Chapter 4

Beck, Jade and Robbie went home around 11 pm. The only ones left were André and me, since Cat´s parents didn´t even show up yet. Robbie said that they hadn`t been home, when they got Cat`s stuff.

"Are you going to spend the night here or what?" André asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. I don´t want her to be alone, when she wakes up." I told him.

"You sure are a great friend. First saving her and then watching over her." He gave me a smile, while he patted my head.

"Well, I would stay here with you, but I have to go home. My grandma called. She said something about a chair chasing her through her apartment…" André shook his head. He wished me a good night, walked out of the door and left me alone with my best friend.

The doctors said that it could take hours to days for her to wake up. While waiting, I called at home. I knew that nobody would pick up, because the only one there was Trina, but I still didn´t want to make her worry, so I left a voicemail.

It got very difficult to keep my eyes open. It was a really exhausting day with all the drama and nerve-racking waiting and at about 1 or 2 am I couldn´t stay awake anymore. I rested my head on the bed beside Cat´s sleeping figure and slowly drifted into my dreams.

I woke up, not really because I was rested and had enough sleep, but my room was so bright that I could almost see the lightness with my eyes closed.

Why am I sitting? Man, my back hurt. Wait… this is not my room. I opened my eyes and in the moment I saw Cat´s sleeping face, the memories came flowing back into my head. I stroked her cheek. I hoped that she would wake up soon. I missed her smiles and giggles. I missed her laughter and happiness. I missed… her. It had been one day. Okay maybe not even 24 hours, but still…

"Please open your eyes, Cat." I whispered and squeezed her hand slightly. Nothing. She didn´t move. Cat just lied there, completely still, and breathed in and out, and in and out… Then my pearphone rang. I grabbed it and looked at the display: Trina.

"Yeah?" I accepted the call.

"Tori! Where are you? I just came home and went into your room to borrow your new shoes and I saw that you didn´t sleep in your bed, because it looked all tidy, and I was worried!" Trina started.

"Relax. I left you a message." I told her. It was just typical for her not to check the mailbox, before freaking out.

"Oh… Anyway… Where are you? Did you spend the night with a guy?" She joked and I could almost hear her eyebrows wiggling.

"No Trina… I´m in the hospital. Cat had an accident." I informed her.

"Oh… So can I borrow your shoes?" Seriously? What kind of person is she?

"Don´t you even wanna know how she is?" She so can´t have my pumps.

"Well I guess she´s okay. Otherwise you would be all crying and stuff." She was so… not… wrong. I sighed.

"Yeah take them, but I want them back." And then she just hung up. Great.

I needed to change my clothes and I really needed a shower, but I didn´t want Cat to wake up alone. Maybe I should call André. No, I´m pretty sure that he´s busy with his crazy grandma. Robbie? But what if he brings Rex? There are not many things Cat hated, but Rex was one of them. Beck would probably be a good idea, but he told me that he had to work on a project for school. Guess I have no choice.

"Hi Jade."

"What do you want, Vega?" She sounded as annoyed as always.

"Could you please do me a favor?" I asked hesitantly.

"And why would I do that?"

"Jade, please it´s nothing big. I need you to stay with Cat for a while. Not even long. Maybe one or two hours. So I can-." I spoke quickly, but she cut me off.

"I´ll do it. Give me 10 minutes." She hung up, without another word. You could say what you want, but Jade wasn´t a bad friend.

"I´m here. Now hurry and do whatever you have to do." Jade said when she entered the room.

"Thanks, Jade…" I had to ask her one more thing... "Listen. Since I´ve gotten here with the ambulance..." Jade understood and offered me her car keys.

"Don´t you dare giving it a scratch." I took the keys and thanked her again, before I rushed out of the hospital.

It was hard for me to stay within the speed limit, because I wanted to get back to Cat as fast as possible. But since it was Jade´s car it wouldn´t be a good idea to break the traffic instructions.

