Chapter 5 No.5

Start of a beautiful friendship or something like that

After that night with Drew and my crazy family, I figured he decided I was too much of a headache to handle. Boy, I was wrong. He tried to wait for me at my locker when I arrived at school. Then he would walk to class with me and sit next to me.

He did this between classes and sat at lunch with me. The guy was becoming my bodyguard. The lessons I didn't have with Drew the minute he got word of someone saying the wrong thing to me. He showed up and harassed the kid as if it was a guy or girl. Now it wasn't mean and intimidating harassment. It was a comical one when he laid out a few guys with one punch, hung one up on the flagpole. With a few girls, he replaced their lip gloss with crazy glue.

Elijah's jealous of the pranks Drew pulled because I must admit they were excellent. Plus, he had some snarky comeback, which threw Matt off when they watched him talk to people. I'm wondering if it related him to this Hunter guy. Drew showed me his birth certificate showing and his parents were. Father was Hunter Michels, and mother was Gail Michels. I also saw Drew was seventeen, and his birthday was October 31. Wow, Matt and my birthday were May 15, which made us younger than him.

Drew got me to lighten up and smile more than I did. For someone that scared people, I saw him as this goofball who liked to have fun. We became friends, which was nice to talk to someone other than my family.

I was sitting on a bench in the courtyard doodling when Drew came out and sat down. He turned and laid his head on my lap, looking up at me, batting his eyelashes at me. I laughed and pushed him off my lap, and he rolled onto the ground. Then he popped up and said, "Ta-da!"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. He plopped down next to me, throwing an arm behind me, "That's two."

"Two what?" I questioned.

"Kisses. I told you every time you rolled your eyes; you owe me a kiss," Drew smirked.

I gave him a look. "Uh, huh, sure?"

"One day, I will wear you down. You wait and see," he said, challenging me.

"Yeah, okay," I said, going back to doodling. Drew sat there for a while and jumped up, then started pacing as I doodled.

"We should do something," he said, pacing back and forth.

"Like what? We still have class," I said, not looking up.

"I got it. We can go swimming, or better yet, skinny dipping," Drew said with enthusiasm.

I froze when he said swimming. I sat there, not knowing what to say. Few people know except my family that I can't swim, and water terrifies me except in the bathroom. I remember telling Maddox, and after everything happened, he threw me into the deep end of school.

I fought to get to the top, but I panicked since I didn't know how to swim or breathe. If it weren't for Elijah working as a lifeguard one summer, I would have died from drowning. Matt could swim but wasn't as strong as Elijah or fast. He pulled me out and gave me CPR along with Matt, saving my life.

The memory of it all made my chest tighten and hard for me to breathe. I had a panic attack, something I got from Mom. I clenched my chest as Drew looked at me, his face changing from happy to worry.

"Liz? What's wrong?" Drew asked.

"I. Can't. Breathe," I said, clenching my chest. "Matt." I couldn't get a full sentence out before I collapsed onto the ground and passing out.

He picked me up and carried me out of the courtyard. He took me to Matt and got to the classroom, standing there, holding me in his arms, "Matt!"

Matt's head turned in his direction, and he got out of his seat, running over to me. He took me from Drew's arms and yelled to Elijah, "Call my parents and tell them to meet us at the hospital!"

Elijah and Drew followed us while Elijah called my parents. Once we got to the hospital, Matt ran inside with me in his arms. A doctor and nurse met us and took me back while the guys waited.

"What happened?" Matt asked Drew.

"We were talking, then I mention going swimming," Drew said, confused.

"Shit!" Matt said.

"What? What happened?" Drew asked Matt.

"Liz can't swim, and she has a fear of water. She made the mistake of telling Maddox, and he threw her in the school pool in the deep end to punish her," Elijah said. "Someone came and got us; then I pulled her out. Matt and I gave her CPR. If we had been one more minute, she would have died."

"Fuck! I didn't know the man! I'm sorry," Drew said with an upset tone.

"Few people know except family and a few people at school along with Maddox. She had a panic attack," Matt said, pacing back and forth.

A few minutes later, Dad and Mom came bursting through the doors.

"Where is she?" Dad growled.

"They took her back already," Matt said.

"Come on, Ryan," Mom yelled as they walked through the doors.

The doctors showed them to my room, and they came in. I was asleep in bed. Mom walked up and took my hand, then leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

"We're here, honey. Please wake up," Mom said, stroking my hair.

The doctor came in and asked to speak to my parents in the hallway.

