Bad Girl•l.h•

Chapter Nine

I sit up and groan, stretching out all my muscles. I relax them and open my eyes, looking around. I see Luke and a goofy grin appears on my face. "Hi Lukey!"

He turns his head my way and relief washes over him. "Oh god, Kid. How are you feeling?"

"Like I could run a marathon and a half," I giggle. I reach my hand out to him and feel a light sting on the top. I look at it to see an IV line. Of course.

He smirks and gets up from the chair. He grabs the chair, pulling it to the bedside. "I'm happy you're feeling better."

"Do you know what's wrong?" I ask, rolling over to my side.

He shakes his head. "Not completely. Mae could explain it better. I'll go get her and the others. We've been taking turns making sure you're ok."

He leaves without another word. I look around and take in my surroundings. I shift again, attempting to get comfortable again. The pain shoots through my back and I whimper, changing positions once again. The door opens and eight familiar faces rush into the room. I smile at them.

Aunt Mae walks over and takes a seat on the chair beside my bed. "How you feeling, sweetie?"

"My back hurts," I pout. I grab her hand and intertwine our fingers.

She sighs and leans close. "Can I ask them to leave for a minute? I need to explain something to you that they can't hear."

I nod my head and look over her shoulder. "As much as I love you all, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed."

They leave without a word. I hear the door click shut and Aunt Mae presses a kiss to my hand. "Kid, you're a strong girl."

"Thanks?" I respond. Aunt Mae's presence and actions were motherly and comforting to be around. I look down at her, finally relaxing and feeling no pain in my spine. "Auntie Mae, what's wrong?"

"Oh my dear," she smiles at me, pulling her feet up to rest on the bed and leans back in the chair. "It's nothing too bad. They said you must have fallen and bruised your spinal chord. The vomiting was in response to food poisoning. Nothing to be afraid of. You're one lucky kid, Kid. At first they thought it was leukaemia."

A wave if relief washes over me. "Thank god. Can I leave now then?"

She shakes her head. "Unfortunately, no. They want to make sure you didn't permanently damage a disk or anything. The bruise looked worse than it really was, you should be out tonight though. There's just one problem."

"What's that?" I ask, flipping the blanket with my legs so it was sitting between them.

Aunt Mae's face begins oozing with sympathy. "He wants your physical activity reduced and then I told him you got asked about being in a band playing piano, he said to limit the amount of time you're not laying down. The band isn't a good idea right now."

I pout. "Will I be better soon though? My back is killing me"

"Soon enough, ok?"

I nod. "Can I see them now? Please!"

Auntie Mae nods and brings her fingers to her lips and lets out a loud whistle. "COME ON IN!"

I laugh as they tumble into the room, tripping over each other. I watch as everyone comes in, seeing Ashton and Lana stroll in last with their hands intertwined. I smile at them. They are so damn cute.

"Was Masters why you were sick?" Calum asks, plopping down on one of the chairs.

"Yeah," I nod, looking at everyone. "What's the plan for tonight? Since my stomach is running on empty and I'm not dying, we need to go out and get food. Like, pasta or chilli, or both."

Everyone cracks up, the room suddenly feeling more relaxed. Michael holds his fist out to me and I bump mine gently against his. "Glad to see your heads in the right place."

"My stomach has always controlled my head," I giggle, sinking into my pillows once again.

Dylan's phone buzzes and he excuses himself, his face bearing a goofy grin. He exits quickly, answering the call. I raise my eyebrow at Elliot. "Was that a girl?"

"Sheila Miston, I think. Y'know, from his visual arts class."

I nod, picturing her. "She's a cutie."

"A cutie?" Calum questions.

I scowl at him. "If someone is attractive, it is okay to say so. She is indeed attractive and I can see why he's all googly eyed over her. She's foxy, if I may."

"Cheers to that!" Michael shouts, winking at me. We all laugh and continue chatting about dinner plans. I'm so glad to have these people in my life, never would my old friend's had been here like this. I could get used to this.
*****************

I step out onto the ice, clutching onto the two arms in front of me. I step my second foot out, loosing my balance and shooting myself into the body in front of me.

"I don't know why I agreed to this. I'm gonna fall and break my butt knuckle and screw up my back again. You guys are so rude for convincing me. I hate ice and cold and metal. Why did I agree to this? Frick you eight and your good looks and persuasive personalities. You guys are gonna be the death of me. I had high expectations for you, Ash-butt. You let me down. You all let me down. And you, Sheila, you deceived me. I thought I could trust you. I'm gonna die. This is my death date. Good bye cruel world, it was a nice 17 years, 11 months, three weeks and two days. Too bad I can't last five more to be eighteen. I ha-"

"Shut up!" Dylan groans, pulling his hat over his face. "God, you're so dramatic."

"No, I'm not!" I whine, keeping a tight grip on Luke's arms.

Luke smirks at me. "Oh but you are. We've done two laps now and you haven't fallen."

I look around and drop my jaw. "So we have! Look at me. I know how to skate."

Calum laughs from beside me. "More like you let Luke drag you around."

"Close enough," I mumble. I look around at my friends. Luke holding my arms, gliding backwards and helping me. Calum to my right, making sure I don't fall onto my back. Ashton and Lana were ahead of us, laughing and bumping each other. Elliot was with Michael in a serious debate, most likely about the TMNT. Dylan was on my left, with Sheila in between us. She was such a sweetheart and I knew we'd get along great.

We mindlessly make small talk between us, Luke letting me attempt to skate by myself. I almost fell once and made Luke promise to never let go of my arms again. An hour later, we all filed off the ice and I let out a sigh of relief. I had managed to survive a full hour and a half on blade of death.

I walk over to the bench where our shoes sat and I quickly pull the feet knives off and slide my Walmart combat boots back on. We all return out skates to the rental window and step out into the hot Sydney sun. Michael walked to my left on the sidewalk, with Elliot to my right. If I didn't know my brother, I wouldn't see him helplessly crushing on Michael. I snort at the thought.

"We need to eat," Sheila complains, rubbing her stomach. "I'm thinking this buffet on the water front, just by Beaches Resort or whatever."

"Dylan, marry this girl! If you won't, I will!" I exclaim, throwing my arms out at her. I brake out into my best show song voice. "Hey hey, you you, i dont like your boyfriend, hey hey you you, i think you need a new one-"

"Hey hey you you, you could be my boyfriend." She giggles and shrugs. "Well, you are hotter than Dylan."

"Hey!" He exclaims, faking a hurt expression. "My ego just took a blow."

"Shots fired," Lana laughs, leaning into Ashton.

I wink at Sheila. "You know where to find me."

A/n: Song: Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne because why not. Catchy song, kinda goes along with Sheila and Kid's banter.