*Wow, been a REALLY long time huh? Sorry bout that…Life got really crazy. I'm going to finish this story, and it'll be the first one that I actually did finish sadly. Lol.

Hope y'all like it *

Chapter 11: Very Bad Mornings

Laura was very hung over the next day at school and Cali's ranting didn't help much. "Cali hun, could you please talk quieter? I have a major headache after last night."

Cali covered her mouth and mumbled a sorry. Laura hadn't told her anything about last night yet and she had planned to at all. But in English class, Cali got curious. "So, what happened at the club last night?"

Laura sighed, she just couldn't avoid it. She decided to tell Cali the edited version. "Peter picked me up and we got pretty wasted thanks to the employee's stash in the back." She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should continue. Cali didn't push, just waited patiently for Laura to continue. Laura finally gave in, sighing heavily before continuing. "Then, Jay showed up around 12:30 and took me home and I haven't seen Peter since then."

Cali looked confused. "So, nothing went on? You and Jay didn't-"

Laura suddenly slammed her hands down hard on the desk, startling Cali. "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WITH JAY! WHY WOULD I?" Laura shouted, oblivious to the rest of her classmates' stares.

Cali glanced about nervously, tugging gently on Laura's sleeve, trying to get her to sit back down. "L...I don't think we should continue this in class…"

Laura sat back down quickly; her little outburst wasn't much help for her hangover. "Yeah, that wasn't a smart move." Laura mumbled to herself as she laid her forehead against the cold table. She felt Cali's hand on her shoulder and looked up at her friend. "I'm sorry Cali…I didn't mean to snap at you."

Cali just smiled and shrugged. "I shouldn't have pushed the question. For some reason, I keep forgetting that you hate Jay." Laura forced herself to smile but in her heart, she knew that that might not be true anymore.

Jay had no idea how long he'd been lying in that alley. Every bone felt broken and every muscle ached. Every breath was ragged and fought for. He actually wondered if he was going to die in that dirty alley. Just when he was about to surrender, his cell phone buzzed in his pocket.

With every ounce of strength he had left, Jay forced himself to roll over and pull his phone from his pocket. It was Ko. "Hello?" Jay didn't even recognize he own voice and prayed Ko would.

"Jay? That you man?"

Jay made an odd sound that vaguely resembled a word, so he cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah, it's me. I'm in the alley behind that new club in town…"

Jay could hear the jangle of Ko's keys through the phone and silently thanked God that he didn't have to explain over the phone. "You stay put Jay, I'll be there in a minute."

Jay couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of his cracked and bloody lips. "I'll be timing ya…" Then the line went dead.

Ko's Eclipse skidded to a stop at the end of the alley, illuminating Jay's crumpled body in the headlights. Ko's rage bubbled up inside of him. "Shit, what asshole could have done this?"

Ko left the engine running as he jogged to Jay's side. He could barley recognize his friend. Jay's face was littered with black bruises and his right eye was swollen shut. "Jesus Jay! What the hell did you get yourself into?" Ko didn't wait for Jay to reply, figuring he couldn't anyway, and gently pulled Jay to his feet. He let all of Jay's weight lay on his shoulders as they limped toward Ko's car.

Once Jay was safely in the car, Ko cranked the heat and sped toward the hospital. About ten minutes into the drive, Jay groaned as he turned his head toward Ko. "Jay you shouldn't be moving so much. You might have broken something."

Jay let out a weak laugh. "I was just wondering where your lady friend was? You leave her at the garage?"

Ko smirked as he took a sharp turn with the greatest of ease. "Nah, as soon as I got your call I kicked her out. She understood though and wants to get together again. Apparently I was pretty kick ass in the sack."

Jay just shook his head in disbelief, ignoring the slight pain it merited him. "I'm sure."

"What the hell happened to him? Why won't you tell me anything Ko? Dammit!"

Joe had been ranting ever since Ko had called him and said that Jay was in the hospital. Ko had ignored him, focusing his energy on getting Jay comfortable so he could sleep. Now, Joe was practically sitting on Ko's shoulder, like an annoying little parrot that he often proved to resemble.

"Joe shut up for a minute! Jay needs to rest and you're not helping!" That did the trick. Joe huffed and stormed out of the room. Ko knew that he was worried for Jay but his ways of going about it were terribly irritating. Jay looked as peaceful as a man in his position could get, so Ko switched off the lamp and quietly closed the room door.

"Ko, you had better start spilling the beans." Joe started in on Ko before he could even get completely out the door.

"Joe, I don't know what the hell happened. Last time I saw him he was pissed off about Laura's new boyfriend cheating on her. I called to check in and he was bleeding out in the back alley."

Joe slumped back against the wall, a grim look on his face. "Poor bastard. What did the doctor say?"

"He's in pretty bad shape, obviously. His insides are battered, his left leg is busted to shit, and he's probably got a concussion." Ko balled up a fist. He was still pretty steamed about all this and planned to deliver the same amount of damage to the asshole that did this to his friend. "The doctor is surprised that Jay was even conscious when I found him."

Joe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Poor guy. Well, all we can do know is hope he comes out of this ok."

*More to come soon! Let me know how you like it. Hopefully I'm keeping the writing consistant *