Seize the Day

About two weeks had passed since that incident, and it was edging on November. Brian was practically under house arrest, and he was never in a good mood when I saw him during school. As I had predicted, Zacky was still allowed to give me rides to and from school, because my parents weren't around to do it themselves. I was also able to convince my parents that I needed to stay after to do schoolwork (my excuse being that I wasn't understanding what was going on in math class), and it was then that I got to hang out with Zacky, and occasionally Matt and Casey. Sometimes they'd bring their friend, Jimmy, with them. He was 19, and had dropped out of school. Apparently, he was really close in their tight group of friends. I was also starting to think that Casey was more of a friend than Zoey, and I'd started talking to Zoey less and less. Casey and I just seemed to have a lot more in common than Zoey and I did.

I sat in front of the television one Sunday morning, completely bored and flipping through the channels carelessly. I really just wanted to talk to Zacky, and figured I'd see if I could weasel my way into calling him.

I walked into the kitchen where my mother and father were sitting, reading the paper and sipping from their coffee cups. "Mom, can I use the phone?" I asked politely.

"Last I knew Kimberly, you were grounded... weren't you?" she asked without even looking at me.

"Yes.. but I -"

"Who do you plan on calling anyways?" she asked.

"... Zacky..." I said, timidly.

"Zacky? Who is this Zacky person?" she asked, looking up at me finally.

"He's just... a friend," I said.

"Ahh... your boyfriend, right?" she asked snidely, returning to her paper.

"...So what if he is?" I asked defiantly. Not that we were dating at all, I just liked to see her squirm.

"... Are you kidding me?! You dating a guy like him? Get real Kimberly, it'll never happen.... I won't allow it," she said amused, chuckling to herself.

"But why?" I asked, whining slightly.

"Because, he does not meet up to my standards," she replied.

"No, you just don't like him because he's not clean-cut or rich," I retorted, getting bitter. She was always like this.

"That's not why..." she lied. "And, I just want to remind you that your father and I are leaving for Tokyo tomorrow, and we'll be leavi-"

"...I'm fucking him," I blurted out.

My mother stopped talking, and looked at me. "What!?"

"... I'm fucking him, so you might as well accept the fact that you can't control if I'm dating him or not..." I said quickly. I might've gone a little too far with that statement, as it was a lie as well, but at the moment I didn't really care.

My mother's eyes widened and looked as if they were going to pop. My father looked up from the newspaper quickly.

"What was that young lady!?" he shouted.

"Yeah... I used to fuck Brian too.. but I have to go now... Toodles!" I said quickly before turning and running up to my room. As soon as I slammed the door shut and locked it, my parents were outside my room, pounding on the door and shouting. I backed up slowly to my bed, sitting on it.

"Kimberly Anne Bailey, you open this door RIGHT NOW!" my father shouted angrily.

"Only if you let me call Zacky!" I shouted back. I had no idea what was inside me, making me act the way I was, but I knew it probably wasn't good... That, or it was the best thing ever.

"No! I will not let my daughter talk to a filthy little mongrel!" my mother screeched. They'd given up on the door, knowing I wouldn't unlock it.

"Don't talk about him like that! He's a better person than you think! He treats me well!" I said, getting angry.

"I still won't let you Kimberly. And that's final."

"Why not!?" I whined.

"Because, I don't want you... fornicating with someone like him!" she retorted sourly.

"How do you know if I'm having sex with Zacky or not?" I asked, starting to smile. It was fun messing around with their heads, because they took it so seriously.

"Because you just told me you were!" she said, sighing in exasperation.

"How do you know I wasn't lying about that?" I shouted from my bed.

"... I don't..." my mother said, followed by a long pause. "... Kimberly, are you sleeping with Zacky?" she asked, getting exhausted with me.

"No." I chuckled to myself.

"So, you never slept with Brian either? You were just trying to piss me off?" she asked.

"Well, I never said I was lying about that..." I said. I heard her sigh from the other side of the door.

"I'm sick of your games Kimberly. I don't even care about what you're doing right now. Just don't come crying to me when one of those... things... impregnates you," she said, starting to raise her voice again. She never did know how to deal with situations like these. She backed down way too easily.

I sighed, and felt a dull throb in my stomach area.

"Just go... I don't feely good enough for you to yell at me..." I said in exasperation. I didn't hear anything but silence from the other side of the door, meaning she'd left already.

I got up and pressed a finger to my abdomen, and the pain increased. Maybe it was a stress cramp...

And as I sat in my room all day, the pain did nothing but get worse.

I pulled up outside Kimmy's house, waiting for her to come out so we could get to school. After no appearance for over 5 minutes, I honked the horn, thinking maybe she just didn't know I was out there waiting for her. She still didn't come. After 10 minutes, I decided to go inside and see what she was up to, figuring that since her parents weren't home and Louisa had the day off, I wouldn't get into trouble for doing so.

When I walked inside, I noticed how quiet it was in the house. I smiled to myself, thinking she'd slept through her alarm and was still in bed. I slowly walked up the stairs and when I opened her bedroom door, she was still asleep. But something was wrong...

