Adopted

Chapter 63

The rest of the day went pretty much the same. Some kids I didn't know came up to me at lunch and told me they were happy to see I was back at school. Lots of kids asked to sign my cast. It was full of names and colors and pictures. 

I sat in the bleachers during PE, since I wasn't actually allowed to participate right now. I did some of my math homework while the rest of the class played dodgeball. 

After class, I waited for Paige to change, and then we started heading towards the front of the school so she could catch her bus, and I would meet Mom. 

"Hey, you! Urie!" a boy called out. I stopped and turned around. He was bigger than me, not that that's saying much. I was pretty sure he was an eighth-grader. 

"Not again," I mumbled to Paige. 

"Leave her alone! Your buddies did enough already!" Paige said. 

"Shut up. Hey, Urie. I wanna talk to you for a second," he said, coming up to me. I looked for a way to escape. I didn't want to get backed into a wall again. 

"What do you want?" I asked. It came out more like a squeak. Great. 

"I just wanted to tell you, I'm really sorry Eric and his friends beat you up. That was stupid of them. So you have AIDS. Unless you're running around trying to make people sick, you're cool in my books. So, look, my name's Darren. If anyone gives you any trouble, you come to find me, okay?"

"Um... thanks? I think?" I said. 

"I'm not kidding. Four guys Eric's size against you? You're a pipsqueak. That wasn't a fair fight even if you'd wanted to be in it. Honestly, I'm glad Eric's out of school. He's an asshole and our class is better without him in it. So I'm serious. You need someone to deal with any more assholes, you come find me. Or these guys," he said, indicating the two guys beside him. "This is John and Adam."

"What's going on over here?" Ms. Abigail said, coming down the hallway. "Break it up! I don't want a repeat."

"It's okay, Ms. Abigail," I said. 

"It's fine, Ms. Abigail.  We were just welcoming Jessica back, and telling her if anyone tries to bully her, to come find us."

"If anyone bullies you, Jessica, tell a teacher or the office. Darren, you know better than that. But thank you for looking out for Jessica. That's very nice to hear."

"Ma'am, Eric is an ass-uh, jerk. We're glad he's gone. And I was telling Jessica we're really sorry he did what he did," Darren said. 

"Alright. Well, move along. Jessica, I'm sure your mom is waiting for you and Paige, you're going to miss your bus."

"Urie, offer still stands," Darren said, putting out his fist for me to bump, which I did. 

"Thanks, Darren," I said.

"Jessica?" I heard mom calling. I rolled my eyes. 

"Uh oh. I think she thinks something happened again," Paige said, watching my mom run, panicked, around the corner from the main building. 

"It's okay, Mom," I said. "I really have to go, Darren."

"See ya, Urie," he said, waving. "Hi, Mrs. Urie!" 

I jogged over to meet Mom. 

"Who was that? What was that about? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom," I said. "That's Darren. He's an eighth-grader and he told me he thinks Eric is an asshole, and that if anyone gives me any problems, to find him and his friends, John and Adam. Ms. Abigail told them off, sort of."

"I was worried.  You weren't at the front of the school. I thought..."

"I know. I'm sorry," I said. 

She wrapped me in a tight hug and gave me a kiss on my head. 

"It's okay, hon. I'm glad you're okay. Paige," my mom said, turning to her. "I think you missed your bus. Would you like a ride home?"

"I did? Crap, um, sure, if you don't mind," Paige said. 

"Not at all."

We followed Mom to the car and this time Granny was in the passenger seat. 

"PopPop got to see you off to school this morning, I wanted to come pick you up," she said as we got to the car. 

"Hi, Granny," I smiled. "You remember Paige, right?"

"I do, hello again, Paige."

"Hi, Mrs. Urie," Paige said. 

We climbed into the back seat and Paige gave Mom her address. It turned out she didn't live too far from us, but a bit in the opposite direction from the school to our house. 

"See you tomorrow, Jess," Paige said as we dropped her off at her house.

"See ya,"

"And tomorrow, I'll be out front like usual. Promise," she said.  I laughed. 

"What was that all about?" Mom asked as we pulled away.

"Well, it turned out no one was at the front of the school to meet me because they were all hiding in my classroom waiting to surprise me," I laughed. Mom and Granny did too. 

"So how was the first day back?" Granny asked. 

I told them how the day had gone, and about the kids who'd come up to me to say they were glad to see I was back. And how my teachers had all been really nice. Mom was smiling. 

My phone rang on the way back home. 

"Hello?" I said, picking it up. 

"Hey, Champ! How's my girl?"

"Hi, Dad. I'm good."

"How was it? How'd the first day go?"

I told him pretty much the same thing but left out the part about Darren, John and Adam.  He told me that he had fans coming up to him at the Meet and Greet asking about me, and bringing cards and gifts and stuff for me, and not him. He said he was keeping it all on his bus, but he'd mail me some of the stuff. 

"One more month, kiddo, and I'm home. And when I'm home, you and I are going to spend a whole lot of time together."

"Okay, sounds good," I said. 

"Kid, I never said anything when you were in the hospital, but I'm so sorry I couldn't be there when you needed me."

"Where? At school? How weird would that have been?"

"Touche," he said. "But that I couldn't be there sooner."

"Dad, you were at work, basically. I get it. I'm not mad or anything. You shouldn't feel bad for being away for your job. No one knew that was going to happen," I said. 

"I don't deserve you as a daughter. You're awesome. Look, I gotta go get ready to go onstage, but I wanted to check in. I love you and you are amazing."

"Love you, too, Dad." I smiled.