Not The Same Girl

Chapter 39

I stayed in the hospital another week. Jake was there everyday, only going home to shower and sleep, he'd bring his laptop and works on it throughout the day while I watched movies or slept since the pain medication kept me sleepy. Mark and Maury stopped by every night after work and the four of us would have dinner before they went home. The guys and the girls came everyday after school before leaving to their homes and Jackson brought Bella in twice to visit. My back was healing nicely but it'll still hurt for a while, I had to bath in a small amount of water so I wouldn't wet my bandages, and the next few times Veronica changed them didn't hurt as bad but it still wasn't pleasant at all and I asked her to show Jo how to do it for when I go home. I was sitting on my hospital bed dressed in sweatpants and one of Jakes hoodies with my converse on my feet as I waited for Mark to sign the discharge papers while Jake packed the few belongings I had here. When Mark returned the doctor followed him in pushing a wheelchair. "Okay, so you need your bandages on your back changed every third day and you'll have to come back in a week to get the stitches in your hand removed. Don't wet the bandages and don't over do it cause you'll opened the cuts on your back and then they'll start bleeding again okay?" "Yes, doctor." He sends me a small smile before Jake and Mark help me into the wheelchair when I am seated he speaks again. "You are the toughest young lady I have ever met Raylan, and I wish nothing but the best for you forward." "Thank you, doctor." I state with a small smile before Jake wheeled me out.

The next few weeks I was stuck at home, Jo brought me my homework everyday since I was missing so much school, but I was set to go back on Monday, and she changed my bandages every third day, I had my stitches removed from my hand which still felt weird if I clench my fist to tight but I guess that's what happens when a psycho stabs a knife through it. Jake was amazing and he spent most nights at my house, but the first few nights I realised he didn't sleep, later he admitted he was scared of hurting me since he was a huge cuddle but we solved that when he gently pulled me onto his chest one night and we fell asleep like that, waking up the next morning in the exact same position. I've also been eating well, so the weight I lost throughout the last few months were steadily building back up again. It was Friday afternoon now, and Jo and I were sitting in my living room watching Harry Potter while Mark worked in his office, I sent Jo an confused look when the doorbell rang, since most of our friends just walked in since everyone has been spending so much time here. When I reached the front door, my blood ran cold as I looked through the peephole, seeing Noah's mom and dad standing on my porch. "Go get my dad please." I state and Jo nods rushing up the stairs as I opened the front door. "Mr and Mrs. Kingston." I nod politely as I hear Mark come down stairs. "What the fuck do you want?" He states glaring at the man standing in front of him. "Just a moment of your time, and then we'll leave. I promise." Mrs. Kingston states softly. I stare at her for a few moments before opening the door and allowing them inside, Mark and I lead them in to the living room with Jo following behind looking extremely confused as we all sat down. "I wanted to apologise." Mr. Kingston starts shocking the life out of me. "Excuse me?" I ask as I stare at the man sitting on my couch dressed in his expensive suit with his wife looking small and sad next to him. "When the trial began the first time, I had a hard time facing that my son was capable of doing all of those things to you. As a parent you always try to protect your child and help them as much as you can. I thought sending him to therapy and rehab would help, I didn't want to admit that my son was responsible of hurting another person the way he hurt you. So I fought with everything I had to get him off, which I now realise was a big mistake. I am partly to blame for the hurt he has caused you once again, I should've left him, have him serve the full time, more than the five years he got. But at the time I couldn't see the darkness he carried within, and in the process he died. Now my wife and I will never blame you for what you did, because the things he did to you was completely unforgivable, but my heart is heavy and he was still my son. We came here today, to offer our apologies, and I know it might never seem enough for you, but from the bottom of out hearts we are truly sorry for all the wrong our son did upon you and all the heartache he brought upon your family, time and again because I was too blind to accept my son's faults." The man states with such a broken expression on his face that I felt my eyes well up with tears before I offered him a soft smile. "Thank you, truly it means a lot." He nods his head before standing up and helping his wife to her feet as Mark and I stand up as well. "We appreciate you giving us a moment of your time. You are a beautiful young lady, Raylan and from what I heard an incredibly strong one as well. I hope life treats you well." He states as we walk them to the front door and I softly shake their hands. "Thank you Mr. Kingston, it means a lot." He nods before shaking Mark's hand. "Although I feel no remorse for your son's life ending the way it did, my condolences go out to you who lost a child, I