"I'm Fine" (Adopted by 5SOS)

Chapter 25

\|/ Ambers POV \|/

I watched as the nurse opened the door to tell Calum that he could come in.

I could hear him quickly stand up and dart into the little room. Once he spotted me on the bed, he cried more and gave me a hug.

My sleeves were still rolled up to let the medicine dry, so when we pulled apart, he gently grabbed my hand and flipped it so he could see. 

"How did I not know?" He cried.

"Do not blame this on yourself, Calum. I haven't done it nearly as much since I've been with you. You've helped me more than you know." I explained.

He just nodded. "H-How bad is your stomach?"

"I'm not sure you want to know..." I trailed off.

"Just show me." He sighed nervously.

I lifted up my shirt and he immediately looked angry. "What happened to the two?" He asked.

"Mattie and Harry beat the shit out of them." I smiled a little.

"Good." He nodded.

After a moment, he hugged me again. "I'm really sorry that this happened to you. You don't deserve all this." He whispered.

"It's okay. I'm strong. I can handle this." I told him. "Am I allowed to leave?" I asked the nurse.

"Yes. Your parent or guardian just has to sign you out." She said.

"I don't want to leave school. I was just making sure I was allowed to leave your office." I explained.

"Of course! I'm sure your friends are worried about you." She said.

"You don't want to leave school?" Calum asked me.

"No. I can handle this. Leaving school would just show that they get to me." I stated.

He nodded and helped me stand up.

I took a deep breath before attempting to walk, and I managed it pretty well. It really hurt, but I could do it.

Calum opened the door for me and everyone jumped up. Ashton was the first to hug me. "Please don't ever do it again." He said and I knew exactly what he as talking about.

"I'm gonna try." I told him.

Next was Michael. "I'm so sorry."

I went down the line and hugged everyone. They either said something about Jessica and Caden being jerks, or told me that they're here for me and all that good stuff. I appreciated it with everything I have. They're like a support system I know I can reach out to if I ever need to.

Last, was Mattie. We hugged the longest and tightest. It was hurting me a little bit, but I ignored it.

"Please, try to stop, for me." she said.

I nodded and sniffled into her neck.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"No. I'm staying here." I told her.

"What? Why? Amber, you need to go home so you can heal." She pulled away to look at me.

"Leaving would just be saying that I'm weak, but I'm not." I explained.

She lightly laughed.

"Amber." Calum said softly.

I turned to look at him and he motioned for me to follow him.

He took me around the corner and hugged me again. "When you get home, there are going to be a couple changes. Whatever you used will be thrown away and you'll have to keep your door open."

"That's okay. I really want to actually stop, so I'm going to try. Just look under the sink in my washroom." I said.

He nodded. "Okay, good. We have to go back since you don't want to go home."

"Okay. I'll see you lads later." I said as the others joined us as if on cue.

They each gave me another hug and I went back around the corner.

"What do we do now?" I asked as I approached all of my friends.

"Well, the cafeteria is still open and we have passes to be late to class from the nurse, so let's go get lunch and relax a little." Tyler suggested.

I nodded and found myself wanting to be beside Mattie as she walked towards the front of the group.

I watched her while she stepped to the side and let everyone walk in front of her. She started walking again when she was next to me. Can she read my mind?

"Would you be able to do something this afternoon with me?" She asked.

"I'd have to ask Calum, but I'm sure I would. I'll text him." I smiled and pulled out my phone.

"Mattie wants me to do something with her this afternoon. Is it okay if I go with her?" I typed and sent it.

"Yeah, sure. Just don't come back too late." He answered.

I typed a quick reply before looking back up. "Yeah, I can go." I told her.

"Cool." She smiled brightly.

I wonder what she wants to do. Where are we going to go? Did she have something planned?

We got to the cafeteria and walked to the line as a group. I was surprised to see a good amount of people still in there. The room became silent as they saw everyone's tear stained faces, and I finally looked up and saw all of the surprised looks that people got from seeing my bruises. The good thing about me, is that bruises easily fade away from my skin, so if I do end up going to the dance they won't be nearly as dark.

There was probably about 200 pairs of eyes on me, and it was starting to make me uneasy. I inched closer to Mattie as we went through the line, each of us getting food.

I only grabbed a piece of pizza and a bag of chips. I paid for it, and followed the others through the silent cafeteria.

We sat in our normal spot and I sat a little closer to Mattie. Before I started eating, I closed my eyes and stroked my nose for a little while.

"You're okay. We're all right here." Mattie whispered to me once she noticed my anxious state.

You could hear people whispering about what happened. I tugged my shirt sleeves down so they were covering my hands, and nervously chewed on my thumb through the fabric.

Faith started crying a little again and Harry immediately started comforting her.

"They're all staring at me." I whispered to whoever was listening.

"Okay, everyone. We have an announcement to make." Jarred started and stood on the table. "I'm not sure if anyone has any idea what happened here so let me just tell you a story. Our new friend, Amber, was adopted by Harry's brothers band mate. She never had a good life before, so she transferred schools. In case you haven't noticed, we've taken her into our group. Today, she was very late for lunch, so we all went looking for her. We found her, but not the way we wanted to. Jessica and Caden were beating her senseless. Why? I don't know. Did they have a valid reasons? I know for a fact, they didn't." He glanced at me and I saw tears well up in his eyes.

"Th-they were in here earlier." Someone spoke up.

"What were they saying? What happened?" Mattie asked and stood up.

"They came and said that you guys beat them up for no reason, and that Amber cuts herself for attention." He explained.

My stomach twisted at the words. Mattie looked at me, then my wrist, then at me again. I nodded, telling her that she can say it.

"We only beat them for what they did to Amber. And she doesn't 'cut herself for attention'. She self harms. And absolutely no one knew. She hid it. Is that attention seeking?" Mattie spat.

"Caden will be kicked off of the football team, and to speak on the behalf of the group, they are no longer our friends." Jarred shook his head. "Please continue with your day, and just know that if something happens to Amber, you'll have all of us to go through."