She was shaking, and her breathing was unsteady and heavy. I walked around to the other side of the bed so I could get closer to her. She was pale; extremely pale. Her eyes were closed, so I assumed she was just having a nightmare. I sat down on the edge of her bed, placing my hand softly on her cheek. She was burning up, but clammy at the same time. Then I started to wonder if she was really okay. She was running a fever, and she could have had a lot more wrong with her than just that. I started to gently shake her awake.

"Kimmy? Kimmy, wake up," I said quietly, and she opened her eyes quickly. "Hey... are you okay?" I asked. She didn't respond, but the shaking and the heavy breathing continued. "Come on..." I coaxed, putting my hand behind her back. I started to lift her up to get her in a sitting position, but she cried out in pain.

"Ow ow ow! Put me down!" she cried, wincing in pain. Something was really wrong, so I laid her back down.

"What is it? What hurts?" I asked frantically. She groaned in pain and motion to her stomach with her hand.

"Zacky..." she said shakily. "Call 911, I feel like I'm gonna die," she whispered. I looked at her in shock.

"...You'll be okay. Just wait it out a few minutes, see if it goes away," I soothed her as best I could.

She closed her eyes and grimaced in pain again. "Its been like this for hours Zacky... It started last night. I threw up four times already..." she moaned. I nodded and reached for the phone, dealing 911.

"Hello, this is 911 Operating Services. What's you situation?" I heard the woman's voice ask calmly.

"Hi. My friend here is in a lot of pain, and I don't know what's going on," I said, trying to keep coherent words flowing from my mouth.

"What are her symptoms with this pain? Are there any external physical wounds?"

"No. She's got a fever, she's pale, she's shaking and breathing hard... and she said she's been throwing up. And she said the pain is in her stomach area..." I replied, stringing it all together really quickly, and I wondered if she had caught a word of it at all.

"Alright. Can you give me your name and where you are with your friend?" she asked, still staying calm.

"Uhm yeah. I'm Zack Baker, and we're at.. uhh... 527 Sheffield Lane, in Huntington," I replied quickly.

"Alright. Sit tight Mr. Baker, an ambulance will be there in a couple minutes," she said.

"Thank you," I said before hanging up. I looked down at Kim; she looked horrible. I softly stroked her cheek while she looked up at me helplessly. I felt bad that there was nothing I could do to help her.

Soon the paramedics arrived, and they rushed her down to the hospital while I followed them in my car.

She was sped into the Emergency Bay, and I decided that all there was left for me to do, was get situated in the waiting room.

A couple hours later, a doctor came out, stopping in at the reception desk where I'd signed in earlier. I saw the secretary nod and point to me. The doctor looked over, and started to walk over to me.

"Mr. Baker?" he asked as he looked at his official-looking clipboard.

"Yes?" I asked as I stood up.

"Miss Bailey will be fine. She's come out of the anesthesia , and everything seems to be normal now," he informed me.

"Thank you.. but.. what was wrong with her?" I asked.

"She had appendicitis, and it had burst by the time you found her. So its good you called 911 when you did. Any longer and she could have been poisoned," he said, and I just nodded. "But anyways, she's been asking for you to come see her. Hospital policy states I can't let you in unless you are a direct relation to her, but I think i can get you in to see her," the doctor said politely before he lead me to Kim's room. I hesitated going into the room, wondering if she was one of those patients with all the tubes and machines hooked up to her.

"Don't worry.. she looks normal," the doctor encouraged, so I entered.

I heard the door to my room open, and saw Zacky standing in the doorway. When he saw I was awake, he smiled widely at me. He strode over to the chair next to my bed and sat down facing me.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hi," I smiled at him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked sincerely. I continued to smile, probably from all the pain killers they gave me.

"I'm good. Can't feel a thing."

"Well that's good... You know, I was really scared when I found you this morning," Zacky said shyly.

"Awh... well, if you didn't come inside I'd be a lot worse off than I am right now," I smiled at him. He blushed and looked down. "I'm glad you're here Zacky," I said quietly.

We just sat in silence for a while after that. It was a bit of an awkward situation to be in.

Zacky looked up into my eyes after a couple minutes. "Kimmy?" he asked quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Hmmm?" I asked back, looking at my hand and noticing what pattern the lines made on it.

"Can... can I... Kiss you?" he asked shyly. I looked over at him with a smile, blushing a bit as well. I couldn't answer, so I nodded my head. Zacky swallowed nervously before he leaned into me, and kissed me softly. He went to pull back, but I gripped the back of his neck, pulling him back to me. I felt him smile into the kiss, and I opened my mouth slightly. He slowly slipped his tongue into my mouth, caressing mine with it. It was a wonderful feeling; nothing like I remembered Brian's kiss to be; and I was sad when Zacky parted from me, giving me one last peck before he sat back in his chair.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked after a while.

"Yeah, sure." Zacky replied.

"Why did you want to kiss me? I mean, I liked it... but..." I sad, trailing off.

"Well, I was seriously scared you weren't going to make it... I thought you were dying or something. And I figured, I've waited this long to do it, and you might've died... And I'm rambling.... I just didn't want to lose the chance that was given to me this time around... I didn't want to never have done that, y'know?" he asked, looking up at me. I nodded letting him know I understood. "And... I just really like you..." Zacky finished, looking at me with his caring eyes.

Oh yes, if ever there was a more perfect trap...