At War with the Bad Boy

Where's Mum?

Georgia's POV

After bumping into Noah, I dropped my bag and he tripped over it, as I went to pick it up I saw his phone on the floor next to it. Picking it up to give it to him, he snatched the phone from me and put it in his pocket, he reached out and grabbed hold of my wrists. 

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Was one day of slip ups not enough for you?" He shouted at me.

"Noah.....sorry.......accident," I managed to splutter.

"Just get lost. You need to start looking where you're going," He screamed.

"Noah.....you're.....hurting....me," I cried, tears in my eyes.

He let go of my wrists and I ran off down the hall. "What is with him?" I thought to myself. Walking into the toilet to freshen myself up, I overhead two girls talking in one of the cubicles. I heard Noah's name so I tried to keep quiet so I could listen to their conversation.

"He's not happy I lied to him," Said an upset voice. 

"I'm sure he'll come round, I've always said that I think you're his one," Another girl spoke.

"You didn't see him yesterday. He was so angry!" She cried harder, "He hurt me!"

"C'mon, lets get you freshened up. Lets not show him that he's got to you. You know how he hates people crying. It puts him off," The other voice said. I heard the door lock slide. I quickly put my things in my bag and walked out of the toilets before they found out I heard them talking.

It made me wonder what had happened. Was she Noah's girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? Or did they just have an argument? If I were her I'd stay away from him. He's bad news. He's already hurt me physically and emotionally and he's only known me 2 days! Imagine if I was his girlfriend? What would he be capable of then?

I saw Rachel outside the Biology classroom door and told her what I overheard in the toilet.

"This girl was crying over Noah!" I exclaimed, "Why? He's a total d**k!" 

"That's Kirsty," She told me, "She's his girlfriend, or was."

We walked into the classroom for Biology, I walked towards the back and sat down in the corner desk out of the way from all eyes. I hate eyes on me. Watching me. Thinking all sorts while doing so. I get my things out from my bag ready to start the lesson. The teacher hadn't arrived yet so everyone was chatting to one and other. I turn to my left and who should be sitting there, but Noah. He was sitting sideways in his chair with his head in his hand just staring. This felt very uncomfortable, I moved around in my chair trying to distract myself from him, but it didn't work.

"Really?" I said to him defeatedly.

"Go on any more trips today slippy?" He jokes. "Do I get an apology for this morning, you could have broken my phone!" He says sternly.

"Yeah, sure, sorry," I mumble solemnly.

"You could say it with meaning, I think you need lessons in walking!" I could tell he was becoming angry by the tone in his voice. Was what happened really that bad to get so angry about? 

"By the way, my name is Georgia, not slippy, stop being so damn rude!" I was getting annoyed with this guy.

He just laughed and said, "I know, but I prefer slippy, it suits you better."

I roll my eyes at him just as the teacher walks in. He announces we'll be doing a practical activity in pairs. 

"I will put all of your names into a bowl and pull out 2 names at a time. They will be the partners," He says and I heard the whole class groan.

First name out was Amy followed by Paul. Next was George and Fred. A couple of minutes later he pulls out Jack and Rachel and then he pulls out Noah's name. I was really hoping for it not to be me. I don't think I could put up with him for a full hour.

"Noah and...... Georgia," I groaned loudly, folded my arms on the desk and lowered my head to rest on them. Noah laughed. I bet he's loving this, getting to torture me some more, and I don't have a choice in the matter, I just have to let him.

The teacher handed Noah a pig's heart. "This is gross," I thought. I didn't even want the free pizza vouchers. The next thing, Noah gets up from his chair and drops the heart on the desk in front of me and I close my eyes and screw up my face and shout, "EWWW!" All the slimy heart juices splashed up and sprayed all over my face! I could kill him right now. I gave him a nasty look, then pulled some wet wipes out of my bag. Luckily I put some in this morning.

"YOU ARE SUCH AN ASS!" I screeched, making heads turn to look at us. He just laughed hysterically. I didn't speak to him for the whole lesson, but I did send over some evil looks his way every now and then just to show him how disgusted I was with him. Especially every time I heard him let out a slight laugh. As soon as I heard the end of lesson bell, I threw my books and pens in my bag and rushed out the door before Noah could say anything. 

