Warning: Blood, Mentions of abuse

I sit down at the lunch table next to Payton, Desmond, and Oakley with the tray of nachos that I bought for lunch. I try my hardest not to wince when I sit down, feeling the pain of my broken rib poking against my side. "Great to see you again Linc!" Oakley exclaims, patting me on my right shoulder. I wince as he does, a huge bruise forming on that shoulder from last night.

Payton looks at me for a minute and I look down at my nachos, picking one up and shoving it in my mouth. "You said you were alright!" she yells at me, making me flinch and people sitting at other tables look over at us. She doesn't look ashamed about all the looks her yelling got our table, looking more and then anything else.

"It's not a big deal," I mumble when I finish chewing the nacho. "His dad?" Oakley asks Payton. She nods and he clenches his hands on the table, making me flinch back before wincing in pain. I try and relax but the pain keeps getting worse so I push my tray aside so I can lay my head on the table.

I hear their voices as they talk but I can't make out what they're saying over the sound of blood pumping in my ears. I whimper as pain shoots through my back and Desmond whips his head towards me. "Fuck. Linc!" He yells, putting a hand on my back. I cry out in pain, trying to move away from him but not getting very far before the pain gets unbearable.

"What did he do?" Payton asks exasperated as Oakley pulls out his phone, most likely to call an ambulance. "I think he broke a rib," I manage to moan out making her eyes widen. Oakley groans and slams his phone down on the table. "They didn't answer! What kind of police station don't answer the phone?" He asks, running his hands through his hair.

Desmond gets up from the table and stands behind me, setting two hands lightly on my back. "I'm going to pick you up so we can get you to the hospital," he says softly. I nod at him and he wraps his arm around my waist, lifting me up and holding me bridal style. Oakley and Payton get up from the table as Desmond carries me out of the lunch room, all of us getting stares from the other people eating lunch.

I groan and bury my head into Desmond's chest, trying to ignore the blinding pain that shoots through my spine every time he takes a step. Oakley walks beside us and I slowly reach out, letting him hold my hand as Desmond carries me out the front doors of the school, despite the protests of some teachers walking by. "We can take my car," Payton says, pulling her keys out of her pocket.

Payton unlocks her car and Oakley opens the backdoor, holding me in his arms as Desmond gets in. "You're really light," he states as he hands me over to Desmond, who lets me lay my head on his lap as I stretch out across the backseat. Oakley closes the door and sits beside Payton in the passenger's seat.

She drives off, already having out her keys in the ignition while Oakley and Desmond were getting me into the car. She pulls onto the highway and then we're stick in traffic. "The one fucking day that there shouldn't be traffic!" She yells, slamming her hand on the horn repeatedly. I try and curl up, only to realize that I physically can't with the amount of pain that I'm in.

I whimper and pull at Desmond's shirt, making him look down at me. "I know it hurts, I'm sorry Linc," he says, slowly running a hand through my hair. I see Oakley dig around in his backpack from the front seat before pulling something out and yelling with glee. "Here, I have some Tylenol! It might help," he says, handing Desmond the bottle of pain pills.

"Do you happen to have a water?" Desmond asks Payton who shakes her head. "I have coffee but Linc isn't a fan of that," she says. I groan as more pain shoots through me when the light turns green and Payton speeds off. "I don't care. I'll take whatever," I manage to say. Payton points out the cup of coffee sitting in the cup holder and Oakley grabs it, shaking it.

He hands it to his boyfriend who thanks him before unscrewing the cap of the bottle of pills. "How many should I give him?" He asks Oakley. "Two," he replies, watching as his boyfriend takes out two pills and hands them to me. I pop them in my mouth and Desmond holds the coffee to my lips, letting me get a mouthful.

I swallow the pulse down and then wrinkle my nose at the horrid taste of coffee. He hands Oakley back the pills and coffee, him setting the coffee into the cup holder and the pills back in his backpack. Payton slams on the breaks and I yelp in pain as Desmond wraps his arms around me to make sure I don't go flying. "Dumbass! Learn to drive!" Payton screams at the person, shaking her fist at them.

Oakley turns around and looks at me, pointing towards Payton. "Is she always like this?" He asks, making Payton laugh beside him. "Nah, she's usually pretty chill," I mumble softly, watching as Payton's eyebrows furrow when the traffic gets heavier, making her have to slow down more.

"I've never seem her like this before," I whisper so quietly I'm not sure that anyone heard it until Desmond looks down at me with a sad look in his eyes. The car stops moving completely and I look out the opposite window, seeing hoards of cars surrounding us, none of them seeming to move. "This is the worst traffic I've ever seen," Oakley comments, rolling down his window before immediately rolling it up again with a disgusted look on his face.

I smell the car fumes that managed to get in and I cough into my hand, pulling it away to see it slick with blood. "Fuck," I mutter, wiping my hand on my shirt before anyone can see it. I cry out in pain as I cough again, this time not being able to hide the blood that comes up. "He's coughing up blood!" Desmond yells to Payton and Oakley as if they weren't sitting two feet away from him.

