My entire body ached, making me groan as I opened my eyes and regained consciousness.

I could faintly hear chattering around me, the bright white lighting made my eyes sting.

As my eyes regained focus, I recognized I was in a hospital room. I was in a small bed, patches and bandaids all over my body.

I attempted to sit up but I felt a sharp pain in my ribs, making me gasp out loud in pain.

I lifted my shirt to see a big white band around my chest and ribs, all the way down to my hips.

My head was pounding. What the hell happened?

All I remember was getting tased by Ashley. As soon as I remembered I grew angry, looking outside my room's big window to the hallway.

I saw some officers, a doctor, and a nurse. Noah and Ashley were nowhere to be seen.

I attempted to sit up again, ignoring the pain . I managed to get my knees to the side of the bed before I needed to take a break.

A nurse rushed in, smiling happily at me.

"This is pain medication." She sweetly as she injected something into my arm. I looked away, feeling queasy.

"You should be able to stand in about 30 minutes." She said then left the room, getting everyone's attention.

They all looked at me, then went back to talking.

I leaned forwards, trying to figure out where a loud shouting was coming from.

I groaned, straining myself so I could see. To my surprise, Noah was there, looking intimidatingly scary. He was talking to Ashley, who had a nose brace and bandaids all across her face. Her chin was stitched, obvious by the bulky bandage covering it.

They looked heated, their muffled shouting was aggressive and angry.

I decided to try and get Noah's attention. I looked around frantically for something I could throw, I finally found a pen and threw it as hard as I could at the window.

"Fuck." I whispered to myself, seeing it loudly clank against the glass. It was louder than I thought it would be.

That got everyone's attention. Noah, Ashley, the cops and the doctor. I looked away nervously, worried I had interrupted something important.

Noah's eyes lit up, he rushed to the door, followed by Ashley. He quickly came inside the room and pushed the door closed, making Ashley grunt behind it. She furiously pushed the door open, but Noah was stronger.

He slammed the door shut, turning the lock and rolling his eyes. Outside, Ashley's muffled voice rambled until the nurse calmed her down.

"Are you okay? Can you move?" Noah came to my side, concern in his eyes.

"Uh yeah, I'm fine. Can you tell me what happened?" I asked him as he sat next to me.

"Ashley almost killed you-"

"After that." I groaned, embarrassed as I remembered the events. It was my fault, after all. I swung first.

"Oh, you passed out." He said calmly.

"That's all I know. My uncle came out and told me what happened."

I looked at him, a confused expression on my face.

"Your uncle saw everything?"

"No, he got there when Ashley was tasing you. He had to pry the taser out of her hands." He sighed, looking out the window at Ashley. He looked angry, so angry.

I was angry too.

"So... what's gonna happen now?" I sighed.

"You have bruised ribs. A couple other gashes and scratches and stuff." He smiled, grabbing my hand.

"At least I'm not dead." I narrowed my eyes at Ashley sitting outside with crossed arms.

"Right. That could've ended badly." Noah said, clenching my hand.

"She's crazy Noah, she stared me in the eyes and pointed a gun at me. I thought she was gonna shoot." I leaned against his shoulder, wincing at my wounds.

"Are you serious?" He looked down at me.

"Yeah. I feel like she would've actually shot me if something didn't stop her. She still could've killed me." I sniffled, ignoring the single tear running down my cheek.

"You're okay now. I talked to her about some stuff." He said, running his hand through my frizzy, tangled hair.

"Talked." I made finger quotations referring to when they were loudly shouting at eachother.

"Yeah. It was great." He joked, pulling me closer.

So? What now." I questioned, wondering what would happen after everything. After today.

"Well, you can press charges if you want." He said nonchalantly.

"What?!" I snapped my head up to look at him.

I started it. Were there security cameras? Wouldn't she technically be able to press charges on me? I wasn't complaining but it seemed weird.

"She literally could've killed you. But she isn't getting arrested or anything because of self defense or whatever. I wasn't paying attention." He yawned.

"Noah this is a big deal!" I said. He just shrugged, obviously not caring very much.

"Okay well, I don't want to press charges." I said, staring at the bandages on my torso.

"You sure? She beat you up pretty bad." He was also staring at my torso, concern in his eyes.

"Yeah, I just want this to be over." I said, feeling bad.

As much as I hated Ashley, maybe she just needed help. She seemed like she just needed someone to keep her grounded. That wouldn't be Noah, of course, but she just needed someone.

Maybe being a cop wasn't the best line of work for her either. She obviously abused her power, and she knew how bad she was being.

I didn't want to add on any stress or hatred onto this unhinged girl. She didn't need it.

"Alright I'll go talk to my uncle." He stood up, giving me a kiss on my forehead and waving goodbye.

As soon as he walked out of the door I saw Ashley run at him. He told her something I couldn't hear and continued walking to find his uncle.

*

It had been about an hour and I felt good about walking. I was able to stand up, although it still hurt badly.

