Disabled.

Seventeen

Seventeen

The tutor session had not been as bad as Mason had attempted to make Nadia think. If anything, it was a very helpful session for Nadia as she found herself understanding the concepts which she had missed while she was in the hospital.

Nadia had just woken up at the sound of her alarm. She used the technique that she had learned from her rehab sessions to transfer herself from her bed to her wheelchair. And once she was seated comfortably, she pushed herself to the washroom to do her usual morning routine.

She had just gotten out of the washroom and was drying her hair while looking into the mirror of her vanity when she heard her phone vibrating. She reached over and picked it up, answering immediately.

"Hello?"

"Good morning Nadia-wait, it's morning right?" She chuckled at the sound of Jackson's mom's voice.

"Yes it's morning, Mrs Cooper." She heard his mother laugh as she looked towards the mirror at her reflection.

"How is your trip going?" she asked, noting that it had been almost two months since they had left.

"It's great but sadly it's coming to an end," Mrs Cooper told her, "we're coming back in three days."

"Oh really?" Nadia asked, surprised to hear that they were coming back so soon even though it had already been almost two months.

"Yeah, we figured it was time to come back. We can't stay away from the city that we've called our home for so many years."

Nadia nodded her head in understanding, recognizing the fact that she wouldn't be able to see her.

"Anyways, I called to see how you're doing. How's school and everything else?"

"Everything is..." she trailed off as she looked at her reflection.

She realized that her life had changed dramatically for the better since she had made the decision to become more independent. And even though she was no longer the popular girl at school as she had been, she had at least one person who she felt she could call her friend. And at the thought of that, she wasn't sure how to answer Jackson's mother's question.

Because she felt that if she told her that her life was going well, it would be unfair. Because how could she have a good life when her boyfriend's mother was still mourning his death?

"You can be honest with me Nadia, it's okay if you're doing well. If anything, that's what I want to hear."

Mrs Cooper's words took her by surprise as it felt as if she had read Nadia's mind. She couldn't say anything though.

"Are you still there Nadia?"

"Yeah," she was forced to answer the question. She heard what sounded like a laugh before Mrs Cooper spoke.

"I'll take it that you're doing well. You're probably getting ready for school so I'll leave you to do that. Enjoy your day and I'll see you when I come back. You have to make time in your schedule to have dinner with me, okay?"

"Okay," was all Nadia could say in reply.

"Good. Now take care sweetheart."

All Nadia could do was look at herself in the mirror after she had hung up. She couldn't believe how Jackson's mother could be saying what she had said and with what seemed to be a positive attitude.

Her thoughts were broken when she felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She looked at it and was surprised to find Mason's name on the screen.

"Hello?" she said when she answered.

"Hey Nadia, it's me," she heard Mason's voice as he spoke. She felt her lips turn up into a small smile subconsciously at his voice.

"I have caller ID so I know it's you," she said jokingly. She heard him chuckle before he spoke.

"I was thinking," there was a moment of silence before he finished his thought, "maybe we should have the tutor sessions in the library instead. Selena said she'll just come home to do her work so it'll be just you and me."

"Will that be better for you?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he said immediately. There was a moment of silence before he continued, saying,

"I'm sorry about what happened last night."

"What do you mean?" she asked, slightly confused.

"I shouldn't have brought up how you were the one who called me when Lena woke up. It just made things awkward, I'm sorry." She felt her lips turning into a smile at his words.

"You don't need to apologize for that," she told him.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, you did nothing wrong," she said in reassurance. After that, they spoke only for a few minutes before exchanging goodbyes.

---

They had just finished their tutoring session later that day and were leaving the library, making their way towards the entrance of the school when Mason suddenly spoke.

"Your mom is very nice."

She looked at him, surprised to hear him suddenly talk about her mom.

"She just believed me when I told her that I was your friend while you were in the hospital," he finished his sentence.

"Why did you do that?" Nadia asked suddenly curious, "come to the hospital, I mean."

"Because..."

"Because what?"

"I thought you might have needed a friend."

That reply took her aback, causing her to look at him, unable to say anything to him.

"Why are you so quiet?" he said, chuckling slightly, "you're making my reply seem awkward."

She didn't say anything for a few moments.

"Are we friends then?" she asked. He stopped walking, and turned to face her.

"What did you think we were?" he asked. She shrugged and pushed herself closer to him.

"I wasn't sure because it was-"

"It wasn't official?" he asked, laughing. She turned her head away from him, not knowing how else to react.

"I didn't think we needed to make our friendship official. But if I must," he reached out his hand towards her, "Nadia, will you officially be my friend?"

She looked at his outstretched hand and smiled slightly before looking up at him.

"Are you doing this to make fun of me?" she asked him.

"Of course not."

He gestured his head towards his hand as he asked,

"So what do you say? Are we officially friends or not?"

She felt her smile widen as she reached out her hand and shook his.

"I guess we are."

* * *

A/N:

Thank you once again for taking the time to read this chapter. It was much shorter than I had originally planned. I was originally planning to write a chapter with 5000 words in honor of receiving over 5000 reads. I am truly grateful for the amount of reads that this story has received so far.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to complete my goal of 5k words but to make up for that, I will be posting the next chapter sooner! So be on the lookout for that 😉

Please let me know your thoughts about this chapter, I would really love to hear whether you liked it or not.

Once again, thank you for reading! And I'll see you in the next chapter in a few days!

~candysweet101