"He's doing what now?" Oakley asks worriedly, turning to look at me. His eyes widen as he takes in my, most likely covered in blood, face and hands. The traffic eases up a bit and Payton pulls off of the highway, pulling to a stop at a gas station. "Put in the coordinates for the hospital. I don't know how to get there if I'm not on the highway," she tells Oakley, who nods and puts the address into the GPS.

She pulls out of the gas station, getting weird looks from a person who is filling up their car, and pulls out onto the street. I cough again and more blood comes up, making Desmond's eyes widen. "Do you have a towel so I can clean him up?" He asks Payton who points at the spare towel that she always keeps under her seat in case I decide that I want to go swimming by the cave.

Desmond carefully leans down and grabs the towel from under the seat, using it to wipe up my arms and face. "I feel like such a child," I mumble as he finishes wiping my face, making him laugh softly. He sets it down near my head so that if I need to cough again, I'll cough on it.

"I'm sorry," I somehow manage to say in a somewhat normal voice, making Payton shake her head and sigh. "Linc, it's not your fault," she tells me, making my eyes sting. I sniffle and bury my head in the bloody towel, not caring that I'm probably getting blood all over my face by trying to hide it. Desmond sighs and picks the towel up again, wiping my face off with a clean part of it.

He shakes his head and smiles at me, gently rubbing his hands through my hair in a comforting motion. "If you have the urge to hide your face, next time bury your head in my shirt instead of the bloody towel," he says to me, making me chuckle softly before immediately stopping to groan in pain. Oakley looks back at me worried and then to the GPS, which is still spitting out instructions.

"Are we almost there?" Desmond asks him. Oakley shakes his head no and I groan, shifting slightly to try and make myself more comfortable. "Ten minutes away. Who the heck built it so far away?" Payton says from where she's driving in the front seat. Oakley reaches towards the radio and turns some music on, the speakers vibrating the whole car with the sound.

I whimper softly from the pain of the vibrations, which goes unheard with the loud music playing. I grip onto Desmond's shirt as the song changes and the vibrations getting bigger, making my whole spine erupt in pain. "Turn it off!" I scream loudly, startling Oakley and Payton.

Oakley fumbles with the knob for a second before turning the music off. I feel tears run down my face as my spine continues to be in pain, making me whimper. "I am so so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Oakley says from the front seat. I give him the best smile I can muster, which honestly probably isn't all that great considering the fact that I'm sobbing and in the most pain I've ever been in in my whole life.

"We're here!" Payton yells, squealing to a stop in front of the hospital doors, making a few doctors walking by look at the car curiously. Oakley jumps out of the car and lifts me up, holding me in his arms while Desmond gets out. "I'll find a place to park, take him inside!" Payton says as Desmond goes to close the door.

He nods and she drives off towards the parking lot so she can go park her car. Oakley hands me over to Desmond and he walks inside with me in his arms, the pain in my back getting worse. "Can you sign him in?" Desmond asks Oakley, who nods and walks over to the line of people waiting at a receptionist desk. 

Payton rushes into the room, her hair wild and a panicked look on her face as she runs towards me and Desmond. "There's chairs over there, let's go sit down," she points out, panting heavily. They walk over to the chairs and Desmond holds me as they sit down. I watch as Oakley gets to the front of the line, signing me into the hospital and grabbing a band from the receptionist.

He walks over to where we are sitting and takes my arm, putting the wrist band around my wrist and tying it. "They said there's a ten minute wait," he says dejectedly, sitting down in the chair next to Desmond. He looks down at me and I wipe at my face, thinking that there's still blood on it that Desmond missed when he was wiping my face off.

"Why do you go back? Why haven't you called the police?" He asks me softly. Payton looks over from where she's sitting with dad eyes and waits as I gather whatever strength have left to tell them. "The police never believed me or Payton. Even with evidence," I manage to mumble before seeing spots in my vision.
Oakley grabs my hand and softly pats it, giving me a small smile. "Linc Grover?" A nurse calls out from a double door.

Desmond stands up and we walk to the nurse, who looks at me in shock. "Well hello again," she says, shaking her head and smiling at me. Me and Payton's excuses have always been that I got hurt doing something stupid or falling. They never want to believe that my father hurt me so we stopped trying to tell them he did.

I cough and her eyes widen, finally seeing how badly I'm injured. "I need a stretcher!" She yells back into the room as my head starts to spin. I grip onto Oakley's hand, afraid that I'm going to fall out of Desmond's arms. Payton looks at me worriedly and I try to smile at her, which ends up being more of a grimace than anything.

A couple of doctors walk in with a stretcher and Desmond lays me on it, letting the doctors whisk me into the emergency room. Payton will surely make up some story about what happened, which is most likely going to be that I fell off a hill while mountain biking because we've almost always used biking as an alibi.

My ears start to ring as the doctors yell over me, talking about something that I can't even begin to make out. I grip the sides of the stretcher as I fade into unconsciousness.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
A.N./ I find it funny that I started writing this chapter and talked about nachos and then, two days after when I was finishing it, I had nachos! Oh the coincidence. Anyhow, I feel as if I always write about my characters going to the hospital, I swear it's been in every single book. As always, any feedback is much appreciated! Have an absolutely magnificent day!