Misunderstood (Neighbor from Hell (YA) 1)

She could always tell them apart because he didn’t have the scar on his brow from the baseball she threw, Mikey thought numbly as he laid her down on the floor.

“It’s okay. Your Dad’s on the way,” Uncle Darrin said, giving her a warm smile as he checked her pulse. The sounds of her breathing grew ragged as she tried to focus on what her uncle was saying, but her head was spinning and she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

“Do something!” Sebastian screamed. “Her lips are turning blue!”

Still giving her that smile, she watched as Uncle Darrin reached for the microphone secured to his uniform and said, “This is unit fifty-seven. I need an ambulance at County Middle School for a fourteen-year-old girl in respiratory distress.”

“Unit fifty-seven, received for the fourteen-year-old girl in respiratory distress at County Middle School. I have a unit with an ETA of two minutes,” came the response a few seconds later.

“She’s under arrest,” the officer standing over them said, drawing her attention and making it harder to breathe.

“No, she’s not,” Uncle Darrin said calmly as he cupped her face and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb.

“Get the handcuffs off my nephew,” Uncle Darrin said only to add, “Now,” when the officer didn’t move.

“He violated the terms of his expulsion. We have it on video. He’s been sneaking into the school for more than two years now and she’s been helping him,” the officer said.

“Unless you have a valid restraining order, you’re going to have a hell of a time proving that a fourteen-year-old kid knew that he’d be arrested if he set foot on school property. So, I suggest that you take the handcuffs off him now and file for the restraining order that you’re not going to need because he’s never going to do it again.”

Mikey watched the officer glare down at them. Terrified that he wasn’t going to let Sebastian go, she opened her mouth and tried to beg him only she couldn’t seem to get the words out.

“Mikey?” Uncle Darrin said, looking upset for some reason. “Mikey? Mikey!” came the words that sounded far away as darkness enveloped her and pulled her down.

*-*-*-*

“We had to sedate her, but she’s going to be fine. We’d like to keep her overnight for observation though,” came the words that had Sebastian staring helplessly down at his hands.

He did this.

It wasn’t bad enough that he’d screwed up his life and his brother’s life, he had to drag Mikey down with him. He knew this was going to happen, Sebastian thought as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face. He never should have talked to her, never should have gone with her that day, and he sure as hell never should have crawled through her window that night and now…

She was paying for his mistakes.

“Who’s Sebastian?” the doctor asked Aunt Kasey and Uncle Reese.

“Her best friend,” Aunt Kasey said hollowly as Uncle Reese pulled her into his arms.

“She’s been asking for him. I think it might help her calm down if she could see him,” the doctor quietly explained.

When Sebastian moved to stand up, his father grabbed his arm to stop him. Without a word, he pulled his arm free and headed for her room, absently wondering when this was going to start feeling real. He ignored h

is parents calling his name, telling him to stop and kept moving until he saw Mikey, laying on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over her mouth and wires attached to her small body.

Feeling his heart break, Sebastian walked over to her only pausing long enough to put the siderails down before he carefully climbed onto the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms.

“Sebastian?” came the mumbled question.

“Yeah?” he said, holding her tight.

“I think we’re in trouble,” she said, surprising a weak chuckle out of him.

“Yeah, I think we are too,” he told her as he pressed his lips against her forehead.

“Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” Mikey asked, already sounding like she was halfway there.

“Yes,” Sebastian said as he watched his mother and father walk into the room.

They didn’t say a word, but then again, they didn’t need to. He watched as they sat down in the chairs against the wall and waited. When Mikey finally fell asleep, they stood up and waited. Sebastian forced himself to let go of Mikey and climb out of that bed. He looked at her one last time before he walked toward the door. When he saw Aunt Kasey and Uncle Reese sitting in the chairs across the hallway, looking like they’d been to hell and back, he forced himself to walk over to them and say the only thing that he could think of to make this better.