For the rest of the winter break, Blake pretty much stayed at my place. The weather turned even colder and we spent most of our time inside. Neither of us felt like becoming Popsicles. Sophie surprised me by asking if she could stay with me for a few days as well. Apparently she couldn’t stand Robert anymore then Blake could. I agreed without hesitation and we all ended up having fun for the last bit of the break.

            The day came for school to start again, and none of us really wanted to go out and face the cold weather, but we did so reluctantly. The advantage to my uncle having a massive garage was that the car was at least nice and warm when we climbed into it.

            We arrived at school and hurried inside, being careful not to slip on the ice filled parking lot. I breathed a sigh of relief when we got outside. “This one part of living in Canada that I don’t like,” I stated.

            “I agree,” Sophie said. “These freezing temperatures leave me wanting to fly somewhere tropical and sit on a beach all day.”

            “Hey, that’s what we should do for March break!” I said excitedly. “We should all go somewhere warm and just bask for a few days.”

            “That is an awesome idea,” Sophie replied. “My mom was talking about going somewhere anyways.”

            “And I know that Jared, Liam and Jake would love to go as well. What do you think, Blake?”

            He shrugged. “It would be nice to go away somewhere warm. It just sucks that I won’t be able to see you in a bikini.”

            I grinned mischievously. “You can always just imagine it,” I said.

            His lips turned up into a smile. “That’s very true,” he replied distractedly.

            I tapped his arm lightly. “Not right now, you pervert. I meant when we’re there.”

            He grinned devilishly at me. “Too late, I’m already picturing it.”

            Sophie groaned. “That is definitely my cue to get out of here. I’ll see you both at lunch.”

            Blake and I both laughed as she walked away and we continued to my locker. “It is so fun making her freak out,” I said smugly.

            “It really is, and it’s so easy to do too,” Blake said.

            We reached my locker and I opened it. I was shocked when a few pieces of folded up paper fell out. “What the hell?” I muttered, bending down to scoop them up. “There are random pieces of folded paper in my locker,” I informed Blake.

            “Do they say anything?”

            “I don’t know.” I unfolded one and saw that it did indeed have something written on it. My eyes widened as I read the words. “Holy crap.”

            “What? What do they say?”

            “This one says that someone was amazed at our performance at the talent show. That they never realized you had that kind of talent. They want to know if either of us sings professionally.”

            “Seriously?”

            “Yeah.” I unfolded a couple of other papers. “They all pretty much say something along those lines.”

            “That’s… kind of creepy,” Blake said.

            I laughed as I gathered all the pieces of paper and put them on the shelf in the locker. “It is a little bit, isn’t it? But at least they’re nice notes and not nasty ones.”

            We started walking down the hall to our classroom. “That’s true. But we were pretty awesome, so it makes sense that they’re nice,” Blake said smugly.

            “You know, I’m going to have to tell Mr. Avery that he needs to make the doorways in the school bigger, because soon you won’t be able to fit your big head through them,” I chided him.

            He raised a hand and held it over his chest in mock hurt. “I was simply stating the truth,” he defended himself.

            “No, you’re being a cocky jerk, which doesn’t surprise me anymore.” We walked into our classroom and took our seats. A few of the other students looked over and smiled at us, which caught me off guard for a moment. I leaned a little closer to Blake. “People are smiling at us,” I whispered.

            He frowned a little. “Really?”

            “Yeah. It’s kind of weird.”

            “I can imagine. Just ignore them.”

            “But that’s rude!”

            “What’s your point?”

            I huffed out a breath. “You’re the rude one, not me. How am I supposed to ignore them?”

            He just shrugged. “Well, what else are you going to do? Act all friendly to everyone just because they decided we’re not that weird anymore?”

            “I guess you’re right,” I admitted reluctantly. I kissed his cheek lightly and then straightened up. “This day might turn out to be a bit more interesting then I thought it was going to be,” I mused.

            It turns out I was right. All day, I had people smiling at me and a few of them even stopped to talk to me, letting me know that they thought I had a wonderful voice. I noticed no one tried talking to me when Blake was around though, and that confused me a little at first. But then I realized it was likely because of Blake’s unpleasant attitude towards most people that kept everyone away.    