Even breathing made me feel sore.

I slipped on my shoes, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling.

I opened the heavy door, slowly walking outside.

I felt dizzy, my headache, the heavy lights, I might just faint again.

I continued walking, searching for Noah. Instead, Ashley walked up to me, steam shooting out of her ears.

"Hey!" She stomped, startling me.

"You broke my nose." She huffed, crossing her arms at me.

"You almost broke my ribs." I spat back.

"And you could've killed me, psycho."

She rolled her eyes, staring me down with a conceited look. I wanted to punch her again, but maybe I would actually get in trouble this time if I did.

"They all think I'm insane. And I'm losing my job." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Oh. Sorry." I looked down. I couldn't help feeling bad, I never wanted this to happen, I just wanted her to stop bothering Noah and I.

"Whatever. I'm leaving anyways." She brushed past me, speeding away. I followed her, trying to catch up.

"Wait what do you mean?" I asked when I caught up.

She seemed shocked that I was still talking to her. Her blue eyes were wide and attentive.

"I'm moving away. Not that you care. I'll be out of your hair soon." She scoffed, looking down at her shoes.

"Right. I'm gonna go find Noah now." I tried smiling at her, but she wouldn't look at me. I wish I knew what she was thinking right now.

"Yeah." Her eyes showed sadness, her bright blue eyes looked dull and glossy. Did I really feel bad for her? She's done so many horrible things. She doesn't deserve my sympathy.

"Thanks for not pressing charges, I really expected you to." She said before turning on her heel and quickly walking away.

I breathed out, watching her keep her head down as she reached the hospital elevator. I kinda wish I could've said more, but what was there to say?

"Good riddance, huh?" I whipped around to see Noah's uncle's familiar face.

"Oh hi!" I shook his hand nervously, trying to find my balance, although it was hard with the pain in my side.

"She'll be fine on her own, if you're concerned. Strong gal." He smiled, crossing his arms.

"Oh no, I'm not too worried about her." I laughed, following him as he walked away, cocking his head so I would follow him.

"Do you know where Noah is?" I asked, limping next to him.

"Yep he's right around the corner." We walked down a long hallway, the white lights almost blinding.

"You're the one that stopped her? I kinda recognize your voice. It was the last thing I heard." I said, curious.

"Oh, yeah. Got there just in time too. You looked like a dying roach." He let out a hearty laugh, trying to make light of the situation.

"Not saying you look like a roach but you- never mind dear. You know what I meant." He apologized, leading me into a waiting room where Noah and all my friends sat.

"Thank you sir, for all your help." I smiled widely at him again.

"All I did was lead you down the hall." He joked.

"That's not what I meant." I rolled my eyes, laughing. He waved me off, leaving me to join his cop friends.

I approached my group of friends in the middle of a game of monopoly. They were all occupied with the board, not even noticing me walk up to them.

"Hey guys." I said, my voice a little raspy.

Noah whipped his head around, a grin on his face once he saw me.

"Hey, how do you feel?" Natalie greeted me, chugging a red bull.

"I'm alright. Pain meds are helping a lot." I sat on the small sofa next to the floor where they were playing, slowly leaning back so I wouldn't hurt my ribs.

"Did you know Ashley was leaving? She just told me right now." I told Noah in a low voice do the others wouldn't hear. They were distracted with their game anyways.

"Where to?"

"I didn't ask," I sighed.

"She seemed okay though, I guess." I sighed, grabbing a scrunchie he was handing me and tying my hair up.

Noah stood up from the game to sit down next to me.

"I told my uncle. About the protests and stuff." He sighed, looking into my eyes.

"What? Right now? He didn't mention it when I was with him." I said, taking in Noah's expression.

He seemed relaxed and calm, even though he used to be so secretive about it before. His uncle probably took it well.

"Yeah, I decided it was best. He didn't get mad, fortunately." He smiled, picking at his cuticles.

"So, what happened? He was just okay with it?" I was having a hard time believing that he didn't get in trouble at all, especially with all the attention he got as Tank.

"No. But he knows why I did it. He understands."

"Oh." I bit the inside of my cheek, deep in thought.

"42 hours of community service." He said clearly not at all phased.

"For all of us?" I questioned, wondering exactly what community service we could all do.

"I told him I was working alone. I don't want to drag you guys into my shit."

"We totally would've helped you. 42 hours is a lot." I whined, feeling horrible that he had to do everything all alone. We were part of it all too.

He knew we were willing to do anything for him. I was especially.

"I've done worse, it's no big deal." he assured me, a big smile plastered in his face.

"I'm always here to help if you need it." I winked, laughing and carefully resting in his arms.

"You still playing?" Ryan asked Noah, a lollipop resting between his lips.

"Yeah." Noah stood up, grabbing my hand to make me stand up.

"You wanna play?" Audrina asked, sitting next to Ryan. She smiled widely, scooting over to make space for me.

"Sure." I gleamed, taking her offered seat.

--