When I got home I speeded upstairs into my bathroom, stripped off my clothes and hopped into the shower. The hot water felt good and relaxing against my skin. It washed the bad feelings away that I had since I heard Cat´s scream. Cat was going to be okay. I should try to call her parents. Why didn´t they visit Cat yet? Maybe I should drop by her house, before driving back to the hospital.

After I dried my hair and changed into fresh clothes, I grabbed some food from the kitchen. Since I haven´t had something to eat for a little less than a day, I was starving. Next I searched for a pen and something to write on, to leave Trina a message. I found a post-it and wrote:

Please get my car! It is parked at the beach, usual place. Andre has the keys. Thanks. Tori

I put it on the outside of the front door, so she couldn´t oversee it and got into Jade´s car. I decided to head to Cat´s place. Perhaps her parents didn´t even know that she had an accident. They must be worried. I was a little bit nervous, though. Cat was my best friend, but I had never met her parents. Every time I picked her up, they weren´t home and whenever I suggested having a sleepover at hers, she said that she would rather do it at my place or do something else. I didn´t really think about it until now.

When I arrived at her house, I got out of the car, walked to the front door and rang the bell. It took a few seconds until I heard somebody get to the door.

A small woman with dark brown eyes opened it. She didn´t look very friendly.

"Hello. You have to be Cat´s Mum. Mrs. Valentine?" I tried to smile, like she didn´t stare me down.

"Yes. And who are you?" She asked with an eyebrow raised.

"My name is Tori Vega. I´m a friend of Cat." I informed her.

"Cat´s not home." She said and moved to close the door, but I stopped her.

"I know. That´s why I am here. Cat had an accident. She´s at the hospital." I carefully studied her face for any sign of emotion, but there were none.

"And?" She asked. Seriously? Her daughter is injured and she didn´t even care? This woman is worse than Trina.

"AND? What do you mean 'and'? You are her Mum! You´re supposed to visit her or at least ask how she is!" I said furious, but she didn´t even blink as I said that. What was wrong with this woman? Was Cat´s Dad this emotionless as well?

"Is your husband at home?" I asked and slipped past her through the door.

I stepped into a big living room, which was color empty, but modern. It looked nothing like I had expected it to look. In the middle of the room was standing a not so tall man with an unidentifiable expression on his face.

"Mr. Valentine, did you know that Cat had a surgical intervention?" I asked him and tried to discover any sign of feeling in his eyes.

"Caterina is hurt? What happened? Is she okay?" Now concern was mirrored on Cat´s Dad´s face. I turned around to look at Mrs. Valentine.

"See? This is how a parent should react." Then I answered Cat´s Dad. "She was hit by a surfer yesterday and like I said, she had an operation, but she is okay and going to wake up soon. I suggest that you are coming with me. I was driving back to the hospital and just stopped by to let you know what happened, since you didn´t came to visit her or anything. Haven´t you checked your mailbox?"

"Thanks and no we got a new telephone and it hasn´t been installed yet." He told me and added "Why don´t you get back to Cat? I´ll be coming, right after I finished some stuff for work."

"Okay. I´ll see you then Mr. Valentine." I looked at Cat´s Mum as I left. She still didn´t seem effected at all by the news. I shook my head in disbelief and hurried to get back to Cat.

When I entered the room A315 Cat was still asleep and Jade sat on the couch across the bed and seemed captured by a book with the title "the scissors case". I suspected it was a thriller. What else was Jade going to read? A tearjerker? I think not.

"Hey. Have I missed something?" I asked and unintentionally made Jade jump. I had to bite my lip, so I couldn´t laugh. "Did I scare you?"

"Oh shut up. And no, you didn´t miss anything." Jade said and looked back down at her book. Her indifferent tone in which she said it brought me to something I was curious about.

"Jade, have you ever met Cat´s parents?" I asked her.

"I saw them, once on a parents-teacher day, but I didn´t talk to them or anything." She told me, not looking up from her book. It looks like I wasn´t the only one, who Cat was keeping her parents from. I shrugged and sat on the chair beside Cat´s bed. I looked at her sleeping face.

Wake up, I thought. And she did. I smiled at her as she opened her eyes.