            By the time the final bell rang, I was more then happy to get out of there. I found Blake and Sophie quickly, and the three of us headed out of the school, with Blake on one side of me and Sophie on the other.

            We walked out of the school and headed towards the parking lot, shivering as the freezing wind whipped through us. I picked my way carefully over the icy ground, trying not to lose my balance.

            “Are we going to your place or mine?” Blake asked.

            “Doesn’t matter to me,” I replied. “As long as it’s somewhere warm, I’m happy. I freaking hate winter.”

            “I’m getting sick of the cold weather as well,” Sophie agreed. “Maybe we can stop and get some hot chocolates from somewhere.”

            “That’s a good-” my voice was cut off as I stepped on a particularly slippery patch of ice. My feet went out from under me and I desperately tried to regain my balance, but it was too late. I saw two hands reach for me as I slammed into the ground on my back, and excruciating pain raced through me. I struggled for breath as my vision darkened. I managed to not lose consciousness, but it was difficult.

            “Hailey, what the hell just happened?” Blake asked in a panicked voice.

            I couldn’t get enough breath to answer, and Sophie obviously realized that because she answered for me. “She slipped and landed on her back.” She dropped to her knees beside me. “Are you okay?”

            I shook my head and a moment later Blake was kneeling beside me as well. He found my face with his hands and stroked my cheeks gently. “Can you move?” I shook my head and he cursed quietly. “Is it your back?”

            I nodded and tears started trickling down my cheeks. I finally got enough breath back so that I could talk. “I can’t move my legs,” I whispered.

            Blake wiped my tears away with his thumb. “It’ll be okay Hales. Sophie, call an ambulance and then call Jared.”

            By this time, a small crowd of people had gathered around us. I closed my eyes and concentrated on just breathing properly while Blake continued to stroke my face lightly. I heard Sophie talking on the phone, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

            A few minutes later, I could hear sirens approaching. I opened my eyes again and saw that Sophie was kneeling beside me once more. I gave her a weak smile, which she returned before her eyes flickered around the crowd that was surrounding us.

            I followed her gaze and realized that there were a lot more people around me now. I watched as Mr. Avery literally pushed his way to the front and then crouched down beside me. “What happened?” he asked.

            “I slipped and fell on the ice,” I replied. “I landed on my back and now I can’t move my legs.”

            The sirens grew louder and everyone turned to watch as the ambulance came to a stop a few yards away. Two paramedics climbed out immediately and one came straight to me while the other one went into the back to get some stuff.

            What happened next was a bit of a blur. I was aware of being asked questions and I know that Blake answered most of them for me. I heard him explaining to them about my history of back problems and that they had already called my physical therapist.

            As if on cue, I heard Jared’s voice above everyone else’s. “Move the hell out of my way,” he bellowed, shoving his way through the large crowd. He reached me and knelt down beside Blake. “What happened?”

            Blake then explained everything to him and I just tuned out. I was vaguely aware of being moved onto a backboard and then being placed into the back of the ambulance. Blake came with me, saying that Jared and Sophie would meet us at the hospital.

            At that point, I could feel the edges of my vision start to darken again, and this time I willingly allowed myself to fall into unconsciousness.

            The sound of machines beeping roused me from my unconscious state. I opened my eyes and looked around the hospital room. Blake was seated beside me and he was holding one of my hands. Jake was on my other side and he was holding my other hand. Jared and Liam were standing near the end of the bed and they were talking quietly, although I don’t know what about. I had an IV in one arm and I assumed there were pretty good drugs going into my system because my back didn’t hurt that much.

            “Hey, look who decided to wake up,” Jake said.

            Everyone’s attention was immediately on me. I looked at Blake and saw that his whole body was tense, so I squeezed his hand gently before turning my attention to Jared. “What did the doctor say?” I asked.

            Jared hesitated, and that caused dread to fill me. “You’re going to have to go for more surgery, Hales. There’s a lot of swelling around your spine and they need to relieve some of the pressure or else it could do even more damage.”

            I drew in a shaky breath. “Am I going to be able to walk?”

