I Don't Care If You're Contagious

“Okay, now take a life at this stoplight and go down the fist dirt driveway you see.” I said as we pulled up to a stoplight. I was nervous and excited as we pulled into the driveway. I was finally getting out of this house and away from my parents. “Okay stop right at the top of the driveway so that they don’t see you. And make sure if you see my brother shut the bus down.” I said to the guys as I took my heels off.
“Why are you taking your shoes off?” Jaime asked me smiling.
“So that I can run.” I said.
“You actually run?” Jaime asked and I smiled sarcastically.
“Yes, Jaime. I’m captain of the track, volleyball, and softball team. I run a lot.” I said and saw Natalie taking off her heels too. Tony said something to her I didn’t quite catch but I heard the word careful. Aww, he was already falling for her. I think. I started walking to the steps and I felt someone touch my hand very faintly and I looked back seeing Jaime smiling at me. “Be careful.” He mouthed at me and I nodded to him.
“Ready Nat?” I asked.
“Yeah.” Nat said smiling. She loved sneaking around. We’d skipped school countless times and lots of other things. It just gave us an adrenaline rush I guess. I walked off the bus first then Nat came after me. We ducked down as we walked past the house windows when we got down the driveway. I pointed to the back of the house and I could just barely see Nat nod her head in the dark. We went to the back of the house and looked up at the window. It was on the second floor so we had to use the heater to climb up on the window sill. The only problem was it was below Arianna and Myka’s windows. Great, just our luck. I signaled Nat to come over to me. “I’m gonna get on your shoulders and then I’m gonna climb up into the window and then pull you up.” I said and she huffed.
“Fine, but I’m changing when we get inside.” She said.
“Yeah well, so am I genius.” I said and motioned for her to get down. She did and I put one foot on her back steadying myself. When I was good I put my other foot on her other shoulder really quick and steadied myself again. Nat didn’t make a move so I was good for now. Man I loved this girl. She was always pretty willing to comply and she was always pretty nice too. I guess this was a time that called for me to thank her and not be sarcastic doing it. I put my hands on the wall feeling for the ledge of the window and found it. Alright, I can do this. I thought to myself. I pulled myself up feeling my feet and legs come up off of Nat’s shoulders and my arms begin to get weak. Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh! I was about to go into panic mode until I felt two hand push me into the window. I landed hard on the wood floor feeling a little dizzy as I got up. I swore I seen stars when I walked back over to the window and out my hands out. I felt Nat’s soft hands in mine and I pulled with all my might. I was at least 110 pounds and none of it was muscle so I had a hard time pulling someone who weighed just as much as I did up into a tiny window. Finally Nat got up into the window and had a much better landing than I did. We didn’t talk when we got into the room we just walked to the closet and got our duffel bags we had kept from when we were younger and took trips to our grandparents house. Mine was pink and Nat’s was purple. I went to my dresser and got out some clothes and quickly changed into them (http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=90776296) and pulled my hair into a messy bun. Then I gathered all the clothes I could fit into my bag and put all my make up in the bag along with nail polishes and things like that. I was ready and I saw Nat was waiting at the window for me with the duffel bag over her shoulder and another outfit on (http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=90776838). That’s when I remembered my shoes so I grabbed all the shoes I could and then put them in the duffel bag then when the bag was full I grabbed all the shoes I could carry still not being satisfied but oh well. I saw Nat put one leg out the window then the other and she was gone. I went to the window and put one leg out and then the other sitting on the window for a moment. Curse these shoes, this was going to be a hard landing. I didn’t care though. I wouldn’t have to live in fear of them anymore so I jumped but then I felt my ankle snap. I wasn’t going to be wearing heels anymore for a while. But that’s when things got bad. I saw a light flip on in my brothers room and he went to the window his long sandy blond hair flickering in the light. Oh crap. When he saw me with all my stuff trying to hold my ankle his eyes got wide and I saw him start yelling. He must have been calling for mom and dad. Oh crap. He didn’t like me either but this wasn’t the time to worry about that. I had to go. I heard Nat yell. She must have know that he had blown our cover already and just didn’t care now. I saw her run back to me and put my arm around her shoulder as I hopped as fast as possible to the bus. I heard the front door bust open and then I let go of Nat’s shoulder. We would never make it in time. I’d done this in track once. I knew my ankle was sprained but there was only one option now. I looked at Nat and said “Run.” And that’s exactly what we did.

