20 Dollar Nose Bleed

When I awoke I was on the couch in the front room again. Pete was sat in a seat opposite me with a look of concern on his face. I made a sort of growl sound in complaint and rolled off the couch. Pete stood with me and quickly grabbed my arm to support me. Great. So now he decides to be a gentleman. I ripped my arm away from him and glared. He didn't say anything but stepped away from me quickly. I rolled my eyes and turned away.

I tried to push the kitchen door open with my right hand but stopped, biting back a cry of pain. My arm. I had forgotten about it completely. I tried to outstretch it but stopped quickly. Yep definitely broken. I sighed heavily, shook my head and pushed the door open with my left hand. When I walked into the kitchen Joe and Andy were sat eating. Joe looked up at me and grinned. I didn't smile back. Instead I made my way to the door leading to the corridor. The door I had just come out of opened behind me before I could get there. I turned around to see Pete come in. He saw my glare and stopped, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it. No one said a word. I shook my head and walked out.

I got to the door without anyone stopping me surprisingly. I even got outside and made my way down the path before anyone ever said anything.

"Where do you plan on going?" Pete said from the doorway.

"Away from you." I snapped.

"How about you just stop and we'll talk like grown ups for once." he called.

"What makes you think I'd want to stop and talk to you?" I shouted.

"You are talking to me."

"Yeah but I haven't stopped." I threw over my shoulder.

Suddenly he appeared in front of me causing me to stop.

"Listen," he said grabbing hold of my shoulders, "Whatever your problem is with me, honestly I don't care, you can't just go and leave because, although there's nothing I would like more, this is about more than you. It's not just your life at risk. It's the guys' life too. And I can't let that happen. Because I know, as well as you do, that Patrick wont just stand by and watch you get killed. He'll come after you." he explained and let go of me, straightening up.

I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away but I didn't get far. Two steps later Pete grabbed my right arm and spun me around. I screamed out in pain and dropped to the floor.

"You complete DICK!" I yelled.

"Yeah yeah just get up." he said grabbing my arm again.

I screamed again.

"Get off me!" I screamed and pulled myself away.

"You brought this on yourself you know." he said putting a hand on his hip.

"Oh really? Cause I don't remember asking for you to break my arm! Maybe it got knocked out of my head when you threw me against the wall! Remember that Jerk?!" I yelled.

Unfortunately the "hideout" was the only thing on this street and the whole place was surrounded in trees so no-one would hear me shouting. No-one but the guys.

"I don't care. Get up." he said, reached down and grabbed my left arm, pulling me up.

He started dragging me back to the house but I struggled and kicked until he let me go.

"Look your arms obviously broken. So let's get you inside where you can't do any more damage than you could out here and where Patrick can fix it." he said irritably.

"No." I said and stayed still.

"Oh for crying out loud Wednesday. Use your head. You already know what I am. You know that I'm stronger, faster and smarter than you. So just give up already!" he yelled and grabbed my arm again, dragging me inside.

"I wouldn't say smarter." I snapped but it was no use. I wasn't going to be able to get away.

He shoved me through the door and shut it behind us, still holding onto me.

"Patrick! Get down here!" he yelled as loud as he could, straight into my ear.

I heard footsteps on the stairs and then Patrick appeared frowning at us.

"What's going off?" he asked glancing between me and the door.

"She tried to leave." Pete said from behind me, still holding onto me.

"She can talk to for herself you know." I snapped at Pete.

"Oh trust me we know you can. But how about this time you shut up and let me explain things." he snapped back.

"What? Why did you try to leave?" Patrick said looking at me. He looked hurt.

I opened my mouth to explain but Pete cut me off.

"She has a problem with me." he said like it was nothing big.

"So you'd rather leave us all then get used to Pete?" he asked me.

"Well it looks like it. Oh Patrick. There's another thing." Pete said.

"And what would that be?" he said looking annoyed.

"I apparently broke her arm last night. But she deserved it with how she talks to me." Pete explained.

"With how she talks to you? She's a guest who's been through a hell of a lot. You can't say you treat her much better!"

"I don't care. At least I don't go around provoking her." Pete defended.

They were arguing as if I wasn't even there which was extremely irritating. I took a moment to look around the rest of the corridor. There wasn't really anything in it except a mirror to the left of us. So I took this chance to inspect myself. If I'm honest I wish I hadn't. I looked like hell. Like I'd been dragged through a bush backward. Great.