            “They aren’t sure. It depends on just how much damage is already done. But you got through this once before. You can do it again,” Jared said firmly.

            “When will they do the surgery?” I asked.

            “Right away, now that you’re awake. You were only out for an hour, so hopefully the surgery will be able to repair all the damage.”

            I nodded and glanced around at everyone again. My eyes latched onto Blake, noticing how tense he still was. “Can I have a minute alone with Blake?”

            “Sure, we’ll go find the doctor,” Jared said, and the three of them left.

            Once they were gone, I tugged on Blake’s hand a little. “What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing.”

            I groaned. “Don’t lie to me, Blake. I know something is bothering you, so just tell me.”

            “I couldn’t do anything to help you,” he said quietly.

            I frowned. “Huh?”

            “I felt you starting to slip, but I couldn’t catch you because I couldn’t see you. If I’d been able to see, I could’ve prevented you from falling.”

            I gaped at him. “Let me get this straight. You think that if you weren’t blind, you could have turned into superman?”

            He scowled at me. “I wouldn’t have had to be superman, Hailey. Just a normal person.”

            “Oh really? So, Sophie isn’t normal then?”

            “What are you talking about?”

            “Sophie was right beside me as well. I saw her, as well as you try to reach for me to save me, but she wasn’t fast enough. It happened really quickly, although it didn’t feel like that at the time. So, unless you suddenly turned into superman, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help me.”

            “I’m your boyfriend, Hailey. It’s my job to protect you.”

            “No, it’s your job to love me and be there for me, which you were. You kept me calm and answered the questions when I couldn’t. You thought to call Jared, which I didn’t even think of. You immediately knew that it was my back that was preventing me from moving. No one else would have known that.”

            Blake was silent for a moment as he thought that over. “I guess that’s true,” he said grudgingly.

            I closed my eyes and blew out a breath. “I can’t fight with you right now, Blake. I’m trying to stay calm about the fact that I might not be able walk again and I need you to keep being there for me.”

            He stood up and used the hand that wasn’t holding mine to cup my cheek. “You will walk again, Hailey. You’re too damn stubborn not to.”

            I smiled a little and leaned my face into his hand. “Will you sit up here with me until they come to take me for surgery?” I asked quietly.

            He nodded and cautiously climbed onto the bed, being careful not to hurt me. Once he was beside me, he slipped an arm around my shoulders. “How does your back feel right now?”

            “It’s sore, but I think the drugs they have going into me are keeping it from being too bad. What worries me is that I can’t feel my legs.”

            He leaned his head on mine. “That’s probably because of the pressure on your spine right now.” He paused for a moment. “You do realize that everyone at school is going to know about your back now, right?” he asked quietly.

            I sighed and leaned into him a bit more. “I didn’t even think about that, but you’re right.” I rubbed my face with one hand. “Oh well, I always figured that people would learn about it eventually. Hopefully by the time I get back to school everyone will have forgotten about it.” 

            The doctor came into the room, followed by Jake, Jared and Liam. Blake climbed off the bed, but remained standing beside me as the doctor explained the surgery to me. A few minutes later, a couple of nurses came in and started getting me ready to go. When they were ready to wheel me out, everyone moved out of the way except for Blake. He held my hand as they pushed the bed out of the room and into the hallway.

            When he wasn’t allowed to go any further, he bent to brush a light kiss over my lips. “I’ll be waiting when you come out.”

            I squeezed his hand tightly. “I could still go for that hot chocolate when I get out,” I informed him.

            He smiled slightly. “Sophie is down in the cafeteria now, so I’ll get her to bring some up, as long as you’re allowed to have one after, okay?”

            I nodded and reluctantly released his hand. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

            He gave me another gentle kiss and then took a cautious step back. Jared appeared beside him and smiled at me. “We’ll see you shortly Hailey.”

            I gave him a tiny smile and then the nurses started pushing my bed forward again, making me lose sight of them. I closed my eyes and let the fear that I had been hiding from them finally wash over me. How was I going to do this again?

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To all my fellow country music lovers, I need your help. I need a song that is about strength or something like that. It needs to be country, because all the other songs in this story are as well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :-).

Comment as always to let me know what you think.