was more muscular, but the same cute concerned look lurked around his face. Tucker was the same height as ever, but it could just have been the way he was standing. Nothing about Tucker had changed.
"Sam…" Danny said. Her stood up, reached out to touch her, to comfort her.
"Don't touch me!" She reeled away. She sat on the bed, head in her hands, hiding behind her dark shimmering hair. Doctors and Nurses burst in, cheering noisily. One ran to phone Sam's parents. Danny and Tucker sat either side of Sam and comforted her. Amongst the joy, Sam couldn't help but wonder. How much had she missed out on? How had everything changed so fast?