"Erm... can we get back to my arm please? It kind of hurts." I said sarcastically and waved it slightly instantly wishing I hadn't when a burst of fresh pain shot through me.

"Of course. Can I have a look?" Patrick said and outstretched his hand.

I placed my hand in his and he slowly pulled my arm out. He got about halfway before I winced and drew my hand back. He narrowed his eyes and sighed.

"Yep. That's definitely broken. Okay then we're going to need to set it. Pete I'll need your help with this." Patrick said and led me into the front room again.

"Whoa. Why do we need him?" I complained.

"Because someone's going to need to hold you down." Pete said from behind.

"Why can't Joe or Andy do it?" I asked Patrick frantically.

"Because it's going to hurt you lots and lots. So he needs someone strong to hold you down to stop you writhing in pain." Pete said cheerfully.

I stuck my middle finger up over my shoulder so he could see it. Pete laughed and Patrick placed me down onto the couch again.

"Trust me I really don't want you touching me." I said.

"Oh don't flatter yourself Princess. I wont be getting any kicks out of touching you. I might get a kick out of witnessing your excruciating pain though." he said and laughed again.

Pete came and stood behind the couch, right behind where I was sat, and placed his hands on my shoulders.

Patrick took my hand and smiled.

"Ready?" he asked, gripping my hand with one of his and placing his other just above my elbow.

I looked up to Pete only to see him looking down at me with concern written over his face. But once he caught me looking he quickly switched it for a look of pure amusement. I looked back to Patrick and nodded.

"Okay then. I'm sorry but this is going to hurt for quite a while." Patrick said sympathetically.

I braced myself and nodded again. Patrick out stretched my arm and pulled... then I screamed as loud as I could. This made Joe and Andy come running in from the kitchen but once they saw what was happening they came and sat beside me, muttering words of encouragement and comfort. I couldn't stop myself from crying. I felt the tears climb out of my tear ducts and roll down my cheeks in a feeble attempt to escape. I let myself cry finding relief in the tears.

"Shh. It's okay. You're doing great." Pete said, rubbing my shoulders.

When I looked up at him he wasn't looking at me. In fact he wasn't looking at any of us. His eyes were completely glazed over and his face was painted with what looked like guilt. Good. This could be part of my revenge. Let him feel guilty.

I closed my eyes and put my head back. I felt some comfort in being surrounded by these lot. Not a lot but it was definitely there. Suddenly the pulling stopped and I felt my arm being wrapped in something. I opened my left eye and frowned. He was wrapping my arm in some sort of supported bandage. It looked so small. I was expecting a cast and a sling but nope. Just a bandage.

"It's simpler than having a huge cast and sling. Allows more movement meaning as your arm heals it still retains its movement." Patrick explained obviously catching my frown.

"Oh right." I said dumbly.

"There all done." he said standing up and stretching.

"Thank you." I said graciously and smiled, flexing my fingers. It did feel better already.

Then I realised that Pete's hands were still on my shoulders and I looked at him.

"You can get off me now." I said shortly.

He lifted his hands and raised an eyebrow.

"You're welcome." he said sarcastically.

"Yeah cause like I'm going to thank you for putting me through all that pain." I replied angrily.

"Fine then." he said and stormed off upstairs.

"Jerk." I said to his back and then turned back to the others. "Thank you guys."

I was met with a chorus of bashful "no problems" and smiled at the three embarrassed faces. This made me laugh which felt... well... good.

"So how long is this gonna take to heal?" I said waving my arm slightly.

"Oh right. Erm... a few months to heal completely. Which means you can't go outside, play sports, wrestle or fight. Nothing that can cause more harm to it."

"Oh right." I said sadly. Great I'm gonna be stuck inside.

"Hey don't do that. You'll be fine. Who knows, maybe this whole thing with Brendon and William will have finished by the time your fully healed. Then you could go home again." he said cheerfully.

"Hm maybe. Look if you don't mind I'm gonna go take a little nap. I'm feeling kind of worn out." I said and smiled.

"I don't blame you." Joe laughed.

I stood up and went to kiss Patrick on the cheek. He blushed and looked at his feet.

"Thank you for what you did. I appreciate it." I said smiling.

"My pleasure." he muttered shyly.

I smiled, waved and made my way upstairs to my room.