When we got back to the bus I immediately sat down hissing at the pain of releasing the pressure on my ankle. “GO!” I yelled to the driver as I scooted in between Jaime and Vic. I felt like crying from the pain now. Running that fast was not a good idea. I’d probably just broke my ankle. “What’s wrong?” Jaime asked me seeing me holding my ankle.
“She wanted her shoes so when she jumped down from the window she snapped her ankle!” Nat said
“Why didn’t you just leave the shoes?!” Vic yelled
“They would have sold them!” I said back just realizing how spoiled I sounded.
“Let me see your ankle.” Jaime said and Vic got up so that I could put my leg up to shoe Jaime. He picked it up with incredible delicacy and examined it. “It looks pretty swollen. I don’t think it’s broke probably just sprained. Stay off of it for a few days and it should be fine.” Jaime said putting it down on the seat again and I slid over so that Vic could slide in again.
“Oh God. I just wanna go to bed!” I said. When I looked up I seen Tony smiling. “What are you smiling at?” I said feeling myself getting more grumpy which equals maximum rudeness for me.
“Nothing, I just don’t think we’ve ever had two girls that were so into clothes and shoes and stuff. Or that went to a club even though they were under-aged and got wasted then ran away from home with us.” Tony said pretty much summarizing the days events. I smiled a little and I saw Nat smile too.
“That’s because we’re Nicolette’s Tony. You will never meet people like us ever again.” Said Natalie and for the first time all day I think that was the only thing I agreed with that she’d said.

Soon I’d went to bed. The pain in my ankle was too much and I had a headache. Vic showed me where my bunk was and Mike told me where everyone else’s bunks were. When I’d went to bed Natalie had too. But right now I’d woken up because I’d heard the storm outside. That was one of my big fears, I hated storms. I laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. My headache was gone and I felt much more sober. Surprisingly I didn’t really have much of a hang over. When my head hit the pillow I was back asleep though.

“Natalya why are you scared to go home?” The psychiatrist asked me and I just looked at him. Mom and Dad told me not to tell. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.” He said. I was scared I just wanted Natalie’s hand to hold. Even though she was younger she always helped me through this sort of thing. I remembered this so clearly. I was only 8 years old and mom and dad had beat me two days ago for no reason. “Natalya answer me.” The doctor said again and I just stared at him with my emerald green eyes. “Do I need to call you mommy and daddy in?” He asked and I shook my head violently. “Use your word Natalya.” He said and I shook my head no again. “Excuse me? Why don’t you want to use your words?” He asked and I said nothing. I was going back to the silent treatment. The doctor got up and walked over to me. He took out a little flashlight and shined it in my eyes. I squinted and put my hands up to my face. The light burned on my eyes. “Your eyes don’t look right.” He said “I think we need to call in a real doctor.” He said taking out a needle. I backed away and shook my head. “It’s only a sedative. It’ll put you to sleep so that the doctors from the psych ward can check you.” He said.
“No.” I said my voice barely a whisper. “I’m not crazy! They beat me and hurt me. They stick me and it hurts!” I said closing my eyes tight hoping that it would all go away. They couldn’t call the doctor in again for me. He took my arm and I jerked away. He took it again and I stared screaming. “NO! You can’t do this to me!” I screamed at him and heard other people flooding in the room. “NO!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as they held me down. Suddenly the table was cold metal. I was strapped in and there were doctors in masks and bloody scrubs above me. “NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” I screamed. One doctor holding a scalpel brought it down on my head and everything went black.

I woke up breathing heavily and sweating. I put my fingers up to my cheeks and felt warm tears streaming down my face. I heard the thunder outside and it did nothing but make me squeal and cry some more. I put my hands over my ears and hugged my knees to my chest. I hated sleeping alone. And I hated thunder. Now I was alone in the dark listening to thunder. I was about to have a mental breakdown. Jaime had told me if he need anything to wake him up and ask him so I hoped he wouldn’t mind what I was about to do. I wasn’t trying to be in any way, shape, or form sexual at all. I was scared and I just needed someone else’s body heat next to mine. I climbed out of the bunk and walked right across from mine to Jaime’s bunk and opened the curtain. I saw Jaime almost completely pressed against the wall so I sat in the bunk then laid down. I pulled some of the covers off of Jaime and put them over my body. At some point in the night my hair tie had come down and so now my hair was completely loose. I heard Jaime wake up and I saw him look at me. “Natalya?” he whispered.
“Sorry Jaime, I’m just…I’m terrified of the thunder and sleeping alone.” I said feeling a little ashamed and ready to cry when another strike of lightning lit up the bus and the boom of the thunder followed shortly after. Jaime must have heard me whimper because he put his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. “It’s okay. Just go to sleep okay?” he said and in no time I was fast asleep in Jaime’s arms.