Don't leave me
Don't leave me
She wanted to abandon it all, but she couldn't leave school. She had spent four years studying hard. Just a few weeks left before graduation. She couldn't let it all go to waste. She wanted to come to school, she also wanted to see.... well, her classmates. Yes, she wanted to see her classmates.
When she entered inside the classroom, she saw that particular face through the corner of her eyes but she didn't look at his direction.
She also noticed he didn't spare her another glance after he saw her enter. As much as she didn't want to admit, that had hurt like hell.
She bit her lip and walked quietly until she got to the back where she always sat like an outcast.
"You can do this Chloe. You can do this." She kept chanting even though she felt like her heart was being stabbed repeatedly. She thought she was going to collapse from the pain at any moment. Thankfully, she was able to sit down before her legs could give her away.
It took her a while to be able to steady her breathing again but when she looked up, she noticed Jeremy was following Katie outside the classroom.
Katie again! Was he dating her now? Did they get closer while she kept pushing him away?
Her vision began to blur and she felt dizzy. She tried to remain conscious but it wasn't working.
She reminded herself that she was Chloe King. She couldn't let herself look sick and vulnerable. Picking up her pen, she stabbed her palm and bit her lip to drown the pain, also drawing blood from her lip in the process.
Unfortunately, nothing seemed to keep her from falling unconscious and soon, everything turned black.
When she regained consciousness, she heard the distinct sound of machines beeping. It took great effort before she was finally able to open her eyes.
Hospital? She wondered as she slowly turned her head to the side and noticed she was connected to a drip. She hissed and tried to sit up but groaned and fell back on the bed.
"You are awake!"
Her head snapped to the other side when she realised someone else was inside the room with her.
"Jer...emy?" She asked weakly. She was beyond surprised to find him there.
He sat on the bed and felt her forehead with his hand. "How do you feel? Do you feel very sick?" He asked.
She looked at his face, wondering whether she was actually dreaming. Why was he here? He had ignored her earlier so why was he here? She noticed he looked tired and worried and suddenly felt guilty. Why couldn't he just give up on her?
But did she really want that?
When she said no word but simply stared at him, he panicked, "Do you know who I am? Do you recognize me?" He raised his hand and showed her three fingers, "How many fingers are up?"
That made her giggle but it came out faintly. "Why are you here?" She asked curiously and saw him heave a deep sigh of relief.
"You fainted earlier." He explained. "You have been unconscious for 3 and a half hours. I wasn't expecting you to wake up anytime soon."
"So you have been here all along?" She asked. She was really touched. Even if he hadn't been there the whole time, at least he was the first face she saw when she woke up.
"...." He didn't answer.
She noticed he was trying to be distant but she couldn't blame him for it.
"What about the test?" She asked.
"It was pushed to Wednesday. Since you were sick, they didn't want to—"
She interrupted with a sigh. "Because I am a King, I guess."
"No. It's only normal for it to be postponed if a student is sick. I believe they would have done same had it been someone else."
"You believe they would have done same had it been you?" She asked and quickly corrected nervously when she imagined he would get the wrong idea. "I'm trying to say... you know... since I'm from the King family—" She realised there was no way she was going to say it to make it sound better than she was intending.
"I understand." He interjected. "And... I think they'll do same...?" He didn't sound sure so he quickly changed the topic. "Mia took your bag with her home. She said she'll make something for you to eat when you wake up. I probably should give her a call now."
"Don't." She stopped him when he took out his phone from his pocket. "I don't want to be a bother."
"That's not it. She cares about you—"
"I'm fine."
"YOU ARE?" He asked, raising his voice angrily. "You look like you haven't eaten or slept for days. You fainted, had an injury in your hand and blood on your lips but you are okay? Do you know how scared I was?!" He berated her.
For the first time since they started talking, he finally showed real emotion aside from relief.
She was a bit surprised to hear him raise his voice at her. Maybe because he noticed how surprised she looked, he threw his head to the side and breathe in deeply.
Silence hung in the air until Chloe cleared her throat and asked, "Where exactly are we?" She knew it wasn't her family's hospital. But this place was well equipped.
He looked at her again, his facial expression changed back and now he looked indifferent.
"We are in school. I also didn't know we had such a nice clinic like this here."
Chloe remembered Louis came here often to leave some supplies or simply to volunteer here sometimes. So this was the place? It really wasn't surprising to her since this was an elite school. Having these things was one of the basic requirements. The students paid medical bills every session and it was quite an enormous amount so it was only normal the place was well equipped. Also, the school wouldn't want any rumours spreading around that a student fainted or got injured so they had to treat them here, while for minor issues, they used the smaller clinic or sick bay.
"How did they allow you in here with me?" She asked. He wasn't family. Since they knew her family, they could have called them here. She was really glad she hadn't woken up to see either of her parents.
"Why didn't you get yourself treated if you were sick? Your parents has a big hospital." He said instead, ignoring her question.
She smiled sadly. He wasn't the only one who didn't want to talk about some things. She also didn't want to talk about this so instead, she asked, "What is the time?"
Noting she didn't want to talk about it, he checked his phone and answered her, "It's already past 3."
Jeremy noticed she was trying to sit up. He considered helping her or asking her to lie down and not try to sit but before he could decide, she had already managed to sit up. Thankfully, she felt better.
"I need to leave here now. I guess my parents may come at anytime if the school already informed them." She spoke as she pulled the needle from the back of her hand, disconnecting the drip.
"Where do you wish to go to? Are you sure you don't want to see the doctor first?" He sounded ready worried. What if she was still very sick? The doctors hadn't told him anything so he didn't know what was wrong with her. But he could see she really didn't want to meet her parents.
"No. I'm fine. I know I'm fine."
He doubted that though.
"So?"
"I'll go to my brother's place."
"I will take you there." He offered. He saw her frown in pain when she tried to stand up while using both her hands to help her up and remembered she had injured that hand earlier even though the doctors already treated the wound.
He held her arm and helped her to stand. He looked at her face and found her staring right back at him. When their gaze met, he let go of her arm but was surprised when she grabbed his hand.
He didn't have the opportunity to ask her any question because she surprised him when she suddenly hugged him.
He blinked a couple of times as his brain tried to process everything that was happening. He began alert when he heard what sounded like a sob escape her lips,
"Please..." She began to speak between sobs. "Please don't leave me."
Again, he was really surprised. "I am not leaving you. We... are leaving together." He reminded her.
She shook her head and sniffled repeatedly. "Don't like Katie." She said in a pleading tone, not minding the fact that her ego was being bruised.