When I saw her coming down the bleachers my heart soared. Yes! She was going to accept my confession and then we could date. When she was walking down I saw her wince. Wait a second, is she in pain? When did she get injured?

Before I could process what was happening Athena passed out just before she reached the floor. Her head smacked against the hardwood floor of the gym as I took off towards her.

NO! What is happening? She was fine yesterday afternoon when we went out to eat. What could've happened in between now and then?

"Athena? Athena! Wake up." I exclaimed as I shook her shoulders. "Don't just stand there call 911!" I screamed at no one in particular. Everyone in the crowd was just standing there watching, not even helping her. Some people even had the audacity to take their phones out and film everything.

These people can go die in a hole. they are not being helpful. I grabbed my phone out of my backpack and dialed 911.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Yes I'm at Oakview High right now and my friend has just fainted. I need an ambulance right now!"

"Okay, just calm down an ambulance is on their way. Can you tell me what happened?" the operator asked.

"She was walking down the bleachers when I saw her wince in pain and touch her ribs for a split second and then she fainted and hit her head on the floor before I could catch her," I said. My voice was shaky and it was getting harder to talk. I was on the verge of tears.

I couldn't lose Athena. Not her too. I needed her. She is my first love and one of my best friends and if she dies I don't know what I would do. She makes me smile like no one else. Athena brings out the best in me. She can't die. Not before we get the chance to be together.

Via was next to me on the phone with Athena's father telling him what happened. She hung up and slid her phone in the back of her jeans.

"Is she okay?" Via asked.

"I don't know," I whispered, "I don't know."

The paramedics arrived a couple minutes later and had to physically push through the crowd to get to us. These people are all idiots that are going to accidentally kill someone one day. They would rather film a car crash or some other disaster on their phones than help the people who are in trouble.

One of the paramedics even yelled at some people who still refused to get out of the way.

When they finally reached us they loaded Athena up on a stretcher and wheeled her out of the gym. Via and I followed close behind, not wanting to lose sight of Athena.

---

I was speeding the whole way to the hospital. It's a wonder that I didn't get pulled over by the cops. i ran inside with Via right on my heels.

"Excuse me," I asked the nurse sitting at the front desk, "do you know what room number Athena Jennings is in?" I asked.

She grabbed a chart of some sort and flipped through a couple pages before she gave us an answer. "She's in surgery right now. She won't have a room number until she gets out. You can wait in the waiting room while she's in the operating room."

I thanked her and walked over to a bench right outside the waiting room. I didn't feel like going in there and seeing all those miserable people. It was so depressing, especially when the doctors went in there in to inform somebody's family that they didn't make it.

I didn't want to think like that. I had to have faith that Athena will be fine. She has to be.

I could tell Via was shaken up to. Her mascara was dripping down her face because she was crying. I was on the verge of tears too. For the most part I never cry. The only times I can remember crying was when my mother died and when I got Via's letter after I arrived in France.

Athena's father showed up just then and asked us how she was doing. I told him that she was in surgery and that we didn't know when she was going to be out. He sat down on my left and put his head between his knees and sighed loudly. I could hear him crying and it was breaking my heart. It reminded me of when my mother died.

Of how my own father broke down at the sight of her body. Of how he secretly cries every year on her death anniversary.

I couldn't take it so I went to find a vending machine. I only had 5 bucks on me because I was still in my basketball uniform. I didn't have time to change. I came straight to the hospital. I put in the bill and pressed 'B2' for a bag of original Lays.

The machine spit out the snack and my change. A hand reached into the vending machine and took the chips before I could. "You're an athlete. How can you eat shit like this?" Via asked. She opened the bag of chips and popped one into her mouth.

"I can eat whatever I want."

Via was leaning against the vending machine looking at me. "How are you doing? Tell me the truth. Don't give me some bullshit lie," she said sternly.

"Honestly, not good. How would you feel if you saw someone you love pass out in front of you? I'm scared that I'll never see her again. I'm scared that we'll never get to have another dumb conversation again. I'm scared. Did you know she was injured?" I asked Via.

Those two are so close it's kinda scary. They act more like twins than Via and I do. They talk at the same time and always seem to know what the other one is thinking.

"No I didn't know. Although, a couple days ago she came home from school and had a bruise on her face. She told me she wasn't injured any where else and I believed her. God, this is all my fault! If only I had pestered her more or checked her for any more injuries we wouldn't be in this situation at all."

She crumpled to the ground in a pile and sobs racked her body.

I put my hand on her shoulder and rubbed circles.

I didn't know how to comfort her so the best thing I could do was just be there for her.

---

"Excuse me where's Athena Jennings family?" a doctor asked.

My head snapped in the direction of the doctors voice. We all ran over to where he was standing.

His name tag read 'Dr. Kim'.

"It appears Athena had a fractured rib cause by excessive force to that area. There was also a hairline fracture of that same rib from a couple years ago it looks like that never healed properly. Since it never healed properly, it made it easier for it to fracture this time. When she fell to the floor and hit her head, it gave her a concussion."

"In addition to the concussion, the fall also knocked a very small piece of rib, about the size of half a finger nail, into her lung and punctured a hole. We were able to repair all the damage but we don't know when she will wake up. She is unconscious because of the pain. It could be in a couple of hours, it could be a couple of days."