cannot begin the fathom what that must be like." Mr. Kingston nods slowly at Marks words wrapping an arm around his wife's waist. "Thank you." And then they walk out the door leaving me Mark and Jo as confused as we've ever been. "I'm willing to bet money that he was the man who anonymously paid for all your hospital bills." Jo speaks up after a while as I nod. "Yeah, I think your right." "That was a lot." Mark states letting out a slow breath. "I'll be done for dinner." And then he walks up the stairs again. "What time is Jake coming?" Jo asks as we sit down again. "He said 6pm since he had a late meeting." "Well it's five now, we should go change your bandages." She states standing up offering me a hand which I take as we make our way up stairs and to my bedroom. I pull off my shirt before laying down on my bed as Jo grabs all she needs before making her way over to me. "You know you're going to have to let him see your back sooner or later." She states gently as she removes the old bandages. "I know, I just want it to heal a bit more first." "It already looks a lot better." I suck in a breath through my teeth as she starts cleaning the cuts as I clench my fists. "I don't know Jo, I just don't want to be gross in his eyes." "Oh honey, you'll know he'll never think of you as gross." "Yeah but at the moment that's how I think of it." She sighs softly as she starts placing new bandages on my back. "Thank you, for helping me every time. Mark nearly passed out last time, so Landon had to do it, but I appreciate you helping me." "No problem Ray, it's kind of fascinating how it heals every time I remove the old bandages. When is your check up?" I laugh softly as she hands me my shirt and after slowly sitting up I slip it over my head. "Tuesday after school." "Are you excited for going back to school?" "A little yeah." I state with a small smile as I help her clean up the old bandages. "You want me to come with you to the doctor Tuesday or is Mark going?" "He can't make it, I was planning on asking you." She sends me a big smile before we make our way downstairs. "Can you drive yet?" I shrug my shoulders slightly as we sit on the couch again. "I don't know Mark said I had to ask Dr. Hudson Tuesday before he gives me my keys." I state rolling my eyes slightly as she laughs. When Mark comes back down stairs he looks between me and Jo for a moment which brings a frown to my face. "Is everything okay?" "Ray, would you consider Jo your best friend?" He asks randomly causing me to laugh softly. "Yeah, why?" He nods with a thoughtful look on his face. "Go get dressed, both of you." "For what?" "Because I'm asking nicely." "That wasn't asking." "Please go get dressed, you need to be ready by 7pm." "Are we dressing nice or really nice?" I ask raising an eyebrow and he thinks about it a moment. "In between." I laugh softly as I turn to look at Jo and she just shrugs before we stand up and once again make our way to my room. "What do you think all of that was about?" She asks as we pull open my closet. "I don't know." I laugh softly as we start going through my clothes. "In between nice and really nice?" "A semi formal dress?" She asks and I nod as we starts going through the dresses in my closet. "How about this?" I ask as I pull out a pale yellow short T-shirt dress and she nods in agreement. "Yeah that's really pretty and it won't be tight around your back, do you still have some of those stick on bra's? So there isn't a strap on you back." "Yeah I think I still have some in my bathroom." "This?" She asks pulling out a dark blue skater dress with a small silver belt across the waist. "Yeah, that's going to look amazing on your skin." She laughs before pulling it out of my closet. "You have like a little boutique here." She laughs softly as I nod. "Yeah, my mom always said you can never have enough clothes and Jenny buys me a lot of clothes." I laugh softly. "I think a pair or Ella's heels are still around here you guys are the same size right?" "Yeah." After finding the black heels I hand them to Jo as I pull out a pair of strappy gold heels for myself. After we get dressed, Jo offered to do my hair and I sent her a grateful smile since I can't hold my hands up for so long. She pinned the top half of my hair up into a braided bun and left the rest of my hair hanging down my back, I covered a few of the bruises that was still visible on my face before applying a layer of mascara and eyeliner, I also coated my eyelids in a soft goldish shimmer before spraying on some perfume and turning to Jo. She had her curly brow hair up in a pretty bun while she made her hazel eyes pop with eyeliner and mascara and a soft nude colour coated her lips. I went to my selection of small clutches and took a tiny sparkly gold one that only fit my phone, lip-gloss and wallet before offering a suede black one to Jo which she took before placing her phone inside before I clasped the small gold chain with a sunflower pendant around my neck with the small charm bracelet Jake gave me still around mg wrist. "Ray?" I heard Mark yell from downstairs. "Coming." I yelled back as Jo slipped on one of my black leather jackets and I took a light blue denim one for myself before we made our way downstairs. "Where's Jake?" I ask as we approach Mark who was standing near the front door, dressed in black slacks and a navy bottom up shirt with his nice black shoes. "He's meeting us there." He states with a smile. "You girls look lovely, but we have