CHAPTER TWENTY: ELICIA

As soon as I reach home I freshen up and went to pick up Valerie from school.

After the shooting at the court, the man who had shot Treadway was arrested and he confessed that he had planned this whole thing with Ron and this lengthened Ron's sentenced as he had attempted to murder Treadway.

Treadway was sent to hospital, he had lost a lot of blood so as soon as he arrived he went straight to surgery and they managed to remove the bullet, luckily it had not hit any vital organs.

And it had been five days since he was operated on and he was unconscious.

Mom managed to enrol Valerie to grade one, and she had been going to school for three days now and it was a Friday, a half day and mom had gone back to work so I had to go pick her up.

At Val's school.

"El!!!!" I turn to see where the sound is coming from and I am engulfed into two tiny arms.

"Hey Val, missed me?" I ask hugging back and lifting her up.

"Of course, how is Way. Did he wake up?" she asks me as I place her on the passenger seat.

"The doctors said he will wake up soon." I tell Val lying with a smile.

As soon as I start driving I get a call from mom and Val answers the call.

"The doctor said Treadway woke up, you can go to the hospital now." My mom says and I take a U-turn and head straight to the hospital without going home.

At the hospital

"Way!!!!!" Valerie shouts heading straight to hug her brother and all I do is stand by the door of his room staring at him.

They chit chat for a few minutes Valerie asking how he was feeling and she told him about going to school.

After what feels like forever I give Val three quarters to buy chocolate at the vending machine and she leaves the room all smiles.

"Hey." The words escape my lips as I walk towards his bed and he looks at me.

I had forgotten how it feels when he looks at me, the feeling is euphoric.

He doesn't say anything instead he waits for me to reach his bed and he hugs me.

"Sorry," he says and l knit my eye brows in confusion.

"For what, you didn't do anything wrong." I say patting his head.

"It must have been hard for you when I was unconscious." He says.

"No, it was not hard at all." I lie and hide my face.

"I know it was, I could hear you sobbing."

"No, It's not possible because l did not cry." I say embarrassed, how is it possible that he heard me.

"Okay, okay I heard nothing. Can I have a kiss now?" He asks and I want to say no but I miss his lips on mine so I lower myself to the same height as him and just as I was about to kiss him, he says something that made me wish the ground could swallow me whole because of how embarrassed I felt.

"I can't believe you hadn't showered for the past three days."

I abruptly move away from him hiding my embarrassed face.

"Hey, it's okay I still love you regardless." He says making it worse.

Vee walks in with a snickers bar, sits on the small stool by the window eating her chocolate.

Despite my embarrassed self I sit with him and we talk for ages until we fall asleep.

Treadway stayed at the hospital for five more days until he was discharged.

After his discharge I went with him to his house with Valerie.

As June was coming to an end, mom suggested to loan him some money to just enrol at the same time as me and as someone who didn't want things for free he told my mom he would pay every penny back.

Mom went with Treadway to UCLA to apply for a medicine program.

He had settled on medicine instead of research. It was last minute but as someone who had outstanding grades, a 4.3 GPA, and a volunteering extra-curricular they managed to enrol him.

My reply came and to everyone's joy I had managed to get in to UCLA.

So, both my boyfriend and I were going to college together.

From start of July to end of August before UCLA started its fall quarter, September, we had the best time of our lives.

I had gotten more close to Michaela and Valerie.

Valerie adored me and so did I.

Every Saturday after my sessions with Lydia; Treadway and I visited his mom at the rehabilitation institute.

Gina, his mom looked more alive, colour was coming back to her face, her skin was becoming fuller with each weekend we visited.

Treadway had told her all about the court case, getting into college and sending Vee to school.

This seemed to have brought a smile of his mom's face; every time we came to see her she would smile and laugh more.

Treadway also told her that I was his girlfriend, this made me swell with happiness.

Her mom sometimes had private chats with me telling me how Treadway had it bad after his father died and how she was thankful he found someone like me.

I enjoyed Gina's company a lot.

As the fall quarter was nearing we had to say our goodbyes to Treadway's mom.

"Mom." Treadway called his mom who in turn paid full attention at him and me.

"Next week we will be going to school and as a freshman there is a lot of pressure that comes with, so we probably won't be visiting until we have fully settled down." He says and I go on to add with a soft smile, "My mom, Mick and Vee will visit every weekend so you won't be lonely."

She smiles at me and tells me to come close to her.

"I am really glad he has you." She whispers in my ears and kisses my forehead.

After our heart-to-heart talk, we bid farewells to his mom and we go to our houses to pack as we had to check-in our dorms a week early for orientation.

My last session with Lydia was the best. I still had to drop by but not regularly. Lydia said something that made me see life in a different light.

*******Sometimes what we think is the worst, turns out to bring good things in our life.*******