Wallflower

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Chapter 17: Les Conséquences

Avery had had to be removed from her position on the floor of the school hallways, where she sat and stared at the tiles. She had run out of tears to cry and the only thing that came out was the occasional hiccup. The bell had long rung and the corridors were so silent and empty, she could hear a pin drop.

She had heard the approaching footsteps after the second bell had rung, but did nothing to fight off the hands that carried her to the nurse's office.

And there she sat, Alex to one side and Jason to the next. Her hair was wild from previously running her hands through them and her stare was blank. It was like she had shut down completely and was almost unresponsive to what was happening around her.

"Do either of you two know her personally?" the nurse asked, words drawn out and tone uncaring like she had done this millions of times before.

"I do," Alex spoke up. Her fingers were itching to intertwine themselves with Avery's but she didn't know how the shorter girl would feel about the public display affection, especially in her state.

"Does she have any sicknesses or illnesses I should know about?" the woman looked up over her clipboard, a bored expression adorned on her features.

"She has General Anxiety disorder, but she's taking Zoloft for it."

The nurse scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to the brunette, not giving the curly-haired girl on the bed a second glance. She pointed to the nurse's pass now in Alex's hand, "Here, take her home."

"That's it? Is that even allowed? Shouldn't you do something like give her a check-up? See what's wrong?" Alex asked, voice raising as she clutched the note in her hand.

The grown woman turned her head to face the brunette on her way out to another section of the office, "Since when do you care about what's allowed, Alex Rivers?"

****

"I can't believe he would do that to her," Alex gritted out as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. Jason only shook his head in the passenger seat, eyes focused on the road ahead. The brunette was close to passing the speed limit due to the rage that pumped through her body.

"In front of the whole fucking school, no less. He knows she hates crowds," she continued, "We weren't even there, but yet we heard about it right after it happened. Can you imagine the emotional trauma she went through? That asshole was her rock."

Alex's eyes flitted up to the rearview mirror to get a glance at the freckled girl. Avery's eyelids were closed now, it was unknown to the brunette whether she was sleeping or whether she had just decided to tune everything out.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him," she gritted out in lowly, her knuckles were now white and her fingernails were pressed into the leather coating of the steering wheel.

"No," Jason spoke, "If you hurt him, you hurt her. He may be upset, but she still cares about him."

When Alex pulled into the Toussaint's driveway, she let out a deep sigh and turned towards her best friend in the seat next to her. "Thanks for coming with me. Could you stay in the car while I bring her up? You might give her mother a scare," she said, hinting towards Jason's intimidating nature and abundance of tattoos, "You can run the heater while I'm gone. If I take too long you can always head to my house or yours, I can pick up the car later."

The well-built young man gave a quick nod and started the car again once Alex stepped out. The tall girl walked towards the backseat and opened the door.