Needing the toilet desperately, I dived inside a cubicle and locked the door behind me, then I freshened myself up a little and walked to my next class. As I was walking down the corridor I could hear shouting, it was getting louder so I knew I was getting close. I saw a few boys surrounded by a crowd of nosey students. I carried on walking, trying to avoid the commotion, but just like any other student there, I was curious. As I walked past I kept looking over to see if I could see what was going on and saw Noah push some big guy. "I should have known," I said to myself. 

As I passed the group I heard Noah shout, "Go find somewhere else to take your s****l frustration out on! Kirsty not give into your advances!"

I was beginning to understand the reason behind the girl crying in the toilet cubicle. Not stopping I continued on to next lesson, but then I heard my phone ring. I couldn't get it out of my pocket quick enough, I was so worried I still hadn't heard anything from Mum. I hoped it was her calling.

"Hello! Mum? Is that you?" I say answering the call.

"Is that Georgia Taylor?" The man on the phone asked me.

"Uh....yes," I replied hesitantly. My stomach had dropped. "Who is this?"

"This is Doctor Goodwin from St Francis Hospital. Your Mother Marie was brought in to the ER in the early hours of this morning. Your Mum has been in a road traffic accident and I think it would be best if you came."

I began to cry, "I'll be there straight away" I say, "Is she alright?

At that moment, someone bashed hard into my arm and knocked the phone from my hand. I managed to catch hold of it before it dropped to the floor. I put the phone straight back to my ear and looked around to see who walked into me. Was it by accident or on purpose? Then I spotted Noah. Of course it was Noah. I only caught the end of what the doctor was saying about my Mum.

"When you come in we can explain it all to you a bit better. We'll see you soon." He said

"Oh ok, bye," I say and ran out of the school, through the car park, and grabbed a taxi to the hospital. I probably could have run there, it would have taken around 10 minutes but this way I could get there quicker. I threw money at the taxi driver when I arrived at the hospital and ran to the reception desk in the ER department.

Before the receptionist could speak, I breathlessly but quickly say, "Marie Taylor please! I need to see her! She was brought in this morning!"

"Take a seat and I'll let the doctor know you're here," She told me.

It felt like hours for the doctor to come. "Georgia Taylor!" The doctor called from the doorway.

I stood up quickly and felt slightly faint, "That's me!" I shout.

"Come with me, I'm Dr Goodwin. We spoke on the phone" He said.

We walked in silence through the ER and led me to a cubicle with the curtains drawn around it. He pulled back one of the curtains slightly so we could walk in and closed them behind us. Mum was laying on the bed, it looked like she was sleeping. At least I hoped she was sleeping. Please don't let her be dead. I started to cry.

"Is she alive?" I sob.

"Yes, she's been sedated at the moment and has been given some morphine. She hasn't long come out of surgery. As I said on the phone, she ruptured her spleen in the crash and needed surgery to fix the damage caused by the impact. She also has 2 broken legs and a dislocated shoulder. We're keeping her sedated for a while to help with the swelling she has on her brain. She will be moved to intensive care shortly." Dr Goodwin said giving me a sad sort of smile.

"Is she going to die?" I cried.

"At the moment she is stable and it all looks promising, but it all depends on the swelling on her brain. The operation on her spleen went well, so we'll slowly start bringing her round once we see signs of improvement," Said the Doctor.

"Can I stay with her?" I asked sadly, tears filling my eyes.

"Of course. And if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask," He said, and then left.

I sat in the chair that was placed next to Mum's hospital bed and held her hand. She looked so broken. Her legs were both in casts, her arm was in a sling and her swollen face was black and blue from all the bruising. I put my forehead on her chest and sobbed. I must have sobbed for hours. I heard the curtains being drawn and a nurse walked in.

"We've got a bed ready in ICU, so we'll be moving her up there shortly," She said to me.

"OK. Thank you," I say while still crying. 

I just can't believe this is happening. My brother was away in University. I was wondering if he had been contacted. Does he know? I got out my phone and tried calling him, but no answer. I tried to phone him every 2 minutes until the porter came to move Mum to ICU. Still no answer. I decided to text him to tell him to ring me ASAP. The porter rolled Mum's bed into the lift and we went up to level 4. ICU. They set Mum up in the corner of the room next to the window. The view was beautiful. You could almost see our house, which was actually quite reassuring for me. Now she was settled in a more permanent room, I went to the café to grab some coffee. I don't usually drink coffee but I felt I needed the caffeine. As I was paying, my phone rang.

