Hold On We're Going Home

Chapter Six

Nathan

"Jade, stop!" next thing I knew my stomach became wet and I saw bloods coming out. Great. I would never wear Armani anymore. "Nate, you're bleeding! Jade, what is wrong with you?!"

Stephanie caught me as I fell onto the ground.

"Shut up! I-I've got to go," that bitch. She had the biggest nerves among us. My vision almost blurred but I casted it out by blinking twice while pressing my stomach from bleeding too much.

"Nate, oh my God! Help!" I reached for her hand, stroking my thumb and nodded, "I'm okay, Steph," suddenly a group of people hovered over my body I didn't know where they just came from, but thank God I wouldn't die here.

I would never die here, this place was reek.

I felt Stephanie tensed beside me while cupping my face and sobbed against my chest. "I'm so sorry, Nate. I didn't know she would do this to you. It's all my fault. Please don't die,"

And I blacked out. Touché.

-----

Stephanie winced at the sharp touch of the needle. She let her eyes open for a while to scan the room before she blacked out again.

"My friend Nathan," she caught her breath as she saw the nurse waving a finger to her. "You're not allowed to speak yet, Ms. Dwight,"

It had been too long for her hearing the name again. Stephanie was not the only name she had--sometimes people called her like what the nurse just did--sometimes they called her Baby. Proper as it was.

Stephanie Baby was the only remembrance of her so-called puberty life in high school.

The kids had called behind her back as proving their words of theories about her relation to the real Joseph Dwight. She had let their curiosity being killed, that she hadn't been born to the same mother.

Baby as a word for child, but became a silver lining for being unwanted.

Now she could seek the agony beneath her stomach. She saw a streak making its way from the lamp above to her bone.

No, she thought. I couldn't lose her. "We're losing her," mumbles from the doctor and the nurses tearing her soul apart. "I can't lose her!" the shout came out lastly, exclaiming what had to be done.

"Prepare her for surgery," the doctor said under his mask. The mask she had wanted to tear off and faced whoever hiding behind it.

Her mind was raked with responses she could come up with when he touched her belly once more--to take it out and peeled it off her.

"Ms. Dwight, could you please stay with me?" Nathan came to her mind second before everything went pitch black.

--------

"Steph, watch out!" the ball landed on the grass with a soft thud. Her Manolos skipped over it, walking toward him with a thumping heart.

"Not again, Nathaniel!" she shouted.

Nathan didn't have to look twice; he should run from her.

"Don't you dare, Nathaniel Cleveman!"

He stopped before turning right to where his apartment was. They were at the playground, where everything had begun from ashes. They had been building fires and creating its flame through their friendship.

New York was safe, at least for them. Stephanie knew when she had to remove her fancy outfits-mind as she was surrounded by strangers who didn't even know her real name.

She didn't want to misjudge them--who scrutinized her head-to-toes appearance.

They only knew her as the rich girl and the spoilt from Upper East Side. "What now, Steph?" his button down shirt was crumpled for too long playing in the grass. It should've been dirty.

"Don't you think about telling your girlfriend," Nathan had been famous for giving out charms to every girl.

His recent girlfriend, Anna, was the prettiest cellist in their school. They were casted as Romeo and Juliet, cultivating the term 'boyfie' to the next level.

"Come on, Steph. I wouldn't miss your face this time," he clicked his tongue, just like she always did, teasing her was super fun. Stephanie's heart skipoed twice at this point. No one could bring butterflies in her stomach like her best friend just did.

Had she not bumped into him and spilled her orange juice on his blazer, they would've been sworn enemies--the only exception to their parents.

Nathan jumped up and down, showing off his excitement when a shout split the air, "Hey, is this yours?!" they turned around to see a guy waving a ball at Nathan from afar. "Yes!"

He ran for it, heading toward him. He seemed decent though, Stephanie repeated in her mind.

Just as the sun glided above, her heels span on their way managed to crash the playground once more.

"I'm James, nice to meet ya," the thick Southern accent made an impact in her mind, added as the last trigger; she wanted to know him. That spiky hair, creating such a boyish look on him, would be easily spotted between the crowd. Nathan did a double take on Stephanie, smirking at her entrance--a habit he'd picked since they were kids.

"And this is Stephanie, my best friend," she offered her hand. Shaking James's hand wasn't her plan--the way he stroked her palm nicely electrocuted every inch of her.

How wonderful, she thought.

They sent a goofy smile to each other. "Wanna play?" Nathan let out a snort and chuckling to himself, "She will never play,"

While her heart was going to burst, her mind finally inhibited the way she needed to.

I apologize for the late update! Been busy with college. I hope Stephanie is okay!

❤jenna