"Charlie? Charlie! Wake up," she screamed.
Lucy and Patty ran to them.
"No, no, no," Violet cried, "you can't die, not over me," she shook him.
"Stop it Violet," Lucy pushed her away.
"He has to get up! Charlie! Charlie! Why would you do that‽"
The truck driver ran up, "what were you kids doing in the street‽"
"I was about to get jumped by them," Violet turned and pointed, but the girls were gone.
"I'm callin' an ambulance," he pulled out his phone.
Patty leaned her face near his, "he's still breathing."
Violet went to reach for him.
"Don'cha touch him till they get her," the guy said.
Violet pulled her hand back quickly, she didn't know what to do, so she threw herself at Lucy and cried in her shoulder.
"Violet!"
She just held tighter, "why did he do that… he shou-shoulda just let me… I shoulda let them…"
Lucy just looked at Patty while Violet cried in her ear. they eventually heard the ambulance zooming towards them with police cars.
They all explained to the cops what they saw, Violet was being checked over by the medics after they put Charlie in the ambulance.
"I had a clear green light when I got to the intersection, light changed when I was a few yards away, an then outta nowhere I saw that boy just jump out, by then I saw her just… standing there. I had no time to stop- that truck just don't stop on a dime. My mirror got flung in an I thought I ran'em over."
"Officer! It's… It's all my fault! I was trying to get away from these girls… they… they wanted to jump me! I wuh-was scared! Please don't blame him," she cried uncontrollably.
"She did just start running into traffic. She was running from the same girls that beat me up a few days ago. We were going to eat pizza and we heard yelling at the gas station, they were chasing her around there, then she just ran out in the street."
One of the cops came from the gas station, "it seems this girl and three other girls had an altercation at the gas station. Employees and customers said that she looked scared and ran out the store, they blocked her from getting in her car and chased her around the pumps."
"Which car is yours?"
"Th-the Escal-lade, our sp-spare car."
"Those girls vandalized her car and Lucy's scooter at school," Patty added.
"He should've just let me die under that truck, why'd he hafta save me?"
"Don't say that. I couldn't live with myself if I ran you over, young lady, that boy is a hero!"
"I'm not worth saving, I just screw everything up."
"Other than a few scraps, you're good to go Ms. Gray," the driver shut the back doors.
They watched the ambulance drive away, one of the cops left.
"It seems these other girls are the cause of many problems with you three."
"Do you think Charlie is going to make it, sir," Violet asked.
"Of course he'll make it, don't even think any different," Patty said.
"Do you two have a way home?"
"I'll… I'll take them! They can ride with me," she looked at them pleadingly.
"Yeah… we can ride with her," Lucy sighed.
"Are you sure?"
Lucy nodded.
"Yeah, it's fine," Patty said.
They walked with Violet to her suv, once she sat down and started it up, she broke down crying again.
"Violet… you're in no shape to drive, I'll drive, okay?"
She nodded and got in the backseat.
"This is nice, oooo," Patty backed out of the parking spot, "I'd take this over my minivan."
"How can you two be so calm?"
"Because… we have faith he'll be okay. I'm… I'm losing it inside to tell the truth," Lucy said.
"I'm concerned, but I get to drive an Escalade."
"Patty…"
"I'm devastated, okay. We go from ready to eat pizza, to… this."
"Where are we going," Violet asked.
"He has to be okay, I mean… the truck barely hit him, right? Right?"
"It was just the mirror, Lucy, maybe he's perfectly fine, no more than a concussion."
Patty pulled up at the Van Pelts, Lucy went inside to get Linus and Sally.
"Where the hell did you get that," Sally exclaimed.
"I'll tell you on the way, let's just go already."
Lucy got in, Sally opened the back door and saw Violet laying across the seat silently crying.
"Uhhh," Linus said.
"Violet, sit up… sit up so they can get in," Patty said calmly.
"Sorry," she sat up and saw Sally, "I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."
"What did you do," the anger shown through her sadness, "what did you do Violet," Sally lunged at her, with a fist full of her hair she yanked her head and shoved it into the c-pillar.
Violet just wailed and cried.
"Linus get her off of Violet," Lucy yelled.
Linus climbed in and tried to seperate the two girls.
"Let me go! I'm going to bash her head in!"
Patty drove off, slamming the passenger door shut, "Damn Sally, stop!"
Sally was hitting Violet while Linus was trying to get her off.
"Stop it," Lucy reached to the backseat to help, "enough Sally!"
"Why is she crying if it's her fault he's in the hospital‽"
"It's not her fault."
"It is my fault," she cried.
"Charlie saved her from being hit by a truck when she was running from Molly, Charlotte and Delores. He was… grazed by the mirror and passed out after they both hit the ground," Patty explained.
"And you stole this from the guy that hit him," she asked.
"What‽ No!"
"I-it's m-mine," she stuttered.
"Why are you crying," Linus asked.
"He risked his life to save mine. Why would he do that?"
"Why would he," Sally broke free of Linus hold.
"And why is Violet more hurt than you two," he asked.
"I am not worth saving… am not worth anybody else's life," her voice was choked, "I realized… I screwed up. I decided to drop out, I couldn't face any of you. I didn't realize how bad I hurt you two… how selfish I was. I lost everything that mattered."
"Poor princess, nothing left but money and a sixty thousand dollar car," Sally mocked concern.
"If it were actually my car, I'd give it to Patty since she likes it so much."
"Don't talk about yourself like that," Patty said.
"No, let her, why do you care," Sally snapped.
"We were friends once."
"I should've just let them beat me up… none of this would've happened."
"Probably not," Lucy agreed.
"I'm such a screw up," she exploded with tears.
"Nothing to add Linus," Lucy asked.
"Why make her feel worse than she actually does? I can't think of anything I could say, that she probably doesn't already think, and I'm not beating a dead horse in the case of whatever she's going through. Even if I don't like her, I won't be part of pushing her over the edge… I learned my lesson."
"He's going to be okay, right Patty?"
"Sure Lucy," she grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
"He better be… or… or I'll knock him out myself," her voice went up an octave as she started to cry.
Patty pulled into the hospital parking lot and they all went looking for where he was.
"I'm his sister, Sally Brown, I just want to see him, I need to know if he's okay."
"That's fine, but your friends will need to stay in the waiting room. He was just put in a room."
They went to the floor he was one, they all waited while Sally was taken there by a nurse. Violet sat away from everybody, crying so much she could barely breathe. Lucy and Patty were also crying and Linus was trying to console them both. It felt like they were there for two hours, Violet had to walk past them to get to the vending machine.
"I'm so so sorry I caused this, I was trying to stay out of your lives… do you want anything, get whatever," she held out her card.
"I think we're good Violet," Linus replied.
"How can you eat at a time like this, and why do you care about him so much," Patty asked.
"I… I'm hungry, no… I'm not… I just- it feels good. Charlie… I do care about him, actually, I can't tell you why. I can tell you that I after those times he would sit and talk to Shermy at lunch, I got to know him. I miss listening to those conversations. I had no right to treat him the way I did, and if I'm the cause of his death…," she started crying again.