We Come Alive 4

Please Come Back To Me

Hours had gone by, all of them feeling like centuries. Clover never left her boyfriend's side as he laid in the hospital bed. She held his hand for the first few hours, but than eventually fell asleep on the small couch by the window a few feet away from his bed.

Clover jolted awake when she felt a hand on her leg. She blinked her eyes open to see April standing above her. She was still in her practice jersey and football pants, but had taken off her cleats before she fell asleep.

"Do you want a ride to school?" April wondered. "It's 6:30 in the morning."

Clover shook her head as she sat up. She scratched her head than rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them. "I might not go. There's no use."

"You're a football player." April pointed out. "Football players have to get an education." She handed Clover a sweater and gave her a gentle smile. "He'll be here when you come back. He's not going anywhere."

Clover nodded her head as she took the sweater and grabbed her phone off the floor. She slid on her cleats that were unlaced and walked around Dante's bed.

"I'll be right back, babe." Clover whispered, kissing his cheek. "I love you."

She put her hand over Dante's before walking out of the room. Clover went into the hallway and held onto the sweater as she checked her phone. Destiny had brought Clover her phone when she went to get her gear from the locker rooms, but Clover didn't want anything else.

Clover quickly called Mateo to give her a ride to school and to bring her some clothes. Mateo agreed and said he'd be there in 10 minutes. Clover pressed the home button on her phone and looked at her home screen, a picture of her and Dante smiling. She was on his back as they were outside her apartment building. They'd only been together three months.

Clover locked her phone and went down to the lobby to wait for her coach. By the time she got to the front entrance, Mateo was pulling up in his black Range Rover.

Clover got into the passenger seat and closed the door behind herself. She saw Mateo hand her some clothes for her to change into. It was a sweatshirt, jeans, and her favorite slides.

Clover held onto them as Mateo drove to the school. It was silent for a while but after 10 minutes, Mateo spoke up.

"How is he?"

"Fine." Clover breathed. "Alive."

Mateo reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. "That's always good. I already told the boys to look out for you today. They know to give you space, but to make sure you're alright. If you don't feel up to being in class, I'll come get you and you can lay on the couch in my office. Do a workout in the weight room? Even—"

"I'm fine." Clover spoke, her voice rough, broken. "I'm just waiting for him to wake up and then..." she let out a deep breath. "Then I'll be fine."

Mateo pulled the car over and watched Clover break down into tears. He quickly pulled her closer to him and let her cry into his chest. "He's never gonna walk again!" She cried. "He barely lived. He doesn't deserve this! Why does this always happen to good people?! He didn't deserve this!" She cried.

Mateo held onto her until she stopped crying, telling her everything would be okay. Clover wanted to believe him, but how could she when the last time someone told her that, she saw them barely clinging to life a week later.

~

Clover later walked into her second period class, 30 minutes late to class already. When she walked in, all eyes landed on her. Some of the sets of eyes belong to Diego and Jose.

"Nice of you to join us, Clover." The teacher spoke. "And a way to dress to impress. Take your seat."

Clover handed the teacher her late pass and kept walking in class until she reached the two boys. Diego got out of his desk so she could sit in and he instead sat in the desk next to a boy behind Jose and Clover.

Jose gave her a gentle look but didn't speak to her. Clover just tapped her foot on the ground as Jose scoffed loudly.

"You're a real bitch you know?" Jose called out.

The entire class fell silent as the teacher turned around shocked that Jose would say that.

"Yeah!" Diego agreed. "You stand up there teaching us about stuff that in the long run isn't going to matter, but have the right to comment on our lives like you know us? We don't know you and you don't know us. So next time you wanna open up your mouth, know the whole story."

"Excuse me?" The teacher gasped. "Both of you, get out. Out of my classroom right now. Out!"

Diego and Jose packed up their books and walked out of the classroom without another word. They both walked out the classroom door silently. Clover watched them walk out. She waited a couple seconds than got up and ran out after them. They didn't get far down the hallway when Clover caught up to them.

"Why'd y'all do that?!" Clover called out after them.

When she reached them, Diego wrapped his arm around her waist and brought her close to him. "Cause no one messes with our girl. Plus, she had it coming. Don't know nothing about you and what you're going through."

"Yeah." Jose agreed. "And we won't ask until you're ready to talk."

Clover scoffed as she walked off into one of the locker bays. She dropped her stuff down on the ground and sat down next to it. "Might as well tell y'all now."

Diego and Jose sat on either side of her and looked at the side of her face as she just stared forward at the lockers in front of them.

"Dante and some other boys were driving down this dirt road and...the driver ran over a landmine." She whispered, tears filling up her eyes already. "They never saw it coming. Car exploded instantly. Dante's....he's paralyzed from the waist down. Broke some of his vertebrae, three to be exact."

Jose reached up and wiped away her tears that were rolling down her cheek. He was going to assure her that he'd be okay, but she dropped her head down and started sobbing.

"He's in a coma and...he barely made it out alive. They said...his heart stopped three time. Barely got him back. And...th-...they thought his heart would just...stop."

Jose and Diego engulfed her in a mutual hug to comfort her as she sat there sobbing. Clover brought her hands to her face and cried into them, the feeling of her promise ring no longer there. The feeling of a promise broken.