Chapter Fifteen

What Happened Last Night?

Savannah woke up in a bright room, in an uncomfortable bed wearing a smock, which could only mean one thing;

she was in a hospital.

She looked around the room, on a small couch not far from her bed lay Leon uncomfortably, snoozing.

She sat up, feeling incredibly dazed and confused.

The last thing she remembered was dancing with Leon and Mitchell on the dance floor while the music blasted and the lights flashed.

All that seemed so long ago.

She didn't know what happened, obviously she had blacked out, but why? and how?

She looked to the side of her bed to see the clothes she was wearing the night of the party folded neatly on a nearby table.

The digital clock on the door said it was 8:27AM

But what day was it?

Savannah stretched, she felt weak and sore, but well rested.

She reached to her denim jacket that was neatly folded and took out her cell phone as Leon snored loudly.

She had 34 missed calls and 14 text messages.

15 missed calls were from her father, 1 was from her mother, 10 were from Ben, 5 from Mitchell and 3 were remarkably from Mike.

She had a series of messages from her father the first was:

"Savannah, pick up, let me know where you are," sent at 12:37AM and the last message from him saying,

"Hi Savannah, I spoke to Leon's parents about what happened. Don't be scared, I'll be there to pick you up at 9AM. Love you." Sent at 2:46AM.

She breathed a sigh of relief, even if she didn't know what had happened to her, at least her father did.

Her father's words gave her comfort and made her feel at ease, like he was there giving her a virtual hug.

She scrolled through her messages and found one from Mitchell,

"Hi Savannah, I can't tell you how sorry I am. I let you down. I got distracted for a minute and because of me you're laying in a hospital bed.

I'm sorry I can't be there with you but it's too much of a reminder how badly I fucked up.

Get well soon and take it easy, I'm sorry for being a useless friend to you."

What the heck happened?

Savannah ran her hands down her head in frustrated, she racked her brain but struggled to recall what went wrong and how she ended up here.

She looked at Leon who snored so loudly he woke himself up.

He looked around and blinked rapidly.

He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and sat up with his back hunched.

"Savannah," he groaned, "you're awake," he smiled.

Leon looked awful, a terrible combination of death and hunger-over.

He had dark circles under his tired eyes, his hair that was usually shiny and in perfects curls was matte and frizzy.

He was wearing an off-white V-neck as the seashell necklace dangled on his chest.

"Yeah... what happened?" asked Savannah.

Leon stretched, "How'r you feeling?" he asked sincerely

"Yeah, spectacular, now could you please tell me why I'm here?!" said Savannah, she didn't understand why she was so panicked.

"Yeah... I'm sorry I..." he let out a sigh.

He got up, walked to Savannah's bedside and knelt so that he was looking up at her.

"Last night, your drink got spiked... tampered with.

"You went to go grab a drink, I went to the toilet while Mitchell waited in the living room for you.... Next thing you know, you've fallen down the stairs and lying passed out on the floor.

"Emily Sanders, checked your pulse while my drunk self called an ambulance.

"While myself and a few others were trying to make sure you were alright, Mitchell hears Caleb confess that he was the one that slipped something into your drink while you were in the kitchen."

It was all coming back to Savannah, Caleb running into her so she spills her drink and goes to clean herself.

She felt incredibly foolish for turning her back on her drink, even if it was for a split second.

She let herself become more vulnerable than she usually is to Ethan and Caleb.

"Do you remember any of that?" Leon asked cautiously to a very horrified looking Savannah.

She nodded, feeling beyond aggravated.

She felt violated, like the control she had of what happened to her body was slowly being taken away from her.

This was the second time in three months that she had woken up from unconsciousness battered, bruised.

She tried not to cry despite feeling so incredibly weak.

She turned to Leon and was taken back by what she saw.

Tears were slowly dripping down his face as he rested his head on the side bar of the bed.

"Savannah I'm so sorry," his voice broke, all the anger she didn't know she felt towards him, vanished.

She had never seen Leon cry like this.

"All I've ever wanted to do was to have a memorable night with you... a memorable year with you before we're on different parts of the world and don't see each other for years at a time.

"It's my fault that you're here," he finished, angrily wiping away his tears.

"Don't be stupid, Leon," said Savannah humorously in an attempt to break the tension.

