The door to the immaculate hospital room we were sitting in slowly opened and in walked Dr. Ernie, the man who had removed the bullet from Kent's calf a couple hours before and bandaged up my broken nose.

"How's he been holding up?" The doctor asked, walking over to the continuously beeping monitors next to Kent's bed.

I sat next to Kent's bed, holding his hand tightly, scared that if I let go he'd somehow stop breathing. he doctor had made it clear that I was only allowed to stay in the room until Kent's parents arrived. Charlie was in a room two stories below us and we had been notified that he was experiencing a manic episode as well as nearly overdosing on Ambien. Rebecca had been right all along.

"He's been doing good," I answered the doctor, feeling my eyelids grow heavier by the second. It was four in the morning, we had gotten here just around eleven last night and I hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep.

Dr. Ernie examined my swollen face, the blood had stopped dripping out of my nose and the pain killers had numbed it almost completely. He assured me I wouldn't need surgery, but for some reason I doubted that.

"You should try to get some rest, he'll be alright, I promise," Dr. Ernie said, resting his hand on my shoulder and smiling down at me sweetly. He reminded me of my grandfather. I nodded my head and just as quietly as he had came into the room, Dr. Ernie was leaving.

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Rebecca asked, entering the room for the third time even though she had been told not to by the nurses.

"I hope so," That's all I had been praying for tonight. Before Rebecca or I could say anything else there was a loud knock on the door. The sound actually made Kent stir in the bed, just a little bit though.

"Come in," Rebecca answered almost right away. Hoping it would be a doctor, I was shocked to see a middle aged couple standing before us. The woman held a tan clutch in her hands that she was fiddling with nervously and the man, although stoic in the face, seemed worried.

"Oh, my poor Kent," The woman cried out and threw herself onto the bed. Were these Kent's parents? He looks nothing like them. "I just can't believe my son did this to you,"

I heard the woman whisper and I realized then who was here to visit Kent.

Charlie's parents were here to say sorry to Kent and make sure he was alright. Or maybe they came in hopes of talking us out of pressing charges. Either way, Charlie's going away for a long time.

"Has he woken up yet?" The tall man turned to me and asked. Now I could see small resemblances of Charlie. He examined my face but looked away fast once he realized I was watching him. Yeah, your son did this.

"Not yet," I replied coldly, all I wanted was for them to leave. They should be down with their son anyway. The least they could do is wait for Kent to recover a bit.

As if on cue, Kent stirred slightly and his eyes cracked open a bit. A soft groan left his lips while he tried to sit up but was still exhausted.

"Lay down, don't move too much," I whispered, pushing back on Kent's shoulder gently so he laid against the bed again.

"What's going on?" He mumbled, glancing between everyone in the room until his eyes finally landed back on mine. His eyes were bloodshot and one was almost completely red. Purple, black and blue splotches were forming around his left eye, his jaw and right cheek bone.

"We're at the hospital. Do you remember anything that happened?" I explained while Charlie's parents rushed around the other side of the bed and crouched down next to Kent.

"We are so sorry, on behalf of Charlie, we can explain, please," Charlie's dad rambled on while Kent shook his head, trying to make sense of all this information. He had been hit in the head by Charlie earlier and the doctor said he had a mild concussion.

"Your son shot me," Kent quietly said, his eyebrows pulling together in a frown, "I really hope you can explain that,"

Charlie's parents both swallowed hard and straightened up, to stand up straight, as if they were trying to conceal the last bit of pride they might have.

"Charlie was diagnosed with bipolar one disorder, we've just found out that he hasn't been on his medication for months now," Charlie's mom began to explain, her hand ringing the tissue paper she had been holding for her tears. "We thought he was doing so well, he was always telling us how great school was going and that he was taking his medication. The doctors told us something the Ambien as well, we don't know where he could have gotten that from. We should have checked up on him . . ."

Charlie's dad reached over and rubbed his wife's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Tears began pouring down her face and even through all the things Charlie had just thrown us into, I felt sad for her.

"He's a good kid," Charlie's father stated confidently, "He just needs to be on his medication regularly, you know he loves you like a brother Kent,"

"Obviously not if he can point a gun at me and pull the trigger," Kent responded harshly. I don't blame him. Charlie had gone crazy and tried to kill both of us, I felt no sympathy for him.

"We came here to ask you something very important, it's a big favor," Charlie's mom sobbed out, blowing her nose loudly into the tissue she was holding and gaining a disgusted look from Rebecca who was curiously watching this whole situation from the sidelines.

"Please don't press charges against Charlie,"

"What?" I nearly yelled before Kent had the chance to. "Are you nuts? He SHOT Kent and broke my nose!"

"We are aware," Charlie's dad responded coldly and turned back to Kent. "You two have grown up together, you know that Charlie is a good guy. He's just very . . . sick right now,"

"That's an understatement, he needs to be locked up," As Kent spoke, Charlie's mom sobbed even louder than before and threw herself into her husbands arms.

"Please Kent, we are begging you. He'll come home with us and we'll get him into a program where he can be monitored closely and we can make sure he's on his medication," Kent sat in the hospital bed, completely still, clutching my hand while he glanced between Charlie's parents.

The room was quiet for a while, other than the steady and constant beeping from the machines hooked up to Kent. I stared at Rebecca, secretly wishing she had the answer for me. What should Kent do? Allow him to go home and get the help he needs from his parents? And what about me? Couldn't I press charges against him as well? It was attempted murder!

"I'll think about it," Kent finally answered and even though Charlie's parents didn't look happy about it, they both nodded and held onto each other, not pushing any further.

"We are going to go check on Charlie again now, we'll tell him you're doing good," They began to walk out but Kent called out to them before they could get out the door.

"I'd appreciate it if you never told him anything about me, ever again," Kent's eyes had turned dark, cold. I would never want to be on the other end of his glare. The two only nodded and rushed out of the room.

"Could you give us a minute?" Rebecca quickly walked towards the door, mumbling something about being hungry, and followed Charlie's parents out of the room.

"I'm so sorry that all of this happened Sadie," Kent squeezed my hand and before he could say anything else I leaned towards him and kissed him hard.

Finally being able to kiss Kent made my heart flutter and my cheeks burn. Kent's hand reached up to cup the side of my face and deepen the kiss. His thumb rubbed gentle circles on my hand as he gently pulled away from the kiss.

"I should be the one saying sorry, I feel like this is all my fault," I whispered and looked down at our hands laced together.

"This wasn't just about you Sadie, you heard Charlie yourself. He had a lot of anger built up towards me that I honestly had no idea about," Kent laid his head back and sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "I had no idea my best friend hated me so much,"

I leaned forward and rested my cheek against his shoulder, not knowing what I could say to help in this moment. It was a lot to process for both of us. No doubt some counseling would be a smart decision for the future.

We laid in bed talking about all the memories waiting for us after break and next year, if I was allowed back to school at all. Slowly Kent drifted off back into a peaceful sleep and I laid there, cuddled up against him, listening to his steady breathing and his chest moving up and down slowly.

Last year, the worst thing in my life happened- I was told I'd have to dorm in an all guys dorm or go back home.

At the time, I didn't know what the right decision was or if I could even survive living with boys.

But now I knew, I had made the right choice. If I could survive this, stinky boys were the least of my worries.