"Doctor, is Elizabeth okay?" Dad asked.

"Elizabeth will be okay. She had a panic attack. We gave her something to relax her so that her heart rate would return to normal. She must stay overnight; then she can go home tomorrow," the doctor said.

My parents let out a sigh of relief. Mom went back into the room while Dad went out into the waiting room to let everyone know. He wanted to know what happened, and the guys filled him in. I thought Dad flew into a rage, but once Matt and Elijah explained everything, Dad calmed down. He told them to get home and call Junior, Frazier, and Jordan to pick up the younger kids after explaining why.

He told Drew to go home, but Drew refused to leave until Dad relented. There was no changing Drew's mind. He took a seat and waited.

It was hours until my parents came out and let him go back to see me. Dad didn't want him to see me, but Mom persuaded him to let Drew see me. She reminded him that Drew didn't know about what happened. Mom is always the voice of reason.

Drew walked through the doors with his hands in his jean pockets. He strolled to my room and appeared at the door. Drew stood there for a few minutes looking at me asleep in the hospital bed and taking a deep breath. Then he entered the room and walked over to the side of my bed.

He took his hands out of his pockets and put them both on the rail. He looked down at me, "Well, I guess swimming it out unless you want swim lessons. Stupid joke, I know."

He looked over and saw a chair. He pulled it out, dragged it over to the side of the bed, sat next to the bed, and talked to me, "Liz, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I would never make jokes about something like this. I know what it's like to have a fear that keeps you hostage. I was there. I remember when I was little that these men took me. I won't go into that. It had something to do with my dad and your family."

"Once my dad got me back, I had nightmares for years. I feared losing people I loved that I let it consume me to the point I made sure it would never happen again. That's why I started training with Dad. It was at that point that I promised I would protect everyone I cared about in my life," Drew told me.

He picked up my hand and held it, "You don't remember, and I doubt your parents even remember, but we met when we were younger. My mom took me to this park, and I remember seeing this girl with brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She was with another boy playing. I remember playing tag with them and having fun. Before they left, she asked me what my name was, and I told her Andrew. She called me Andy. When I asked her name, she said, Elizabeth, but I called her Beth because I couldn't pronounce Elizabeth."

He pulled my hand to his cheek, "The first day of school this year when I saw you, I wasn't sure until you chased me. Then I remembered the day at the park. I remember I found Beth after all this time. Please wake up, Beth." He closed his eyes as he held my hand.

My parents were standing at the door listening to him, shocked.

"That's the Andy who she and Matt used to play with at the park," Mom whispered.

"I forgot about that. I remember when Matt was teasing her one time, he stuck up for her," Dad whispered back.

"She was heartbroken when he moved away. I never realized it was because Hunter was on another assignment," Mom whispered.

"We didn't know Hunter was his father. As Drew said, Hunter kept his life private for a reason, and now we know why," Dad whispered.

"Babe, we have bigger problems," she whispered.

"What?" Dad asked.

"That boy is in love with Elizabeth," Mom whispered, making Dad look at the both of us, then back at her.

He sighed. "Well, if it had to be anyone, I'm glad it's Hunter's son."

Mom nodded in agreement.

I woke up to an empty hospital room. I looked around and sat up. Then Drew knocked on the door frame holding a coffee and a bag.

"Peace offering," he said, holding up the items.

I looked at him, a bit confused, "Why?"

"Well, because I caused you to come here," he whispered.

Then I remembered what happened, and I rubbed my forehead in frustration. Drew walked over and handed me the stuff, and I took it from him.

He put his hands in his front pockets. "I'm sorry."

I looked at him and at the stuff he brought me. I set the coffee down and opened the back to find a chocolate chip muffin. I took it out and took a bite from it. As I chewed on it, I said, "I forgive you."

He reached into the bag and pulled out a blueberry muffin and joined me.

"I'm sorry, though. I didn't know you went through that," Drew said, taking a bite out of the muffin.

"Very few people do. I made a mistake of telling the wrong person," I said, breaking off a piece of muffin and placing it in my mouth.

"Well, I'll make you a deal. I won't make you go into the water as long as you don't have a panic attack," Drew said. Drew held out his hand.

I thought a minute, then took his hand. "Deal."

We shook, and our hands lingered for a minute as I felt my stomach do somersaults. Then I pulled my hand away. Drew continued munching on his muffin, and all I could think about was that feeling. Was I developing feelings for Drew other than friendship?

Then I shook the thought from my head. Nah, I'm the last person he would ever see like that, or that's at least what I thought.