"Hi Dan," I say with a sad tone.

"What's going on, I've got so many missed calls from you. Is everything alright?"

"Not really Dan, it's Mum. She's been in a car accident and she's in a bad way. You need to come to St Francis' now!" I demand and he hung up.

"Dan....... Dan...... You there?..... Dan?" Then the phone went dead. I assumed he was on his way.

Dreading going back to Mum's bedside to see her beautiful face all messed up like that, I walked slowly back down the corridor. I didn't know how long it would take for Dan to get here, but I hoped it wouldn't be too long, I didn't want to have to deal with all this uncertainty by myself. He was older than me, he'd know what to do, say, ask. I was only 18, turning 19 in a few weeks. I walked through the doorway of Mum's room and notice a few doctors there.

I ran up to them, scared, "Is everything ok?

"All is fine Miss Taylor, we're just doing our hourly checks," They answered calmly.

I nodded at them and they left, so I sat in the chair and pulled out my phone. "Where's Dan?" I thought out loud. While on my phone I decided to message Rachel and Hannah to tell them where I was and that I wouldn't be in school for the rest of the week. I asked them to tell my class teacher's in private as I didn't want everyone knowing and feeling sorry for me. They messaged back asking if I was ok and if I needed anything to let them know. It was lovely having friends. Proper friends. At least I think I do. They seem like real friends and I hope our friendship lasts. 

Somehow I managed to fall asleep. No idea how with everything that was going on, but I did and when I awoke Dan was there. He had a scared look on his face and his eyes were filled with tears. I got up from my chair and hugged him. For about 5 minutes we both cried together. 

"How long have you been here?" I asked him.

"Maybe 10 minutes," He said, "I didn't want to wake you up back into this nightmare."

So I told him everything the doctor had told me and we just sat there in silence for a while. I looked at the time, it was now 6pm. The doctors came and went with no new updates. Dan got up and said he was popping to the shop to get us some magazines to read while we were waiting for some news. Getting up to stretch my legs and my back from being in that chair for so long a doctor walked in. Dan wasn't back yet so I asked if he could wait until he got back so he could hear what he had to say, so he said he'd come back in 10 minutes.

Ten minutes later Dan was back and the doctor returned. We were both hesitant about what he was going to say.

"Good news," He started, "Your Mum is showing some good signs, we're hoping she will keep going this way and in a few days we can bring her round from the sedation and wake her up."

Both Dan and I let out a deep breath that we didn't realise we'd been holding while he was talking. We both thanked the doctor and he told us to go home, get some rest and come back tomorrow and if there's any update they would let us know, but we decided to stay a little while longer. Around 11pm, we each gave Mum a kiss on the cheek and we left. Dan came back to the house as he wanted to be closer to the hospital in case of any emergency. Dan drove us home and we sat on the sofa together with a blanket and put a film on the television. We didn't mind what we put on as we probably weren't going to be watching it properly, we were too distracted. Dan made us some popcorn and we watch Hitch to try and lighten the mood a little now we knew Mum was going to be ok, but seeing her like that made me have doubts. Neither of us laughed at any part of the film.

The next morning I woke up and realised I'd fallen asleep watching Hitch and so had Dan. It was nice being here with Dan again. We'd always had a close relationship growing up. I always thought of him as my protector. He kept me safe and intervened at school when he saw I was getting bullied. That was until he left for college. Dan was tall, dark and handsome, so of course this made him popular. He never had any problems through school, he was well liked by everyone. I wish I could be as confident as him. Picking up my phone to take a photo of him drooling while he was sleeping, which I thought was hysterical, I saw the time said 6.35am. Way too early to be getting up but I took the photo and went upstairs to wash. After getting dressed for the day, without make-up because I wasn't in the mood, I went into the kitchen to make us some pancakes with maple syrup and the strawberries Dan bought from the hospital shop last night. Putting two plates on the counter top, I evenly shared out the pancakes and decorated them nicely. I picked up the plates and went into the living room to wake up Dan. The smell of pancakes that have just been cooked is amazing, so I wafted Dan's plate of pancakes under his nose to see if it would wake him up. He twitched his nose a little, so I did it again. He twitched a bit more. The last time I moved the pancakes in front of his nose I whispered, "Daaann." He shot up off the sofa and punched me in the face and the pancakes went flying through the air and landed on Dan's head.

