When Our Worlds Collide (Our Worlds #1)(14)

I can’t change what happened or how I handled that night. I simply have to live with my decisions. Making myself stop thinking about it was becoming a challenge. It is in my head with no intentions of leaving anytime soon.

I knew that there must be some truth to what everyone is saying, but it turns and changes with every ear that it passes through. I see her friend, Violet, in the cafeteria. I have to force myself to not go over and ask her how Kennedy is doing. It would look too obvious. What was I supposed to say?--“Oh hey, I know I’m not friends with her, but please tell me everything you know so I can make sure I didn’t completely ruin her life. Thanks”. Kennedy and I didn’t exactly hang out with the same crowd. I have no reason to be worried about how she is doing.

I’m a pathetic dick. I’ve always known it. This just shines a brilliant light all over my bullshit.

I continue the same charade the rest of the week trying to act as if nothing had changed in my life. It has though. I don’t know Kennedy and she doesn’t know me. Here she is protecting me. It isn’t like what she did in class when she gave me the answer to a question. It is much bigger than that. I’ve been on edge just waiting for a knock on the door or being called down to the office, just to be arrested in front of everyone. To have the rug ripped out from under me.

I think the worst part of this all is that I allowed her to protect me.

I am a coward.

I am the worst kind of coward.





Chapter Nine



-Kennedy-



The week went by slow. Actually, slow isn’t the right word. It was catastrophically stagnant. It was as if someone stopped all of the clocks in the world and I had no idea what time or day it was anymore. I passed my time in the hospital watching daytime soaps not knowing the story plot still somehow finding it entertaining. It has been mind-numbing in the best way possible.

The doctors released me Wednesday night and encouraged me to take as much time I needed to get back to school. I gladly obliged. I am in no condition to try to wobble my way back into the school on these damn crutches the nurse threw at my feet before I left the hospital. I still haven’t gotten the hang of them and since I have never broken any bones before, I’m not prepared for the pain that comes along with the torture devices.

I swing my legs off the side of my bed to attempt to make it into the kitchen by jumping on my one and only good foot without falling. I nearly bang my head on the hallway wall. I brace myself against the cool drywall where all of our family photos hang. Thankfully, Dad is there to catch me before I have to make a repeat visit to the E.R. I’ve seen enough of the white walls to last me a few years.

“Take it easy. No one’s expecting you to run a marathon anytime soon, kiddo,” my dad jokes laughing at his attempt in humor.

“Very funny and I know that. I’d just like to be able to make it through the hallways on Monday.” I explain. I let him grab my crutches from my room as I stand helpless leaning an arm on the wall looking over the photos that hang before me. I still have braces in a few of them. We need to update these, not that anyone besides Violet would ever see them. It’s one of the perks of being…nobody. I don’t have to worry about being embarrassed about the awkward stages.

“You get that stubbornness from your mother. You should really think about taking a few extra days off, but knowing you, you have already made up your mind. Am I right?” He smiles handing over my crutches. He knows me too well.

“I have and I will be back in school come Monday.” I explain before trying to make my way back to my room forgetting why I left the comfort of my bed in the first place. “Has anyone called for me?” I turn to face him in the hallway hopeful that for once the universe will be on my side.

He picks up the pile of mail on the console table that sits behind the loveseat aimlessly flipping through it discarding the pointless ads. “Actually, yes.” He doesn’t bother to even look up towards me.

“Who?” I sound eager, too eager. Even I can hear the hopefulness in my voice. He notices too, just as any observant father would.

“Expecting a phone call, I take it?” His eyebrow rises making him look hilariously shocked. They nearly touch his hairline. “Violet called four times in the past 8 hours, said you weren’t answering your cell phone. You might want to call her back. That girl is relentless.” His voice sounds annoyed, but we all know he adores Violet as if she is his own daughter. He likes to give her a hard time.

“That’s all? No one else?” I ask feeling a mild twinge of disappointment.

“Yep, that’s all.” He gives me a sympathetic smile before turning his back. He is catching onto me. I’d like to assume that he is like most fathers. Being oblivious is an act when in reality they are far too in tune with the details of their teenage daughter’s lives. After all they need to know who to kill at any given moment, right?

I throw myself onto my bed, maneuvering my broken leg onto the stack of pillows that are down at the opposite end. The red light of my cell phone is blinking and for a split second I allowed myself to get excited even though I know it is only going to be Violet. After thinking about it over in my head, I have no reason to believe that Graham will try to call me. Somehow I keep finding myself thinking about him. I know I shouldn’t. He is trouble, but something in me wants to believe differently.