by Mettey, Tim
“Yes, that’s all. Thanks!”
“Excuse me, do you know how Oliver is doing?” I asked.
“He’s stable right now,” Officer Montgomery said. “He lost a lot of blood, and he had some pretty serious head injuries. If it weren’t for you and Ms. Canan, he probably would have died.”
I pulled him to shore, but what did Elle do?
Officer Montgomery continued, “He’s in a drug-induced coma, but Dr. Chase Letterby is optimistic about his chances of a full recovery. Amazing—even after he put your girlfriend in danger, you were still willing to risk your life for him.”
“Let’s go, Nicholas. You need to get home and rest.”
“One second.” I turned and walked back into Elle’s room. I walked up to Elle, who was lying back in her bed. I ignored both of her parents, who were sitting in chairs next to her. I leaned down and kissed her.
“I will be back tomorrow. Get some rest,” I whispered into her ear.
ELLE’S STORY
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Elle was released from the hospital a week later and was put on strict bed rest at home. Cora and I didn’t speak about Xavier, Genevieve, Riley, or anything else that had happened that night. Elle and I were both exempted from the last month of classes, so school was over for us. Every time I came to visit her, one of her parents would sit in the room with us.
The day she was finally able to get out of bed was also the day of Winsor’s prom. I brought her over a rose corsage that Cora had made for her and a movie for us to watch. She was down on the couch when I got there. Her dad was out of town on business, and her mom, to my surprise, left us alone. She must have been truly better, because her dad hadn’t left once for business until today.
“I got this for you.” I handed her the corsage.
“Nicholas, you didn’t have to get me this.”
“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t get you a corsage for prom? Plus, Cora worked on it all day.”
She smiled. “Well, thank you, and tell Cora it’s beautiful.”
“I will tell her.”
She smiled, patting the couch for me to sit next to her. I sat down and she curled up against me.
“We are finally alone,” I said.
“Yes, isn’t it nice, Nicholas?” Her fingers had intertwined with mine. She had our hands resting on her chest. I could feel her heart beating strongly, and it stirred memories of the night that I pulled her from the water.
“What’s wrong, Nicholas? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s just that the last time I felt your heart, it was barely beating. I almost lost you.”
She sat up and smiled. “But thanks to you, I am here. Everything is okay.”
“Elle, why did you get into Oliver’s car?” That question had been eating away at me for some time. Now that we were alone, I could ask.
“On the day of the quarry party, Oliver showed up at my house in that old car. He was looking for you. He told me that he had challenged you to that stupid game of chicken—you know, the rite of passage. I told him that you weren’t going to do it and that he should just leave us alone. He told me he was going to find you and show everyone once and for all that you were nothing more than a coward. I lost my temper. That’s when I opened the car door. I began yelling at him, telling him to leave you alone and that I wouldn’t let you get in the car with such an idiot. He grabbed my arm, pulled me inside, and took off driving. I could barely get the car door shut before he sped down the road.
“He began mumbling something about how I should have ended up with the captain of the football team because the most popular girl always does, and how you had ruined everything for him this year. He was losing it. I put on my seat belt, scared he might wreck the car. I even tried to calm him down, but he didn’t respond to me. I demanded that he let me out, but he still wouldn’t stop. He told me that he would take me to the quarry party and pull onto the dock with me inside the car. He would stop on the dock and tell everyone that you were too scared to do the rite of passage, so you sent your girlfriend instead. I was hoping you would see that I wasn’t home and then come to the quarry. Luckily, you did.
“We drove around the town for a long time before he headed toward the quarry. I never had an opportunity to jump out because he never stopped completely. He wasn’t going to go to the party without me, his trophy. When we got to the party, he was smiling. He was getting ready for his big speech. He drove slowly down the dock, stopping near the end. Then the car went head first into the water before I had a chance to get out of my seat belt and escape. Oliver was not wearing his seat belt, so he went head first into the windshield. He was badly hurt and covered with blood. He was lying sideways in his seat, unconscious. The car started to fill with water so I grabbed him and propped him up to make sure he wouldn’t drown. I tried to get my seat belt off, but it wouldn’t unlatch. Then the windshield broke, completely filling the car with water. Right before I passed out, I felt my seat belt go loose and then I shot to the surface. I remember seeing you, and then everything went black.”
“Elle, you should have just let Oliver go looking for me. I can take care of myself.”
She kissed me, shutting me up from the lecture I was about to give her. She looked into my eyes. “Nicholas, I would sacrifice everything for you. I love you.”
“Elle, I love you too.”
END OF BOOK ONE