"OW!" I cried, "What was that for?"

I fled the room toward the kitchen, sobbing loudly. I heard Dan calling me, also walking after me saying he was sorry. I got a frozen bag of peas out of the freezer and placed it on my eye. It really really hurt. I sat down on the kitchen bar stool and was just speechless. I couldn't believe what had just happened. He's never ever hurt me. Note to self is to never wake Dan up again. Dan came behind me and hugged me. I noticed he was crying so I turn on the stool to face him with the bag of peas still covering my eye.

"I'm so sorry, I was having a bad dream, I'd never hurt you on purpose you know that. Please forgive me?" He begged.

"Of course I forgive you, you daft apeth. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. I'm just never waking you up ever again," I said laughing.

Dan didn't find it funny, he was distraught. He'd never forgive himself for hitting me, I know him too well. Changing the subject I asked what time we were going to visit Mum. He told me he would go and get ready and we would go, so I thought I'd go to my room and check out the damage to my eye in the mirror to determine whether I needed to change my mind about wearing make-up.

Eventually we got up to Mum's room after circling the car park for 20 minutes trying to find somewhere to park and then the parking space was so far away it took us another 15 minutes to walk here. I'd decided to put make-up in my bag in case I needed it later on. I knew I was going to be getting a black eye from that punch, it was just a matter of when it would appear. Walking in to Mum's room we saw the doctor already standing next to Mum's bed. He saw us walking over and smiled.

"Your Mum's a fighter," He said with a beaming smile.

"What's the news then doc?" Dan asked him.

"There's been no deteriation through the night and the swelling in her brain seems to be going down. It's all looking very promising." Hr answered

We were both so relieved hearing this news. I messaged Rachel and Hannah to give them an update and asked if anything interesting had happened in school after I left yesterday. When they replied I let out a gasp. Luckily Dan had gone to get us coffee's otherwise he'd be asking questions. They told me that Adam had publicly humiliated Kirsty at the end of the day just outside the main entrance of the College where nearly the whole school would of heard or saw. I thought I had it bad when I went skidding down the corridor. The only good thing about this event is that my mishap will probably be forgotten about and now all eyes would be on Kirsty. It was an excellent thing for me but an awful thing for her. It was nice to get distracted from the fears Mum was putting us through at the minute. Hannah messaged again about 10 minutes later asking if I was feeling up to going to the party on Saturday at Harry's, which I had completely forgotten about. Not that I was planning on going given the circumstances. Even if Mum was out of hospital she would need someone to take care of her, so I messaged Hannah back to say I will not be going and she understood.

A few hours went by. Dan and I passed the time playing a card game and talking about how we were doing in school. There was so much to catch up on. Dan didn't come home for the summer holidays, he went traveling with his friends, came home for a few days to collect some of his things and went straight back to Uni. Anyone could tell he was loving Uni life. He always spoke about his time there with a smile and an excited tone in his voice .It was nice to see him happy. He was always such an angry person through his teens and he didn't have a very good relationship with Dad but I have no idea why. He doesn't like to talk about it and when I try he just shuts me down. When Dad left us 4 years ago he became a different person. By different I mean he seemed happier and comfortable being in the house. So for a while we sat there reminiscing about the past, but he never mentioned Dad and I didn't intend to bring it up again today. Then I told Dan that I had been invited to a party on Saturday night but I wasn't going. 

He looked at me startled and said, "You're not going!"

"How can I with Mum the way she is at the minute. I wouldn't enjoy myself. I couldn't relax," I tell him.

"It's your first College party. You have to go! The doctors have said she is doing good and hopefully by then she'll be awake and maybe even at home."

"Even if she is home, she's going to need help around the house, I'm thinking about taking some time off College until she's feeling well enough to do things for herself."

"Oh no you don't," He scolded me, "You are not going to do any of that. I'm going to stay with you and we can share the Mum duties. So Saturday night, you will be going to the party because I'm staying with Mum. Now I suggest tomorrow or later on today even, go shopping with your friends and pick out something to wear." He demanded, handing me a wad of cash.

"I'm not going Dan and that is final!" I snap at him. "It's just a party, there will be plenty more to go to!"

"OK, fine. But if you change your mind you know where I am." He says in his fatherly voice. "Now let's go get some lunch, the doctor is coming to check Mum over, so lets give him some space."