"Boy, if this is what you're like when you're drunk then I'm glad I don't go out partying with you," she giggled as he stared at her in utter bewilderment.

"Listen you and Mitchell need to stop blaming yourselves for things that aren't your doing.

"Why don't you blame Caleb instead huh? He was the one who drugged me, or Ethan who's idea it most likely was." Said Savannah.

"I'm not going to sit here and feel sorry for myself." Finished Savannah.

Leon was quiet except for his sniffles.

After a moment of silence, he whispered, "well you should feel sorry for yourself because you have a massive lump above your eyebrow... it's not a great look," he joked.

Savannah swung and hit him at the back of the head, soft enough to laugh off but hard enough to make his headache worse.

"Okay, I deserved that," he winced.

"But... Mitchell got into a bit of a brawl with Caleb and Ethan... when he saw you passed out on the floor... he made the assumption that it was one of the two of them...

"he was furious... after he heard Caleb admit it, without warning he punched Caleb in the face and one thing led to another..."

Savannah heart rate accelerated, "IS HE OK?!" blurted Savannah.

"Yeah, a bit battered as you can imagine, but he's okay... it's how he's feeling is what concerns me..."

"What do you mean?" she asked,

"Savannah, I've never seen Mitchell this upset... ever in my life. I think he feels like he could've done more. Or like, prevented the situation from happening.

"I was busy trying to help you, I wasn't able to defend him..." finished Leon staring into the distance.

"He shouldn't feel guilty, I mean, I'm not his responsibly, I can look after myself... I just wasn't thinking straight," confessed Savannah.

Leon gave her a sinister smile before looking away. Leon knew something Savannah didn't.

"What is it?" she asked,

"Mitchell's my mate... and he will probably kill me for telling you this but he, um... he likes you... he really likes you," said Leon scratching the back of his head.

Savannah was shocked. Mitchell. Mitchell Jones. Her friend of nearly eight months.

The thought of anybody, let alone the handsome Mitchell Jones liking her was laughable.

If Leon wasn't staring at her straight-faced she would've thought, he was lying.

She was silent trying to figure out how it could be.

The silence was broken as the door opened and in walked in her father, forcing her to push that thought to the back of her mind.

He came around wrapped his arms around his daughter.

"I've spoken to the nurses and they've said you're good to go," he smiled.

"Leon, why don't I take you home?"

"That'll be great, Mr. Brown," breathed Leon,

"Great, why don't we grab some breakfast while Savannah gets dressed?"

"Don't worry Savannah, I'll bring you back a muffin," teased Leon.

"How are you feeling?" asked her father as he reversed out of the Thompson driveway after dropping off Leon.

"I'm fine," said Savannah, which was the truth.

She was understandably exhausted, a bit sore and furious with Ethan and Caleb, but other than that she could sleep peacefully at night.

She wanted to give herself the rest she needs so she could work things out with Mitchell, the person she was most concerned about.

"Listen Savannah, you're an adult now, I'm not going to tell your mother what happened, that's your responsibility to do.

"Whether you chose to talk to your mother about it, is completely up to you," he said.

Savannah felt quite relieved, her mother was still in another state, grieving the loss of her sister.

Savannah thought it would be inappropriate to call her mother and cause her more grieve especially since she promised herself she would be nothing but unproblematic.

"Dad, I don't think right now is the best time to tell Mum, besides I'm fine, it's her we should be focusing on," smiled Savannah.

Her father looked at her admiringly, "how did I raise such a beautiful young lady?" he spoke, it seemed more like he was talking to himself.

Savannah walked through the front door and was instantly wrapped in the arms of Ben.

"Savannah, you're such an idiot," he said angrily without letting go.

Savannah patted his back as her father who looked like he was about to burst out laughing backed away.

Before Savannah knew it, it was Monday morning and she was getting ready to go to school.

Getting dressed took longer than usual, Savannah had to be particularly careful and delicate with her bruised and sore body.

Ben kindly offered to carry her bag from the car all the way to her locker.

She didn't know if Ben was still coming home with new, well-concealed bruises or if he had become really good at pretending he wasn't in pain.

Savannah was still keeping a subtle eye on him, she just didn't want him knowing it.

Savannah's school uniform was a mess, she couldn't tuck in her shirt into her high-waisted, knee-length blue tartan school kilt, the skin on her abdomen was still tender.

