Chapter Two

Previously:

He turned back towards me. "I don't know if that will be such a good idea. I mean, I know you were close before, but I heard about your fight. I don't know if she would want you to be in there." My eyes filled with tears. I knew he was right, but at this moment in time, I wasn't above begging. I would honestly do anything to check that she was alright.

Noelle's POV

I jumped up and ran after Mr Brennan. "Please, just a few minutes, I just need to check that she's alright." He scoffed at this.

"She's anything but alright Ms Lange. The bullet almost ripped straight through her chest, if it had been any lower, she wouldn't be here right now. Two hours the surgeons fought to keep her alive, she flat lined whilst she was on the table. Does that sound like she's alright to you?"

I couldn't speak, only gape at his harsh words to me. I guess I must have looked hurt, because his grimaced. "I'm sorry, it's just, she's my little girl. I would do anything for this not to have happened."

I nodded at him. "Please, give me five minutes to see her, and then I promise that everyone here will leave your family alone. I can stop the reporters from trying to get any story from you, and Reed can recover in peace. I ask only that we can visit her, I owe her that much."

He looked uncertain, and then nodded once. "Five minutes, and then we are left alone?" I promised him that I could stop any reporters. He seemed pleased by this and led me down the bright stark hallway. The bleach stung my nostrils, and my heartbeat seemed to pound in my ears. The walk down to Reed's room seemed too quick and I slowed down. I wasn't ready for this, I needed time to figure out how I could apologise.

Reed's dad looked at my sympathetically. "Are you ready?" I swallowed nervously. It was now or never. "I'm ready." My normally steady voice broke, which pissed me off. I'm Noelle Lange; I don't cry or show weakness. Reed may me this way; she made me a better person.

Mr Brennan pushed open the door gently and it creaked. Her mother and brother looked up at me from her bedside, and her mother glared. "What are you doing here? Haven't you already caused my daughter enough pain?"

My eyes filled will tears. I was about to turn around and run out the door when her brother interrupted, "Mom, that's enough. She just wants to check that Reed is alright, give her that." Her dad nodded, "I've said that Noelle here can have five minutes alone with Reed. Then, she has promised to clear out the waiting room of all her classmates and will keep everything out of the paper." I noticed that he didn't say friends and my stomach clenched, we hadn't been friends to Reed in the last year, we had been anything but that.

Scott stood up, kissed Reed on the temple and exited the room. Mr Brennan grasped his wife's hand and tugged her towards the door. He looked at me and mouthed, "Five minutes". I nodded and shuffled forward. I couldn't bring myself to look at Reed directly; it was going to be too hard. I heard the door shut behind me and knew what I had to do.

I looked towards her and let out a strangled cry. Her face was completely devoid of colour, her hair slicked back from her face. It was obvious that someone had washed the blood out of it and then pushed it back. The covers were pulled down to her waist, the many machines getting in the way. The gauze over her chest was stained with blood; the wound was still bleeding noticeably. Her arms lay limply at her side, multiple IV's in her veins. I choked back a sob, knowing it would do no good. I walked over to her bedside; she looked even paler close up. I sat down in the plastic chair and carefully took hold of her hand. My head lowered, my hands shaking, I cried.

"Reed. I will never be able to apologise enough for how I've treated you this past year. I've been a complete bitch and I know that you will probably never forgive me, but I have to try. I need you to know how much you mean to me, how much you've always meant to me. I know I don't show my emotions very well, but I can change that. When you wake up, I promise to you that I will do my best to make what I did up to you.

I should have trusted you when you said that nothing happened with Dash, but I was stubborn. I should have listened to you; I should have known that Sabine was completely insane. Why the hell did I not know that she was related to Ariana? I should have realised that something was up.

I'm so sorry Reed. I'm never going to forgive myself for my behaviour, but I hope that one day, you can forgive me."

I was full out sobbing by now. My eye sight was blurring, my chest heaving.

"Reed, I need you to wake up. Please Reed. I need you."

I heard the door creak open and spun around, my hands hastily wiping at my eyes. It was Reed's dad, he smiled sadly at me. "Times up I'm afraid. My wife wants to spend time sitting with Reed if you don't mind leaving. She still has some... negative feelings... over what happened between the two of you last year."

I flinched; it was still a touchy subject for me. I stood up quickly, walking towards the door. As I passed him, I paused, "Would you mind keeping me updated on her condition?" He nodded and let me pass him in the doorway.

I headed back into the waiting room, where most of the Billings girls were awake. Rose was crying, along with some of the others. Josh was pacing by the window, muttering to himself. I rolled my eyes, now was not about him. As soon as I walked in, everyone focused on me.

"She's stable, but the doctors have put her in a medically induced coma so that she can recover. They think she's going to be ok, but they can't be sure yet. All we can do now is hope that she wakes up soon and she recovers quickly."

Most of the girls were crying, whilst the boys sat there stone-faced. No-one moved or said anything; this was a breaking point for all of us. It was the point at which we realised how we had been treating Reed, how we ignored her for the most part of the year, and tortured her for the rest.

"We all have to leave now..." Immediately there was an outburst. "Everyone shut up. I promised Reed's family that we would all leave after I got a chance to check on her. Selfish I know, but no-one else was awake and I took the opportunity. We are all going to go back to school, or go home and get a good night's rest. Then tomorrow, we are going to begin the process of moving all of Reed's stuff from Pemberly back into Billings. It's the least we can do, and besides, Reed is a true Billings girl, we all know that."

Everyone was stunned into silence, and then started to make their way out of the door. One by one, everyone left, until only Josh remained.

"Go home Hollis, there's nothing you can do here. Reed is unconscious in a hospital bed and there is no way you can change it."

He looked at me like a lost puppy. "I love her Noelle." His voice was broken, tears poured out of his eyes.

"I know Josh, but there is no way you can win Reed back if you haven't had any sleep now is there?"

He looked at me confused, "You're going to help me?"

"You know I am Josh, she's like my sister. Anyway, if this is what she wants, then I am going to help her get it in any way possible."

Reed POV

I was floating. My limbs felt heavy and I couldn't lift them. I felt a pain in my chest, what was that? How had I got here? Suddenly I remembered, Sabine. She shot me, was I dead? I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids were like weights. They wouldn't move however hard I tried to lift them. I could hear voices around me, was that my brother? Someone was crying, I think it was my mom. I wanted to open my eyes, to tell them that I was alright, but nothing would work right. My mouth, my eyes, my fingers, none of it would move.

I felt tired all of a sudden. The blackness seemed to be coming back. I couldn't escape it, so I let it take over. And then, I couldn't hear anything.

Thanks to dancerx3d, leaps578 and HappyKitty95 for their reviews. They were all lovely and made me want to carry on.
I don't know how often I will be updating, I have GCSE's this year, as well as being ill and so I'm not sure how much time I will have to write. I promise to update as much as I can.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review if you get the chance.

Loren