MIDNIGHT RAIN, ʲ.ᵏ

𐬽Chapter two𐬽

charlotte biggs was late to school, nervous for her trig test, and trying to find her brother hughie's car keys. he swore he left them on the counter, but they were nowhere to be seen and now all three of the biggs siblings were late. claire was sitting at her desk, brushing her long blonde hair as charlotte sat on her bed.
"hughie needs to be more responsible," she complained, tying a pink bow at the end of her long, silky braid. she flicked it over her shoulder as she bent down to tie her shoes. she stood slowly and walked over to claire, looking in the mirror. she fixed her mascara a little before walking back downstairs to help hughie. finally, hughie bent down and grabbed his keys, holding them up proudly.

"told you i'd find them!" he shouted pridefully, beaming with excitement. charlotte rolled her eyes, but took her place in the front seat of the car. hughie liked to park in the north lot, which was annoying to her because the english room was on the other side of the building, but since she had missed english, she could cut across the rugby field to get to trigonometry. she strolled leisurely toward the field, her skirt not allowing her to walk really quickly. she tried to hurry when she finally got the field, a little nervous as she heard a bunch of shouting coming from the rugby players. suddenly, a blinding pain hit her in the back of the head. her knees buckled underneath her, and she felt searing pain as on of them scraped against the pavement of the sidewalk. she grabbed it quickly, pressing her hand against the wound while the other cradled her throbbing head.

she groaned in pain as a shadow suddenly blocked the sun that was shining in her eyes.
"shite," he said, sounding worried, "shite, shite, shite, charlotte are you okay?"
she didn't know how he remembered her name, but johnny kavanagh, hughie's friend, was bent over in front of her, staring at her in concern. he reached out and gently pried her hand off her knee, but he didn't let it go once she removed it, he just kept holding her bloody hand, palm up as he inspected her now mutilated knee cap. after a moment, the blood started flowing freely again, and charlotte wrenched her hand out of his grasp and pressed it against the wound once again, pressing her other hand onto it too.

"shite charlotte, i'm so fucking sorry." johnny sighed, "do you want me to get your brother?"
she shook her head quickly before stopping. her head was throbbing. it had felt like someone had stomped on it over and over and over and her brain was collapsing. johnny's eyebrows knitted in concern as she rested her head against her unharmed knee. she could feel her eyes filling with tears, but she didn't wanna cry, not in front of johnny. she knew he probably didn't remember her, but she certainly remembered him. he turned away from her for a moment as a muscley man walked up to him. charlotte could hear them talking, but she couldn't make herself figure out what they were saying. her head hurt too bad. after a while, he knelt in front of her again. a tear slipped out of her eye and fell down her cheek, the wind blowing a piece of her hair into her damp skin. he reached out and gently brushed her tear away, tucking her hair behind her eye softly. his hands were big and soft, and she wanted to know how it would feel to hold.

"can you walk, charlotte?" he whispered like it was a secret, just between them. she liked the idea of them having a secret that no one else knew, of them knowing something that no one else did. she nodded slowly and she could feel the tears in her eyes again, but she would not shed another tear in front of johnny. she clamored to her feet shakily, and looked down at her blood coated hands. they too were shaking, and she could barely see her skin under the layer of blood her palms were coated in. it reminded her so vividly of that night that she wiped them against her brand new school skirt. johnny raised an eyebrow, but he didn't question it, which made her grateful. she barely liked talking about the accident with her mother, who was there herself, let alone johnny kavanagh, who she knew didn't remember her the way she remembered him. she stumbled slightly, and she squeezed her eyes as she prepared to hit the ground, but a strong, stable arm wrapped around her waist, keeping her upright. he held her tightly to his side, and charlotte was glad for a moment that he was so much taller than her so he wouldn't see her blush.

he could feel his eyes on her as he steered her through the entrance hall of Tommen college. he pushed open the door to the nurses office and gently sat her down in one of the chairs as he went to talk to the receptionist. she didn't know what they were saying, but she could tell johnny was upset. she thought for a fleeting moment that he was mad at her, that he was mad he had to leave practice and practically carry a bleeding, concussed girl through his school. she rested her head against the back of her chair and closed her eyes. johnny returned next to her swiftly. before she knew it his arm was back around her waist, holding her gently. it felt nice to have his arm around her, it felt right. he sat walked her to the exam table and held her onto her hand as she stepped up to sit on it. she liked that he was helping her, protecting her, taking care of her. he could leave now, she realized. she was safe, she wasn't in critical condition. he could go. but he didn't. he sat in one of the waiting chairs and watched her get her examined. he didn't look away, not when the nurse determined she had a minor concussion, and not even when she wiped away the blood and revealed the deep, purpleish wound on her knee cap.

johnny got up as the nurse exited the room to get more bandages. he walked over to the exam table and leaned forward, so close their noses almost touched. he looked different up close like this. she loved his eyes, his face, the way his hair fell over his forehead. he lifted his hand like he was gonna do something, but then he dropped it with a sigh. "i'm so sorry charlotte," he said, lifting his arm again and resting it on her arm. his eyes looked wide and sincere, gazing at her with determination. "i'm gonna make it up to you, i promise." he said, sounding absolute about it. he didn't have to make it up to her, she thought. she wasn't mad at him. if anything, she was glad she got to see him again, regardless of what happened to cause it.

she looked up at him and nodded a little, admiring the way he looked right now, like he'd do anything for her, anything to get her to forgive him, "okay johnny."