Christine's POV

I walk into the hospital and everything is just a blur. I approach the nurse's station, trying to focus, trying to regain my composure. I take a deep breath.

"Hi, you have a patient here by the name of Katia Galanos. I'm here to see her."

A stout lady with curls tightly pressed to her head sighs and looks up at me. "Who are you?" She asks before releasing a smoker's cough.

"Christine. Christine Bell." I search for my ID in my purse.

"No honey. Are you related to the patient? Visiting hours are over. Only family is allowed." She says going back to read her book.

My patience is wearing thin. "Listen," I glance at her name tag, "Florence, I just need to see her. Can you at least tell me if she's okay?" Despite my desperate attempt to keep my voice steady, it is not.

"Ma'am there's nothing I can do. You'll have to wait for visiting hours." She flips a page in her book.

I sigh. "Okay... Okay." Calm down, Chris. You'll just have to wait. I take a seat in the waiting room. Liz walks in.

"Any word?" She asks.

I shake my head. "No, but I could be here a while. You should go home."

"Nonsense." She sits beside me. "I'll be right here." She grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze.

I smile weakly. "Thank you Liz."

This reminds me of the summer I broke my arm. Liz stayed in doors with me and played board games until I got my cast off. She's only ten years older than me but sometimes she feels more like a mom than a big sister. My phone rings again.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Are you here?" Olivia's voice comes across the phone low and smooth.

"Yes, but the nurse at the front desk won't let me back."

"Yeah she's a bitch. I had to lie and say I was Kat's sister."

"Language." I say. Why are their mouths so filthy?

"Okay honestly Miss Bell, you're not much older than us. I could see if you were like my Mom's age or something but-"

"Olivia, please," I interrupt her monologue, "can I just have an update?"

"I'm coming to get you." Olivia says. Still whispering. Suddenly I see her waving her arms like she's trying to help land a plane. She's standing directly behind the nurses station.

"Pretend you're going to the bathroom and then come to me. Move quickly." Olivia whispers into the phone.

Is she serious? She wants me to sneak through a hospital. Olivia hangs the phone up still waving her arms. She's in her soccer uniform like she just came from a game or something. I tell Liz what's going on. She nods.

"Go," she stands up, "I got your back." She waltzes over to the nurses station and strikes up a conversation with the gatekeeping nurse to distract her. I follow Olivia to Katia's room. We open the door and Katia is lying in the bed with her eyes closed and her head wrapped with gauze. I rush to be by her side.

"What happened?" I ask quietly, heartbrokenly gazing at Katia.

"Hi." An unfamiliar voice rings out from the corner. I turn around to see a girl I hadn't noticed when I first walked in.

"Who are you?" I ask. That was rude. "I'm sorry."

"No it's okay. I'm Amber. You're her dance instructor right? You're Christine Bell. I know you. Well I don't know you but, shit, I've seen you dance in The Swan Dance maybe a hundred times. You're amazing."

I force a smile. "Thanks. What happened?" I ask again.

"Right. Sorry. All practice she was looking kind of out of it but she said she was okay. Well we were nearing the end of rehearsal when Kat asked if we could go over it again. I told her she had it down perfectly but she insisted. So we did. Then as she's coming out of the last turn she just fell. I thought she tripped but some people said it looked like she passed out. She hit her head and started bleeding. She was responsive for a few seconds but then she was just out of it."

"Was Michael there?" I ask.

Amber shakes her head. "No. It was only us and maybe three others. We stayed late so Kat could practice more." She looks at the clock. "Shit I'm going to be late. I have to go. I work night shift."

"Thanks for helping her." Olivia says.

"Yeah of course, can you call me when she wakes up so I know she's okay?" Amber asks Olivia.

"Yeah. Sure."

Amber leaves us alone with Katia.

"Has she been awake since you've been here?" I ask.

Olivia shakes her head slowly. "No."

"Thank you for calling me."

"You're welcome. They called her dad. He'll be on the first flight in the morning."

I know that means I won't be able to stay with her. It'll look strange for her teacher to be so heavily invested. I nod to show Olivia I heard her.

"Miss Bell?"

"You can call me Chris when we're not at school." I say sitting on the bed next to Katia.

"Chris? Do you think I should have said something sooner? Maybe I could have-"

"Olivia, this is not your fault. I know you want to but you can't protect her from everything." I stroke Katia's hand letting her know I'm here.

The door opens and a woman carrying a clipboard walks in. She's studying the chart while walking.

"Okay who do we have here? Kat...ia Gallonas?"

"Katia Galanos." Olivia and I say at the same time. We exchange a quick glance.

"Sorry." She puts the clipboard down at the foot of the bed. "Dr. Grace." She extends her hand to shake. I shake it quickly. She shakes hands with Olivia.

"Which one of you is her sister?" Dr. Grace asks.

"Me." Olivia says. The doctor eyes me skeptically. Olivia clears her throat "Uh.. this is my partner."

I stare at Olivia for a second.

"Okay." The doctor nods, "Well the injury Katia sustained from the fall didn't cause any internal bleeding which is great news. However she was drastically dehydrated and slightly malnourished when she arrived. We have her on an IV to make sure she's receiving fluids. I'm afraid she is suffering from a concussion."

"So why is she sleeping? She should be awake. Right?" I ask.

"We're monitoring her very closely. However, memory loss and confusion are symptoms. So when she wakes just give her some time to adjust. The fog should clear up in no time."

"Thank you." Olivia says.

"Of course. If you two need anything call the nurses." She instructs.

"Will do." Olivia says.

Dr. Grace gives us a polite smile and excuses herself from the room. I sit back on the bed and grab Katia's hand. Olivia sighs and makes herself comfortable in the chair. She kicks her shoes off. We're sitting here quietly with the hum of the machines as background music. I'm getting restless. I fluff Katia's pillow and pull her blanket up to make sure she's warm.

"Do you think she'll be okay to perform?" Olivia asks.

"I hope so." I smooth her hair back from her face. Even in the hospital's dreary setting she still looks radiant.

"Me too." Olivia's pauses. "Do you love her?"

"Excuse me?" I ask. I heard her but the question nearly knocked me to the ground.

"Do you love her? She loves you. She hasn't told me but she does. She gets the same goofy smile every time she talks about you or your name is brought up. She never misses our movie nights but she ditched me for you."

I chuckle. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You make her happy. I just-" Olivia bites her lip, "I don't want to see her get her heartbroken because she thinks this is something it's not. She's my best friend."

I turn my attention back to Katia. "I do." I admit. "A lot."

"Good." Olivia yawns and settles back into her chair. Times goes on. Nurses come in and out checking in to make sure she's okay. Olivia and I switch places a few times. She ends up lying next to Katia. Which normally I wouldn't care for but under the circumstances, it's fine.

Katia starts to stir and I hurry to be by her side. Her hand twitches and her eyes slowly flutter open.

"Where am I?" She whispers.