Four Reasons (ON HOLD)

Chapter 20

~Elena's POV~

I woke to a gentle touch on my shoulder and the first thing I felt after the touch was a headache throbbing throughout my skull. My mouth tasted sour and dry, and my stomach did not feel like it was happy with me. I opened my eyes to meet a pair of soft brown ones. Tom was crouch beside where I was laying down on the couch and he was very carefully shaking my shoulder to wake me.

"Hey you," he said quietly with a gentle smile on his face. "How're you feeling?"

"Horrible," my voice cracked as I tried to speak despite the dryness.

"Thought so," he mumbled concernedly. He stood up and walked away for a moment, then returned with a water bottle in his hand. He helped me up into a sitting position before sitting next to me and handing me the water.

Before I even opened the bottle, I shifted so that I was leaning against Tom's shoulder, then cracked the seal on the bottle and downed half of it. Tom seemed surprised by my action at first, before settling into it and eventually getting his arm out from between us and wrapping it around my shoulders. We sat in silence for a while, until there was a knock on my trailer door.

Tom got up to go answer it, leaving me alone on the couch drinking my water. I couldn't see who it was at the door, but I could hear Tom having a hushed conversation with them before I heard the door shut again and he came back and sat next to me.

"Who was it?" I asked, my voice no longer hoarse.

"An assistant telling me I have another scene in a few minutes," he replied nonchalantly.

I nodded, then asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"A couple hours, it's only 4:20," he answered softly.

I hummed in response. After a few more minutes of silence I set my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Somehow that helped to dull my headache, so I stayed where I was. About twenty minutes later Tom finally broke the silence.

"I've gotta go," he said, looking at his watch. "I have to do my scene, but Jon said we could go home afterwards.

"Okay," I lifted my head off of his shoulder and to my annoyance, my headache came slamming back.

He stood up, making sure I was okay, and then left the trailer promising to be back soon. After he was gone I decided to finally get on my official Marvel Instagram account and maybe actually post something for once.

I posted a good photo of the pool from last Friday during the pool party at the house. No one had gotten into the pool at that point so it was still and the sun was hitting it just right so it looked amazing. When I finished that I put my phone away and set my head back against the back of the couch, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath. Just then there was a knock on my door, so I cautiously got up, stopping myself from falling over several times as I made my way to the door, then opened it. Zendaya stood outside smiling at me.

"Hey girl," she started. "Mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," I replied.

She came in and I sat back down on the couch while she sat in one of the chairs across from me.

"So how're you doing?" she asked carefully.

"I'm alright, just a bit of a stomach ache," I answered, not mentioning the constant throbbing headache I was carrying around with me.

"Well I'm glad you're a little better at least," she smiled. "Do think you're sick with something?" She asked, then paused a moment, cautious, before continuing. "Or was it because of a different reason?"

"No, I'm not sick," I answered shortly.

"So it's a different reason," she confirmed with a nod.

I didn't answer her, instead looking at my hands which were placed in my lap and gripping my phone tightly.

"I don't mean to make things worse, but does it have anything to do with H-"

"DON'T, say his name," I interrupted her and held my hand up, my head snapping up to me her eyes. I was no longer upset by his name, I was angry. What he did made me angry.

"Sorry," she swallowed then tried again. "The tall blonde we all know..."

"Better," I gritted through my teeth. I wasn't angry at her, and I know she knew that, but she still seemed a little intimidated. "And yes, it has everything to do with the tall blonde we all know."

"I'm sorry," she said and I looked up at her from where my eyes had reverted back to their original spot focused on my lap. "I'm sorry that that happened to you. And on your first night with us." She sounded disappointed, and I could see it clearly on her face. I knew that all of them were so much better than what had happened this past weekend, but it was still painful to have been the cause of all of it.

"Do have an idea of who did it?" I asked her straight up. "Did you do it?"

"I would never," she looked me dead in the eye and I knew she wasn't lying. "And no, I have no idea who it could've been. But I do know that it wasn't me, you, Tom, or the certain tall blonde. However, that leaves everyone else, which still is a large group to narrow down from."

"You can add Kate to the didn't do it list, she's my best friend and I know she wouldn't do something like that. But yes, that does leave too many options," I sighed and sat back against the couch, deep in thought. "Why would someone want to do it anyway? It just doesn't make sense."

"I know," Zendaya was looking thoughtful herself.

We sat in silence for several minutes before she jumped up from her chair unexpectedly.

"I'VE GOT IT!" She looked excited.

"What?" I stood up too, a little freaked out by her sudden burst.

"I don't think that you were targeted on purpose! I think Haz was drugged for a completely different reason and him going after you was just a mistake!" She continued before I could say anything. "Which means that someone did it most likely for their own sake, and not to target you at all. Which means that narrows our options even more."

I couldn't speak as I pieced everything she was saying together in my head. It made sense, and it was convenient because that meant we could take all the boys on the list off of it.

"But that means Katelyn is back on the list," Zendaya said cautiously.

"Why would she lie to me this whole time then? Why wouldn't she just tell me the truth?" I put my head in my hands, so tired of everything. I was so tired of not knowing if I was going to get hurt around the next corner, not knowing who was responsible or if they did it on purpose or if it was an accident. And worst of all, not knowing if I would survive one more thing happening to me.