Lahat ng Kabanata ng 15 Days Babysitting For My Star Quarterback Bully: Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

I don’t remember leaving the hospital.One minute, I’m standing in front of Tyler, watching him look at me like he doesn’t recognize me anymore. Next, I’m standing beneath the harsh white lights of the emergency entrance, unable to breathe.I don’t even realize I’m crying until a tear lands on the back of my hand.My hand grips my phone so tightly that my knuckles have turned white. “Pick up, Maya,” I mutter.“Lila? How’s Mabel? Is everything okay?” Maya says as soon as the call connects.Those words shatter whatever composure I have left. “I need you,” I say, my entire body shaking so violently. “Can I come over?”“Always,” Maya replies. “Dad can come pick you up if you need him.”“Please,” I whisper, not even sure she hears me.Twenty minutes later, Mr. James pulls into the hospital drop-off lane. He doesn’t ask questions; he simply gives me a gentle smile through the passenger window and unlocks the doors.The roads are almost empty at this hour. Streetlights stretch endlessly ahea

Tyler’s POVThe floorboards creak as I carry a mug of peppermint tea up the stairs, balancing it carefully so it doesn’t spill.I push open Mom’s bedroom door, finding her propped against a mountain of pillows with a novel resting upside down on her lap.She smiles the moment she sees me. “I was wondering when my nurse would come back.”I set the mug on her nightstand, chuckling. “Who would you rather it was? Me or Dad?”“Definitely you,” she says. “Your Dad isn’t nearly as handsome.”“I’ll tell him you said that,” I tease, sitting in the chair beside her bed. “How are you feeling?”“Tired.”She’s said that every day since she was discharged, but I try not to dwell on it.Instead, I adjust the blanket where it’s slipped from her shoulder, noting how loosely her wedding ring hangs against her finger now. I try not to dwell on that too.“I can do that myself,” she says.“I know.”She watches me for a long moment, before speaking again. “You certainly inherited your stubbornness from som

I spend twenty minutes staring at my reflection before I finally decide there’s no point changing anything.The girl looking back at me is still me. She just looks… unhappy.My blue dress, the same one I shopped with Mabel and Maya, falls softly to the floor, the satin catching the late afternoon sunlight pouring through my bedroom window.Mom insisted on curling my hair this morning before leaving me to get ready. “You are not spending prom looking like you’ve declared war on hairbrushes,” she’d announced.I smooth invisible wrinkles from my dress.This isn’t how today was supposed to go. Tyler was supposed to pick me up, and Mom and Dad were supposed to embarrass both of us by making us pose for a hundred pictures on the porch. I would’ve complained and Tyler would’ve laughed at my dilemma.Instead…There’s a knock at my bedroom door. “Lila?” Dad peeks inside, and his eyes widen “Wow.”I roll mine affectionately. “Don’t tell me you’re about to

Tyler’s POVI’m still in disbelief as my friends and I drive back to my house in the limousine Alex hired.Maya is showing Alex the hundreds of photos she took tonight, and my best friend has a wide grin on his face even though he’s hardly listening and mostly watching the excitement on her face. They have no idea what it means to me that they decided to ditch going to the afterparty at one of the players’ house and choosing to sleepover at mine instead.Jake was the only one who chose not to come, and I understood his reasons for not wanting to. I could never ask him to be in the same house as the man who took his father away from him. I can only hope that mine is man enough to seek his forgiveness one day.Lila’s shoulder presses lightly against mine, her fingers laced through mine where no one can see them. Every so often she gives my hand a small squeeze, just enough to remind me she’s there. It makes me feel lighter than I have in weeks, and I wonder how I thought I could have s

I swat my mom’s hand away for what has to be the tenth time. “It’s fine.”“It isn’t straight,” Mom argues, reaching up to adjust my cap anyway.Dad immediately raises the camera around his neck and takes a picture. He’s been doing that all morning, saying he can’t afford to miss a “moment.”All around us, Westfield High is buzzing with teachers organizing lines, parents wandering around looking just as overwhelmed as their kids, and students dressed in the same navy-blue gown as me.“We should go say hi to your teachers,” Mom says, before dragging Dad along with her.I breathe a sigh of relief as soon as they’re gone. I may love my parents to death, but their excitement has been nothing short of suffocating. My eyes scan the crowd, looking for familiar faces, and I finally find one.Maya throws herself at me as soon as our eyes meet across the crowd. “Can you believe it? We’re actually graduating,” she screams.“I know.”“I think I’m going to cry