The Golden Circle

09

⋮chapter nine: cry.

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     FOR THE NEXT TWO weeks, Khloé spent every waking moment besides her best friend's bed. She had barely slept or eaten, and it showed in her hollow face. But no amount of pain could even compare to what Elysha must have felt. The doctors had informed Khloé that she'd been hit by a bus.

"She walked right out in front of it," the doctors had told her gravely. "She acquired a head injury, and it's difficult to see if the brain injury will be permanent. Only time will tell." Only time will tell. Only time will tell.

Those four words repeated in her head like a mantra and Khloé prayed that Elysha would wake up sooner rather than later. The door opened quietly and Khloé looked up briefly. It was Liam again, his arms filled with an assortment of flowers.

"These are the most useless things ever," Liam muttered to himself. He placed them clumsily on the windowsill and sat down in the chair across from Khloé. "They're from Bianca and her little posse."

"How nice of them," Khloé managed to say. It wasn't really; the only people that had bothered to even visit Elysha was herself, Elysha's parents and, surprisingly, Liam. Everyone else had just texted sorrowful messages or sent flowers. It was amazing how dire circumstances cut the fakers from the real friends.

"You should take a break," Liam offered. "You look tired. Go buy a coffee or something. I'll stay here and call you if she wakes up, of course."

Khloé smiled, although it didn't meet her eyes, and slowly rose from her seat. She squeezed Elysha's limp hand softly and left the room. Her muscles were sore from staying still for so long and she was grateful to finally stretch them out.

"Khloé?"

Khloé spotted the golden-haired boy before the words even left his lips. "Jacob. Wha-what are you doing here?"

He held out a bunch of roses. "We need to talk."

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     IN ALL HER SEVENTEEN years, Khloé never expected to be sitting across from Jacob Tinsley in a hospital cafeteria, sipping shitty coffee from a vending machine and talking about her dying best friend.

"She did it on purpose, you know," Jacob said quietly, breaking the long silence.

Khloé's fingers paused around the hot, foam coffee cup and her head flicked up in confusion. "What?"

"Elysha. She wanted to get hit."

Khloé swallowed slowly, shaking her head. "But, why would she have?"

"She was unhappy, Khloé. Anyone could see that. Ever since she broke up with Samuel" ─ Jacob mentioned a member of the golden circle that Elysha had dated for just under a year ─ "she'd been more distant."

Khloé felt selfish. She hadn't noticed.

"She called Samuel that night," he continued. "He was driving to her house and saw her get hit, and came in the ambulance with her to the hospital."

A stab of pain ripped across Khloé's heart. Her best friend had called her ex, but not her? "I didn't notice. She seemed fine," she mumbled helplessly. Only the week before Elysha's accident had Khloé thought something was off, but even then ─ she stopped short. "Oh my gosh," she whispered, bringing a shaking hand to her mouth. "Oh my God."

"What? What happened?" Jacob inquired, his sea-foam eyes growing larger.

"How could I have missed it? I'm so stupid! I can't believe I missed it!"

"Missed what? What are you talking about, Khloé?" Jacob almost pleaded, discarding his cooling coffee to move to her side. He watched as a tear trickled down Khloé's cheek and the notion seemed very unnerving to him. "What did you miss, Khloé?"

"She told me," Khloé sobbed. "At lunch. I said I w-would write a book about a t-troubled girl and I made a joke about Elysha b-being my model, and-d she said maybe one d-day she would."

The sight of Khloé crying made Jacob feel uncomfortable and helpless. She'd never been one to openly display her emotions; it was often concealed behind her infamous half-smirk that always tugged at her mouth. "It wasn't your fault," Jacob murmured, running his hand on her back awkwardly. "You didn't know she was going to try to kill herself."

If anything, the Queen only cried harder.

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