"We need to keep her here and monitor her to make sure nothing else goes wrong. She will be in room 1006. You can visit her now, but be careful. She is very fragile right now."

We thanked the doctor and rushed up to her room.

The sight of Athena lying in the hospital bed was almost too much. It brought back memories of when my mother died. I knew they weren't the same person but still I was scared.

I pulled up a chair next to her and held her hand. Her hand was ice cold. I rubbed my hands together over hers in an attempt to warm it up. Her eyes were shut and her mouth closed. Athena looked so peaceful lying there.

Her eyes looked like they were moving beneath her eyelids, almost as if she was dreaming. Suddenly, a though popped into my head.

"Mr. Jennings, the doctor mentioned that she had a small hairline fracture from a couple of years ago. Do you know what that could've been from?" I asked.

Her dad thought for a second before answering me. "I don't know where it could've- Oh! I know where she must've got it from!" he exclaimed suddenly. Via's eyes went wide like she suddenly realized where it must've come from. She tried to send Athena's father a warning look to tell him to stop talking but he didn't get the message.

"It must've been from the car crash her and her brother were in 4 years ago." WHAT? I didn't know she was in a car crash.

Oh wait, she told me she was in one a couple of weeks ago. Why didn't she tell me her brother was also in the crash?

"I don't know how the doctors didn't catch it. It's their job to fix the things like that. She went through so much after the crash, how come she didn't tell us she was in any pain? I understand she was in pain because of her brother but she should've told us if she was in physical pain."

Why would she be in pain because of her brother? I was getting more confused.

"What happened to her brother?" I asked. Via continued to send warning glares to Athena's father but he still didn't see them. Why doesn't she want me to know what happened to him? I have a right to know. Plus, she can't keep it a secret forever.

"In the crash, her brother's car rammed into another car killing a mother of two. Her brother and the mother both died on impact. Everyone blamed her brother. They said that he was drunk and deserved to die. We got the autopsy report back and it said that he didn't have any alcohol or drugs in his system but people are ignorant."

"The people wanted someone to blame and that person just happened to be her brother. It didn't matter what the report said they were never going to believe us anyways. After he died Athena retreated into her shell and didn't come out for a long time. Eventually, after a lot of help from your sister, she started to become the person she was before the accident. It took a long time and sometimes she still gets depressed when she thinks about her brother."

How did I not know any of this?

"It didn't help that a couple months after the crash her mother left us. She sent me divorce papers and never looked back. It broke both our hearts all over again. She hasn't seen her mother in years. Only once about 2 months ago, but that didn't go well." Her dad was rambling but I was eating it all up.

All of this was new information to me, accept for the part about Athena's mother leaving them.

I can't believe she went through all that at such a young age.

---

The next couple days were all a blur. I spent them sitting next to Athena, holding her hand, and talking to her about how much I missed her or random memories I had of her when we were younger.

I didn't go to school on Monday. Instead I stayed at the hospital. Via went to school for part of the day so she could get both our homework. When she came back to the hospital she told me that people at school kept saying how sad it was and there was even a bunch of flowers and stuffed animals in front of her locker.

That's bullshit if you ask me. None of those people even know her. Why should they feel sad? I know that Via and I were her only true friends at the school. She was invisible. Most of the people at the school didn't even know who she was until Friday.

They are acting like she is dead, which she's not. I swear if I hear one person at school say how much they miss her I'm going to punch them into tomorrow. Nobody should be saying that except for her family and me.

The story had also spread to the news somehow. There was even a video on the internet that was spreading like wildfire.

Apparently the person told some news reporter that they started recording when I was talking and then caught it on film when she fainted because they wanted to see her reaction. The person was crying and everything as they were interviewed.

That person was saying things like 'I'm really good friends with her', 'We have so many memories together', and 'I miss her so much. I hope she is okay.' I swear people will do anything for their fifteen minutes of fame.

It pissed me off so much. How could people take advantage of this situation? It's not right.

Via and my father went to buy coffee for all of us and I volunteered to stay back and keep an eye on Athena.

She was still unconscious and the doctors still didn't know when she was going to wake up. They did tell us that her injuries were getting better slowly. Dr. Kim told us that after she woke up she would need to stay in the hospital for at least another week to make sure everything was healing properly.

I got up and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a complete disaster and I had a little stubble growing along my jaw. My clothes were wrinkled from sleeping them for 3 days. I was starting to stink too.

My mind was too preoccupied with Athena to even think about my physical appearance.

I walked out of the bathroom and sat down next to Athena. The chair I was using was starting to get a permanent dent in the cushion from my butt. I've been sitting in it for so long.

"MOM!"

-----

Who screamed Mom? When will Athena wake up? What will happen once she wakes up?

Sorry if the grief/ pain in this chapter doesn't feel real. I've never experienced any grief on the level that Leo, Via, Athena, and the fathers have.

I'm drawing my inspiration from what I've seen in TV shows and read in other books. If you have any tips on how to improve the emotional scenes in this book I would appreciate it if you shared them with me.

Don't forget to vote and comment!