Page 23 of Catch My Fall (Catch)

The look he gave me made me feel silly, but in the end he smiled and high fived me. “You’re one of a kind, Mia.”

Since he was smiling as he said it I had to hope that he meant it in a good way. “Thanks… I think?”

“It wasdefinitelya compliment,” he answered.

Getting into the car I started it, buckled up and then pushed the button to roll down my window.

“Thanks for tonight. I haven’t done a jigsaw puzzle in years and, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m excited about getting it all together.”

He chuckled as he set his arms on my open window. “So does that mean I won’t have to harass you to get you to come over tomorrow?”

Oh, God, the smell of his cologne was going to make me lose it. Shaking my head softly I murmured, “I’ll be back.”

Suddenly, the moment turned into something awkward. I was thinking that I wanted him to kiss me again, but I have no idea what he was thinking because other than saying, “Good. I want you here,” he was silent as he stared at me. Finally he shook his head and stepped back. “Drive safely. I’ll text you tomorrow.”

As I drove away I realized that my hands were shaking from nervous excitement. I listened to Eminem’s ‘Recovery’ on the way home as I smiled like a fool and thought about how unexpected Tristan Chamberlain was. Whether anything would happen between us or not, right then I was just excited to know I could feel something like that.

The only downside to the night was that Darby texted to say she wasn’t coming home. I like Brandon and all, but Ithought she was making a mistake by jumping into a relationship with someone else when she was so in love with Trace.

I wished she would come home so I could tell her about Tristan, but then I realized that was probably a bad idea.They were very close and with everything that had happened between her and Trace, it might be a sore subject.

I fell asleep debating whether to tell her everything or not.

Chapter Thirteen

I woke up in the Nurse’s office at school with several people standing around me, but even when they asked me if I was okay, I didn’t answer.I wasn’t okay at all and there was no way to pretend that I was.

There were hushed whispers as the adults in the room tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with me and what had gone so horribly wrong with Macy. They were wondering if we were both having bad reactions to some kind of drug, and I went away in my head thinking about how I wished that were true. At least if it was a reaction to a drug, there would be a chance to be well again. Whatever happened from here on out, I would always be a mess. How could I not be?

My mother burst through the door in the Nurse’s office some time later and made a beeline straight for me. Dropping to her knees on the floor next to the cot I was on, she grabbed my face in her hands and stared into my eyes, frantically trying to figure out what was happening with me. I wondered what the school had told her when they called but couldn’t find the will to ask.

“What’s wrong, baby? What’s happening? Why did Macy have a breakdown? Mary is beside herself. You need to tell me if you took anything.”

Looking around the room I saw that all eyes were on me. Turning my head back to my mom, I shook my head emphatically. “We didn’t do drugs. I need to tell you what happened, need to tell Mary, but I can’t do it in front of them. Can you take me to the hospital?”

She tried to argue that I was in no condition to go anywhere, but I knew that Macy wouldn’t get the help she needed if I didn’t speak up now. I heard my mom talking to Macy’s mom, Mary, on the phone, realized she was telling her that we were coming, but I didn’t connect with anything that was said.

Mom tried to get me to speak the entire way to the hospital, but I was incapable of speech. I huddled in my seat, my body pressed tightly against the door as I prayed that this would all just go away. I’d give anything to wake up and find out that this was all just a horrible nightmare, a Final Destination type scenario where I had glimpsed the ugliness of the future if I made one bad decision. Silently I swore to God that ifHe would just let me wake up with a do-over, I’d stay so far away from Brady Howard I would never even be in the same zip code as him. My prayers went unanswered and we reached the hospital without me waking up from the nightmare.

I struggled to remain upright when I saw that we were at the entrance to the psychiatric wing of the hospital, and the guilt was like a tsunami crashing down over me.Was it even possible to survive this? Right then, it didn’t feel like it. Every step I took on the way into the hospital was a form of torture but somehow I did it.

Mary was a mess when she met us in the hall, and I held onto her while she led us to a waiting room. The time was coming and there was nothing that I was going to be able to do to delay the inevitable. My mom and Mary had to be told and I couldn’t put it off for another second. Screwing my eyes shut tightly I blurted it out in a rush.

“Macy and I ran into Brady at the mall. A few days later, he texted and invited the two of us over to his house. When we were there, he and his friend drugged us. They assaulted me and raped Macy.”

My eyes snapped open at the sound of their gasps and the instantaneous tears that came from both of them. Before they could ask questions, I continued on and told them the entire story, including the fact that there were photos and that Brady, Chad, or someone they’re friends with created a Facebook group and that everyone we know had seen the pictures.

Mom was hysterical and Mary was no better, the two of them holding onto me and crying as I explained. I told Mary that the Facebook group had been the final straw for Macy, and she cried like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

They cried and cried as they asked the obvious questions: why hadn’t we told anyone? Why had we gone to Brady’s at all? I confessed everything, and when I was finished, they both understood why we hadn’t said anything even though they both disagreed with the decision. The two of them wanted to call the police and I agreed that I would talk to them after Mary told the people treating Macy what they were actually dealing with.

When Mary came back, she and my mother held hands as my mother made the call to the police. I was almost completely unglued and was feeling so humiliated, but I kept it as together as possible for Macy’s sake. She needed help and the only way to ensure that things went back to anything like normal was to make sure that Brady stopped with the pictures.

Two officers came to the hospital to take my statement, and by the time they arrived my stepfather and Macy’s father were in the waiting room with us. The police let my mother stay with me while I recounted everything that had happened, but everyone else was sent out of the room.

Honestly, I think it was worse telling the police than it would have been to tell Neil and Macy’s dad. Whatever idea I’d had in my head about the reaction from the police wasn’t what happened at all. As soon as they realized I was talking about Brady Howard, they exchanged looks and started to treat me like I might be making up the story. Even showing them the Facebook group didn’t change their demeanor. One of them even went so far as to tell me that what they were looking at seemed as though it was consensual. Where telling my mom and Mary had been traumatizing, telling the police was far, far worse. They didn’t treat me like a victim; they treated me like a suspect.

Chapter Fourteen

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