She couldn't wear her school blazer, the heaviness of it put pressure on her bruised shoulders.

She only hoped Miss Mewdan wouldn't scrutinise her that morning, which to her surprise she didn't.

After homeroom Miss Mewdan pulled Savannah aside and gave her words of encouragement, and her sympathy for what had happened to her.

Savannah had no idea how Miss Mewdan had found out about her being drugged, she was astounded, for the first time in her life, she had seen traces of empathy in Miss Mewdan.

She didn't know how to react, she just kept saying "thank you."

Savannah Leon searched for Mitchell during lunch after failing to find him at recess.

They passed the lockers when they were met with an unusual scene.

Ethan and Caleb were emptying out their lockers as Mrs Bennet stood behind them with her arms folded across her chest over a clipboard.

"Are they suspended? Or expelled? And does this have anything to do with the events that occurred that weekend?"

Savannah and Leon asked each other before recognising that neither one knew the answer.

After about twenty-five minutes of searching for Mitchell, they found him by the gymnasium where he and Savannah planted the sycamore trees a few weeks back.

He was sitting by himself on a bench table in the more secluded part of the school with his headphones in and his head down.

They approached him and sat down.

He looked up at them.

Savannah didn't know how bad his injuries were until she was sat inches away from his face.

She tried not to show the look of unpleasant surprise on her face.

He had a purple eye and a busted top lip.

When Mitchell locked eyes with Savanah his face lit up, like a starry night sky.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her,

"I'm good... are you?"

"Yeah..." he replied ruffling up his messy hair.

His knuckles were red and covered with abrasions.

"We just saw Ethan and Caleb emptying out their lockers... did you have anything to do with that?" Leon asked him wearily.

Mitchell looked up at the pair of them smirking.

Although his face was battered and bruised, his captivating smile still dazzled and looked as beautiful as ever.

"I got home Saturday night, my Dad asked some questions and I answered truthfully," he said smiling brighter than ever.

"I believe his words were, 'I will not allow students who are involved in reckless and illegal behaviour, who are a danger to those around them, attend this school; it would disgrace the name of Holy Cross High.'" He said with his best impression of his father.

"So they're expelled?!" asked Savannah, smiling ear to ear,

"Yeah, as of last night," replied Mitchell.

Leon was being awfully quiet.

Savannah had always known that Leon, for some strange reason had friendships with Ethan and Caleb.

But for goodness sake, she thought the fact that they drugged her, would convince him of their foul nature.

"I have to go," said Leon numbly, without another word he got up and walked away leaving Mitchell and Savannah puzzled and slightly annoyed.

"What's his problem?" asked Savannah,

"forget about it, things between him and I aren't exactly great. We both have different opinions on where his loyalties lie."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Come on Savannah, if I had drugged Leon, would you still hang around me?

"Anyway we said some things we didn't mean and I admit, I may have sent him on a guilt trip about being disloyal to you but... uh well." He shrugged.

Savannah's head was spinning. She agreed with most of what Mitchell was saying but she could never side against Leon. Could she?

She was caught in the middle and she hated it.

"Hey I'm really sorry for leaving you that night... I wish I could've done more... I just felt so helpless and angry seeing you so lifeless...

"I thought the worst had happened... I may not throw a lot of parties but I've been to enough to see what happens... the thought of that happening to you..." he winced and let out a sigh.

"Mitch, it's alright... but y'know, no more partying for me," she laughed in an attempt to derail the dark path this conversation was headed.

She didn't see Leon for the rest of that day up until afterschool, at the end of the environmental club meeting.

He approached Savannah and Mitchell with his bag around his shoulder and her school bag in her arms.

He had been carrying Savannah's things for her all day and helping her up the steps. She felt as if he was overcompensating because he felt guilty about Saturday night.

He was wincing and rubbing his chest, no doubt because of the weight of the two school bags combined.

He stood at the other side of Savannah and gave Mitchell a weak smile, who smiled back politely.

"Ready to go?" he asked Savannah,

"Yeah," said Savannah as Mitchell helped her get the garden gloves off.

Leon gave Mitchell a sarcastic smile and it was then that Savannah realised that she was literally in the middle of the two.

In the animosity between them, they had a common link, and Savannah was that link.