to go." He states opening the front door and leading us out. Mark opened the back door as well as the passenger door of Lucy before helping my into the car as Jo climbed in and closed her door. "Where are we going?" "You'll know soon enough." He states making me frown I turn to Jo but she just shrugs her shoulder looking as confused as I felt. "Really? All this secrecy for The Ring?" I ask as we pull into the second warehouse while Gerry and Ivan opens our doors, and helping us to our feet. "Where are we?" Jo asks looking around as we follow Mark. "Brandon's job." I state with a grin causing her eyes to go wide. Her and Brandon have still not figured out what the fuck is going on between them much to my amusement. "At least we look nice." I laugh softly as she scowls at me pulling at the jacket around her body. When we walk into the kitchen I was met with a lot of hello's and welcome back's which made me smile as I grinned up at Jackson before wrapping my arms around his waist. He softly placed his hands on my back but didn't squeeze. "It's good to see you here again." He grins as I release him as he shakes Mark's hand before saying hello to Jo. "It's good to be back." I state with a small smile as we start making our way to the main room. "Oh my god." Jo states grabbing my hand as we come faced with a huge ring where two men were beating the shit out of each other while people were cheering them on. "Yeah." I state as Jackson leads us over to the stairs with Mark following behind us. "This is insane." I laugh softly at her shocked expression nodding my head. "Yeah." I answer as we walk up the stairs after saying hello to Thomas. When we reached the second floor all the men yelled surprise shocking the life out of me as Mark laughed, all of the Big Boys were there along with Brandon, Keith, Charlie and Jake. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked at the banner reading welcome back as they all smiled brightly at me, there was a table decorated with food and snacks and I knew these bartenders will be working overtime tonight. Maury was the first to reach me as he placed a soft kiss on my head before lacing my arm through his and leading me to everyone else. "Good to have you back on your feet little Ray." I send Collin a wink as I accept the beer Morgan handed me. "I'm glad to be back old man." I send him a wink. "Well, gentlemen, and pretty lady, let us cheers to the beautiful, brave Ray, that once again made her way back to us regardless of the hurt and hell that little shit caused. Princess we are all so incredibly proud of you, and we are so glad to see you back among us. Let us put the past behind us as we walk into this next year with our minds at rest, and our little Ray safe and healthy as she continues to bring smiles to all of our faces. We love you so much Princess." "To Ray." Everyone chorus as we clink our glasses together, I had a few tears spilling down my cheeks as I wrapped my arms around Maury while he cupped the back of my neck. "Thank you." I state softly as the rest of them send me a smile. "Let's drink!" Collin announced as everyone cheered making me laugh as Maury lets me go before I moved into Mark's arms. "Thank you." I state softy as he places a soft hand against my back. "My pleasure sweetie." Before he lets me go. "Come on." I mutter to Jo taking her hand and leading her to Brandon and the rest, she lets out a soft groan but follows with me. "Were you surprised?" Charlie asks excitedly as he takes my hand in his and squeezes it softly. "Yeah, I was." I laugh softly before moving to Keith who softly wraps his arms around me. "Why are you allowed to hug her but I'm not?" Charlie exclaims with his arms still around Jo who laughs before she shoves him away. "Because you don't know what the word gentle means." Keith answers before be lets me go and allows Brandon to pull me into a soft hug. "Oh bullshit, even the brute gets to hug her!" He exclaims as Keith smacks him against his head making me wince softly as I laugh. "You guys are dicks." Charlie states with an eyeroll as I move to Jake who smiles gently down at me. "Hi." I state softly. "Hi baby." He grins down at me before bending down and wrapping his arms around my bum and lifting me up against his chest, in the tightest gentlest hug making me laugh. "Well that's one way of doing it." I laugh as I place a kiss on his lips resting my hands on his shoulder. He lightly shrugs his shoulders sending me a bright smile. "You look lovely." I blush slightly as he places me back on my feet. "Thank you." I state softly as he gently helps me out of my jacket. "Are you guys hungry?" Jake asks looking at me and Jo as we nod our heads. "Yeah, we were waiting for you I thought we were going out for dinner." I state as we make our way over to the food table with Keith following behind. "Mac and cheese?" I nod sending him a grin with a soft laugh as he fixes me a plate while Keith, who's always the gentleman , fixes one for Jo. When we get our food we made our way to the couches against the railing where Brandon and Charlie were already sitting commenting on the fight. "I thought you were joining the tournament?" I ask as I take a seat next to Brandon while Jake sits next to me. "Eh, I was a bit preoccupied." He states softly making me feel a bit guilty. "I'm sorry." He laughs softly. "You have nothing to be sorry for little one." He states sending me a grin which I return with a soft smile as I start eating my food.