Part 17

Josh's POV

Mr. Fredrickson walked over to me and Justen with two guys following behind him. Those guys I recognized as Nathan and Carter.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked. "I thought you left with Ryan."

"We saw that what Ryan was doing was more than bullying and tried to stop it," Nathan said.

"Little did we know though, that telling Ryan he was wrong would lead to us getting beaten up as well," Carter said.

"You guys stood up for us?" I heard Justen ask from where he was sitting on the pavement.

"Well, yeah," Nathan said. "What Ryan was doing wasn't right and I couldn't take it anymore so I told him."

"Thank you," Justen said.

"Anytime," Carter said. "And, if you don't mind, we could hang out sometime too."

"That sounds great boys," Mr. Fredrickson said. "But right now I think I should get at least one of you to the hospital and the others to the doctor's office."

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "Do you want to take my truck?"

"Yeah, because I don't think y'all will fit in mine," Mr. Fredrickson said, pointing at his cop car.

I handed him the keys to my truck as the five of us walked over to it. Mr. Fredrickson got in the driver's seat, Carter got in the passenger seat, and Nathan, Justen and I got in the back seat with me in the middle.

It was a quiet ride to the doctor's office and when we got there Mr. Fredrickson and Nathan got out of the truck. Justen opened his door to get out and almost fell onto the pavement, scaring the shit out of me.

"Justen!" I cried, grabbing ahold of the back of his shirt.

"Holy crap," Justen said.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked him.

"No," Justen said.

"Here, let me help," Carter said, opening his door and walking over to Justen's.

Together, me and Carter helped Justen out of the truck and into the doctor's office.

Once inside, Mr. Fredrickson signed us all in and waited for the doctors to call us. One by one we got called, first Nathan, then Carter, and soon it was my turn. I didn't want to leave Justen alone, even if he was with Mr. Fredrickson, but reluctantly I left.

The doctor took me to their room, examined me and, seeing nothing severely wrong, they let me go. I went back out to the waiting room and saw that Justen was still there. I went and sat next to him until his name was called.

"Josh," Justen said, "I know this is a weird question, but will you come too?"

"Yeah," I said, following him back to the room the doctor had for him.

The doctor examined Justen and I watched as they did so. Finally, the doctor spoke.

"He looks fine, but I might have to send him to the hospital to see if there's any internal damage," the doctor said.

"Alright," I said.

"I do have a couple of questions though," the doctor said.

"Go ahead," Justen said.

"How did this happen?" the doctor asked. "And where are your parents?"

"I messed with the wrong crowd and got beat up. My dad is at home and has no clue of what's going on," Justen answered.

"Wouldn't you have called him after you got beat up?" the doctor asked.

"I thought you said you only had a couple questions," Justen said.

"Sorry, I might have crossed the line a little," the doctor said.

"Just a little," Justen said.

"Okay, but I'm still sending you to the hospital," the doctor said.

"Alright," Justen said.

I helped him off the chair he was seated in and let him use my shoulder to walk back to the waiting room. When we got to the waiting room, I saw the doctor talking to Mr. Fredrickson. He nodded here and there but didn't say a word. Finally, the doctor left and Mr. Fredrickson waved me and Justen over to him. We walked over to him and he looked at Justen.

"So, the hospital eh?" Mr. Fredrickson asked.

Justen nodded.

"You do realize you have to have a parent or guardian there with you, right?" Mr. Fredrickson asked.

"Can you pretend to be my guardian?" Justen asked. "Please?"

"Can't your mom or dad make it?" Mr. Fredrickson asked.

"No," Justen said.

"I don't want to lie, kid," Mr. Fredrickson said.

"Okay," Justen said, his shoulders dropping.

"Can you take us back to the restaurant then?" I asked.

"Sure," Mr. Fredrickson said.

The five of us walked out of the doctor's office with Justen using me and Carter for support. We got to the truck and everyone got in, this time though, Justen sat in the middle back. As Mr. Fredrickson drove, no one said a word but I felt Justen's head lay on my shoulder.

When we got to the restaurant, Mr. Fredrickson and I switched spots.

"Do you want me to take you two home?" Mr. Fredrickson asked Carter and Nathan.

"I'll take them home," I said. "I know where they live and their parents won't freak out if a police car pulled into their driveway."

"You make an excellent point," Mr. Fredrickson said. "Alright, you boys have a good night."

"You too," I said as Mr. Fredrickson walked away.

"Who are you going to drop off first?" Carter asked as I drove out of the parking lot.

"Probably you and then Nathan," I said.

"And after us, you're gonna drop Justen off at his house?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah," I said.

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I'm back and updates are to continue as normal. So, hope you enjoyed and peace until tomorrow.