The Guardian

Chapter Twenty Nine

Ali's POV

Christmas break was over, and it was time for me to go back to school. It felt weird not sleeping in until noon every day, eating whatever I felt like eating, and waiting for Niall to come home so we could cuddle on the couch. It's been quite a while since I've had to follow a set routine. But in more ways that not, I was ready to get back into the swing of things instead of sitting around and wasting my day away like a sad sack of potatoes.

I may have been ready to get back into my schedule, but I don't think I was ready for all the strange looks I was about to recieve as I set foot in the school, Niall by my side.

It was as if the entire school had just seen a ghost. Everyone stopped in their tracks and had their gazes locked on me. Christ, I was depressed for a few weeks. It's not like I grew a second head.

But all the strange looks weren't just because I had shown my face in school for the first time what had felt like decades. Many of the shocked eyes had traveled from my face to my hand, where my fingers were laced tightly with Niall's.

Brian Cassidy was in the hospital in a coma, Allison O'Connor was back in school, and now she's dating Niall Horan. Plot twist.

Anyway, I shook it off. It was my New Year's Resolution to be strong, and this was the next step. I stood up to Niall and told him how I really felt, which was something I always had great trouble doing, and now I'm going to shake off everyone's wandering eyes and whispered thoughts. I'm not going to let anyone knock me down.

Not yet, at least.

**

From that day on, I had stopped by the hospital every day after school to visit Brian. Well, after I had convinced Niall to allow me.

"He's in a coma, Niall."

"So what?"

"I promise you he isn't going to touch me."

"Fine."

Day after day, I sat beside Brian's hospital bed. The room was very white and very bland, the only drops of color being the fading purple of the bruises on his face and the bright shades of red and orange from the flowers his mother replaced every week.

But the flowers wilted much too quickly, reminding everyone in the room that hospitals were not meant to be happy places. Attention was not meant to be drawn to the lively flowers on the bedside table that were very much juxtaposed against the dreary white backdrop, but on the sad, sick, or dying patient laying in a bed that seemed to lack all possible comfort.

As sad as the hospital environment made me, I still came. I felt like I owed him at least that, since he was only here because of me.

And three weeks later, he woke up.

I watched as his eyes fluttered open, a somewhat confused expression taking over his face.

"Ali? What... where am... what happened?"

I couldn't stop the small smile from creeping up my lips as I stood up to find a nurse.

"Shh, relax. Everything's gonna be okay."

He nodded, and I shot a soft, toothless grin his way before stepping out into the hallway.

"Excuse me, nurse!" I called, grabbing the small red head's attention. Um, Brian Cassidy just woke up."

"Oh! Thank you dear. If you don't mind, please wait in the waiting room and we'll come get you when it's okay to see him."

I nodded and made my way down the hallway back into the gray waiting room, trying to think of ways to pass the time.